By Astracan over the snowy plains Retires, or Bactrian Sophi from the horns To Tauris or Casbeen: So these the late great city in the kingdom of Persia, now called Ecbatana, sometime in the hands of the Turks, but in 1603 retaken by Abas, king of Persia; or Casbeen, one of the greatest cities of Persia, in the province of Ayrach, formerly Parthia, towards the Caspian Sea, where the Persian monarchs made their residence after the loss of Tauris, from which it is distant sixty-five German miles to the south-east. Hume. 433. or Bactrian Sophi from the horns Of Turkish crescent,] From is often used by Milton without expressing the participle, which yet is to be supplied in the sense. See ii. 542. viii. 213. and ix. 396. Pearce. 441.-he through the midst unmark'd, &c.] This account of Satan's passing unmarked through the midst of the angels, and ascending his throne invisible, and seeing there about him himself unseen, and then bursting forth, as from a cloud, in 435 440 Of lowest order, pass'd; and from the door Ascended his high throne, which under state 445 450 Bent their aspect, and whom they wish'd beheld, Their mighty chief return'd: loud was th' acclaim: 455 and again, Polyolb. s. xxvi. vol. iii. p. 1168. Compare Par. Lost, vii. 440. Arcades, 81. T. Warton. 455. Their mighty chief return'd:] We are in the next place to consider the infernal agents under the view which Milton has given us of them in this book. It is observed by those who would set forth the greatness of Virgil's plan, that he conducts his reader through all the parts of the earth which were discovered in his time. Asia, Afric, and Europe are the several scenes of his fable. The plan of Milton's poem is of an infinitely greater extent, and fills the mind with many more astonishing circumstances. Satan, having surrounded the earth seven times, departs at length see from Paradise. We then Forth rush'd in haste the great consulting peers, is admitted into his poem. The unexpected hiss which rises in this episode, the dimensions and bulk of Satan so much superior to those of the infernal spirits who lay under the same transformations with the annual change which they are supposed to suffer, are instances of this kind. The beauty of the diction is very remarkable in this whole episode, as I have observed before the great judgment with which it was contrived. Addi son. 457. Rais'd from their dark Divan,] The devils are frequently described by metaphors taken from the Turks. Satan is called the Sultan, i. 348. as here the council is styled the Divan. But the said council is said to sit in secret conclave, i. 795. 457. And it is called a gloomy consistory, Par. Reg. i. 42. E. 460. Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,] It is common with Homer to make use of the same verse several times, and especially at the beginning of his speeches; but I know not whether there is not more of simplicity in the practice than beauty. Our author however hath done the same with this line; but it is curious to observe how artfully he has managed it, and by repeating it every time gives new beauty to it. It is first made use of by God the Father, when he declares his Son the Messiah, and appoints him Head of the angels. Book v. 600. Hear all ye Angels, progeny of light, Virtues, Powers, &c. Satan, after he had revolted and drawn his legions after him into the limits of the north, makes use of it again in allusion to the foregoing speech of God the Father, and questions whether these magnific titles were not now become merely titular, ver. 772. Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, If these magnific titles yet remain The Seraph Abdiel on the other side repeats it likewise after God the Father, and extols his goodness in having so named the angels, ver. 839. Crown'd them with glory', and to And now Satan addresses his angels with it again; for now, says he, I may declare ye such not only of right, but in possession. So that the repetition of this line depends all along upon the first use of it, and gives a For in possession such, not only" of right, As lords, a spacious world, to' our native heaven Little inferior, by my adventure hard With peril great achiev'd. Long were to tell 461 465 What I have done, what suffer'd, with what pain 470 Voyag'd th' unreal, vast, unbounded deep Of horrible confusion, over which By Sin and Death a broad way now is pav'd force and beauty to it, which it would not have without the repetition. 475. Toil'd out my uncouth passage,] My strange unusual passage, of the Saxon uncud unknown, forc'd to ride th' untractable abyss, as in ii. 540. and ride the air. ix. 63. he rode with darkness. Hor. Od. iv. iv. 44. Per Siculas equitavit undas. We have also in Scripture to ride upon the winds, and the like expressions. 475 480 against my proceedings. But this seems not perfectly to agree with the account in book the second. It was indeed with labour and difficulty that Satan journeyed through Chaos, but we do not read of Chaos and the other powers fiercely opposing him, or protesting Fate with clamorous uproar. On the contrary Chaos bids him -go and speed; Havoc, and spoil, and ruin are my gain. 480. Protesting Fate supreme] Calling upon Fate as a witness But Satan is here extolling his The new created world, which fame in heaven Of absolute perfection, therein Man Made happy him by fraud I have seduc'd 485 490 495 the first syllable, as in Pope's Epistle to Arbuthnot, ver. 355. A friend in exile, or a father dead. And there are several words whereof we have altered the pronunciation from that of our old writers, but whether we have altered it for the better, is a great question. 496. that which to me belongs,] Our author understands the sentence (as the most learned and orthodox divines do) as referring partly to Satan the author of malice, and partly to the Serpent the instrument of it. |