Not to be overpow'r'd, companions dear, Too mean pretence, but what we more affect, 420 425 But proves not so: then fallible, it seems, Till now not known, but known as soon contemn'd; Incapable of mortal injury, Imperishable, and though pierc'd with wound, themselves and annoy their enemies. 431.and pain, Till now not known, but known 435 440 So Prometheus in like manner Τι δ' αν φοβοιμην, ο θάνειν ου μόρσιμον ; 1 Due search and consultation will disclose. He sat; and in th' assembly next upstood 445 450 455 Valour or strength, though matchless, quell'd with pain Of mightiest? Sense of pleasure we may well All patience. He who therefore can invent 447. Nisroch,] A god of the Assyrians, in whose temple at Nineveh, Sennacherib was killed by his two sons, 2 Kings xix. 37. and Isaiah xxxvii. 37. It is not known who this god Nisroch was. The Seventy call him Meserach in Kings, and Nasarach in Isaiah; Josephus calls him Araskes. He must have been a principal idol, being worshipped by so great a prince, and at the capital city Nineveh; which may justify Milton in calling him of Principalities the prime. 460 465 Nisroch is made to talk agreeably to the sentiments of Hieronymus and those philosophers, who maintained that pain was the greatest of evils; there might be a possibility of living without pleasure, but there was no living in pain. A notion suitable enough to a deity of the effeminate Assyrians. Our yet unwounded enemies, or arm 470 Whereto with look compos'd Satan replied. Not uninvented that, which thou aright Believ'st so main to our success, I bring. Which of us who beholds the bright surface Of this ethereous mould whereon we stand, This continent of spacious heav'n, adorn'd With plant, fruit, flow'r ambrosial, gems and gold; 475 Whose eye so superficially surveys These things, as not to mind from whence they grow Deep under ground, materials dark and crude, Of spirituous and fiery spume, till touch'd With heaven's ray, and temper'd they shoot forth 490 So beauteous, opening to the ambient light? Nisroch is speaking; he had complimented Satan (ver. 451.) with the title of Deliverer; here he ventures to say, that whoever could invent the new engine of war would be equal to him in his estimation. Milton has taken care that this deliverer should also have this merit, and be without a competitor; Satan is both the one and the other as it follows immediately. Richardson. 472. Which of us who beholds the bright surfáce Of this ethereous mould &c.] Dr. Bentley, for the sake of a better accent, reads súrface bright; but surface is to be read with the accent upon the last syllable, and not as it is commonly pronounced, for Milton would hardly use a trochaic foot at the end of the verse. Dr. Bentley reads likewise this ethereal mould; and it is true Milton commonly uses the word ethereal, but that is no reason why he may not say likewise ethereous, which is nearer the Latin æthereus. The construction of this sentence is, Which of us who beholds &c. so superficially surveys these things: but as the nominative case which of us is mentioned so many lines before the verb surveys, he throws in another nominative case, Whose eye so superficially surveys &c. These in their dark nativity the deep Shall yield us pregnant with infernal flame; Which into hollow engines long and round Thick-ramm'd, at th' other bore with touch of fire 485 From far with thund'ring noise among our foes 482. -the deep] It is commonly used for hell, but here is only opposed to surface, ver. 472. and is the same as deep under ground, ver. 478. which may likewise explain the word infernal in the next line. Not but infernal flame may mean flame like that of hell, hell having been frequently mentioned before by the angels, and the idea being very well known. 484. Which into hollow &c.] Which, that is, the materials, ver. 478. These ver. 482. the deep shall yield, which into hollow engines rammed, with touch of fire shall send forth &c. Hollow engines, great guns, the first invention whereof is very properly ascribed to the author of all evil. And Ariosto has described them in the same manner in his Orlando Furioso, cant. ix. st. 28, or 24 of Harrington's translation; and attributes the invention to the devil. Un ferro bugio, &c. 490 The bullet flies with such a furious wind, As though from clouds a bolt of And whatever in the way it find No doubt some fiend of hell or Devised it to do mankind a spite. And again, st. 84. O curst devise found out by some foul fiend, And fram❜d below by Belzebub in hell &c. And Spenser has the same thought, Faery Queen, b. i. cant. vii. st. 13. As when that devilish iron engine wrought In deepest hell, and fram'd by furies' skill, With windy nitre and quick sulphur fraught, And ramm'd with bullet round, ordain'd to kill &c. But though the poets have agreed to attribute the invention to the devil, from a notion of its being so destructive to mankind, yet many authors have observed, that since the use of artillery there has less slaughter been made in battles than was before, when the engagements were Whereat no sooner taken is the flame, closer, and lasted longer. in. 25. All closed save a little hole behind, The Thund'rer of his only dreaded bolt. 495 He ended, and his words their drooping cheer In future days, if malice should abound, 502. In future days-Some one intent &c.] This speaking in the spirit of prophecy adds great dignity to poetry. It is in the same spirit that Dido makes the imprecation, Virg. Æn. iv. 625. Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor &c. This here very properly comes from the mouth of an angel. 501 505 510 507. Forthwith from council to the work they flew ;] This and the two following lines are admirably contrived to express the hurry of the angels; and consist therefore of short periods, without any particles to connect them. |