Nor thou his malice and false guile contemn;
Subtle he needs must be, who could feduce
Angels; nor think fuperfluous others aid.
I, from the influence of thy looks, receive
Access in every virtue; in thy fight
More wife, more watchful, stronger, if need were
Of outward strength; while fhame, thou look-
ing on,

Shame to be overcome or over-reach'd,

310

Would utmost vigour raife, and rais'd unite. Why shouldft not thou like sense within thee feel When I am present, and thy trial choose 316 With me, best witness of thy virtue tried?

So fpake domestick Adam in his care

Ver. 312.

while fhame, thou looking on,] Milton often uses the nominative cafe abfolute, as the Greeks do; which whether it should be called a cafe abfolute, or an ellipfis, we leave to the Grammarians to determine.

JORTIN.

Ver. 314. and rais'd unite.] Would unite and add vigour to wisdom, watchfulness, and every virtue mentioned before. If this be not the meaning, it must be understood thus, Would raise the utmost vigour, and unite and collect it all when raised.

NEWTON.

allude to what Adam had faid in v. 232.

-"nothing lovelier can be found

"In woman than to ftudy houfhold good,

"And good works in her husband to promote."

Domeftick in his care, may fignify here one who has a careful re

And matrimonial love; but Eve, who thought Lefs áttributed to her faith fincere,

Thus her reply with accent sweet renew'd.

If this be our condition, thus to dwell In narrow circuit ftraiten'd by a foe, Subtle or violent, we not endued Single with like defence, wherever met; How are we happy, ftill in fear of harm? But harm precedes not fin: only our foe, Tempting, affronts us with his foul esteem Of our integrity: his foul esteem

320

325

Sticks no dishonour on our front, but turns 330 Foul on himself; then wherefore fhunn'd or fear'd

By us? who rather double honour gain

From his furmife prov'd false; find peace within,

gard to the good of his family; and all this fpeech of Adam's was intended for the fecurity of his wife. PEARCE.

Ver. 320. Lefs áttributed] That is, too little; an elegant Latinifm. RICHARDSON.

Ver. 330. Sticks no dishonour on our front,] Dr. Newton notices the jingle of front with affronts in v. 328; and fays, that the poet alludes to the etymology of the word affront, adfrontare, i. e. frontem fronti committere, according to Skinner. So, in Italian, affrontare, to meet face to face. This fense of affront often occurs in Shakspeare. Mintheu's explanation of the word, in his Guide to Tongues 1627, is almoft literally, To stick difhonour on the front, viz. "Aliquem contumeliâ afficere in frontem." In Samfon Agonistes v. 532, Milton uses the fubftantive affront, like the Italian affronto, for encounter. See alfo the verb affront, in this fenfe, B. i. 391. TODD.

Favour from Heaven, our witnefs, from the event.
And what is faith, love, virtue, unaffay'd 335
Alone, without exteriour help sustain❜d?
Let us not then fufpect our happy state
Left fo imperfect by the Maker wife,
As not fecure to fingle or combin'd.
Frail is our happiness, if this be fo,
And Eden were no Eden, thus expos'd.

To whom thus Adam fervently replied.
O Woman, beft are all things as the will

340

Ver. 334. our witness, from the event.] The Spirit bearing witnefs with our fpirit, Rom. viii. 16. NEWTON.

Ver. 335. And what is faith, love, virtue, unaffay'd

Alone, without exteriour help fuftain'd?]

What

merit is there in any virtue, till it has stood the test alone, and without other affiftance? Hor. Od. iv. ix. 29.

"Paulùm fepultæ distat inertiæ

"Celata virtus." RICHARDSON.

Ver. 339. As not fecure to fingle or combin'd.] As not to be fecure to us fingle or together. NEWTON.

Ver. 342. To whom thus Adam fervently replied.

O Woman,] What Eve had juft now faid required fome reprimand from Adam, and it was neceffary to describe him as in fome degree difpleafed; but what extreme delicacy has our author fhown in choofing the word fervently to exprefs it by! a term which though it implies fome emotion, yet carries nothing in its idea inconfiftent with that fubferviency of the paffions, which fubfifted before the Fall. In the two foregoing speeches he had made Adam addrefs himfelf to her in the affectionate terms of Sole Eve, affociate fole, and Daughter of God and Man, immortal Eve; but here with great judgement he changes thofe endearing words for thefe more authoritative O Woman. I fhould think that Milton in this expreffion alluded to what our Saviour said to the Virgin Mary, Woman, what have I to do with thee? was not I

Of God ordain'd them: His creating hand
Nothing imperfect or deficient left

power:

Of all that he created, much lefs Man,
Or aught that might his happy state secure,
Secure from outward force; within himfelf
The danger lies, yet lies within his
Against his will he can receive no harm.
But God left free the will; for what obeys
Reason, is free; and Reafon he made right,
But bid her well be ware, and still erect;
Left, by fome fair-appearing good furpris'd,
She dictate false; and mif-inform the will
To do what God expressly hath forbid.
Not then miftruft, but tender love, enjoins,

345

350

355

fatisfied, that he could not with his learning take these words in the vulgar mistaken sense, which our tranflation naturally leads ignorant readers into; and muft very well know that г amongft the Greeks is a term of great refpect. Indeed throughout this whole converfation, which the poet has in every refpect worked up to a faultless perfection, there is the most exact obfervance of juftnefs and propriety of character. With what ftrength is the fuperiour excellency of man's understanding here pointed out, and how nicely does our author here sketch out the defects peculiar in general to the female mind! and after all, what great art has he fhown in making Adam, contrary to his better reafon, grant his fpoufe's request, beautifully verifying what he had made our general ancestor a little before obferve to the Angel! B. viii. 546, &c. THYER.

Ver. 353. But bid her well be ware;] Ware is an adjective, as in 11 Tim. iv. 15. "Of whom be thou ware alfo;" and in Comus, v. 557. "Silence was took ere fhe was ware." And therefore be ware should not have been printed as one word, but as two.

NEWTON.

That I fhould mind thee oft; and mind thou me Firm we fubfift, yet poffible to fwerve;

Since Reason not impoffibly may meet

360

Some fpecious object by the foe fuborn'd,
And fall into deception unaware,

366

Not keeping ftricteft watch, as fhe was warn'd.
Seek not temptation then, which to avoid
Were better, and most likely if from me
Thou fever not: Trial will come unfought.
Wouldst thou approve thy conftancy, approve
First thy obedience; the other who can know,
Not seeing thee attempted, who attest?
But, if thou think, trial unfought may find

370

Us both fecurer than thus warn'd thou seem'ft, › Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee more; Go in thy native innocence, rely

On what thou haft of virtue; fummon all!

For God towards thee hath done his part, do thine.

375

Ver. 372. Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee more ;] It is related of Milton's first wife, that he had not cohabited with him above a month," before she was very defirous of returning to her friends in the country, there to spend the remainder of the fummer. We may fuppofe, that, upon this occafion, their converfation was fomewhat of the fame nature as Adam and Eve's; and it was upon fome fuch confiderations as this, that, after much folicitation,he permitted her to go. It is the more probable, that he alluded to his own cafe in this account of Adam and Eve's parting, as in the account of their reconciliation it will appear that he copied exactly what happened to himfelf. NEWTON.

See Mr. T. Warton's opinion of this line, in his excellent note on the first verfe of Milton's eleventh Sonnet. TODD.