On half the nations, and with fear of change
Perplexes monarchs. Darken'd so, yet shone
Above them all th' Arch-Angel: but his face
Deep scars of thunder had intrench'd, and care
Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows
Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride
Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast
Signs of remorse and passion to behold

The fellows of his crime, the followers rather

(Far other once beheld in bliss) condemn'd
For ever now to have their lot in pain,
Millions of spirits for his fault amerc'd
Of heav'n, and from eternal splendors flung
For his revolt, yet faithful how they stood,

600

605

610

cut, Shakespeare uses the same word speaking of a sear, It was this very sword intrenched it, All's well that ends well, act ii.

609. amerc'd] This word is not used here in its proper law, sense, of mulcted, fined, &c. but, as Mr. Hume rightly observes, has a strange affinity with the Greek augda, to deprive, to take away, as Homer has used it much to our purpose.

Οφθαλμων μεν αμερσε, δίδου δ' ηδείαν wodny.

The Muse amerced him of his eyes, but gave him the faculty of singing sweetly. Odyss. viii. 64. And the word is used in the same sense in Spenser.

611. —yet faithful how they stood,] To see the true construction of this we must go back to ver. 605. for the verb. The sense then is this, to behold the fellows of his crime condemned

Their glory wither'd: as when heaven's fire
Hath scath'd the forest oaks, or mountain pines,
With singed top their stately growth though bare
Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepar'd
To speak; whereat their doubled ranks they bend
From wing to wing, and half inclose him round
With all his peers: attention held them mute.
Thrice he assay'd, and thrice in spite of scorn
Tears, such as angels weep, burst forth: at last
Words interwove with sighs found out their way.
O Myriads of immortal Spi'rits, O Powers

615

620

&c. yet how they stood faithful. He had Ovid in his thought, Richardson.

612. —as when heaven's fire Hath scath'd &c.] Hath hurt, hath damaged; a word frequently used in Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, and our old writers. This is a very beautiful and close simile; it represents the majestic stature, and withered glory of the angels; and the last with great propriety, since their lustre was impaired by thunder, as well as that of the trees in the simile: and besides, the blasted heath gives us some idea of that singed burning soil, on which the angels were standing. Homer and Virgil frequently use comparisons from trees, to express the stature or falling of a hero, but none of them are applied with such variety and propriety of circumstances as this of Milton. See An Essay upon Milton's imitations of the Ancients, p. 24.

Metam. xi. 419.

Ter conata loqui, ter fletibus ora rigavit.

Bentley.

Tears such as angels weep, like Homer's Ichor of the gods which was different from the blood of mortals. This weeping of Satan and the thoughts of their wretchon surveying his numerous host, ed state, puts one in mind of the story of Xerxes weeping on seeing his vast army, and reflecting that they were mortal, at the to their fate, and to the intended time that he was hastening them destruction of the greatest peo

ple in the world, to gratify his own vain glory.

621. Words interwove with sighs found out their way.] Not unlike a line in Fairfax's Tasso, xii. 26.

Her sighs her dire complaint did interlace.

Interwove is almost peculiar to

619. Thrice he assay'd, and Milton. He has it again, Par.

thrice

Tears burst forth]

Reg. ii. 263. and in Comus, 544.

T. Warton.

Matchless, but with th' Almighty, and that strife
Was not inglorious, though th' event was dire,
As this place testifies, and this dire change
Hateful to utter: but what pow'r of mind
Foreseeing or presaging, from the depth

Of knowledge past or present, could have fear'd,
How such united force of Gods, how such
As stood like these, could ever know repulse?
For who can yet believe, though after loss,
That all these puissant legions, whose exile
Hath emptied heav'n, shall fail to re-ascend
Self-rais'd, and repossess their native seat?
For me be witness all the host of heaven,
If counsels different, or danger shunn'd
By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns
Monarch in heav'n, till then as one secure
Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute,
Consent or custom, and his regal state

Put forth at full, but still his strength conceal'd,
Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall.

623. —and that strife

Was not inglorious,]

Ovid, Met. ix. 6.

-nec nam

625

630

635

640

nifies their number, as if their exile had emptied heaven.

634. Self-rais'd,] Milton is fond of self in composition. See

Turpe fuit vinci, quàm contendisse other instances, in Par. Lost, iii.

decorum est.

633. Hath emptied heav'n,] It is conceived that a third part of the angels fell with Satan, according to Rev. xii. 4. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth; and this opinion Milton hath expressed in several places, ii. 692. v. 710. vi. 156: but Satan here talks big and mag

130. v. 860, 254. vii. 154, 242, 510. viii. 572. ix. 183, 607, 1188. x. 1016. xi. 93. Comus, 597. T. Warton.

642. Which tempted our attempt,] Words though well chosen and significative enough, yet of jingling and unpleasant sound, and like marriages between persons too near of kin, to be avoided. Hume.

Henceforth his might we know, and know our own,
So as not either to provoke, or dread

New war, provok'd; our better part remains
To work in close design, by fraud or guile,

What force effected not: that he no less
At length from us may find, who overcomes
By force, hath overcome but half his foe.

Space may produce new worlds; whereof so rife
There went a fame in heav'n that he ere long
Intended to create, and therein plant
A generation, whom his choice regard
Should favour equal to the sons of heaven:
Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps
Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere:
For this infernal pit shall never hold
Celestial Spi'rits in bondage, nor th' abyss
Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts
Full counsel must mature: Peace is despair'd,
For who can think submission? War then, War
Open or understood must be resolv'd.

This kind of jingle was undoubtedly thought an elegance by Milton, and many instances of it may be shewn not only in his works, but I believe in all the best poets both ancient and modern, though the latter I am afraid have been sometimes too liberal of them.

647. that he no less &c.] Satan had owned just before, ver. 642. that they had been deceived by God's concealing his strength; he now says, He also shall find himself mistaken in his turn; He shall find our cunning such

645

650

655

660

as that though we have been overpowered, we are not more than half subdued. Richardson.

650. rife] Milton uses and explains rife which is fresh, recent, common, customary, and the like, in Sams. Agon. 866.

-that grounded maxim So rife and celebrated in the mouths Of wisest men.

Rife would be well translated into Latin by celebris. T. Warton.

Rife is prevalent, abounding. Johnson.

662. understood] Not expressed,

He spake and to confirm his words, out-flew
Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs
Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze
Far round illumin'd hell: highly they rag'd
Against the High'est, and fierce with grasped arms
Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war,
Hurling defiance toward the vault of heav'n.

There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top
Belch'd fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire

667. with grasped arms] The known custom of the Roman soldiers, when they applauded a speech of their general, was to smite their shields with their swords. Bentley.

And the epithet grasped, joined to arms, determines the expression to mean swords only, which were spoken of a little before, ver. 664. Pearce.

Mr. Upton is of opinion that Milton in what follows imitates both Spenser and Shakespeare, Faery Queen, b. i. cant. iv. st. 40.

And clash their shields, and shake their swords on high.

Julius Cæsar, act v.

665

670

Defiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth.

Milton in his imitations scarcely ever confines himself to the beauties or expressions of one author, but enriches his diction with the spoils of many, and hence surpasses any one. Letter to Mr. West on Spenser's Faery Queen, p. 23.

669. Hurling defiance toward the vault of heav'n.] Dr. Bentley reads the walls of heav'n. Heaven the habitation of God and angels being never described as vaulted; and Dr. Pearce approves the emendation; and without doubt the wall or walls of heaven is a common expression with our author. But may we not by the vault of heaven understand cœli convexa, our visible heaven, which is often described as vaulted, the sphere of the fixed stars above which God and angels inhabit? Hurling defiance toward the visible heaven is in effect hurling defiance toward the invisible heaven, the seat of God and angels.

671. Belch'd] So Virgil, Æn.