And with dark shades and rocks environ'd round, O what a multitude of thoughts at once 195. meditations] This is the reading in Milton's own edition; in all the rest that I have seen it is meditation. 201. When I was yet a child, no childish play To me was pleasing ;] How finely and consistently does Milton here imagine the youthful meditations of our Saviour! how different from and superior to that superstitious trumpery which one meets with in the Evangelium Infantiæ, and other such apocryphal trash? Vid. Fabricii Cod. Apoc. N. Test. Thyer. He seems to allude to Callimachus, who says elegantly of young Jupiter, Hymn. in Jov. 56. Οξυ δ' ανάβησας, ταχινοι δε τοι ήλθον 195 200 And Pindar in like manner 204. myself I thought mote all truth,] Born to that end, born to promote all truth, The teachers of our law, and to propose What might improve my knowledge or their own; 206.-therefore above my years, The law of God I read] This resembles Virgil's Ante annos animumque gerens curamque virilem. En. ix. 311. 205 210 Succumbitque oneri, et mentem sua non capit ætas. 5. Sylv. ii. 12. It is seldom we can trace Milton to the Christiad. There is however some resemblance here to And thus Spenser, Faery Queen, Vida's description of Jesus at b. ii. c. ii. 15. -gravity Above the reason of her youthful years. Dunster. 207. The law of God I read, and found it sweet, Made it my whole delight,] How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Ps. cxix. 103. And his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Ps. i. 2. Dunster. 209. that ere yet my age Had measur'd twice six years, at our great feast I went into the temple, &c.] The following verses of Statius bear some resemblance not only to this passage, but also to some of the preceding lines. -octonos lis jam tibi circuit annos Vita; sed augustis animus robustior annis, this early age, when at Jerusalem at the Feast of the Passover, going into the temple, and sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. Ecce sacerdotum in medio conspexi. mus illum, (Prima rudimenta, et virtutis signa futuræ,) Alta recensentem ratum monumenta, patrumque Primores ultro scitantem obscura, docentemque. Illum omnes admirari haud vulgata canentem Supra aciem, captumque hominis, 214. And was admir'd by all:] For all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. Luke ii. 47. To which my spi'rit aspir'd; victorious deeds 218. Then to subdue and quell, o'er all the earth, Brute violence and proud ty rannic power,] Milton here carries his republican principles to the greatest height, in supposing the overthrow of all monarchy to have been one of the objects of our Lord's early contemplations. Compare Samson Agonistes, 1268-1280, where Mr. Warton considers him as intending a panegyric to the memory of Cromwell and his deliverance. Dunster. Nothing perhaps in the poem is less consistent with Scripture than this supposition of our Lord's meditating victorious deeds, and doubting what work he came upon the earth to perform. What follows respecting his mother's informing him of the particulars of his miraculous birth, &c. (see v. 229, 236, 259,) is at variance with the letter of the history, as these meditations are with its spirit. See Luke ii. 49-52, where the words, How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? and the remark which follows, they understood not the saying which he spake unto them, plainly shew that Jesus, at the time of his being left in the temple, was 215 220 far better acquainted than his mother with his descent, and with the purpose of his mission. She indeed kept these sayings in her heart, musing what so many marvels signified; but he never appears to speak without absolute and commanding knowledge. Milton's excuse must be found in the expression, Jesus increased in wisdom, Luke ii. 52, which however relates to the growth of his intellectual faculties and attainments, and does not imply ignorance of his office and mission, which would be contrary to v. 49. Dr. Newton's remark, therefore, upon the accuracy with which Milton adheres to the Scripture history, appears exaggerated. See the note at v. 255. and see also the notes of Mr. Dunster and Mr. Calton on v. 293. E. 219. Brute violence] So again in the Mask, And noble grace that dash'd brute violence. Thyer. 221. Yet held it more humane, more heav'nly first &c.] Here breathes the true spirit of toleration in these lines, and the sentiment is very fitly put into the mouth of him, who came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. By winning words to conquer willing hearts, The allitteration of w's in this By winning words to conquer willing hearts. Our author was always a declared enemy to persecution, and a friend to liberty of conscience. He rises above himself, whenever he speaks of the subject; and he must have felt it very strongly, to have expressed it so happily. For, as Mr. Thyer justly remarks upon this passage, there is a peculiar softness and harmony in these lines, exactly suited to that gentle spirit of love that breathes in them and that man must have an inquisitorial spirit indeed who does not feel the force of them. ; 225 subdue.] We cannot sufficiently condemn the negligence of the former editors and printers, who have not so much as corrected the errata pointed out to them by Milton himself, but have carefully followed all the blunders of the first edition, and increased the number with new ones of their own. This passage affords an instance. In all the editions we read, -the stubborn only to destroy; and this being good sense, the mistake is not so easily detected: but in the first edition the reader is desired in the table of errata for destroy to read subdue; and if we consider it, this is the more proper word, more suitable to the humane and heavenly character of the speaker; and besides it answers to the subdue and quell in ver. 218. The Son of man came not to destroy men's lives, &c. Luke ix. 56. 226. Compare Virgil's -debellare superbos. En. vi. 854. And said to me apart, High are thy thoughts 230 235 Thou should'st be great, and sit on David's throne, 240 And of thy kingdom there should be no end. At thy nativity a glorious quire Of angels in the fields of Bethlehem sung To shepherds watching at their folds by night, Where they might see him, and to thee they came, 245 &c. &c. And they were offended in him. Matt. xiii. 55-57. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Luke i. 32, 33. Dunster. 241. there should be no end.] We have restored the reading of Milton's own edition, should not shall, as before Thou should'st be great. |