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310. Numbers numberless. —A classic phrase, though Milton has been censured for using it. Comp. Lucretius (II., 1054; III., 779), "Innumero numero." It is found in many English poets before Milton.

312, 313. Plutarch says that when the Parthians fought against Crassus, they suddenly threw off the covering of their armour, and seemed on fire from the glittering brightness of their helmets and breast-plates, which were made of Margian steel, and from the brazen trappings of their horses.

316-321. Arachosia and Candaor (Kandahâr), parts of modern Afghanistan, were eastern provinces of the Parthian empire. -Margiana, in the north-east of Persia adjoining Bactria, is now represented by Khorasân. West of it stretched Hyrcania, as far as the cliffs of Caucasus (according to Milton).– -Iberia (mod. Georgia) is here called dark" because its valleys were covered with dense forests. Atropatia was the north

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west corner of Media, bordering on Armenia; south-west of this region, in Assyria, lay the "plains of Adiabene;" then crossing the hills of Kurdistan, we return to Media; south of which, in ancient Persis, lay the famous province of Susiana (mod. Khuzistan), reaching to the confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris, and therefore not far from the "haven" of Balsara (mod. Bussorah, about seventy miles up from the mouth of the Shat-el-Arab). But the Tempter could not have shown the Saviour Balsara, for it did not exist till the seventh century A. D., when it was founded by the Calif Omar. 324. Sharp slect of arrowy showers.-A metaphor of ancient origin. Comp. Virgil (Aen., XI., 610):

"Fundunt simul undique tela

Crebra nivis ritu;"

also (Aen., XII., 283, 284):

327. Clouds of foot.

It toto turbida coelo

Tempestas telorum, ac ferreus ingruit imber."

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The védos TεŠŵν of Homer (Il., IV., 274), and nimbus peditum" of Virgil (Aen., VII., 793).

329. Endorst.-Backed, having on their backs. [Lat. dorsum.] Comp. Pliny (VIII., 7): Pugnavere et Caesari, dictatori tertio consulatu ejus viginti contra pedites quingentos; iterum totidem turriti cum sexagenis propugnatoribus, eodem quo priores numero peditum et pari equitum e diverso dimicante.'

337-344. One of the most famous incidents in the Orlando Innamorato of Boiardo is where Agrican, King of Tartary, lays siege to the fortress of Albracca, belonging to Gallaphrone, King of Cathay, in order to obtain possession of that monarch's daughter, Angelica, who had previously appeared at the court of Charlemagne, where she had inspired with love the "prowest" of his peers. Nothing could set forth the vast magnificence of the Parthian chivalry but the extravagances of romantic fiction; and the critics (like Thyer) who complain of the "notorious fabulousness" of the illustration, are just a little dull.

366. And captive lead away her kings, &c.-Milton is here strangely inaccurate. The Parthians did not carry off both Antigonus and Hyrcanus. On the contrary, Antigonus, assisted by the Parthian king, invaded Judaea, overthrew his aged uncle, Hyrcanus, cutting off his ears, and thereby disqualifying him for the office of highpriest. After ruling for some years, Antigonus in turn was defeated and slain by Herod, not maugre the Roman," but with his help (B. C. 37).

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369. Dispose.-Comp. note on l. 34.

374-376. 2 Kings xviii. 11. In the time of Christ the Parthian power represented the Persian power of the Captivity.

377. Not "ten sons of Jacob" and "two of Joseph," but ten including the two of Joseph.

384. So ran the promise to Abraham (Gen. xv. 18): "Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates ;" and such was the actual extent of the throne of David" in the time of Solomon (1 Kings iv. 21). 387. Fleshly arm is a scriptural phrase (2 Chron. xxxii. 8; Jer. xvii. 5).

388. Much instrument of war, &c.-Comp. Cicero (Quaestiones Academicae, II., 1): 44 Totius belli instrumento et apparatu."

394, 395. Prediction else will unpredict.--In allusion to what the Tempter had said -Fail me.-Disappoint or deceive me. [Lat. fallor.] Comp. Par. Lost, B. I.,

1. 354.

l. 167.

396, 397. My time....is not yet come. -John vii. 8.

408. 1 Chron. xxi. 1.

414-440. The captivity of the ten tribes was a punishment for their idolatry. Jeroboam taught them to worship calves, the deities of Egypt" (1 Kings xii. 28). Ahab,

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who delighted "to walk in the sins of Jeroboam," married "Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal" (1 Kings xvi. 31). The worship of Ashtoreth, also a Phoenician deity, was probably established at the same time; but Solomon himself had previously fallen into this idolatry (1 Kings xi. 5), as well as into "all the idolatries of heathen round" (1 Kings xi. 4-8). The worse than heath'nish crimes" of which the Israelites were guilty is perhaps a rhetorical exaggeration, but a nation of religious renegades were apt to surpass their neighbours in the fervour and extravagance of their idolatry; and, at any rate, they are denounced in the fiercest terms for their "wickedness," both by historians and prophets.

423. And left a race behind, &c.-The Samaritans. See Josephus (Antiq. Jud., Lib. XI., 4, 5, 8).

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436. The Assyrian flood.-The Euphrates. The language here is modelled on Rev. xvi. 12.

438. Comp. Isa. xi. 16.

442. Something not unlike this, Dunster notices, occurs in Vida's Christiad (I., 198), where Satan, recounting to the fallen angels his failure in the temptation, says:

Quas non in facies, quae non mutatus in ora
Accessi incassum ! Semper me reppulit ipse
Non armis ullis fretus, non viribus usus;
Sed, tantum veterum repetito carmine vatum,
Irrita tentamenta, dolos, et vim exuit omnem."

PARADISE REGAINED.

BOOK IV.

5. Sleek't-polished, smooth, smooth-tongued is a word always used by us in a depreciatory sense. The Ger. is schlicht, the Du. slecht; so that the word is probably connected with" slight."

6. So little.--Scil., "availing."

10-19. The succession of similes to illustrate the same subject is a Homeric peculiarity.

15. Homer has the simile of the flies (I., II, 469, and XVI., 641).

16. Must.-New wine. [A.-S. must; Ger. most; Lat. mustus, new, fresh-whence "moist," through the French.]

18. Comp. Aen., VII., 586. The image is finely expressive of the sublime strength of Christ, and the restless malice of his adversary.

23. Desperate.-Despairing. [It. desperato; Fr. désespéré.]

27. Another plain.—The exhibition of the Parthian power on the plain of Mesopotamia having failed to excite any vulgar ambition in the breast of Jesus, the Tempter, "though desperate of success," bids the latter turn his gaze to the west, and survey the glories of imperial Rome. The "plain" is that of Latium, or rather of the whole coast lands from Etruria to Campania; for it is "long, but in breadth not wide." The 66 ridge of hills" by which it is backed is the Apennines, on the north-east; on the southwest it is washed by the Tyrrhene Sea; but perhaps the reference is to the Mediter

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ranean at large. Through its midst flows the Tiber, on each side of whose banks" stands the "imperial city" of Rome.

31. Septentrion. - Northern. Lat. Septentrionalis, from septem triones ("seven plough oxen"), the name popularly given by the Latins to the seven stars in the constellation of the Great Bear, near the North Pole.

35-38. The details here given must not be criticised too curiously. Milton probably wished to portray the splendour of pagan Rome as it presents itself to the imagination, and so was careless of mere anachronisms. At the time of Christ there were no triumphal arcs" in the city, the first of these dating from the age of Titus (A.D. 70). Among the palatial structures or domus, about the close of the Republic, those of Pompeius, Lucullus, and Clodius, were famous for their size and magnificence. Sallust (Bell. Catilin., XII.) speaks of "domos et villas in urbium modum exaedificatas ;" later on, Seneca, referring to his own age, mentions (De Benefic. VII., 10) "aedificia privata laxitatem urbium magnarum vincentia."- -The porches or porticoes were also of vast extent. Ovid (De Art. Amand. I., 67, &c.) notices the Pompeian, Octavian, and Livian porticoes; and Martial (Lib. II., Ep. 14) describes the famous one of Cneius Octavius in the Flaminian Circus. -Theatres, among which Milton probably included amphitheatres, were conspicuous objects amid the architectural grandeurs of the city. That built by the son-in-law of Sulla is pronounced by Pliny (Lib. XXXVI., 15) opus maximum omnium quae unquam fuere humanâ manu facta;" while the ruins of the Colosseum still inspire the beholder with blended emotions of admiration and -The baths of ancient Rome were also vast and costly, as may be seen from the remains of those of Caracalla and Diocletian. -Statues and trophies filled every part of the city, and were, in truth, but visible memorials of its universal conquest and dominion. Every land was plundered of the images of its deities, that these might concentrate their favours on Rome. Greece yielded up her treasures to beautify the streets and the homes of her conqueror; and according to Rutilius (Itinerar., 91, &c.), the emblems of Rome's victorious prowess decorated every quarter of the city. -The gardens of Lucullus were the most gorgeous of their time. Those of Cæsar and Sallust were hardly less famous; while Martial (Lib. XII., Ep. 50, &c.) speaks of the groves of laurel, plane, and cypress which enhanced the luxury of the mansions of the rich.

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40. By what strange parallax, &c.-Among the crude and puerile attempts to explain how the Tempter managed to show the kingdoms of the world to Christ is that mentioned by Wulfius in his Curae Philologicae: Alii cum Hugone Broughtono ad instrumenta artis opticae se recipiunt."

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41. Through air, or glass.-Here the "air" refers to "parallax," and the "glass" to "optic skill." The word "parallax,” which is properly an astronomical term denoting the difference of position of an object as seen from different stand-points, is used (improperly) by Milton to describe some mysterious process by which the images of distant objects were raised "above the highth of mountains interpos'd."

42. Curious for over-curious.

47-49. Capitol.-One of the seven hills on which Rome stood was called the Mons Capitolinus, from the Capitolium, or Temple of Jupiter, which crowned its southern summit. The Capitolium, in turn, was fabled to have received its name from a human head (caput) having been discovered when the foundations were being dug. The northern summit of the Capitoline was occupied by the Arx, the citadel impregnable." Part of the hill was called the Tarpeian Rock, after Tarpeia, who, according to the Roman myth, treacherously opened the gates of the fortress to its Sabine besiegers in the time of Romulus.

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50-54. Mount Palatine, the imperial palace, &c. -The domus of the Emperor Augustus on the Palatine was a comparatively modest abode, being simply an enlargement of the private dwelling of the orator Hortensius; but the "golden" palace of Nero covered the whole hill, and part of the Esquiline also. There were no turrets, terraces, and glittering spires" in the ancient city, all of which belong to the architecture of mediaeval Europe, either castellated or ecclesiastical.

59. Hand.-Handiwork. Comp. Par. Lost, B. I., l. 732.

60. In cedar, marble, ivory, or gold.-Virgil, speaking of the woods of Caucasus (Georg., II., 442), says:

"Dant utile lignum

Navigiis pinus, domibus cedrumque cupressosque."

Marble was lavishly used by the wealthy Romans. Pliny (Lib. XXXVI., 2) states that three hundred and sixty columns of foreign marble were erected by M. Scaurus for the scenery of a temporary theatre. Crassus the orator had sixty columns of Hymetian marble, each twelve feet high, in his palace. The very walls of the houses were encrusted with marble. Horace alludes to the ivory and gold in the abodes of the rich (Od. II., 18, 1): "Non ebur, neque aureum

Mea renidet in domo lacunar."

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And Pliny says (XXXIII., 18) that the ceilings even of private houses auro teguntur." 63, 64. Sallust notices the pride, ostentation, and rapacity of the Roman magistrates (Bell. Jug., XXXI.): Incedunt per ora vestra magnifice sacerdotia et consulatus, pars triumphos suos ostentantes: perinde quasi ea honori, non praedae habeant."

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66. Turms.-Troops. [Lat. turmae.] Virgil (Aen., V., 560) has "equitum turmae.' The regiment (ala) was composed, like our own, of "troops."

68, 69. The Appian Road (Via Appia) was the great southern highway of Italy. It led from Rome to Capua, and thence over the Apennines to Brundusium, whence the packets sailed for Greece. It owed its name to the censor Appius Claudius, who commenced it in 312 B. C. The Emilian (Via Aemilia) was a continuation of the great northern road (Via Flaminia). Beginning at Ariminum, it was carried west through Cisalpine Gaul to Placentia and Mediolanum. It also owed its name to its constructor, Aemilius Lepidus, consul, B. c. 187.

70, 71. Syene (mod. Assûan), a city of Upper Egypt, just below the first cataract of the Nile, and regarded as the southern limit of the Roman Empire. -Meroe, an island of the same river, in Aethiopia, within the region of the tropics.

72. Bocchus, King of Mauretania (the land of the Mauri or Moors) in the time of Marius, was father-in-law of Jugurtha, whom he betrayed into the hands of the Romans. Milton, however, was perhaps thinking of his son, who was contemporary with Augustus. -The Black-moor sea.-Horace has the "Moorish wave" (Maura.... unda, Od. II., vi., 3). Blackmoor or blackamoor has now almost fallen out of use, and is, at any rate, not restricted in its application to "Moors." The word is a tautological compound, because "Moor" [Gr. μaûpos] means "dark."

74. The golden Chersonese is Malacca in Farther India. Comp. Par. Lost, B. XI., l. 392. 75. Taprobane is Ceylon. To the Romans it was the " utmost ile" eastward. Pliny (VI., 24) speaks of it as extra orbem a natura relegata."

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77. Gades-the modern Cadiz-is here put for that part of Spain most remote from Rome, Hispania ulterior.

79. The Tauric pool-or Palus Maeotis-is the Sea of Azof. Milton so calls it from its proximity to the Tauric Chersonesus or the Crimea. Between this and the Danube, all along the northern shores of the Euxine, roved the Scythian hordes of Europe; north and west of whom dwelt the Sarmatians.

84. A little before (B. III., 7. 363) the Tempter had advised the Saviour to prefer the Parthian.

89. Comp. Matt. iv. 8.

90-97. This emperor, &c.-For an account of Tiberius' retirement to Capreae to indulge his horrid lusts in private," and of his "wicked favourite," Sejanus, see the Annals of Tacitus (Lib. IV., V., and VI.).

101. Now made a sty.-See Comus, note, l. 76.

103, 104. Comp. Luke iv. 6.

106-108. The meaning is: Unless thou attain the highest, thou wilt not keep thy seat on the throne of David, at least not long.

114. Their sumptuous gluttonies, and gorgeous feasts.-Comp. Comus, l. 776:

66 Swinish Gluttony

Ne'er looks to Heav'n amidst his gorgeous feast."

For descriptions of these sumptuous gluttonies, see Suetonius' Lives of the Caesars.

115. So great was the rage of the wealthy Romans for tables made of the citron-wood of the Atlas mountains, that Pliny calls it "mensarum insania" (Lib. XIII., 29). -Atlantic stone is probably the Numidicus lapis of Roman writers. 117, 118. Setia, in the east of the Pontine marshes in Latium. Cales and Falerne, in Campania, were places famous for their wines. The reputation of the Falernian district, the Bacchi cura of Tibullus (Lib. I., El. ix., 34), was particularly high. The Greek wines of Chios (Scio) were equally celebrated, and were imported into Italy. Those of Crete are seldom mentioned by ancient writers.

119, 120. Myrrhine.-Probably "porcelain." [Lat. murrha and myrrha.] It came from China by way of Persia, and so the Romans thought it was manufactured in the latter country. Thus Propertius (IV., 5, 26) :

"Murrheaque in Parthis pocula cocta focis."

Emboss'd with gems and studs of pearl may have been suggested to Milton by the language of Pliny (Lib. XXXIII. 2): "Nec hoc fuit satis; turba gemmarum potamus, et smaragdis teximus calices; ac temulentiae causa tenere Indiam juvat: et aurum jam accessio est."

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125. Outlandish. - Foreign; and so used originally. Richardson quotes from Holinshed (Description of England, B. II., c. 1): "Of such outlandish horses as are dailie brought ouer unto us, I speke not." And Blackstone (Comment., B. IV., c. 13): 'Outlandish persons, calling themselves Egyptians or Gypsies, are another object of the severity of some of our unrepealed statutes." Now, however, the word has the additional sense of grotesque;" but this is an insular incivility. 133. Vassal a feudal term of uncertain origin-here means justly describes the ancient Romans as frugal and temperate," but tainly were not; and when he speaks of their "governing ill the nations under yoke," we must not forget that, even in their degeneracy, they were on the whole far more just than the African and Oriental tyrants whom they superseded.

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servile." Milton mild" they cer

136. Peeling.-Pillaging, stripping bare. "Peel" and "pill" are the same word. [Fr. piller; Lat. pilare, to make bald,--perhaps from pilus, a "hair."] "Pilfer" and 'pillage" are derivative forms. Chaucer uses pilours for "plunderers" (Knightes Tale, l. 149):

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"Hem for to streepe of herneys and of wede

The pilours diden businesse and cure
After the bataile and discomfiture."

Peeled, in the sense of plundered, occurs in Isa. xviii. 2 : A nation scattered and peeled."

138. Triumph.--Here used in its classical sense, and well described as an insulting vanity.

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139, 140. Then cruel, by their sports, &c.-He refers to the sports of the amphitheatre, the offspring of cruel selfishness, the lust of the eye." The men who fought with wild beasts were called bestiarii. Milton omits special reference to the gladiatorial conflicts, which were more inhuman still; for even after the lapse of two thousand years, we have a feeling of indignant ire when we think of noble and free-souled captives "butchered to make a Roman holiday."

142. Scene.-Theatre. The lasciviousness of the Roman stage was proverbial, and is strongly denounced by early Christian writers.

146-148. Comp. Dan. iv. 11.

149, 150. Comp. Dan. ii. 44.

151. Comp. Luke i. 33.

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157. The difficult and nice.-Some propose to read "thee" instead of the; but there is no necessity for the change. We say, the rich and poor,' 99 66 the wise and foolish." For the meaning and derivation of nice, see Comus, note, l. 139.

159-169. There can be no doubt that this part of the temptation is unskilfully managed. The Saviour had already not only rejected the proposals of Satan, but had foretold his own triumph over all the monarchies of the world, and the everlasting duration of his kingdom. Was he likely then to accept them, clogged with the

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