270 "Nor shall I to the work thou enterprisest So saying, with delight he snuffed the smell 275 Where armies lie encamped, come flying, lured For death, the following day, in bloody fight: So scented the grim feature, and upturned 280 Sagacious of his quarry from so far. Then both from out Hell-gates, into the waste Flew diverse; and with power (their power was great) Solid or slimy (as in raging sea Tost up and down), together crowded drove, From each side shoaling towards the mouth of Hell: 285 290 A As when a look of ravenous fowl, &c.-In Matt. xxiv. 28, we are told "wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together;" and many bustances are on record to prove the wonderful acuteness of sight and smell by which, in warm countries, vultures are promptly guided to the spot where their services are needed to remove the offenAs the object of any sense must be an actual existence, it is of course a poetic serion that ravenous foul can be allured with scent gebring carcasses designed The parallel case of the presentiment of a battle at sea, which sailors ascribe to sharks, may admit of explanation from the attractions of the refuse of the ships' kitchens, which might alone induce the attendance of sharks in the wake of each fleet. Milton may have had in view the description given by Lucan (Pharsal. viii. 831), of the vultures following the Roman camp, and scenting the slaughter at Pharsalia before the battle was fought Neature-figure, forms sagacious of his quarry-quick-scented to discover his prey, according to the original meaning of the word in Latin The Cronian sea, the northern frozen ocean: the imagined way,he North-west Passage, so long sought for, and discovered in 1853 by Lurer Avisora river in the province of Archangel, flowing into northern oceans it was also the name of a city, and an extensive pro PARADISE LOST. Dat Mountains of ice, that stop the imagine. to the wa 1 Petrific,-converting substances into si Its name in Greek means manifest, in allus 2 Delos,-an island in the centre of the originally floated under the surface of th of the sea) struck it with his trident, causir. fixing it, that it might become the birth-pla substances not yet solid, but soft and slimy, have their heads covered with snakes instea 3 Gorgonian rigour,-the Gorgons were t terrible as to turn all beholders instantly for 4 Forfeit,-used for the participle "forfelt 5 Xerxes, king of Persia, aiming at the reached the Hellespont, or "Straits of channel dividing Europe from Asia, mad boats, for the passage of his immens the chief seat of the Persian king Memnonian, from its founder Meer ordered the sea to be scourged Scourged...the waves,-alinding Pontifical,1- 315 Of this round world: with pins of adamant And chains they made all fast-too fast they made And durable! And now in little space 320 The confines meet of empyréan Heaven, And of this world; and, on the left hand, Hell With long reach interposed; three several ways, 325 330 By Eve, though all unweeting, seconded 335 Upon her husband-saw their shame that sought Vain covertures: but when he saw descend The Son of God to judge them, terrified The present; fearing, guilty, what his wrath 340 Might suddenly inflict; that past, returned 1 Art pontifical,-the art of building bridges, as pontifice, bridge-work (1. 348). In ancient Rome, the first bridge over the Tiber, which was of wood, was built, and often repaired, under the superintendence of the priests-hence called " pontifices." 2 Betwixt the Centaur and the Scorpion steering.-Satan, on a former visit (b. iv. 1. 569), had been discovered by Uriel, regent of the sun; to avoid this danger, he now keeps at as great a distance as possible, directing his course to the zenith, perpendicularly above the earth, between the constellations Centaur and Scorpion, while the sun rose in Aries, in a different quarter of the heavens. 3 After Eve seduced,-a Latin construction for "after seducing Eve." By night, and listening where the hapless pair 345 And tidings fraught, to Hell he now returned; 350 Met, who to meet him came, his offspring dear. Great joy was at their meeting, and at sight Of that stupendous bridge his joy increased. Long he admiring stood; till Sin, his fair, Enchanting daughter, thus the silence broke: "O parent! these are thy magnific deeds"Thy trophies! which thou viewst as not thine own: 355 "Thou art their author and prime architect: "For I no sooner in my heart divined "(My heart, which by a secret harmony "Still moves with thine, joined in connexion sweet) "That thou on earth hadst prospered, which thy looks 360 "Now also evidence, but straight I felt, "Though distant from the worlds between-yet felt "That I must after thee, with this thy son; "Such fatal consequence unites us three. "Hell could no longer hold us in her bounds, 365 "Nor this unvoyageable gulf obscure 370 "With this portentous bridge, the dark abyss. Which understood not instant,—which [being] understood not to be instant, but remote: with joy and tidings,—i. e. with joyful tidings. 2 Pontifice,-See 1. 313, note. 3 Thou hast achieved our liberty, confined, &c.,i. e. the liberty of us conAned; see similar constructions, b. iv. L 129; viii. 1. 423; ix. l. 909. "Our foil in Heaven; here thou shalt monarch reign-375 "There didst not: there let him still victor sway "As battle hath adjudged—from this new world Retiring, by his own doom alienated; "And henceforth monarchy with thee divide "Of all things, parted by the empyreal bounds, “ His quadrature,1 from thy orbicular world ; "Or try thee now more dangerous to his throne." Whom thus the Prince of Darkness answered glad: "Fair daughter! and thou son and grandchild both! High proof ye now have given to be the race 380 385 "Of Satan (for I glory in the name, "Antagonist of Heaven's Almighty king);3 "Amply have merited of me, of all "The infernal empire, that, so near Heaven's door, “Triumphal with triumphal act have met, 390 "Mine, with this glorious work; and made one realm, "Hell and this world-one realm, one continent "Of easy thoroughfare. Therefore, while I "Descend through darkness, on your road with ease, 395 "You two this way, among these numerous orbs, "All yours, right down to Paradise descend; "There dwell, and reign in bliss; thence on the Earth "Dominion exercise and in the air, 400 "Chiefly on Man, sole lord of all declared: "Him first make sure your thrall, and lastly kill. "My substitutes I send ye, and create "Plenipotent on earth, of matchless might "Issuing from me; on your joint vigour now 405 1 His quadrature,-the world is described as orbicular, or in the form of a globe; the empyreal heavens, as a quadrature or square, taking the idea from Rev. xxi. 16, where the holy city is so described. 2 Son and grandchild,—death is thus described as the immediate effect of sin, and the more remote effect of the agency of Satan, by which man was tempted to sin. 3 Antagonist of Heaven's Almighty king;-alluding to the meaning of the name Satan, an adversary. |