In them at once to ruin all mankind. Go therefore, half this day as friend with friend Or with repofe; and fuch discourse bring on, 230 235 His 235. Happiness in his pow'r left free to will,] That is in the power of him left free to will. 247.- nor delay'd the winged Saint, &c.] Raphael's departure from before the throne, and his flight thro' the quires of Angels is finely imaged. As Milton every where fills his poem with circumstances that are marvelous and aftonishing, he defcribes the gate of Heaven as framed after fuch a manner, that it opened of itself upon the approach of the Angel who was to pass through it. The poet here feems to have regarded two or three paffages in the 18th Iliad, as that in particular, where fpeaking of Vulcan, Homer fays, that he had made twenty tripodes running on golden wheels; which upon occafion might go of themfelves to the affembly of the Gods, and when there was no more ufe for them, returned again after the fame manner. Scaliger has rallied Homer very feverely upon this point, as M. Dacier has endevor'd to defend it. I will not pretend to determin whether in this particular of Homer, the marvelous does not lofe fight of the probable. As the miraculous workmanship of Milton's gates is not fo extraordinary as this of the tripodes, fo I am perfuaded he would not have mention'd it, had not he been fupported in it by a paffage in the Scripture, which peaks of wheels in Heaven that had life in them, and moved of themselves, or ftood still, in conformity with the Cherubims, whom they accompany'd. There is no question His danger, and from whom; what enemy, Late fall'n himself from Heav'n, is plotting now So fpake th' eternal Father, and fulfill'd 241 245 Veil'd queftion but Milton had this circumftance in his thoughts, because in the following book he defcribes the chariot of the Meffiah with living wheels, according to the plan of Ezekiel's vifion. I queftion not but Boffu and the two Daciers, who are for vindicating every thing that is cenfur'd in Homer, by fomething parallel in holy Writ, would have been very well pleafed had they thought of confronting Vulcan's tripodes with Ezekiel's wheels. Addifon. It perhaps would be an entertainment to the curious reader to compare this circumftantial defcription of Raphael's defcent from Heaven with that of Michael in Taffo's Gier. Lib. Cant. 9. St. 60, 61, 62. They feem both to have been VOL. I. much labor'd by their respective authors, and have each their particular beauties and defects. Milton does not in this place feem to endevor to imitate, as he does in many others, the Italian poet, but rather to strive to rival and outdo him, and to have chofen for that purpofe circumftances of a different fort to imbellish his defcription. Which has fucceeded beft, every reader must determin for himfelf. Thyer. 249. Thousand celeftial Ardors,] Ardor in Latin implies fervency, exceeding love, eager defire, fiery nature; all included in the idea of an Angel. Richardjon. By the word Ardors here Milton only means Seraphim, which fignifies jutt the fame in Hebrew B b (being Veil'd with his gorgeous wings, up fpringing light 250 From hence, no cloud, or, to obftruct his fight, Not unconform to other fhining globes, 255 Earth and the gard'n of God, with cedars crown'd Above (being deriv'd from zaraph to burn) as Arders does in English. The poet, I fuppofe, only made ufe of this term to diverfify his language a little, as he is forc'd to mention the word Seraph and Seraphim in fo many places. Thyer. 254--the gate felf-open'd wide] This circumftance is not borrow'd, as Mr. Addifon conceiv'd, from Vulcan's tripodes in Homer, but from Homer's making the gates of Heaven open of their own accord to the deities who paffed thro' them, Iliad. V. 749. Heav'n's golden gates, kept by the Where Mr. Pope obferves that the 257. From hence, no cloud, &c.] The comma after interpos'd, Thows that it is here a participle in the ablative cafe put abfolutely; and the conftruction is, From hence, no Αυτομαται δι πιλαι μυκον ἔξανε, ὡς cloud er far being interpofed to ok fruct his fight, he jees, however jmall it is, appearing very fmall at Heav'n gates fpontaneous open to that diftance, the earth not unlike 10 the Fow'rs, other joining globes, and in it Para Above all hills. As when by night the glass 261 Of Galileo, lefs affur'd, obferves Imagin'd lands and regions in the moon: Delos or Samos first appearing, kens 265 A cloudy spot. Down thither prone in flight He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky Sails between worlds and worlds, with fteddy wing 270 A dife, the garden of God, that was crown'd with cedars which were higher than the higheft bills. 261. As when by night the glafs &c.] The Angel from Heaven gate viewing the earth is compared to an aftronomer obferving the moon thro' a telescope, or to a pilot at fea difcovering an iland at a distance. As when by night the glajs of Galileo, the telefcope fir uled in celestial obfervations by Galileo a native of Florence, les ajur'd than the Angel, as was likewife the pilot, obferves, a poetical expreffion, the inftrument put for the perfon who makes ufe of it, imagin'd lands and regions in the moon, it is not only imagin'd that there are lands and regions in the moon, but aftronomers give names to them: Or pilot from amidft the Cyclades, a parcel of ilands in the Archipelago, Delos or Samos firft appearing, two of the largest of thefe ilands and therefore firit appearing, kens a cloudy Spot, for ilands fem to be fuch at their first appearance. But the Angel fees with greater clearness and certainty than thefe; the glass is lefs affur'd, and the pilot kens only a cloudy Spot, when the Angel fees not the whole globe only, but diftinctly the mount of Paradife. A Phoenix, gaz'd by all, as that fole bird, 275 A Seraph wing'd; fix wings he wore, to fhade Each -hine toto præceps fe corpore himself, who taking up the re ad undas Mifit, avi fimilis. 272. A Phoenix,] Dr. Bentley objects to Raphael's taking the shape of a Phenix, and the objection would be very juft if Milton had faid any fuch thing: but he only fays that to all the fowls be feems a Phoenix; he was not really a Phoenix, the birds only fancied him one. This bird was famous among the Ancients, but generally looked upon by the Moderns as fabulous. The naturalifts fpeak of it as fingle, or the only one of its kind, and therefore it is called here that fole bird, as it had been before by Taffo unico augello. They defcribe it as of a molt beautiful plumage. They hold that it lives five or fix hundred years; that when thus advanc'd in age, it builds itfelf a funeral pile of wood and aromatic guras, which being kindled by the fun it is there confumed by the fire, and another Phoenix arifes out of the athes, ancestor and fucceffor to liques of his funeral pile flies with them to Egyptian Thebes to infhrine them there in the temple of the fun, the other birds attending and gazing upon him in his flight. Egyptian Thebes to diftinguish it from the other Thebes in Boeotia. See Plin. Nat. Hift. L. 10. c. 2. Ovid. Met. XV. and Claudian de Phoenice. Armida in Tasso is in like manner compared to a Phoenix. Cant. 17. St. 35. Come all' hor, che'l rinato unico augello, &c. |