35

Who firft feduc'd them to that foul revolt?
The infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile,
Stirr'd up with envy and revenge, deceiv'd
The mother of mankind, what time his pride
Had caft him out from Heaven, with all his hoft
Of rebel Angels; by whofe aid, afpiring
To fet himself in glory above his peers,
He trufted to have equall'd the Moft High, 40
If he oppos'd; and, with ambitious aim
Against the throne and monarchy of God,

Ver. 33. Who first seduc'd them to that foul revolt ?
The infernal Serpent ;] An imitation of Homer,

Iliad i. 8.

Ver. 38.

Τίς τ' ἄρ σφῶν θεῶν ἔριδι ξυνέηκε μάχεσθαι ;

Ληλᾶς καὶ Διὸς υἱός. ΗUME.

by whofe aid, afpiring

To fet himself in glory above his peers,] Here Dr. Bentley objects, that Satan's crime was not his aiming above his peers: he was in place high above them before, as the doctor proves from B. v. 812. But, though this be true, Milton may be right here; for the force of the words fees, not that Satan afpired to fet himself above his peers, but that he aspired to set himself in glory, that is, in divine glory, in fuch glory as God and his Son were fet in. Here was his crime; and this is what God charges him with, in B. v. 725.

"who intends to erect his throne
Equal to ours,"—

and, in B. vi. 88, Milton fays, that the rebel Angels hoped
"To win the mount of God, and on his throne
"To fet the envier of his state, the proud

"Afpirer."

See alfo, to the fame purpofe, B. vii. 140, &c. PEARCE.

Ver. 40. He trusted to have equall'd the Most High,] Sce Ifaiah, Ch. xiv. 13. STILLINGFLEET.

BOOK I.

Rais'd impious war in Heaven, and battle proud,
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
Hurl'd headlong flaming from the ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combuftion, down
To bottomlefs perdition; there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,

46

impious war in Heaven, and battle proud,] See

Ver. 43.
Virgil, En. vi. 613.

"bello profugos egere fuperbo." Dunster.

Ver. 45. Hurl'd headlong flaming from the ethereal sky,] Dr. Newton here refers to Homer, Il. i. 591. And Mr. Stillingfleet, to Hefiod, Theog. 717. But, as Mr. Boyd the learned translator of the Divina Commedia of Dante remarks, Milton feems to have here particularly remembered the defcription of the Italian poet, Purgat. C. xii. 25.

"Vedea colui, che fu nobil creato,

"Più d'altra creatura, giù dal cielo,
"Folgoreggiando, fcender da un lato.”

Compare alfo Heywood's Hierarchie of Angels, fol. 1635, p. 412, where Lucifer is reprefented as having felected

"Legions of Angels, with like pride infected
"Against Jehovah; and with expedition

"Hurl'd them with himfelfe headlong to perdition." TODD.

Ver. 48. In adamantine chains] This phrafe has been cited from Æfchylus by Dr. Newton. It occurs alfo in Ariofto, and in Fulvio Tefti. But it was a common phrase in English. Thus, in Spenfer's Hymn, In Honour of Love.

66 Together linkt with adamantine chaines."

And in P. Fletcher's Purp. Ifland, 1633, c. xii. ft. 64, of the old Dragon:

"So now he's bound in adamantine chain;

"He ftorms, he roars, he yells for high dyduin."

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 happiness, and lafting pain,
Torments him: round he throws his baleful eyes,
That witness'd huge affliction and difmay
Mix'd with obdurate pride and stedfaft 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 Adverfity : "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 also obferves, the Devil's fpeech in Marino's Strage de gli Innocenti, 1633. 1. i. ft. 31.

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Ver. 56.

Raddoppia i ben paffato il mal prefente?" Tond. round he throws his baleful eyes,

That witness'd huge affliction and difmay

Mix'd with obdurate pride and stedfaft hate:] Mr,

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

"Alza gli occhi dolenti, eʼntorno gira.”

And Mr. Stillingfleet to Taffo, Gier. Lib. C. iv. 1.
Contra i Christiani 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,

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

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,

4

"Much fwoln with pride, but more with rage and hate, "As cenfour, mufter'd all his company." TODD. Ver. 62.

yet from thofe flames

No light;] See the Wisdom of Sol. Ch. xvii. 5, 6. "No power of the fire might give them light-only there appeared 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. lvii. "Nihil illo carcere longius, nihil illis faucibus ob fcurius, quæ nobis præftant, non ut per tenebras videamus, fed ut ipfas." And, as Voltaire obferves, Antonio de Solis, in his hiftory of Mexico, fpeaking of the place wherein Montezuma confulted his deities, fays; "It was a large dark fubterranean vault, where fome difmal tapers afforded juft 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 Juftice 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.

66

Lafciate ogni fperanza, voi che 'ntrate."

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

ἐδ', ὃ πᾶσι λείπεται 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 description of the damned may likewife be compared, Inferno, C. v. 44.

"Nulla fperanza gli conforta mai,

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

Ver. 71.

- their prifon ordain'd

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 univerfe, 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, En. yi. 578. And Milton thrice as far.