Men call'd him Mulciber; and how he fell 740 745 To' have built in heav'n high tow'rs; nor did he 'fcape. By-all his engines, but was headlong fent 750 With his induftrious crew to build in hell. Meanwhile the winged heralds, by command Of fov'reign pow'r, with awful ceremony And trumpets found, throughout the host proclaim 755 At Pandemonium, the high capital Of Satan and his peers: their fummons call'd By place or choice the worthieft; they anon L. 740. Mulciber.] Lat. i. e. a melter, or softener of iron. Vulcan, Jupiter's fon and founder, and god of the fmiths. Vulcan is Tubal-Cain, Gen. iv. 22.: his falling from heaven is nothing cle than the history of the fallen angels dreffed up in a poetical fable, which they had by long tradition from Noah, Mofes, &c. L. 745. Falling ftar.] Sax. Gr. a philofophical, term. It is a fiery meteor, gendered in the air, which appears like a sky-rocket, and flieth about; but when the fulphureous spirits of it are confumed, it falleth, flashing like a real star; therefore, the vulgar fancy it to be one, which is really impossible in nature. L. 746. Lemnos. Lat. Gr. i. e, well fixed and abiding; a large inland in the Archipelago, 600 miles round, oppofite to mount Athos, dedicated to Vulcan; because in his fall, the poets fay, ha pitched there, continued in it, wrought at the trade, and made Jupiter's darts. Here he had a temple, and was adored as a god. L. 756. Pandemonium.; Milt. from the Gr. i. e. All-devils-hall; the infernal court or palace of all the demons or devils. Obf. Milton's pregnant imagination, wit, elocution, and learning, in the compofition and defeription of this court, have far outdone Ovid's in his description of the palace of the fun, and of all other ancient poets; fo that nothing extant among them comes up to this. With hundreds, and with thoufands, trooping came 760 To mortal combat, or career with lance) 765 770 775 780 L. 778. Giants.] Lat. Gr. i. e. earth-born; because the poets feigned they were the fons of Titan and the earth after the deluge, who made war with the gods. Men of extraordinary stature. That there were fuch before the flood, and fince, is evident, from Gen.. vi. 4. Numb. xiii. 33. Deut. iii. IL. L. 779. Dwarfs.] Sax. Dut. Teut. i. e. crooked, bunched; perfons of a moft low ftature, little and fmall people. Such are the *Laplanders, and fome little men and women in all places. L. 780. Pygmies.] Gr. from the Heb. gomed; i. e. a cubit, or palm of the band; because they did not exceed a cubit, or a foot. and half at most in height. A little people, faid to live on the mountains of India or Africa, who had children at five years of age, died about eight, and hid themselves in caves for fear of the cranes, which fwallowed them up whole; they had every thing in proportion to their stature and length of days. L. 781. Fairy elves.] From elf, Sax. O. Eng. hobgoblins, mischievous and fantastical spirits, haunting the woods and defolate: places;, of whom old women tell ftrange fables.. Whose midnight revels by a foreft fide Or fountain fome belated peafant fees, Or dreams he fees; while over-head the moon Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth 785 Wheels her pale courfe; they on their mirth and dance. Intent, with jocund mufick charm his ear ; At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds. Reduc'd their shapes immenfe, and were at large, 790. 795 L. 796. Demi-gods.] Sax. Lat. Jemones, q. femi-homines, i. c. half-men, or inferior gods among the Romans, i. e. half-gods, Here, the chiefs or captains among the fallen angels, met in this infernal council. N. B. This book contains more of the Hebrew, Arabick, Phenician, and other oriental languages; more antiquity, history, both divine and human, mythology, or fables of the poets; more ancient geography, &c. than any of the following books; although the whole poem is filled with more learning of every fort than is contained in any one volume extant, in the most sublime, elegant, well-connected, and fhort compafs. The characters and speeches of the devils are wonderful and aftonishing, moft proper and mafterly; but his description of the Pandemonium tranfcends all hu man learning. End of BooK FIKS F.. The ARGUMENT of Book II. THE confultation begun, Satan debates whether another battle be to be hazarded for the recovery of heaven : fome advife it, others diffuade. A third propofal is preferred, mentioned before by Satan, to fearch the truth of that prophecy or tradition in heaven concerning another world, and another kind of creature, equal, or not much inferior to themselves, about this time to be created: Their doubt who shall be fent on this difficult fearch: Satan their chief undertakes alone the voyage, is honoured and applauded. The council thus ended, the reft betake them feveral ways, and to feveral employments, as their inclinations lead them, to entertain the time till Satan return. He paffes on his journey to hell-gates, finds them shut, and who fat there to guard them, by whom at length they are opened, and difcover to him the great gulf between hell and heaven ; with what difficulty he passes through, directed by Chaos, the Power of that place, to the fight of this new world which he fought. |