Then lighted from his gorgeous throne, for now
'Twixt hoft and hoft but narrow space was left,
A dreadful interval, and front to front
Prefented stood in terrible array

Of hideous length: before the cloudy van,
On the rough edge of battel ere it join'd,
Satan with vast and haughty ftrides advanc'd
Came towring, arm'd in adamant and gold;
Abdiel that fight indur'd not, where he stood
Among the mightieft, bent on highest deeds,
And thus his own undaunted heart explores..

105

110

O Heav'n! that such resemblance of the Highest Should

111. Abdiel that fight indur'd not,] A foliloquy upon fuch an occafion Virg. Æn. II. 407. is only making the perfon think aloud. And as it is obferved by a

Non tulit hanc fpeciem furiatâ very good judge in thefe matters, mente Chorobus.

this ufe of foliloquies by the epic poets, who might fo much more eafily than the dramatic defcribe the workings of the mind in narrative, feems to be much in favor of the latter in their use of them, however the modern critics agree (as I think they generally do agree) in condemning them as unnatural, tho' not only frequent, but generally the most beautiful parts in the beft plays ancient and modern; and I believe very few, if any, have been wrote without them.

115.- where

Should yet remain, where faith and reälty

115

Remain not: wherefore should not strength and might
There fail where virtue fails, or weakest prove
Where boldeft, though to fight unconquerable?
His puiffance, trusting in th' Almighty's aid,
I mean to try, whose reason I have try'd
Unfound and falfe; nor is it ought but just,
That he who in debate of truth hath won,
Should win in arms, in both difputes alike
Victor; though brutish that contéft and foul,
When reafon hath to deal with force, yet fo
Moft reafon is that reafon overcome.

So pondering, and from his armed peers
Forth stepping oppofit, half way he met

115. where faith and reality] The author (fays Dr. Bentley) would not have faid realty but reality, and therefore the Doctor prefers fealty, which is undoubtedly a proper word, but not neceffary here. For realty feems not to mean in this place reality in oppofition to Show; but loyalty, for the Italian dictionaries explain the adjective reale by loyal. Befides where is the difference between faith, and fealty or fidelity? Pearce.

119.trufting in th' Almighty's aid,] We may remark the piety of the good Angel; and in

125

His daring foe, at this prevention more

Incens'd, and thus fecurely him defy'd.

130

Proud, art thou met? thy hope was to have reach'd

The highth of thy afpiring unoppos'd,

The throne of God unguarded, and his fide

Abandon'd at the terror of thy power

Or potent tongue: fool, not to think how vain
Against th' Omnipotent to rife in arms;
Who out of smallest things could without end

Have rais'd inceffant armies to defeat

Thy folly; or with folitary hand

Reaching beyond all limit, at one blow

135

140

Unaided could have finish'd thee, and whelm'd
Thy legions under darkness: but thou seeft

All are not of thy train; there be who faith

Prefer, and piety to God, though then
To thee not vifible, when I alone

145

Seem'd in thy world erroneous to diffent

From all: my fect thou feeft; now learn too late How few fometimes may know, when thousands err. Whom the grand foe with scornful eye askance Thus anfwer'd. Ill for thee, but in wish'd hour 150 Of my revenge, first fought for thou return'ft From flight, feditious Angel, to receive

Thy merited reward, the first assay

Of this right hand provok'd, fince first that tongue Infpir'd with contradiction durft oppose

147. my feet thou feeft; &c] The ufe of the word fet in this place feems a little forc'd and fingular; and I can't help thinking but Milton brought it in in order to fneer the Loyalists of his time, who branded all diffenters, of whom he was one, with the opprobrious name of Sectaries. This alfo accounts for the word few in the next line, inafmuch as it fuited Milton's particular view better to establish a general maxim than to apply it merely to the fingle cafe of Abdiel. Thyer. 148. How few fometimes may know,] Thefe few here are ftill too many. To come up to the point he fhould

I

155

fuppofe the good Angel faid few, though one was particularly intended, as it is more modeft and lefs affuming to himself, and for the reafon hinted above, intimating

that

A third part of the Gods, in fynod met
Their deities to affert, who while they feel
Vigor divine within them, can allow
Omnipotence to none. But well thou com'ft
Before thy fellows, ambitious to win

160

From me fome plume, that thy fuccefs may show
Destruction to the reft: this paufe between
(Unanswer'd left thou boast) to let thee know;
At first I thought that Liberty and Heaven
To heav'nly fouls had been all one; but now
I fee that most through floth had rather serve,
Miniftring Spirits, train'd up in feast and fong;
Such haft thou arm'd, the minstrelfy of Heaven,

that the Sectaries, tho' fewer in number, yet were more in the right than their oppofers.

161. that thy fuccefs may show Thy fuccefs, thy ill fuccefs; the word fuccefs is ufed in the fame fense, II. 9. Richardfon.

161.—that thy fuccefs may show Deftruction to the reft:] Bentley fays, a detestable fault: it should be inftruction. Mr. Pope fays fuccefs ironicé. I don't know what this means. The text is right, and the meaning is, that thy fuccefs may fhow thy fellows the road to deftruction, or the way to deftroy their enemies. Warburton. VOL. I.

165