51

Who durft defy the Omnipotent to arms.
Nine times the space that measures day and night
To mortal men, he with his horrid crew
Lay vanquifh'd, rolling in the fiery gulf,
Confounded, though immortal: But his doom
Referv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought
Both of loft happinefs, and lafting pain,
Torments him: round he throws his baleful eyes,
That witnefs'd huge affliction and dismay
Mix'd with obdurate pride and ftedfast hate :

55

So, in Drayton's Polyolbion, Song 1, "bound with adamantine chaines." And Drummond, in his Flowers of Sion, has "Death's adamantine chain:" whence perhaps Pope in his Meffiah:

"In adamantine chains fhall Death be bound."

Gray has finely adapted the phrase in his hymn to Adversity : "Bound in THY adamantine chain."

Milton alfo ufes this expreffion in his Latin Prolufions, and in his Doct. and Difcipl. of Divorce, B. i. ch. 13. TODD.

Ver. 54.

now the thought

Both of loft happiness, &c.] Milton here had in view, as Mr. Bowle alfo obferves, the Devil's fpeech in Marino's Strage de gli Innocenti, 1633. 1. i. ft. 31.

"Laffo, ma che mi val fuor difperanza

"A lo ftato primier volger la mente,

"Se con l'amara e mifera membranza

Ver. 56.

Raddoppia i ben paffato il mal prefente?" TonD.

round he throws his baleful eyes,

That witness'd huge affliction and difinay

Mix'd with obdurate pride and ftedfaft hate:] Mr.

Bowle refers to Taflo, Gier. Conq. L. iv. ft. 11.

"Alza gli occhi dolenti, entorno gira."

And Mr. Stillingfleet to Tafio, Gier. Lib. C. iv. 1.

"Contra i Chriftiani i liuidi occhi torfe.”

At once, as far as Angels ken, he views
The difmal fituation waste and wild;

A dungeon horrible on all fides round,

60

As one great furnace flam'd; yet from those flames No light; but rather darkness visible

Serv'd only to discover fights of woe,

Regions of forrow, doleful fhades, where peace 65

But compare P. Fletcher, in his Locufts, 4°. 1627, of Satan ; "his fiery eye,

"Much fwoln with pride, but more with rage and hate,
"As cenfour, muster'd all his company." Todd.

Ver. 62.

yet from thofe flames

No light;] See the Wifdom of Sol. Ch. xvii. 5, 6. "No power of the fire might give them light-only there ap peared unto them a fire kindled of itself, very dreadful.” TODD. Ver. 63. darkness vifible] Milton feems to have ufed thefe words to fignify gloom. Abfolute darkness is, ftrictly fpeaking, invifible; but where there is a gloom only, there is fo much light remaining, as ferves to fhow that there are objects, and yet that thofe objects cannot be diftinctly feen. PEARCE. Seneca has a like expreffion, fpeaking of the grotto of Paufilipo, Epift. Ivii. "Nihil illo carcere longius, nihil illis faucibus obfcurius, quæ nobis præftant, non ut per tenebras videamus, fed ut ipfas." And, as Voltaire obferves, Antonio de Solis, in his history of Mexico, fpeaking of the place wherein Montezuma' confulted his deities, fays; "It was a large dark fubterranean vault, where fome difmal tapers afforded just light enough to fee the obfcurity." So Euripides, Baccha, v. 510.

ὡς ἂν σκότιον εἰσορᾷ κνέφας.

There is much the fame image in Spenfer, but not fo bold, Faer. Qu. i. i. 14.

"A little glooming light, much like a shade.”

Or, after all, Milton might take the hint from his own Il Penf, "Where glowing embers through the room

Teach light to counterfeit a gloom." NEWTON.

And reft can never dwell; hope never comes
That comes to all; but torture without end
Still urges,
and a fiery deluge, fed
With ever-burning fulphur unconfum'd:
Such place Eternal Justice had prepar'd
For those rebellious; here their prison ordain'd
In utter darkness, and their portion fet
As far remov'd from God and light of Heaven,
As from the center thrice to the utmost pole.

70

That comes to all;] Dante's infcription over the gates of hell has been generally fuppofed to be here copied, Inferno, C. iii. 9.

"Lafciate ogni Speranza, voi che 'ntrate."

Dr. Hurd and Mr. Stillingfleet add, from Euripides, a fimilar expreffion, Troad. 676.

ἐδ ̓, ὃ πᾶσι λείπειαι βροτοῖς,

Ξύνεσιν ἐλπὶς.

Mr. Bowle cites alfo from Sidney's Arcadia, B. ii. p. 322, this obfervation: "He would not put himself into that hell to be hopeless." The following paffage from Dante's defcription of the damned may likewise be compared, Inferno, C. v. 44.

"Nulla speranza gli conforta mai,

"Non che di pofa, ma di minor pena." TODD.

In utter darkness,] Wifdom, xviii. 4. "They were worthy to be deprived of light and imprisoned in darkness." TODD.

Ver. 74. As from the center thrice to the utmost pole.] Thrice as far as it is from the center of the earth, which is the center of the world according to Milton's fyftem, B. ix. 103, and B. x. 671, to the pole of the world; for it is the pole of the universe, far beyond the pole of the earth, which is here called the utmost pole. Homer makes the feat of Hell as far beneath the deepest pit of earth, as the Heaven is above the earth, Iliad viii. 16. Virgil makes it twice as far, Æn, vi. 578. And Milton thrice as far.

O, how unlike the place from whence they fell! 75
There the companions of his fall, o'erwhelm'd
With floods and whirlwinds of tempeftuous fire,
He foon difcerns; and weltering by his fide
One next himself in power, and next in crime,
Long after known in Palestine, and nam'd
Beelzebub. To whom the Arch-Enemy,
And thence in Heaven call'd Satan, with bold
words

Breaking the horrid filence, thus began.

80

As if these three great poets had ftretched their utmost genius, and vied with each other, who should extend his idea of the depth of Hell fartheft. But Milton's whole defcription of Hell as much exceeds theirs, as in this fingle circumftance of the depth of it. And how cool and unaffecting is the Τάρταρον ήερόεντα, the σιδήρειας Te wúrai xai xáλxeos dos, of Homer; the "lugentes campi,” the "ferrea turris" and " horrifono fridentes cardine porta," of Virgil; in comparifon with this defcription by Milton; concluding with that artful contraft, "O, how unlike the place from whence they fell!" NEWTON.

See alfo Milton's Profe-Works, i. 301. ed. 1698. "To banish for ever unto a local Hell, whether in the air or in the center, or in that uttermoft and bottomlefs gulph of Chaos, deeper from holy blifs than the world's diameter multiplied." TODD.

Ver. 77. tempestuous fire,] Pfal. xi. 6. Upon the wicked the Lord will rain fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempeft." DUNSTER.

Ver. 81. Beelzebub.] He is called Prince of the devils, Matt. xii. 24; therefore deservedly here made fecond to Satan himfelf. HUME.

Ver. 82. And thence in Heaven call'd Satan,] For the word Satan, in Hebrew, fignifies an enemy: He is THE ENEMY by way of eminence; the chief enemy of God and man. NEWTON.

Ver. 83. Breaking the horrid filence,] We may compare

If thou beeft he; but O, how fallen! how

chang'd

From him, who, in the happy realms of light, 85 Cloth'd with transcendent brightness, didst out

fhine

Myriads though bright! If he whom mutual league,

United thoughts and counfels, equal hope
And hazard in the glorious enterprise,

Join'd with me once, now mifery hath join'd 90
In equal ruin! Into what pit thou seest,

Claudian, where he is fpeaking of the fame regions, Rapt. Prof. ii. 328.

"Infoliti rumpunt tenebrosa filentia cantus.”

See alfo Virgil, En. ii. 755. And Statius, Theb. iv. 420.

"Subter opaca quies, vacuufque filentia fervat

"Horror -"

Ver. 84.

From him,]

DUNSTER.

but O, how fallen! how chang'd

He imitates Ifaiah and Virgil at the fame time: Ifaiah xiv. 12. "How art thou fallen from heaven, &c." And Virgil, Æn. ii. 274. "Hei mihi, qualis erat! quantum mutatus ab illo !" NEWTON.

Ver. 86. Cloth'd with tranfcendent brightness, didft outfhine Myriads though bright!] Imitated from Homer, Odyf. vi. 110, where Diana excels all her nymphs in beauty, though all of them be beautiful :

Ρεῖα δ ̓ ἀριγνώτη πέλειαι, καλαὶ δὲ τε πᾶσαι. BENTLEY. Ver. 91. In equal ruin:] So it is in all the editions. "And equal ruin," is Dr. Bentley's emendation, which Dr. Pearce allows, and I believe every body must allow, to be juft and proper; it being very eafy to mistake one of these words for the other; and other inftances perhaps may occur in the course o this work. Equal ruin hath joined now, as equal hope joined before; fomewhat like that in Ovid, Met. i. 351.