Saw undelighted all delight; all kind Of living creatures new to fight and strange. Godlike erect, with native honor clad In naked majesty feem'd lords of all, 290 And worthy feem'd; for in their looks divine Whence true authority in men; though both tude fevere and pure, that is ftri&t holiness; which are qualities that give to magiftrates true authority, that proper authority which they may want who yet have legal authority. This is Milton's meaning: and for explaining the word fevere, he inferts a verfe to fhow that he does not mean fuch a fanctitude or holiness as is rigid and auftere, but fuch as is plac'd in filial freedom; alluding to the fcriptural expreflions, which reprefent good Chriftians as free and as the Jons of God: on which foundation our obedience (from whence our fanétitude arifes) is a filial, and not a flavish one; a reverence ra 295 He ther than a fear of the Deity. grace,] The curious reader may please to obferve upon these two charming lines, how the numbers are varied, and how artfully he and the are placed in each verse, fo as the tone may fall upon them, and yet fall upon them differently. The author might have given both exactly the fame tone, but every ear He for God only, fhe for God in him: His fair large front and eye fublime declar'd ear muft judge this alteration to be much for the worse. For valor he and contemplation form'd, For foftnefs fhe and fweet attrac tive grace. 299. He for God only, fhe for God in him:] The author gave it thus, fays Dr. Bentley, 300 Cluftring, Kad de napnTG Ουλας ηκε κόμας, υακινθίνω από Back from his brows a length of His hyacinthin locks defcend in wavy curls. Broome. Euftathius interprets hyacinthin locks by black locks, and Suidas by very dark brown; and Milton He for God only, fhe for God and in like manner means brown or him. black locks, diftinguishing Adam's hair from Eve's in the color as well as in other particulars. It is probable the hyacinth among the Ancients might be of a darker color than it is among us. 303. Cluftring,] His hair hung cluftring, or like bunches of grapes, as her's was like the young fhoots or tendrils of the vine. They are oppos'd, you fee, the one to the other. 303. bis boulders broad:] Broad fhoulders are always affign'd to the ancient heroes; in Homer they have sugeas wuss, in Virgil latos bumeros. But I wonder that Milton has given no indication that Adam had a beard; not the leaft down or bloffom on his chin, the firft accefs to manhood; which the Greek and Latin poets dwell on, as the principal part of manly beauty: Cluftring, but not beneath his shoulders broad: She as a veil down to the slender waste Her unadorned golden treffes wore : beauty and our Spenfer, B. z. Cant. 12. St. 79. and B. 3. Cant. 5. St. 29. Bentley. His beard is a particular that the poet could not have forgot, but I fuppofe he purposely omitted it, because Raphael and the principal painters always reprefent him without one; I believe no one remembers ever to have feen a good print or picture of him with one, and Milton frequently fetches his ideas from the works of the greatest masters in painting. 304. She as a veil down to the Slender awafte Her unadorned golden treffes &c.] In like manner Marino paints his Venus. Adon. Cant. 8. St. 47. Onde a guifa d'un vel dorato, e folto Celando il bianco feu trà l'onde loro In mille minutiffimi rufcelli 305 As could not poffibly carry too high. the charms of Woman, as she first came out of the hands of her heavenly Maker. But as a picture of this kind would have been too light and gay for the graver turn of Milton's plan, he has very artfully mentioned the charms of her perfon in general terms only, and directed the reader's attention more particularly to the beauty of her mind. Moft great poets have labor'd in a particular manner the delineation of their Beauties (Ariofto's Alcina, Taflo's Armida, and Spenfer's Belphoebe) and 'tis very probable that the portrait of Eve would have rival'd them all, if the chafte correctnefs of our author's Mufe had not reftrain'd him. Thyer. 305. golden treffes] This fort of hair was moft admir'd and celebrated by the Ancients, I fup Dal capo fcaturir gli aurei ca- pofe as it ufually betokens a fairer pelli. The poet has, I think, fhowed great judgment and delicacy in avoiding in this place the entring into a circumftantial description of Eve's beauty. It was, no doubt, a very tempting occafion of giving an indulgent loose to his fancy; fince the most lavish imagination VOL. I. íkin and finer complexion. It would be almost endless to quote paffages to this purpofe in praise of Helen and the other famous beauties of antiquity. Venus herself, the Goddefs of beauty, is defcribed of this color and complexion; and therefore is ftiled golden Venus, puon Apedin by Homer, and Venus aurea by Virgil. As Milton had D d the As the vine curls her tendrils, which imply'd Nor those mysterious parts were then conceal'd, the taste of the Ancients in other things, fo likewife in this particular. He muft certainly have preferred this to all other colors, or he would never have beftow'd it upon Eve, whom he defign'd as a pattern of beauty to all her daughters. And poffibly he might at the fame time intend a compliment to his wife; for I remember to have heard from a gentleman who had feen his widow in Cheshire, that fhe had hair of this color. It is the more probable, that he intended a compliment to his wife in the drawing of Eve; as it is certain, that he drew the portrait of Adam not without regard to his own perfon, of which he had no mean opinion. 310 315 With long hair, it is a shame unto him? And therefore Milton gives Adam locks, that bung cluftring, but not beneath his shoulders broad. But if a woman have long hair (continues the Apostle) it is a glory to ber, for her hair is given her for a covering or veil as it is render'd in the margin: and therefore our author gives Eve very long hair, he wore her golden treffes as a veil down to the fender wafte. And this long hair the Apoftle confiders as an argument and token of her fubjection, a covering, a veil, in fign that she is under the power of her husband; and for the fame reason the poet fays that it imply'd fubjection: fuch excellent ufe doth he make of the facred Writings. The poet adds 307. which imply'd that this fubjection was requir'd by Subjection,] The poet manifeftly him with gentle fway, and yielded alludes to St. Paul's first Epistle to by her, but it was beft receiv'd by the Corinthians, Chap. XI. Doth him, when yielded with coy fubmifnot even nature itself teach you (fays fion, modeft pride, and fweet relucthe Apoftle) that if a man have tant amorous delay, which is ex prefs'd f With shows instead, mere fhows of feeming pure, So pass'd they naked on, nor shunn'd the fight prefs'd with more elegance than facili fævitia negat 314. bonor dishonorable,] He alludes to 1 Cor. XII. 23. And those members of the body which we think to be lefs honorable, upon these we befcw more abundant honor. But the honor paid to thofe parts is really a difhonor, a token of our fall, and an indication of our guilt. Innocent nature made no fuch diftinction. Sin-bred, how have ye troubled &c. Should we not read, Sin-bred, how have you troubledfor what is he speaking to befides Shame? 323. Adam the goodlieft man of men &c.] Thefe two lines are cenfur'd by Mr. Addison, and 320 Under are totally rejected by Dr. Bentley, as implying that Adam was one of his fons, and Eve one of her daughters: but this manner of expreffion is borrow'd from the Greek lan guage, in which we find fometimes the fuperlative degree used inftead of the comparative. The meaning therefore is, that Adam was a goodlier man than any of his fons, and Eve fairer than her daughters. So Achilles is faid to have been ωκυμορώτατο αλλων Iliad.I. 505. that is more fhort-liv'd than others. So Nireus is faid to have been the handfomeft of the other Grecians, Iliad. II. 673. αυτός καλλις θ ανηρ υπό Ίλιον ήλθε, Των αλλων Δαναωγ And the fame manner of speaking has pafs'd from the Greeks to the Latins. So a freed woman is call'd in Horace, Sat. I. I. 100. fortiffima Tyndaridarum, not that she was one |