His danger, and from whom; what enemy,

Late fall'n himself from Heav'n, is plotting now
The fall of others from like ftate of bliss;
By violence? no, for that shall be withstood;
But by deceit and lies; this let him know,
Left wilfully tranfgreffing he pretend
Surprisal, unadmonish'd, unforewarn’d.

So fpake th' eternal Father, and fulfill'd
All justice: nor delay'd the winged Saint
After his charge receiv'd; but from among
Thousand celestial Ardors, where he stood

241

245

Veil'd

authors, and have each their particular beauties and defects. Milton does not in this place feem to endevor to imitate, as he does in many others, the Italian poet, but rather to ftrive to rival and outdo him, and to have chofen for that purpose circumftances of a different fort to embellish his defcription. Which has fucceeded beft, every reader muft determin for himself. Thyer.

249. Thousand celeftial Ardors, ] Ardor in Latin implies fervency, exceeding love, eager defire, fiery nature; all included in the idea of an Angel. Richardfon.

By the word Ardors here Milton only means Seraphim, which fignifies juft the fame in Hebrew (being deriv'd from zaraph to burn) as Ardors does in English.

The

Veil'd with his gorgeous wings, up fpringing light 250
Flew through the midst of Heav'n; th' angelic quires,
On each hand parting, to his speed gave way

Through all th' empyreal road; till at the gate
Of Heav'n arriv'd, the gate felf-open'd wide
On golden hinges turning, as by work
Divine the fovran Architect had fram'd.

From hence, no cloud, or, to obftruct his fight,
Star interpos'd, however small he fees,

Not unconform to other fhining globes,

255

Earth and the gard'n of God, with cedars crown'd
Above all hills. As when by night the glass

The poet, I fuppofe, only made ufe of this term to diverfify his language a little, as he is forc'd to mention the word Seraph and Seraphim in fo many places. Thyer. 254. the gate felf open'd wide] This circumftance is not borrow'd, as Mr. Addison conceiv'd, from Vulcan's tripodes in Homer, but from Homer's making the gates of Heaven open of their own accord to the Deities who paffed thro' them, Iliad. V. 749.

Αυτομαται δε πυλαι μυκον κα
κανε, ας έχον Ωραι.
Heav'n gates fpontaneous open to

the Pow'rs,
Heav'n's golden gates, kept by the
winged Hours. Pope.

261

Of

Where Mr. Pope obferves that the expreflion of the gates of Heaven is in the eastern manner, where they faid the gates of Heaven or Earth for the entrance or extremities of Heaven or Earth; a phrafe ufual in the Scriptures, as is observed by Dacier.

257. From hence, no cloud, &c. ] The comma after interpos'd, shows that it is here a participle in the ablative cafe put abfolutely; and the construction is, From bence, no cloud or far being interpofed to obSmall it is, appearing very fmall at fruct his fight, be fees, however that distance, the earth not unlike to other shining globes, and in it Para dife, the garden of God, that was

crown'd

Of Galileo, lefs aflur'd, obferves

Imagin'd lands and regions in the moon:
Or pilot, from amidst the Cyclades
Delos or Samos first appearing, kens

A cloudy spot. Down thither prone

in flight

265

He fpeeds, and through the vast ethereal sky
Sails between worlds and worlds, with steddy wing
Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan
Winnows the buxom air; till within foar
Of tow'ring eagles, to' all the fowls he seems
A Phoenix, gaz'd by all, as that fole bird,
When to infhrine his reliques in the fun's

crown'd with cedars which were
higher than the highest bills.
261. As when by night the

glafs &c.] The Angel from Heaven gate viewing the earth is compared to an aftronomer obferving the moon thro' a telescope, or to a pilot at fea discovering an iland at a distance. As when by night the glafs of Galileo, the telefcope firft ufed in celeftial obfervations by Galileo a native of Florence, lefs affur'd than the Angel, as was likewife the pilot, obferves, a poetical expreffion, the inftrument put for the person who makes ufe of it, imagin'd lands and regions in the moon, it is not only imagin'd that there are lands and regions in the moon, but aftronomers give

270

Bright

names to them: Or pilot, from amidst
the Cyclades, a parcel of ilands in
the Archipelago, Delos or Samos firft
appearing, two of the largeft of
these ilands and therefore firft ap-
pearing, kens a cloudy spot, for ilands
feem to be fuch at their first ap
pearance. But the Angel fees with
greater clearness and certainty than
thefe; the glass is lefs affur'd, and
the pilot kens only a cloudy pot,
when the Angel fees not the whole
globe only, but diftinctly the mount
of Paradife.

266.
Down thither prone in
fight &c.] Virg. Æn. IV. 253.
- hinc toto præceps
fe corpore
ad undas

Mifit, avi fimilis.

272. A Phanix,] Dr. Bentley objects

Bright temple, to Egyptian Thebes he flies.
At once on th' eastern cliff of Paradife

275

He lights, and to his proper shape returns
A Seraph wing'd; fix wings he wore, to shade
His lineaments divine; the pair that clad
Each shoulder broad, came mantling o'er his breast
With

jects to Raphael's taking the fhape
of a Phoenix, and the objection
would be very juft if Milton had
faid any fuch thing: but he only
fays that to all the fowls he seems
a Phanix; he was not really a
Phoenix, the birds only fancied him
one. This bird was famous among
the Ancients, but generally looked
upon by the Moderns as fabulous.
The naturalists speak of it as fingle,
or the only one of its kind, and
therefore it is called here that fole
bird, as it had been before by Taffo
unico augello. They defcribe it as
of a most beautiful plumage. They
hold that it lives five or fix hun-
dred years; that when thus ad-
vanc'd in age, it builds itself a fu-
neral pile of wood and aromatic
gums, which being kindled by the
fun it is there confumed by the fire,
and another Phoenix arifes out of
the ashes, ancestor and fucceffor to
himself, who taking up the re-
liques of his funeral pile flies with
them to Egyptian Thebes to in-
fhrine them there in the temple of
the fun, the other birds attending
and gazing upon him in his flight.
Egyptian Thebes to diftinguish it
from the other Thebes in Boeotia.

See Plin. Nat. Hift. L. 10. c. 2.
Ovid. Met. XV. and Claudian de
Phonice. Armida in Taffo is in like
manner compared to a Phænix,
Cant. 17. St. 35.

Come all' hor, che'l rinato unico
augello, &c.

As when the new-born Phoenix doth begin

To fly to Ethiope-ward, at the fair bent

Of her rich wings, ftrange plumes, and feathers thin,

Her crowns and chains, with native gold befprent,

The world amazed stands; and with her fly

An hoft of wond'ring birds that

fing and cry: So paft Armida, look'd on, gaz'd on fo. Fairfax.

there was the only gate of Para275. -on theaftern cliff] For dife, IV. 178. The good Angel enters by the gate, and not like Satan.

276. and to his proper foape returns] The word shape here (I fuppofe) occafion'd Dr. Bentley in his note on the former paffage to

fay

With regal ornament; the middle pair

280

Girt like a starry zone his wafte, and round
Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold
And colors dipt in Heav'n; the third his feet
Shadow'd from either heel with feather'd mail,
Sky-tinctur'd grain. Like Maia's son he stood, 285

277. -fix wings he wore, &c.] The Seraphim feen by Isaiah, VI. 2. had the fame number of wings, Above it flood the Seraphims, each one bad fix wings: but there the wings are difpofed differently.

284. with feather'd mail, Sky-tinctur'd grain.] Feathers lie one fhort of another refembling the plates of metal of which coats of mail are compos'd. Sky-color'd, dy'd in grain, to exprefs beauty and durableness. Richardfon.

285.-Like Maia's fon he flood,&c.] Raphael's defcent to the earth, with the figure of his perfon, is reprefented in very lively colors. Several of the French, Italian and English poets have given a loose to their imaginations in the defcrip.

And

tion of Angels: But I do not remember to have met with any fo finely drawn, and fo conformable to the notions which are given of them in Scripture, as this in Milton. After having fet him forth in all his heavenly plumage, and reprefented him as alighting upon the earth, the poet concludes his defcription with a circumftance, which is altogether new, and imagin'd with the greatest strength of fancy.

- Like Maia's fon he flood, And shook his plumes, that heav'nly fragrance fill'd The circuit wide. Addifon.

The comparing of the Angel to Maia's fon, to Mercury, fhows evidently that the poet had particularly in view thofe fublime paffages of Homer and Virgil, which defcribe the flight and defcent of Mercury to the earth. That of Homer is in the Iliad. XXIV. 339.

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