Main reason to persuade immediate war,
Did not dissuade me most, and seem to cast
Ominous conjecture on the whole success;
When he who most excels in fact of arms,
In what he counsels and in what excels
Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair
And utter dissolution, as the scope

Of all his aim, after some dire revenge.

First, what revenge? The towers of heaven are filled
With armed watch, that render all access
Impregnable: oft on the bordering deep
Encamp their legions, or, with obscure wing,
Scout far and wide into the realm of Night,
Scorning surprise. Or, could we break our way
By force, and at our heels all hell should rise
With blackest insurrection to confound
Heaven's purest light, yet our great enemy,
All incorruptible, would on his throne
Sit unpolluted; and the ethereal mould,
Incapable of stain, would soon expel
Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire,
Victorious. Thus repulsed, our final hope
Is flat despair: we must exasperate
The almighty victor to spend all his rage;

125

130

135

140

of 'the seven deadly sins,' if any, does this speaker typify?-123. Conjecture, uncertainty, doubt. Success, result, issue, as in 1. 9?-124. In fact of arms, Fr. en fait d'armes. See 1. 537.127. Scope, etc. This is an ingenious misstatement of the position of Moloch, whose great aim was not annihilation, but revenge. 'Scope,' fr. Gr. σKÉTтoμαι, skeptomai, to look; σкожÓs, skopos, mark, target. -130. All access, every way of approach. Accent 2d syl. of access' as in I. 761. 131. Deep. Chaos? On the deep. Chaos is an ocean, 892.-132. Obscure, accented repeatedly on first syl. in Shakes. 133. Scout (Lat. auris, ear; auscultare, to give ear to, listen; Fr. écouter, to listen), go out swiftly to reconnoitre. -135. By force. Observe how Belial grapples step by step with Moloch's arguments. To what is this passage, 134-137, responsive? 138. All, wholly. Incorruptible. Rom. i. 23.139. Mould, substance, fiery essence (of the throne? or of the bodies of angels ?). -141. Her. As in Book I. 592, to avoid its. -142. Hope is, etc.; i. e. according to

And that must end us; that must be our cure,

To be no more. Sad cure! for who would lose,
Though full of pain, this intellectual being,
Those thoughts that wander through eternity,
To perish rather, swallowed up and lost

In the wide womb of uncreated Night,

Devoid of sense and motion? And who knows,
Let this be good, whether our angry Foe
Can give it, or will ever? How he can,
Is doubtful that he never will, is sure.
Will he, so wise, let loose at once his ire,
Belike through impotence, or unaware,
To give his enemies their wish, and end
Them in his anger whom his anger saves

145

150

155

To punish endless ? 'Wherefore cease we, then?'
Say they who counsel war; we are decreed,
Reserved, and destined to eternal woe;
Whatever doing, what can we suffer more?

160

What can we suffer worse?' Is this, then, worst,
Thus sitting, thus consulting, thus in arms?
What when we fled amain, pursued and strook
With heaven's afflicting thunder, and besought
The deep to shelter us? This hell then seemed
A refuge from those wounds. Or when we lay
Chained on the burning lake?

That sure was worse.

165

Moloch, 1. 94-97.146. Who would lose. The reader will not fail to note the touching pathos of the next four lines. 147. Thoughts that wander. Like πολλὰς ὁδοὺς ἐλθόντα φροντίδος πλάνοις, travelling many paths in wanderings of thought (Sophocles Oedip. Rex, 67). See Claudio's, "Aye, but to die and go we know not where," etc. Shakes. Meas. for Meas. III. 1; also Gray's Elegy, st. 22, “For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,” etc. — 156. Belike, for, it may be like; i. e. perhaps, forsooth. Irony? Impotence, inability to control himself. Unaware of the consequences. 159. Endless. Modifies punish? or whom? Wherefore, etc. What does this part of Belial's speech answer in Moloch's?-164. Note the climax.-165. What (say you of our condition) when, etc. Or is 'what' a mere interjection? Amain (A. S. magn, force), with all our might (or, possibly with all speed). Strook, old form of struck. 166. Afflicting, See note, I. 186. 170. Breath, etc.

What if the breath that kindled those grim fires,
Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage,
And plunge us in the flames? or, from above,
Should intermitted vengeance arm again
His red right hand to plague us? What if all
Her stores were opened, and this firmament
Of hell should spout her cataracts of fire,
Impendent horrors, threatening hideous fall
One day upon our heads; while we perhaps,
Designing or exhorting glorious war,
Caught in a fiery tempest, shall be hurled,
Each on his rock transfixed, the sport and prey
Of racking whirlwinds, or forever sunk
Under yon boiling ocean, wrapped in chains,
There to converse with everlasting groans,
Unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved,

170

175

180

185

Ages of hopeless end? This would be worse.

War, therefore, open or concealed, alike

My voice dissuades; for what can force or guile

In Isaiah xxx. 33, "The breath of the Lord kindles" the fire of Tophet. 174. His. Whose? Red right hand. Like Horace's rubente dextera. Odes, I. II. Why 'red'?-175. Her; i. e. of hell?-176. The commentators have not mentioned the traces in this passage of Lear's tremendous ravings, "You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout," etc. King Lear, Act III. sc. II. 180, 181, 182. Very similar is the death of Ajax Oileus, 'caught up in tempest,' 'impaled on a sharp rock,' etc. En. I. 44, 45. — 182. Racking (Dutch racke, a frame to torture by stretching; akin to Lat. stringere? Eng. stretch?) tormenting; as 'blown with restless violence,' etc. Shakes. Meas. for Meas. III. 1; so Virg. Æn. VI. 740, 741, "Some souls, suspended, are spread out to the empty winds."-184. Converse (Lat. conversāri, abide), live, dwell, commune?-185. Note the fine effect of repeating the prefix un. So,

'Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified.' V. 899.

‘Unkind, unmanly, and unprincely Ammon.' Peele.

'Unbodied, unheard, unsouled, unseen.' Spenser.

‘Unseen, unmarked, unpitied, unrewarded.' Fairfax's Tasso.

'Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.' Scott.

'Unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown.' Byron.

Unrespited differs how from unreprieved?-186. Of hopeless end. Ages

With him, or who deceive his mind, whose

eye

Views all things at one view? He from heaven's highth 190

All these our motions vain sees and derides,

Not more almighty to resist our might,

Than wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles.

Shall we, then, live thus vile, the race of heaven

Thus trampled, thus expelled, to suffer here
Chains and these torments?

195

Better these than worse,

By my advice; since fate inevitable
Subdues us, and omnipotent decree,
The victor's will. To suffer, as to do,
Our strength is equal; nor the law unjust
That so ordains. This was at first resolved,
If we were wise, against so great a foe
Contending, and so doubtful what might fall.
I laugh, when those who at the spear are bold
And venturous, if that fail them, shrink, and fear
What yet they know must follow, to endure
Exile, or ignominy, or bonds, or pain,
The sentence of their conqueror. This is now
Our doom; which if we can sustain and bear,
Our supreme foe in time may much remit
His anger, and perhaps, thus far removed,
Not mind us not offending, satisfied

With what is punished; whence these raging fires
Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames.

200

205

210

Our

purer essence then will overcome

215

whose end is not to be hoped for?-188. Can . . . with, can avail against. - 191. Derides. "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision." Ps. ii. 4. 199. To suffer, etc. See note I. 158. Scævola boasted that he, like a true Roman, knew how et facere et pati, both to do and to suffer. Liv. 11. 12. 201. This. Fortitude? Resolved. Paraphrase this sentence. 203. Doubtful. Who or what was doubtful? Fall, happen. -207. Ignominy. Make four syllables, or three? Scan.209. Sustain . bear. Difference? Which is physical? — 210. Supreme. Accent? I. 735. - 211. Thus far. How far? See note I. 73. Removed belongs to he? or us? — 213. What is punished=what punishment is inflicted?

Their noxious vapor; or, inured, not feel;

Or, changed at length, and to the place conformed
In temper and in nature, will receive

Familiar the fierce heat; and, void of pain,

This horror will grow mild, this darkness light;

Besides what hope the never-ending flight

Of future days may bring, what chance, what change
Worth waiting; since our present lot appears

For happy though but ill, for ill not worst,
If we procure not to ourselves more woe.'

Thus Belial, with words clothed in reason's garb, Counselled ignoble ease and peaceful sloth, Not peace; and after him thus Mammon spake : "Either to disenthrone the king of heaven war, if war be best, or to regain

We

Our own right lost. Him to unthrone we then
May hope, when everlasting Fate shall yield
To fickle Chance, and Chaos judge the strife.
The former, vain to hope, argues as vain
The latter; for what place can be for us

220

225

230

235

Within heaven's bound, unless heaven's lord supreme

We overpower? Suppose he should relent,

And publish grace to all, on promise made

Of new subjection; with what eyes could we

Stand in his presence humble, and receive
Strict laws imposed, to celebrate his throne

240

-216. Vapor (Lat. vapor, hot exhalation, heat; Lithuanian kwapas, breath, exhalation; Gг. Kaπvós, kapnos, smoke), heat. 220. Light. Substantive or adj.? Masson and Keightley prefer the former. — 221-2. Besides... bring. Note the rhyme; also the slow monotony of the rhythm. Appropriateness? 223. Waiting for. -224. For happy = as regards happiness. For ill =as regards illness or badness. So Theognis (of Megara, 583-495 B. c.), 510, ὡς εὖ μέν, χαλεπῶς· ὡς χαλεπῶς δὲ, μαλ ̓ εὖ, as for well, badly ; but as for badly, quite well! — 227. Ignoble ease =Virgil's ignobilis oti, Geor. IV. 564. What fundamental fallacy underlies Belial's plan? Is it consistent with his character? See 108-119; I. 490-502. What seems to be his ruling passion or leading vice?-233. Strife between Chaos and Fate? or between God and us? See 907, 910, 960, 965. -- 234. Former. 'Disenthrone'? or