Wise, perfect in himself, and all possessing, As fearing God nor man, contemning all Or subtle shifts conviction to evade. Alas what can they teach, and not mislead, Provident. c. 6. Ferte fortiter, 305 310 and of Seneca again, epist. lxx. Dunster. 303. Equals to God,] In Milton's own edition, and all following, it is Equal to God: but I cannot but think this an error of the press, the sense is so much improved by the addition only of a single letter. Equals to God, oft shames not to prefer. 307. For all his tedious talk is but vain boast, Or subtle shifts] Vain boasts relate to the Stoical paradoxes, and subtle shifts to their dialectic, which this sect so much cultivated, as to be as well known by the name Dialectici as Stoici. Warburton. 313. Much of the soul they talk, but all awry,] See what Mr. Warburton has said upon this subject in the first volume of the Divine Legation. 314. And in themselves seek virtue, and to themselves All glory arrogate, to God give none, Wise men have said, are wearisome; who reads All glory arrogate, to God give none,] Cicero speaks the sentiments of ancient philosophy upon this point in the following words: propter virtutem enim jure laudamur, et in virtute recte gloriamur: quod non contingeret, si id donum a Deo, non a nobis haberemus. At vero aut honoribus aucti, aut re familiari, aut si aliud quippiam nacti sumus fortuiti boni, aut depulimus mali, cùm Diis gratias agimus, tum nihil nostræ laudi assumptum arbitramur. Num quis, quòd bonus vir esset, gratias Diis egit unquam ? At quòd dives, quòd honoratus, quòd incolumis.-Ad rem autem ut redeam, judicium hoc omnium mortalium est, fortunam à Deo petendam, à se ipso sumendam esse sapientiam. De Nat. Deor. iii. 36. - Warburton. 316. under usual names ; Fortune and Fate,] Several of the ancient philosophers, but especially the Stoics, thus characterised the Deity. Sic hunc naturam vocas, fatum, fortunam; omnia ejusdem Dei nomina sunt, varie utentis suâ potestate. De Beneficiis, iv. 8. 315 320 and Nat. Quæst. ii. 45. and Seneca, the tragic poet, Edip. 980. The Stoic poet, Lucan, frequently terms the Deity, fate, or fortune, as Pharsal. i. 87. iii. 96. Dunster. 321. An empty cloud,] A metaphor taken from the fable of Ixion, who embraced an empty cloud for a Juno 322. Wise men have said,] Alluding to Eccles. xii. 12. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. 322. Aiunt enim, says the younger Pliny; multum legendum esse non multa, 1. viii. ep. 9. It is indeed a Stoical precept, any de Bibliav difav prov. Antonin. Meditat. 1. xi. 3. And Seneca has the same sentiment, ep. ii. and De Tranquillitate Animi, c. 9. Dunster. A spirit and judgment equal or superior, (And what he brings, what needs he elsewhere seek?) Uncertain and unsettled still remains, 326 Deep vers'd in books and shallow in himself, Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys, And trifles for choice matters, worth a sponge; As children gathering pebbles on the shore. That solace? All our law and story strow'd 330 With hymns, our psalms with artful terms inscrib'd, 335 That pleas'd so well our victor's ear, declare 325. And what he brings, what needs he elsewhere seek?] The poet makes the old sophister the Devil always busy in his trade. It is a pity he should make Jesus (as he does here) use the same arms. Warburton. 329. -worth a sponge ;] Not worth seeing the light, not worth preserving; alluding to the use of the sponge for blotting out any thing written. So Augustus said of his tragedy, which he had attempted, but had laid aside, Ajacem suum in spongiam incubuisse. Suetonius Vit. Aug. Dunster. 335. -our psalms with artful terms inscrib'd,] He means the inscriptions often prefixed to the beginning of several psalms, such as To the chief musician upon Nehiloth, To the chief musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith, Shiggaion of David, Michtam of David, &c. to denote the various kinds of psalms or instruments. 336. Our Hebrew songs and harps in Babylon, That pleas'd so well our victor's ear,] This is said upon the authority of Psalm cxxxvii. 1, &c. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea we wept, when we remembered Sion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they that wasted us, required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Sion. 338. That rather Greece from us these arts deriv'd;] This was the system in vogue at that time. It was established and supported with vast erudition by Bochart, and carried to an extravagant Ill imitated, while they loudest sing The vices of their deities, and their own Their gods ridiculous, and themselves past shame. As varnish on a harlot's cheek, the rest, and even ridiculous length by Clemens Alexandrinus ascribes the invention of hymns and songs to the Jews; and says that the Greeks stole theirs from them. (Stromat. 1. i. p. 308. Ed. Colon. 1688.) He also charges the Grecian philosophers with stealing many of their doctrines from 340 345 bably suggested the following lines in the Duke of Buckingham's Essay on Poetry, Figures of speech, which poets think so fine, (Art's needless varnish to make nature shine,) Are all but paint upon a beauteous face, And in descriptions only claim a place. the Jewish prophets, (1. i. p. 312.) As Milton, perhaps, had ShakeDunster. 341. -personating,] This is in the Latin sense of persono, to celebrate loudly, to publish or proclaim. Dunster. 343. swelling epithets] Greek compounds. Warburton. The hymns of the Greek poets to their deities consist of very little more than repeated invocations of them by different names and epithets. Our Saviour very probably alluded to these, where he cautions his disciples against vain repetitions and much speaking (Barroλoya) in their prayers, Matt. vi. 7. Thyer. Swelling epithets thick laid is particularly applicable to the Orphic hymns. Indeed gods and heroes were scarcely ever mentioned by the Greek poets without some swelling or compound epithet. -thick laid as varnish on a harlot's cheek; these words pro speare in his mind: The harlot's cheek, beautied with plastering art, Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it, Than is my deed to my most painted 345. Thin sown with ought of profit and delight,] In allusion to Horace, Art. Poet. 333. Aut prodesse volunt, aut delectare poetæ. Plato also (De Repub. x. p. 607. 346. Will far be found unwor- With Sion's songs, to all true tastes excelling, Such are from God inspir'd, not such from thee, By light of nature not in all quite lost. He was of this opinion not only yond all these, not in their di"vine argument alone, but in "the very critical art of compo"sition, may be easily made appear over all the kinds of lyric "poetry, to be incomparable." 948. Where God is prais'd aright, and God-like men,] The only poetry which Plato recommends to be admitted into a state are hymns to the gods, and encomiums on virtuous actions. Είδεναι δε ὅτι ὅσον μονον ὕμνους θεοις και εγκωμία της αγαθης ποιησεως πα endENTION EIS TOMLY. De Repub. lib. 350. Such are from God inspir'd, The sense of these lines is ob 350 scure, and liable to mistake. The meaning of them is, poets from thee inspired are not such as these, unless where moral virtue is expressed &c. Meadowcourt. The obscurity, if not caused, is increased by departing from the punctuation of the first edition, which had a semicolon after not such from thee. Unless certainly has no reference to the line immediately preceding, but to v. 346. Will far be found unworthy to com pare With Sion's songs, &c. Unless where moral virtue is express'd By light of nature, not in all quite lost. I could wish however that the passage had been otherwise arranged, and these two lines, 351,352, inserted in a parenthesis, after v. 345. Dunster. V. 353. -as those] I should prefer as though. Calton. 354. statists] Or statesmen. Α word in more frequent use formerly, as in Shakespeare, Cymbeline, act ii. sc. 5.. I do believe, (Statist though I am none, nor like to be ;) and Hamlet, act v. sc. 3. I once did hold it, as our statists do, &c. |