"Receive thy new possessor! one who brings 255 260 "Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least "We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built "Here for his envy; will not drive us hence: "Here we may reign secure; and in my choice "To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell: "Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven. "But wherefore let we then our faithful friends, "The associates and copartners of our loss, "Lie thus astonished on the oblivious pool, "And call them not to share with us their part "In this unhappy mansion; or once more, "With rallied arms, to try what may be yet "Regained in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell?" 270 So Satan spake, and him Beëlzebub Thus answered: "Leader of those armies bright, "Which, but the Omnipotent, none could have foiled, 265 275 1 The mind is its own place.—It has been well observed by Thyer, that these extravagant maxims of the Stoics could not be better ridiculed than by being put into the mouth of Satan in his present situation. Horace had already held them up to contempt, by representing a cobbler, on the faith of them, maintaining that he was a king.-See Horace, b. i., sat. 3, L. 124. 2 Better to reign in hell, &c.-This sentiment is parallel to the saying of Julius Cæsar, that he would rather be the first man in a country village than the second in Rome. What a blessed contrast to it is the sentiment expressed in Psalm lxxxiv. 10! "Of battle1 when it raged, in all assaults 280 He scarce had ceased, when the superior fiend Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield, 285 Behind him cast; the broad circumference Hung on his shoulders, like the moon, whose orb 2 At evening, from the top of Fesolè,3 Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands, 290 295 1 Edge of battle.-Used like the Latin, acies, which means both the edge of a weapon, and an army in battle array. The English word may be observed to be derived from the Latin one. 2 Like the moon, whose orb... the Tuscan, &c.-Milton exalts our ideas of the size of Satan's shield by comparing it to the moon, as seen magnified through a telescope. Galileo-whom Milton had known and visited in Italy-was the first to apply the telescope to celestial observations. 3 Fesolè.-A village on an eminence in the vicinity of Florence, commanding an enchanting view of that city, and the Val d'Arno, or Vale of the Arno. It was a favourite resort of the grandees of Florence for the enjoyment of rural contemplation, and is selected by Milton as a happy point for observing the phenomena of the heavenly bodies. 4 Amiral.-Milton gives the original orthography of this word (from Amir alios, a mongrel compound of Arabic and Greek, meaning naval commander,) which he uses in the sense of a great ship, or the ship that carries the admiral. Nathless he so endured, till on the beach 300 305 Busiris 3 Hath vexed the Red-Sea coast, whose waves o'erthrew and his Memphian chivalry, While with perfidious hatred they pursued The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld From the safe shore their floating carcasses 310 And broken chariot-wheels: so thick bestrewn, "Princes, Potentates, 315 "Warriors, the flower of Heaven, once yours, now lost, "If such astonishment as this can seize "Eternal spirits :-or have ye chosen this place 1 Vallombrosa.-A romantic valley about eighteen miles from Florence, remarkable for the dense shade of the trees with which it is covered. 2 Orion. A constellation grouped in the form of an armed warrior; most conspicuous in the stormy months, and therefore supposed to cause tempestuous weather. Such weather sets adrift immense quantities of seaweed, which abounds in the Red Sea, called, therefore, in Hebrew, Yam Soof, or the Weedy Sea. 3 Busiris.-A fabulous king of Egypt, said to have sacrificed all foreigners that visited Egypt. Hercules, when about to receive this treatment, broke his chains, and slew Busiris. Milton poetically adopts his name for Pharaoh. Memphian chivalry.-The forces of Egypt using horses either for riding or drawing chariots. Memphis, the chief city of ancient Egypt. This notice of the overthrow of Pharaoh's host in the Red Sea introduces a new image to illustrate the numbers and condition of Satan's adherents. * Satan accounts for the position of his forces in three ways (1. 317-323); either, first, they were driven into it, seized with astonishment-i. e., paralyzed and confounded by the thunder of heaven; or they chose to repose “After the toil of battle to repose 320 325 "Awake! arise! or be for ever fallen!" 330 They heard, and were abashed, and up they sprung Upon the wing; as when men, wont to watch On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread, 335 In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; Yet to their general's voice they soon obeyed, Waved round the coast, up called a pitchy cloud 340 there; or, not being able to help themselves, they had sworn to adore their conqueror by remaining in the abject state to which he had reduced them. 1 Your wearied virtue.—The corresponding Latin and Greek terms originally meant physical strength, and the personal prowess dependent on it; and in this sense it is here used. The moral sense of virtue was unknown till civilization and refinement had made some progress. 2 Awake! arise! &c.-The terrible emphasis of these words must strike every reader. The famous painting of Lawrence represents Satan in full majesty at the moment of their utterance. 3 Warping.-Working forward with a bending or waving motion. Hovering on wing under the cope of Hell, : 345 350 355 Forthwith from every squadron and each band The heads and leaders thither haste, where stood Their great commander; godlike shapes, and forms And Powers that erst in Heaven sat on thrones; 360 1 Till, as a signal given, &c.—Some modern editions read at for as, which makes a more easy English construction; but Milton seems to have written as, the sentence being moulded on the Latin form, with the ablative absolute, thus, "Till they light in even balance, &c., WHILE the spear of their great Sultan was waving to direct their course." 2 Sultan.-The highest official title among the Turks. Applied to Satan rather than any of the terms in use among Christians. 3 A multitude, &c.-The similes used on this occasion, it has well been remarked, are skilfully adapted to the different states in which the fallen angels are considered. Lying in abject discomfiture on the lake, they are likened to the fallen leaves strewing the brooks of Vallombrosa; on the wing, to obey their leader's summons, they are compared to the locusts sent as a Divine judgment on Egypt; and when at last lighting on the firm brimstone, and preparing for new hostilities, what could be more expressive than to parallel them with the most numerous bodies of troops mentioned in all history. The reference is to the Goths, Huns, and Vandals, who inundated the southern provinces of Europe about the fourth century, and spread across the Straits of Gibraltar into Africa. 4 Rhene or the Danaw.-Instead of the modernized terms, Rhine and Danube, Milton prefers to use terms as near to the original as possible.See before, 1. 246, 294. |