70

To me alike, it deals eternal woe.

Nay curs'd be thou; fince against his thy will

Chose freely what it now fo justly rues.

Me miferable! which way fhall I fly
Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?
Which way I fly is Hell; myfelf am Hell;
And in the lowest deep a lower deep
Still threatning to devour me opens wide,
To which the Hell I fuffer feems a Heaven.
O then at last relent: is there no place
Left for repentance, none for pardon left?

None left but by submission; and that word
Difdain forbids me, and my dread of fhame
Among the Spirits beneath, whom I feduc'd
With other promises and other vaunts
Than to fubmit, boafting I could fubdue
Th' Omnipotent. Ay me, they little know

and again, ver. 93.

But fay I could repent, &c.
And it is not improbable, that he
had Shakespear in his thoughts,
Hamlet, A& III.

Try, what repentance: what can
it not?

Yet what can it, when one cannot repent?

75

80

85

How

How dearly I abide that boast fo vain,
Under what torments inwardly I groan,

While they adore me on the throne of Hell.
With diadem and scepter high advanc'd,
The lower ftill I fall, only fupreme

In mifery; fuch joy ambition finds.

But say I could repent and could obtain

By act of grace my former ftate; how foon

94

Would highth recall high thoughts, how foon unfay

What feign'd fubmiffion fwore? ease would recant
Vows made in pain, as violent and void.
For never can true reconcilement grow,

100

Where wounds of deadly hate have pierc'd fo deep:
Which would but lead me to a worse relapse
And heavier fall: fo fhould I purchase dear
Short intermiffion bought with double fmart.

112. By thee, and more than half perhaps will reign; ] This paffage has occafion'd much perplexity and confufion, but it may eafily be understood thus. Evil be thou my good; be thou all my delight, all my happiness; by thee I hold at least divided empire with Heav'n's king at prefent, I ruling in Hell as God in Heaven: by thee I fay; he is made to repeat it with emphasis, to add the greater force

This

to his diabolical fentiment, and to mark it more ftrongly to the reader: and in a fhort time will reign perhaps more than half, in this new world as well as in Hell; as Man ere long and this new world fall know. And he is very properly made to conclude his fpeech with this, as this was now his main bufinefs and the end of his coming hither.

114.- each

.

105

This knows my punisher; therefore as far
From granting he, as I from begging peace:
All hope excluded thus, behold in stead
Of us out-caft, exil'd, his new delight,
Mankind created, and for him this world.
So farewel hope, and with hope farewel fear,
Farewel remorse: all good to me is loft;
Evil be thou my good; by thee at least
Divided empire with Heav'n's king I hold,
By thee, and more than half perhaps will reign;
As Man ere long, and this new world fhall know.

110

Thus while he fpake, each paffion dimm'd his face Thrice chang'd with pale, ire, envy, and despair; 115 Which marr'd his borrow'd vifage, and betray'd Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld.

For heav'nly minds from fuch diftempers foul

114.-each paffion dimm'd his face Thrice chang'd with pale, ire, envy, and defpair;] Each paffion, ire, envy, and defpair, dimm'd his countenance which was thrice chang'd with pale through the fucceffive agitations of thefe three paffions. For that palenefs is the proper hue of envy and defpair every body knows, and we always reckon that fort of anger the most deadly and diabolical, which is ac

Are

companied with a pale livid countenance. It is remarkable that in the argument to this book we read, inftead of ire, fear, envy and defpair; and as fear may be justify'd by ver. 18. horror and doubt diftrat, and other places; fo is anger warranted by ver. 9. and by his curfing God and himfelf, and by his threatning of Man in the close of his fpeech.

126. -OM

Are ever clear. Whereof he foon aware,

Each perturbation smooth'd with outward calm,
Artificer of fraud; and was the firft
That practic'd falfhood under faintly show,
Deep malice to conceal, couch'd with revenge:
Yet not enough had practic'd to deceive

121

Uriel once warn'd; whose eye pursued him down
The way he went, and on th' Affyrian mount 126
Saw him disfigur'd, more than could befall
Spirit of happy fort: his geftures fierce

He mark'd and mad demeanour, then alone,
As he fuppos'd, all unobferv'd, unseen.

So on he fares, and to the border comes
Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,

Now nearer, crowns with her inclosure green,

126. on th' Affyrian mount ] Dr. Bentley reads Armenian mount: but Niphates is by Pliny reckon'd between Armenia and Affyria, and therefore may be called Affyrian. It is plain from Milton's account of the fituation of Eden, ver. 210, 285, that Eden was in Affyria; and it is plain from comparing III. 742. with IV. 27. that Niphates was not far from Eden; fo that Milton muft have plac'd it in Affyria, at least on the borders of it.

Pearce. 132.where delicious Paradife,

130

As

&c.] Satan is now come to the border of Eden, where he has a nearer profpect of Paradife, which the poet reprefents as fituated in a champain country upon the top of a fteep hill, called the Mount of Paradise. The fides of this hill were overgrown with thickets and bushes, fo as not to be paffable; and over-head above thefe, on the fides of the hill likewife, grew loftieft trees, and as they afcended in ranks fhade above shade, they formed a kind of natural theatre, the rows of trees rifing one above another

the

As with a rural mound, the champain head
Of a steep wilderness, whofe hairy fides
With thicket overgrown, grottefque and wild,
Access deny'd; and over head up grew
Infuperable highth of loftiest shade,
Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
A fylvan scene, and as the ranks afcend
Shade above shade, a woody theatre
Of stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops
The verd'rous wall of Paradife up fprung:
Which to our general fire gave prospect large
Into his nether empire neighb'ring round.

And higher than that wall a circling row
ར Of goodlieft trees loaden with fairest fruit,
Bloffoms and fruits at once of golden hue,

another in the fame manner as the benches in the theatres and places of public fhows and fpectacles. And yet higher than the highest of thefe trees grew up the verdurous wall of Paradife, a green inclosure like a rural mound, like a bank fet with a hedge, but this hedge grew not up fo high as to hinder Adam's profpect into the neighbouring country below, which is called his empire, as the whole earth was his dominion, V. 751. But above this hedge or green wall grew a circling row of the

135

140

145

Appear'd,

finest fruit trees; and the only entrance into Paradife was a gate on the eastern fide. This account in profe may perhaps help the reader the better to understand the defcription in verse.

140. A fylvan fcene,] So Virgil, En. I. 164.

Tum fylvis fcena corufcis Defuper, horrentique atrum nemus

imminet umbra.

147.

Hume.

with faireft fruit, Blooms and fruits at once of golden hue,] Dr. Bentley reads fruits