230 And such appeared in hue,] as when the force With stench and smoke :] such resting found the sole Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,] That we must change for Heaven: this mournful gloom] 245 For that celestial light ?] Be it so since he) Who now is Sovran, can dispose,) and bid] : What shall be right farthest from Him is best,| 232. Pelorus, now Cape Faro, in Sicily. 235. Sublimed-Raised up by means of the molten minerals. 244. A very bold ellipse for, Is this the inournful gloom, which we must change for that celestial light? 248. Reason, to be read reas'n. 255. Factitive constructions-Gr. 76. 260 Here for his envy,❘ will not drive us hence :] Lie thus astonished on the oblivious pool,| Thus answered. [Leader of those armies bright,] No wonder, fallen such a pernicious highth. | He scarce had ceased, | when the superior Fiend Was moving toward the shore: his ponderous shield, 285 Ethereal temper, massy, large and round, Behind him cast; | the broad circumference 266. Oblivious, properly forgetful, here in the causative meaning, making forget, as in Shakspere's Macbeth, "Come sweet oblivious antidote." The oblivious pool is introduced in imitation of Lethe. 282 Fallen such a pernicious highth-To fall a height is a rather unusual and bold expression, but need not be rejected with Bentley. Height is equivalent to depth, and to fall a height is said in the same way as to run a distance. Analyse it thus: It is no wonder, as they are fallen such a pernicious height. Pernicious destructive. 284. His ponderous shield behind him cast.-Nomin. Absol. 288. Artist.-Astronomy was reckoned as one of the seven liberal arts. Hence Galileo is called artist. At evening from the top of Fesolé, 290 Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands, Rivers, or mountains, in her spotty globe. | Over the burning marle, not like those steps Hath vexed the Red-Sea coast, | whose waves o'erthrew While with perfidious hatred they pursued The sojourners of Goshen, | who beheld 310 From the safe shore their floating carcasses And broken chariot wheels | so thick bestrown, 315 Of Hell resounded! | 292. To equal which, i.e., to compare with which. 294. Ammiral, i.e., ship. 296. Read, Steps not like those on heaven's azure. 299. Nathless, nevertheless. 304. Imbower.-used without an Object. as an Intrans. verb. See 259, Note. 304. Or (thick as) scattered sedge, 299 to 311, is an uninterrupted string of ten sentences, the last seven of which are sub ordinate each to its predecessor. A very 305. The constellation Orion, according to the classical conception, is represented as causing storms. 307. The Busiris of classical antiquity, the type of a cruel tyrant, is identified here with the Pharaoh of Scripture. 311. Bestrown.-Here it means scattered; but properly the thing bestrown is the ground, on which things are scattered, not the things themselves. Warriours, the flower of Heaven! once yours, now lost,] Eternal Spirits!) or have ye chosen this place 320 Your wearied virtue, for the ease) you find] 325 With scattered arms and ensigns; | till anon 330 Awake,] arise,] or be for ever fallen !] They heard, and were abashed,] and up they sprung 335 Nor did they not perceive the evil plight| In which they were, ❘ or the fierce pains not feel ;] Of Amram's son, in Egypt's evil day, 340 Waved round the coast, | up called a pitchy cloud 316. Lost and if must be connected. 333. By whom they dread-A Graecism for by one whom they dread. 337. The Dative with obey is not a Latinism; it occurs in Chaucer and Spenser. 338. The double negative for the affirmative is a Latinism. 341. Warping.-Working themselves forward-a nautical term. 347. Spear in Apposition with signal. Of their great Sultan waving to direct Their course, in even balance down they light 350 On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain; A multitude,] like which the populous North Poured never from her frozen loins, to pass Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous sons Came like a deluge on the south, | and spread 355 Beneath Gibraltar to the Libyan sands.] Forthwith from every squadron and each band, 360 And Powers) that erst in Heaven sat on thrones ; | 365 Got them new names; till wandering o'er the earth, 370 Glory of him) that made them to transform With gay religions, full of pomp and gold, Then were they known to men by various names, 375 And various idols through the Heathen world. | 351. A multitude.-This is the fourth illustration of the vastness of the number of the fallen angels, and a fifth is added, 354. Multitude in Appos. with they. 351. Like which-A Latinism, intended to render qualem, which we should render by such as. 355. Does beneath mean southwards, or at the foot? 358. Godlike shapes, &c., in Apposition with heads and leaders. The addition of excelling human, after godlike shapes and forms is epic redundance, and not to be condemned with Bentley. 361. See Psalm ix. 5, 6. 367. Falsities and lies.-Bentley's suggestion, to read wiles for lies, to get rid of the tautology, is very ingenious. 372. Religions-Religious rites, like the Latin religiones. 373. And to adore devils for destres, go verned by corrupted, 368. |