Perfections absolute, graces divine, And amplitude of mind to greatest deeds". Thought none my equal, now be over-match'd. So spake the old serpent, doubting; and from all With clamour was assured their utmost aid At his command: when from amidst them rose The sensualest; and, after Asmodai, The fleshliest incubus ; and thus advised: With more than human gifts from Heaven adorn'd, And amplitude of mind to greatest deeds. 140 145 150 Many lines of the 'Paradise Regained' have been censured as harsh and inharmonious; but even of these the greater part may be vindicated (as it has been done in some instances by Mr. Thyer), by showing that they were very far from being of that kind quas incuria fudit; and that many of them are peculiarly expressive, and were purposely designed as such by the poet. The three lines above cited seem, however, secure from every possibility of disapprobation: they are so eminently beautiful, that they must strike every ear that is not quite devoid of feeling and of taste. Mr. Thyer particularly notices the fine effect of the last line, and the dignity and significancy of the expression "amplitude of mind;" which he also supposes might have been suggested by the following passage in Tully's "Tusc. Disput." ii. 25:-"Hoc igitur tibi propone, amplitudinem et quasi quandam exaggerationem quam altissimam animi, quæ maxime eminet contemnendis et despiciendis doloribus, unam esse omnium rem pulcherrimam." -DUNSTER. a Belial, the dissolutest spirit that fell, The sensualest; and, after Asmodai, I have heard these three lines objected to as harsh and inharmonious, but in my opinion the very objection points out a remarkable beauty in them. It is true, they do not run very smoothly off the tongue; but then they are with much better judgment so contrived, that the reader is obliged to lay a particular emphasis, and to dwell for some time upon the word in each verse which most strongly expresses the character described, viz. "dissolutest, sensualest, fleshliest." This has a very good effect by impressing the idea more strongly upon the mind, and contributes even in some measure to increase our aversion to the odious character of Belial, by giving an air of detestation to the very tone of voice with which these verses must necessarily be read.-THYER. This is a just remark of Thyer; it is happy where the metre requires that the strongest accent should be thrown where it is most necessary to enforce the sense. The character of Belial in the 'Paradise Lost,' and the part he sustains there, sufficiently show how properly he is introduced upon the present occasion. He is here said to be the "fleshliest incubus after Asmodai;" or "Asmadai," as it is written, 'Paradise Lost,' b. vi. 365; or 'Asmodeus,' b. iv. 168, the lustful angel who loved Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, and destroyed her seven husbands, as we read in the book of Tobit.-NEWTON. • Set women in his eye, &c. As this temptation is not mentioned in the Gospels, it could not with any propriety have been proposed to our Saviour; it is much more fitly made the subject of debate among the wicked spirits themselves. All that can be said in praise of the power of beauty, and all that can be alleged to depreciate it, is here summed up with greater force and elegance, than I ever remember to have seen in any other author.-NEWTON. Among daughters of men the fairest found: h Hearts after them tangled in amorous nets. 135 160 163 This temptation is something in the style of Tasso, where Satan suggests to Hedroart sending Armida to tempt and corrupt Godfrey, "Gier. Lib." c. iv.-DUNSTER. Many are in each region, &c. Milton, with all his philosophical composure, appears to have been no stranger to the strong perceptions of the passion of love. In his first Elegy he speaks feelingly of the power of beauty, ver. 53:— Ah! quoties dignæ stupui miracula formæ, &c. In the seventh Elegy, written at the age of nineteen, he mentions the first time of his falling in love. He met an unknown fair on some public walks, in or about London; was suddenly and violently captivated, but had no opportunity of declaring his affection and gaining her acquaintance. He in vain ardently wishes to see her again, and flatters his imagination that her heart is not made of adamant. Five of his Italian Sonnets, and his Canzone, are amatorial; and were perhaps inspired by Leonora [Baroni], a young lady whom he had heard sing at Rome, and whom he celebrates in three Latin epigrams. But these were among the vanities of his youth. Yet at a much later and cooler period, when he wrote the present poem, we find him deeply impressed with at least a remembrance of the various and irresistible allurements of beauty. These exquisite lines, ver. 155 to ver. 169, were written by no Stoic. It is certain, that no poet has given more graceful and attractive images of beauty than Milton in his various portraits of Eve, each in a new aspect and attitude.-T. WARTON. Virgin majesty with mild And sweet allay'd, yet terrible to approach. Possibly suggested by Claudian, "Cons. Prob. et Ol." 91: Miscetur decori virtus, pulcherque severo See also 'Paradise Lost,' b. ix. 489, &c.-DUNSTER. Perhaps Milton remembered the description of beauty in Solomon's Song, ch. vi. 4:-"Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners."-TODD. h Skill'd to retire, and, in retiring, draw In the same manner, Milton, in his description of Eve, 'Paradise Lost,' b. viii. 504:— Not obvious, not obtrusive, but retired, The more desirable.-THYER. Thus in Penseroso,' 58: Smoothe the rugged'st brow. Smoothing the rugged brow of night.-DUNSTER. i Draw out with credulous desire. This beautiful expression was formed partly upon Horace, Od. iv. i. 30— Spes animi credula mutui : and partly, as Mr.Thyer thinks, from a passage in the “Andria” of Terence, a. iv. s. 1 :— Non tibi satis esse hoc visum solidum est gaudium, Nisi me lactasses amantem, et falsa spe produceres?-NEWTON. At will the manliest, resolutest breast, To whom quick answer Satan thus return'd: False titled sons of God', roaming the earth, Cast wanton eyes on the daughters of men, 170 175 180 And coupled with them, and begot a race. "Credulous" might have been suggested by an ode of Horace, which Milton himself has translated: Qui nunc te fruitur credulus aurea; * As the magnetick, &c. It should be the magnet, or magnetic stone. adjective, and uses it as the substantive.-NEWTON. But Milton often converts the Lucian hath this simile in his "Imagines," vol. ii. p. 2, ed. Græv. :-" But if the fair one once look upon you, what is it that can get you from her? she will draw you after her at pleasure, bound hand and foot, just as the loadstone draws iron." We may observe, that Milton, by restraining the comparison to the power of beauty over the wisest men and the most stoical tempers, hath given it a propriety which is lost in a more general application.-CALTON. Claudian, having very poetically described the powers of the magnet, concludes his "Idyllium," in a manner that possibly might have suggested to Milton some of the preceding lines: Quæ duras jungit concordia mentes? 1 Before the flood thou with thy lusty crew, It is to be lamented that our author has so often adopted the vulgar notion of the angels having commerce with women, founded upon that mistaken text of Scripture, Gen. vi. 2: The sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." See 'Paradise Lost,' b. iii. 463, &c. But though he seems to favour that opinion, as we may suppose, to embellish his poetry; yet he shows elsewhere that he understood the text rightly, of the sons of Seth, who were the worshippers of the true God, intermarrying with the daughters of wicked Cain, 'Paradise Lost,' b. xi. 621, 625.-NEWTON. m Have we not seen, or by relation heard. This passage is censured by Dr. Warburton, as suiting only the poet speaking in his own person; but surely there is no impropriety in the arch-fiend's being well acquainted with the fables of the heathen mythology, and the amours and adventures of In courts and regal chambers how thou lurk'st, In wood or grove, by mossy fountain side, In valley or green meadow", to way-lay Some beauty rare, Calisto, Clymene, Daphne, or Semele, Antiopa, Or Amymone, Syrinx°, many more Too long; then lay'st thy scapes on names adored, 185 their gods, or (according to Milton's system) his own infernal compeers. If we censure this passage, we must still more decisively condemn one in the fourth book; where, in answer to Satan's speech, describing, while he shows it, the splendour of imperial Rome, our Lord, taking up the subject, carries on the description to the luxurious way of living among the Romans of that time, with this verse in a parenthesis,— For I have also heard, perhaps have read.-Dunster. In wood or grove, by mossy fountain side, In valley or green meadow. Thus in Shakspeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream," Puck, speaking of Oberon and Titania, says: And now they never meet in grove or green, By fountain clear, &c.-DUNSTER. • Calisto, Clymene, Daphne, or Semele, Antiopa, Or Amymone, Syrinx. All these mistresses of the gods might have been furnished from Ovid, our author's favourite Latin poet.-DUNSTER. Too long. P Many more A concise way of speaking for "many more too long to mention." The author had used it before, 'Paradise Lost,' b. iii. 473. Indeed, more would have been "too long," and it would have been better if he had not enumerated so many of the loves of the gods. These things are known to every school-boy, but add no dignity to a divine poem; and in my opinion are not the most pleasing subjects in painting any more than in poetry.-NEWTON. Poetry, as strictly discriminated from prose, may be defined, elevated and ornamented language. Among the most allowed modes of elevating and decorating language, independent of metrical arrangement, mythological references and allusions, and classical imitations hold a principal place. A poet precluded from these would be miserably circumscribed; and might with equal or better effect relate the fable which he imagines, the historic facts which he records, or the precepts which he lays down, in that species of language which asks no ornaments but purity and perspicuity. A divine poem certainly requires to be written in the chastest style, and to be kept perfectly free from the glare of false ornament: but it must still be considered that the great reason of exhibiting any serious truths, and especially the more interesting facts of religious history, through the medium of poetry, is thereby more powerfully to attract the attention. Poetry, to please, must continue to be pleasing. In the beauty and propriety of his references and allusions, the poet shows the perfection of his taste and judgment, as much as in any other circumstance whatever; and Milton has eminently distinguished himself in this respect. How beautifully has he sprinkled his 'Paradise Lost' with the flowers of classic poetry, and the fictions of Greek and Roman mythology! And he has done this with so judicious a hand, with a spirit so reverent, that the most religiously delicate ear cannot but be captivated with it. I confess my surprise that Dr. Newton does not see the passage before us in this light. It appears to me not only in the highest degree justifiable, but absolutely as one of those loci laudandi which the best critics ever delight to exhibit from the works of the more eminent poets. Milton here admirably avails himself of the fabulous amours of the heathen deities: he transfers them to the fallen angels, and to Belial and "his lusty crew;" and by the judicious application of these disgraceful tales, he gives them a propriety which they never before possessed; he furnishes even the school-boy with a moral to the fable which he has been reading; and recalls to maturer minds the classical beauty of these fabulous descriptions, which at once relieve and adorn his divine poem.—ĎUNSTER. Apollo, Neptune, Jupiter, or Pan', Satyr, or Faun, or Sylvan? But these haunts How many have with a smile made small account All her assaults, on worthier things intent! A youth, how all the beauties of the East In his prime youth, the fair Iberian maid ". Of honour, wealth, high fare, aim'd not beyond Thy scapes. This is a Gallicism, échappée, a prank or frolic.-DUNSTER. Apollo, Neptune, Jupiter, or Pan. 190 195 200 205 Calisto, Semele, and Antiopa, were mistresses to Jupiter; Clymene and Daphne, to Apollo; and Syrinx, to Pan. Both here and elsewhere, Milton considers the gods of the heathens as demons or devils. Thus, in the Septuagint version of the Psalms, Пávтeç oi Otoi Tõv ¿0vův daiμóvia, Psalm xcvi. 5, and likewise in the Vulgate Latin, "Quoniam omnes Dii gentium dæmonia." And the notion of the demons having commerce with women in the shape of heathen gods is very ancient, and is expressly asserted by Justin Martyr, "Apol." i. p. 10, and 33, edit. Thirlbii.-NEWTON. • Remember that Pellean conquerour, &c. Alexander the Great was born at Pella in Macedonia: his continence and clemency to Darius's queen and daughters, and the other Persian ladies whom he took captive after the battle of Issus, are commended by the historians: "Tum quidem ita se gessit, ut omnes ante eum reges et continentia et clementia vincerentur: virgines enim regias excellentis formæ tam sancte habuit, quam si eodem quo ipse parente genitæ forent: conjugem ejusdem, quam nulla ætatis suæ pulchritudine corporis vicit, adeo ipse non violavit, ut summam adhibuerit curam, ne quis captivo corpori illuderet," &c., Quint. Curt. lib. iii. cap. 9. He was then a young conqueror, of about twenty-three years a youth," as Milton expresses it.-NEWTON. of age; See Juvenal, Sat. x. 168: Unus Pellæo juveni non sufficit orbis.-DUNSTER. How all the beauties of the East He slightly view'd, and slightly overpass'd. Alexander, we know from history, did not "slightly overpass all the beauties of the East."-DUNSTER. "How he, surnamed of Africa, dismiss'd, In his prime youth, the fair Iberian maid. The continence of Scipio Africanus at the age of twenty-four, and his generosity in restoring a beautiful Spanish lady to her husband and friends, are celebrated by Polybius, Livy, Valerius Maximus, and various other authors.-NEWTON. Thence to the bait of women, &c. This remark, applied by Satan to Solomon, the example cited by Belial, induces me to notice the description of Belial by Wierus, "Pseudomonarchia Dæmonum," edit. Basil. 1582, p. 919. "Sunt quidam necromantici, qui asserunt ipsum Salomonem, quodam die astutia cujusdam mulieris seductum, orando se inclinasse versus simulacrum Belial nomine," &c. Wierus doubts this particular circumstance. But see 1 Kings xi. 1-8, and 'Par. Lost,' b. i. 401, and the present book, ver. 169.-Todd. |