Rather than human. Nor did Israel 'scape

Th' infection, when their borrow'd gold compos'd

The calf in Oreb; and the rebel king
Doubled that sin in Bethel and in Dan,
Likening his Maker to the grazed ox,
Jehovah, who in one night when he pass'd
From Egypt marching, equall'd with one stroke
Both her first-born and all her bleating gods.
Belial came last, than whom a Spi'rit more lewd
Fell not from heaven, or more gross to love
Vice for itself: to him no temple stood
Or altar smok'd; yet who more oft than he
In temples and at altars, when the priest
Turns atheist, as did Eli's sons, who fill'd
With lust and violence the house of God?
In courts and palaces he also reigns
And in luxurious cities, where the noise
Of ri'ot ascends above their loftiest towers,
And injury and outrage: and when night
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons

485

490

495

500

of disdain as Virgil says Æn. Moloch the first, as he was the viii. 698.

Omnigenûmque deûm monstra et latrator Anubis ;

and so returns to his subject, and ends the passage as he began it, with the gods of Egypt.

490. Belial came last, &c.] The characters of Moloch and Belial prepare the reader's mind for their respective speeches and behaviour in the second and sixth book. Addison.

And they are very properly made, one the first, and the other the last, in this catalogue, as they both make so great a figure afterwards in the poem.

fiercest spirit that fought in heamen, ii. 44. and Belial the last, as he is represented as the most timorous and slothful, ii. 117. It doth not appear that he was ever worshipped; but lewd profligate fellows, such as regard neither God nor man, are called in Scripture the children of Belial, Deut. xiii. 13. So the sons of Eli are called 1 Sam. ii. 12. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial, they knew not the Lord. So the men of Gibeah, who abused the Levite's wife, Judg. xix. 22. are called likewise sons of Belial'; which are the particular instances here given by our author.

Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.
Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night
In Gibeah, when the hospitable door
Expos'd a matron to avoid worse rape.
These were the prime in order and in might;

502.-flown with insolence and wine.] I have heard a conjecture of somebody proposing to read blown instead of flown, blown with insolence and wine, as there is in Virgil inflatus Iaccho, Ec. vi. 15.

Inflatum hesterno venas, ut semper,
Iaccho.

But flown I conceive is a partici-
ple from the verb fly, and the
meaning is that they were raised
and heightened with insolence
and wine, insolence and wine
made them fly out into these ex-
travagances. Or, as others think,
it may be a participle from the
verb flow, as overflown is some-
times used for overflowed. And
the meaning is the same
flushed with insolence and wine.
An expression very common from
the verb fluo. In the same sense
we use flushed with success, as
Mr. Thyer observes.

as

read

502.] Warton would
swoln, comparing this passage
with Comus, 178.

To meet the rudeness, and swill'd
insolence

Of such late wassailers.

E.

504.- when the hospitable door
Expos'd a matron to avoid

worse rape.]

So Milton caused it to be printed in the second edition; the first ran thus,

505

when hospitable doors Yielded their matrons to prevent worse rape.

And Milton did well in altering the passage, to make it more agreeable to the Scriptural story. Pearce.

506. These were the prime] It is observed by Macrobius and others, in commendation of Homer's catalogue of ships and warriors, that he hath therein mentioned every body who doth, and nobody who doth not, afterwards make his appearance in the poem: whereas it is otherwise in Virgil; some have a place in the list, who are never heard of in the battles, and others make a figure in the battles, who are not taken notice of in the list. Neither hath Milton in this respect attained Homer's excellence and beauty; but then it should be considered what was his intent and purpose in this catalogue. It was not possible for him to exhibit as complete a catalogue of the fallen angels, as Homer hath given us of the Grecian and Trojan commanders; and as it was not possible or indeed proper, so neither was it at all his intention. He proposed only to mention the chief, and such who were known in Palestine and the neighbouring countries, and had incroached upon the worship of the God of

The rest were long to tell, though far renown'd,
Th' Ionian Gods, of Javan's issue held
Gods, yet confess'd later than heav'n and earth,
Their boasted parents: Titan heav'n's first-born,
With his enormous brood, and birthright seiz'd
By younger Saturn; he from mightier Jove
His own and Rhea's son like measure found;
So Jove usurping reign'd: these first in Crete
And Ida known, thence on the snowy top
Of cold Olympus rul'd the middle air,

Javan, the fourth son of Japhet, and grandson of Noah, is supposed to have settled in the southwest part of Asia Minor, about Ionia, which contains the radical letters of his name. His descendants were the Ionians and Grecians; and the principal of their gods were heaven and earth; Titan was their eldest son, he was father of the giants, and his empire was seized by his younger brother Saturn, as Saturn's was by Jupiter son of Saturn and Rhea. These were first known in the island Crete, now Candia, in which is mount Ida, where Jupiter is said to have

510

515

been born; thence passed over into Greece, and resided on mount Olympus in Thessaly; the snowy top of cold Olympus, as Homer calls it Ολυμπον αγαννιφον, 11. i. 420. and xviii. 615. Ovλvμñov viQosyros, which mountain afterwards became the name of heaven among their worshippers; or on the Delphian cliff, Parnassus, whereon was seated the city Delphi, famous for the temple and oracle of Apollo; or in Dodona, a city and wood adjoining, sacred to Jupiter; and through all the bounds of Doric land, that is of Greece, Doris being a part of Greece; or fled over Adria, the Adriatic, to th' Hesperian fields, to Italy; and o'er the Celtic, France and the other countries overrun by the Celtes, roamed the the utmost isles, Great Britain, Ireland, the Orkneys, Thulè or Iceland, ultima Thule, as it is called, the utmost boundary of the world. Such explications are needless to those who are conversant with the classic authors; they are written for those who

are not.

Their highest heav'n; or on the Delphian cliff,
Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds
Of Doric land; or who with Saturn old

Fled over Adria to th' Hesperian fields,
And o'er the Celtic roam'd the utmost isles.

520

All these and more came flocking; but with looks Downcast and damp, yet such wherein appear'd Obscure some glimpse of joy, to' have found their chief Not in despair, to' have found themselves not lost 525 In loss itself; which on his count'nance cast

Like doubtful hue: but he his wonted pride
Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore
Semblance of worth not substance, gently rais'd
Their fainting courage, and dispell'd their fears.
Then straight commands that at the warlike sound
Of trumpets loud and clarions be uprear'd
His mighty standard; that proud honour claim'd
Azazel as his right, a cherub tall ;

529. Semblance of worth not substance,] Spenser, Faery Queen, b. ii. cant. 9. st. 2.

Full lively is the semblaunt, though

the substance dead.

Thyer. 530. Their fainting courage,] In the first edition he gave it Their fainted courage, if that be not an error of the press.

532. Of trumpets loud and clarions] A clarion is a small shrill treble trumpet, à claro quem edit sono. Hume.

So Fairfax mentions and distinguishes them; cant. i. st. 71. When trumpets loud and clarions shrill were heard.

530

533.-that proud honour claim'd Azazel as his right, a cherub tall;]

Azazel is not the scape-goat, as it is commonly called, but signifies some demon, as the learned Dr. Spencer hath abundantly proved in his dissertation De hirco emissario. He shews that this name is used for some demon or devil by several ancient authors Jewish and Christian, and derives it from two Hebrew words, Az and Azel, signifying brave in retreating, a proper appellation for the standard-bearer to the fallen angels.