Or taint integrity: but all obey'd

The wonted fignal, and fuperior voice

705

Of their

great potentate; for great indeed

His name, and high was his degree in Heaven;
His count'nance, as the morning ftar that guides

The ftarry flock, allur'd them, and with lies
Drew after him the third part of Heav'n's hoft. 710
Mean while th' eternal eye, whofe fight difcerns
Abstruseft thoughts, from forth his holy mount

710. Drew after him the third part

of Heav'n's hoft.] Behold a great red dragon · and his tail drew the third part of the fears of Heaven, and did caft them to the earth. Rev. XII. 3, 4. Dr. Bentley finds fault with this verfe as very bad meafure but as a perfon of much better taste obferves, there is a great beauty in the fall of the numbers in this line after the majefty of those before and after it, occafion'd principally by the change of the fourth foot from an iambic into a trochaic; an artifice often made ufe of by Milton to vary his numbers by those discords. VOL. I.

And

Drew after him the third part of
Heav'n's hoft.

711. Mean while th' eternal eye,

whofe fight difcerns &c.] Dr. Bentley feems very fure that Milton's text is wrong here, because in the courfe of the construction it is faid of this eternal eye that it fmiling Said, ver. 718. He would therefore perfuade us that Milton gave it

Mean while th' Eternal, He whose

fight difcerns &c.

And from within the golden lamps that burn
Nightly before him, faw without their light
Rebellion rifing, faw in whom, how spread
Among the fons of morn, what multitudes
Were banded to oppofe his high decree;
And smiling to his only Son thus faid.
Son, thou in whom my glory I behold
In full refplendence, Heir of all my might,
Nearly it now concerns us to be fure

enemies: fo in Mat. XX. 15. the eye is put for the whole man, Is thine eye evil, because I am good? See alfo Prov. XXX. 17. Pearce. His count'nance allur'd, and with lies drew after him &c. The eternal eye faw &c. and fmiling faid give great offence to Dr. Bentley, and Dr. Pearce fays, bis countenance and. the eternal eye are the part for the whole or the perfon. But a very learned and ingenious friend queftions, whether they are not here ufed equivocally, and to be conftrued either as one or the other according as the fenfe requires. 'Tis Satan's countenance that allures them like the morning ftar, but 'tis Satan himfelf that draws them after him with lies; fo the eternal eye fees, but the smiling faid muft relate to the Eternal himfelf. Spenfer has a ftronger inftance of the impropriety here taken notice of by the critics, and it is repeated as here in Milton. Spenfer's Epi

thalamion.

715

720

Of

Of our omnipotence, and with what arms
We mean to hold what anciently we clame
Of deity or empire; fuch a foe

Is rifing, who intends to erect his throne

725

Equal to ours, throughout the fpacious north;

Nor fo content, hath in his thought to try

In battel, what our pow'r is, or our right.
Let us advife, and to this hazard draw
With speed what force is left, and all employ 730

In

716. Among the fons of morn,] and evil. There are feveral inThe Angels are here call'd fons of ftances of the like manner of speakthe morning, as Lucifer is in Ifa. ing in the prophets. But this is XIV. 12. probably upon account particularly grounded upon Pfal. of their early creation; or to ex- II. 1. &c. Why do the Heathen rage, prefs the angelic beauty and glad- and the people imagin a vain thing? nefs, the morning being the moft against the Lord and against his delightful season of the day. Job. XI. 17. Thine age shall be clearer than the noon-day; thou shalt Shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning. XXXVIII. 7. When the morning fars fang together, and the fons of God bouted for joy. See alfo Cant. VI. 10. Ifa. LVIII. 8. Richardfon.

Anointed He that fitteth in the Heavens fhall laugh, the Lord fhall have them in derifion. It appears that our author had this paffage in view, by his making the Son allude fo plainly to it in his anfwer.

-Mighty Father, thou thy foes Juftly haft in derifion, and fecure Laugh'ft at their vain defigns and tumults vain.

718. And fmiling] Let not the pious reader be offended, becaufe the fupreme Being is reprefented as fmiling and fpeaking ironically of 719. in whom my glory 1 behold his foes; for fuch figures of fpeech In full refplendence, Heir of all my are not unufual in the Scripture it- might,] For he is the brightfelf. Immediately after the fall of nefs of his Father's glory, and apMan we read, Gen. III. 22. And pointed heir of all things, Heb. I. the Lord God faid, Behold the Man 2, 3. is become as one of us, to know good

M m 2

734. Lightning

In our defense, left unawares we lose

This our high place, our fanctuary, our hill.
To whom the Son with calm afpéct and clear,
Lightning divine, ineffable, ferene,

Made answer. Mighty Father, thou thy foes 735
Juftly haft in derifion, and secure

Laugh'ft at their vain designs and tumults vain,
Matter to me of glory, whom their hate
Illuftrates, when they fee all regal power
Giv'n me to quell their pride, and in event
Know whether I be dextrous to fubdue
Thy rebels, or be found the worst in Heaven.
So fpake the Son; but Satan with his Powers
Far was advanc'd on winged speed, an hoft
Innumerable as the stars of night,

Or stars of morning, dew-drops, which the fun

734. Lightning divine,] If lightning is a participle, the adjective divine is to be taken adverbially, as if he had faid Lightning divinely: but it is rather a fubftantive, and in Scripture the Angel's countenance is faid to have been like lightning, Dan. X. 6. Mat. XXVIII. 3.

746. Or fars of morning, dewdrops,] Innumerable as the fars is an old fimile, but this of

740

745

Im

the ftars of morning, dew-drops, feems as new as it is beautiful: And the fun impearls them, turns them by his reflected beams to feeming pearls; as the morn was faid before to fow the earth with orient pearl, ver. 2.

750. In their triple degrees;] This notion of triples in all the oeconomy of Angels is started by Taffo, Cant. 18. St. 96.

Impearls on every leaf and every flower.
Regions they pass'd, the mighty regencies
Of Seraphim and Potentates and Thrones
In their triple degrees; regions to which
All thy dominion, Adam, is no more
Than what this garden is to all the earth,
And all the fea, from one entire globofe
Stretch'd into longitude; which having pafs'd
At length into the limits of the north

They came, and Satan to his royal feat
High on a hill, far blazing, as a mount

Rais'd on a mount, with pyramids and towers
From diamond quarries hewn, and rocks of gold;
The palace of great Lucifer, (fo call
That ftructure in the dialect of men
Interpreted) which not long after, he

In battel round of fquadrons three
they flood,
And all by threes thofe fquadrons
ranged were:

and by Spenfer, Fairy Queen, B. 1.
Cant. 12. St. 39.

Like as it had been many an
Angel's voice

Singing before th' eternal Majefty,
In their trinal triplicities on high.

750

755

760