Might suddenly inflict; that past, return'd Met who to meet him came, his offspring dear. 345 350 Thy trophies, which thou view'st as not thine own; 355 Thou art their author and prime architect: For I no sooner in my heart divin'd, My heart, which by a secret harmony Still moves with thine, join'd in connexion sweet, 344. which understood Not instant, but of future time, with joy &c.] In Milton's own editions, and in all the rest which I have seen till Mr. Fenton's and Dr. Bentley's, it was falsely printed thus, -which understood Not instant, but of future time. But the sense evidently shews which being understood not instant, but of future time, he now returned with joy to hell. 345. with joy And tidings fraught,] 348. Of this new wondrous pontifice,] The new bridge, the effect of wondrous art pontifical, ver. 312. Now also evidence, but straight I felt Though distant from thee worlds between, yet felt With this portentous bridge the dark abyss. 365 370 Thine now is all this world; thy virtue' hath won As battle hath adjudg'd, from this new world 368. Thou hast achiev'd our liberty, confin'd Within hell gates till now,-] Our is the same as of us: and Milton means, the liberty of us confined till now in hell. See more instances of this, iv. 129. viii. 423. and ix. 908. Pearce. 381. His quadrature, from thy orbicular world,] This world is orbicular or round; the empyreal heaven is a quadrature or square. Our author had said before, 380 book ii. 1048. that it was undetermined square or round, and so it might be to Satan viewing it at that distance: but here he follows the opinion of Gassendus and others, who say that the empyréum or heaven of heavens is of a square figure, because the holy city in the Revelation is so described, Rev. xxi. 16. And the city lieth four-square, and the length is as large as the breadth. Whom thus the prince of darkness answer'd glad. Th' infernal empire, that so near heav'n's door Mine with this glorious work, and made one realm Descend through darkness, on your road with ease, Chiefly on man, sole lord of all declar'd, Him first make sure your thrall, and lastly kill. Plenipotent on earth, of matchless might 383. -the prince of darkness] Satan may well be so called, since his angels are styled in Scripture, the rulers of the darkness of this world, Eph. vi. 12. 386. for I glory in the name, Antagonist &c.] The name Satan signifies Antagonist or Adversary, as we observed before. 385 390 395 400 405 391. and made one realm Hell and this world, one realm, one continent &c.] This is the general reading; but Mr. Fenton and Dr. Bentley have both in the second line very absurdly printed our realm, though the Doctor places one in the margin, as if it were a conjecture of his own. My hold of this new kingdom all depends, So saying he dismiss'd them; they with speed Their course through thickest constellations held, Spreading their bane; the blasted stars look'd wan, And planets, planet-struck, real eclipse 408.prevail.] So it is in the first edition; in the second it is prevails. 409. No detriment need fear ;] Here our author plainly alludes to the charge given by the Roman senate to the supreme magistrate in times of dangerprovidere nequid resp. detrimenti accipiat. Thyer. 409.go and be strong.] Satan encourages Sin and Death in much the same words as Moses does Joshua. Deut. xxxi. 7, 8. 412. Spreading their bane ;] Ovid's description of the journey of Envy to Athens, and Milton's of Sin and Death's to Paradise, have a great resemblance. But whatever Milton imitates, he adds a greatness to it; as, in this place, he alters Ovid's flowers, herbs, people, and cities to stars, planets, and worlds. Ovid, Met. ii. 791. Quæcunque ingreditur, florentia proterit arva, Exuritque herbas, et summa cacumina carpit; Afflatuque suo populos, urbesque domosque Polluit. where she steers 410 Mildews and blights; the meadows are defac'd, The fields, the flow'rs, and the whole year's laid waste : On mortals next, and peopled towns she falls, And breathes a burning plague among their walls. Addison. See An Essay upon Milton's imitations of the Ancients, p. 42. 412. the blasted stars look'd wan, &c] Much in the same manner Marino describes his Jealousy sallying out into the world. Ad. cant. xii. st. 29. So Tosto che fuor de la spelonca oscura Tasso speaking of Alecto. Si parte, e doue passa i campi lieti 413. And planets, planet-struck,] We say of a thing when it is blasted and withered, that it is planet-struck; and that is now applied to the planets themselves. And what a sublime Her baneful course, a mighty blast idea doth it give us of the de appears, vastations of Sin and Death! Then suffer'd. Th' other way Satan went down Disparted Chaos over built exclaim'd, Of that bright star to Satan paragon'd. There kept their watch the legions, while the Grand 415 420 425 430 kingdom, with a capital city of the same name, near the mouth of the river Volga, at its fall into the Caspian sea, or Bactrian Sophi, or the Persian Emperor, named Bactrian of Bactria, one of the greatest and richest provinces of Persia, lying near the Caspian Sea; from the horns of Turkish crescent, from his Turkish enemies who bear the horned moon, the crescent in their ensigns; leaves all waste beyond the realm of Aladule, the greater Armenia, called by the Turks (under whom the greatest part of it is) Aladule, of its last king Aladules, slain by Selymus the first, in his retreat to Tauris, a |