The mother of mankind; what time his pride 40 45 36. What time. An expression now superseded by while. In the older version of Psalm lxxxi. 7 we have "and heard thee what time as the storm fell upon thee." A. V.: "I heard thee in the secret place of thunder;" and Ps. lvi. 3, A. V. “What time I am afraid." 39. Dr. Bentley finds fault with this line, since Satan was already above his peers, v. 812; but the crime is defined in the following lines, if indeed "in glory" does not meet the pedantic doctor's cavil. Milton frequently avails himself of the classic poetic practice of eliding a final vowel before a word beginning with another; "glory above" to be read "glor' above." 39. Peers.-Fr. pairs, equals. Satan was primus inter pares. 40. "For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Isa. xiv. 13.) 41. Ambitious.-The history of the word is interesting. Ambio was originally simply to go about, then to canvass or seek for office, then ambition was applied to the arts employed in seeking power or favours, and lastly, to the motives or spirit inspiring such efforts. At first neutral, it acquired an unworthy and afterwards a lofty meaning. 42. Monarchy. The force of the word here lies in the mon, sole kingship. μόνη ἀρχὴ. 45. Ethereal. In the Greek poets the ai0ýp was applied to the higher With hideous ruin and combustion, down In adamantine chains and penal fire, Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms. Nine times the space that measures day and night 50 To mortal men, he with his horrid crew Lay vanquish'd, rolling in the fiery gulf, 55 region of space as opposed to aǹp, the lower or atmosphere. Cf. Luke x. 18, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." 46. Ruin and combustion. This phrase occurs in an order of both Houses of Parliament of 1642, and as Keightley suggests may have been a current expression in that day. 48. Esch., Prom. Vin. 6. Adamant (a, and daμáw, to subdue) meant inflexible, not to be broken, and was applied to steel and diamond. Diamond is a corruption of adamant. 50. An imitation of Hesiod's description of the fall of the giants. 50. Space, used by a bold figure for time. He adds "to mortal men," for the scene not being on earth, if indeed the earth were as yet created, he does not mean actual days and nights. 53. Confounded.-Stunned and powerless for the time, for being immortals they could not be killed. 56. Baleful.-Expressive of torture. Bale, now obsolete, is employed by Chaucer for ruin or destruction. A.S. beal. In Gothic balujan to torment. 57. Witnessed.-Bore witness to, in which sense it is always used by Shakspere and Milton; not as now, simply saw, for it was Satan's own affliction and dismay. 57. Huge, from A. S. hewig, heavy, is now used of concrete objects only. Mix'd with obdurate pride and stedfast hate. At once, as far as angels ken, he views The dismal situation, waste and wild: 60 A dungeon horrible on all sides round, As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames Served only to discover sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace 65 And rest can never dwell; hope never comes, With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed: 70 For those rebellious; here their prison ordain'd 58. Obdurate to be accented on the middle syllable. 63. No light.-Subaud. came. 63. Darkness visible.-Gloom. Mr. Marsh in his Lectures on the English Language, edited by Dr. W. Smith, p. 98 note. "Milton's use of visible in Par. Lost, i. 63, is remarkable. 'Darkness visible' is not darkness as itself an object of vision, a mere curtain of black impenetrable cloud, but it is a sable gloom, through which in spite of its profound obscurity, the fearful things it shrouded were supernaturally 'visible."" Compare with this Seneca's description of the cave of Pausilypo, 'Nihil illo carcere longius, nihil illis faucibus obscurius, quæ nobis præstant, non ut per tenebras videamus, sed ut ipsas.' Epist. lvii. Cf. Il Penseroso, 80. 66. Hope never comes. The line "Lasciate ogni speranza, voi che entrate." -Dante, Infern. canto 3. "All hope abandon, ye who enter here!" has become proverbial. 72. Utter, though now used in the sense of complete, e.g. utter ruin, is in fact the same word as "outer," and we still speak of barristers as called to the utter bar. The A. V. employs As far removed from God and light of heaven, 75 80 both words, and utter in both meanings. "Utter destruction" (1 Kings xx. 42; Zech. xiv. 11); but Ezek. xlii. 1, "He brought me into the utter court." Spenser, F. Q., iv. 10, 11: "Till to the bridge's utter gate I came." In the A. V. τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον is rendered “outer darkness " in Mat. viii. 12 and xxv. 30, but Milton prefers the older form as more impressive. The more modern sense of utter was previously expressed by mere, Latin merus, “The more perdition (utter destruction) of the Turkish fleet.' Othello, ii. 2. "The mere undoing of the kingdom." Hen. VIII. iii. 2, 1. 329-30, Globe Ed. 74. Utmost pole.-Not the pole of the earth, which may be supposed not to have as yet existed, but of the universe, of which the earth was, in the Ptolemaic system, to which Milton adhered, the centre. See ix. 103; x. 671. The centre is often used by old writers without further definition for the centre of the earth, and consequently of the universe. "I will find Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed --Hamlet, ii. 2., 1. 158 (Globe). Bishop Newton remarks that the distance from hell to heaven is made by Homer, Il. viii. 16, equal to that from earth to heaven; by Virgil, Æn. vi. 577, twice, and by Milton thrice as far, but their attempts to depict its terrors fall far short of his. 78. Weltering.-An old word for rolling. "He that weltereth a stone" (Prov. xxvi. 27, Bible of 1549). Beelzebub: to whom the arch-enemy, And thence in heaven call'd Satan, with bold words "If thou beest he-but O, how fall'n! how changed From him who, in the happy realms of light, 85 81. Beëlzebub in the Hebrew, Syriac and Vulgate, but in the Greek of the N. T. Beëlzebul, an idol worshipped by the Philistines at Ekron, 2 Kings i. 2. Baal means the lord; the second part of the name has been variously explained. Baalzebub would imply "the lord of flies." Baalzebul, which according to some good scholars is the more correct form, "the lord of the house." See Smith's Bible Dict. for a discussion of this question. In the N. T. he is called the Prince of the Devils, and therefore he is fitly ranked by Milton as second only to Satan himself. 81, 82. Satan in Hebrew means simply an adversary, and is frequently used as such in the historical books of the O. T. As a proper name it occurs only in Job i. 6, 12; ii. 1, and Zech. iii. 1, with the article, and in 1 Chron. xxi. 1, without it, and in every instance as accusing or trying the faith of holy men. N. T. the name is in constant use. In the 84. Beest.—Not the subjunctive mood. Our so-called verb substantive is made up of fragments of several verbs, of which three at least, am, was, and be, can be recognized. Addison observes that in this first description and speech of Satan all the passions and emotions which mark his character his pride, envy, and revenge, obstinacy, impenitence, and despair-are skilfully interwoven. 84. How fall'n! how changed!-He imitates Isaiah and Virgil at once:-"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" (Isa. xiv. 12). "Heu mihi, qualis erat! quantum mutatus ab illo!" En. ii. 274. 85. Realm.-Fr. royaume, It. reame, Sp. realme, from regalis. Milton, vii. 115, uses realty for royalty, and Chaucer real for royal, K. T. 160, really for royally, K. T. 855, and riallyche, Prol. 378. |