Lose all their virtue; lest bad men should boast
Their specious deeds on earth, which glory excites,
Or close ambition varnished o'er with zeal.

Thus they their doubtful consultations dark
Ended, rejoicing in their matchless chief:
As, when from mountain tops the dusky clouds
Ascending, while the north wind sleeps, o'erspread
Heaven's cheerful face, the louring element
Scowls o'er the darkened landskip snow or shower;
If chance the radiant sun, with farewell sweet,
Extend his evening beam, the fields revive,
The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds
Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings.
O shame to men! Devil with devil damned
Firm concord holds; men only disagree

Of creatures rational, though under hope

Of heavenly grace, and, God proclaiming peace,

485

490

495

Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife

Among themselves, and levy cruel wars,

Wasting the earth, each other to destroy:

500

See I. 1. 69; "This simile

and tremble."-483. Virtue. Satan's public spirit? or their generous recognition of his seeming merit? Lest. Meaning, 'I say this, lest'? — 485. Close, concealed. -486. Consultations. Note the position of the noun between two adjectives, an arrangement of which Milton is fond. and 'sad occasion dear.' Lycidas, 6. — 488. As when, etc. brightens and refreshes for a moment the sombre atmosphere of hell." Ross. It is preceded by the mention of distant thunder, and followed by a gorgeous display of royalty. Name all its parts. — 489. North wind sleeps, etc. "While the might of Boreas sleeps." Il. V. 524. The north wind would drive the clouds away. They quote here Il. XVI. 297; also Spenser's 40th Sonnet.490. Heaven's cheerful face. This phrase is in Spenser, Faerie Queene, II. XII. 34. Louring. 'Lour' is akin to 'leer,' to look in a covert or suspicious way; Low Ger. laren, to look sullen. Element. Here, as often in Shakes. and the old writers, ‘element’is air or sky. — 491. Snow, apposition to 'element'? or object of 'scowls'?-492. Chance, as in 1. 396.—495. Rings. Why not ring? - 496. O, shame. "He evidently had his own times in view." Keightley. — 497. Concord, etc. Todd quotes Bishop Hall (1615), “Even evil spirits keep touch within themselves."

- 501. Levy (Fr. lever, lift, raise). "This sense seems improper." John

As if (which might induce us to accord)
Man had not hellish foes enow besides,

That day and night for his destruction wait.

505

The Stygian council thus dissolved, and forth
In order came the grand infernal peers:
Midst came their mighty paramount, and seemed
Alone the antagonist of heaven, nor less

Than hell's dread emperor, with pomp supreme,

510

And god-like imitated state him round

A globe of fiery seraphim enclosed

With bright emblazonry, and horrent arms.
Then of their session ended they bid cry

With trumpets' regal sound the great result:
Toward the four winds four speedy cherubim
Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy,
By harald's voice explained; the hollow abyss
Heard far and wide, and all the host of hell
With deafening shout returned them loud acclaim.

515

520

son.

Thence more at ease their minds, and somewhat raised
By false presumptuous hope, the rangèd powers

==

Subsequent usage has fully justified Milton.-504. Enow (A. S. genoh; Ger. genug, enough; Norweg. nogr, abundant), old form of enough. This pronunciation is still heard in some parts of England. - 508. Paramount (Lat. per, through; ad, to; montem, mountain; Fr. paramont, at the top), lord-paramount. -509. Alone the only? or able single-handed to be? Difference between 'only' and 'alone'?-512. Globe. Circle or ring (as globus, Æn. X. 373)? or sphere? Masson prefers the latter, and refers to Par. Reg. IV. 581-82, 'a fiery globe of angels.' Fiery. "This is the meaning of seraph." Keightley. See note on I. 129.513. Emblazonry. See I. 1. 538. Horrent, bristling, erect. See 'horrid,' I. 563. — 514. Cry, as a crier proclaims. 515. Regal. What fitness in this word? - 517. Alchemy. "White alchemy is made of pan-brass one pound, and arsenicum three ounces; or of copper and auripigmentum" (ore of arsenic). Bacon. Alchemy proper was the pretended art of transmuting metals; hence the word is used for any metals mixed with chemical skill?-518. Harald's. This spelling is Milton's. Explained. The trumpet blast is instantly followed by the crier's voice explaining its full meaning? The sound of this line is thought to echo the sense. Abyss. Hell? or Chaos? In I. 543, the shout is distinctly heard outside the walls of hell!-521. Thence. In consequence of this? or from that spot? or after that time? — 521-22. Rangèd . . . disband. Had they remained

Disband; and, wandering, each his several way
Pursues, as inclination or sad choice

Leads him perplexed, where he may likeliest find
Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain
The irksome hours, till his great chief return.
Part on the plain, or in the air sublime,
Upon the wing, or in swift race contend,
As at the Olympian games or Pythian fields;
Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal
With rapid wheels, or fronted brigades form:
As when, to warn proud cities, war appears
Waged in the troubled sky, and armies rush.
To battle in the clouds; before each van

Prick forth the aery knights, and couch their spears

525

530

535

Till thickest legions close; with feats of arms

From either end of heaven the welkin burns.
Others, with vast Typhoean rage, more fell,

in order under arms till then? What does this show as to their absence from the great hall?-526. Entertain (Lat. inter, between; tenere, to hold; Fr. entretenir; Ital. intrattenere), while away, beguile. -528, etc. Similar the games in Elysium, Æn. VI. 642, etc.; also in the Greek army before Troy while Achilles abstained from battle. II. II. 773–75. See, too, the mention of 'heroic games' among the good angels, IV. 551, 552. (Does not this last citation suggest a joyousness in heaven quite the reverse of the tedious solemnities and perpetual psalm-singing which Taine pretends to find to be the sole business of Milton's angels?) On the plain, where the great muster and review were held. Or, either? Sublime (Lat. sublevāre, to lift; sublimis, high), aloft. — 530. Olympian games, foot-races, horse-races, wrestling, boxing, leaping, armor-races, throwing the discus, etc? They were celebrated every fifth year at Olympia in Elis. See Class. Dict. Pythian fields, in the Crissæan plaiu near Delphi, where, every fifth year, were athletic sports, horse-races, contests in singing, art, etc. See Class. Dict.-531, 532. Fiery steeds. Horses of fire and chariots of fire are mentioned in the Scriptures, 2 Kings ii. 11; vi. 17. See Ps. lxviii. 17; Hab. iii. 8. Shun the goal with rapid wheels. This of course suggests Horace's metaque fervidis evitata rotis, and the goal shunned with burning wheels, Odes, I. 1. 4. The goal was a cone-shaped cypress column, around which the chariot flew in the race. Fronted, confronting. — 533-38. As when, etc. The aurora borealis? Virgil (Geor. I. 474) says, "Germany heard the sound of arms in the whole sky"; and Shakes. (Jul. Cæs. II. II. 19, 20), "Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds in

Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air
In whirlwind; hell scarce holds the wild uproar :
As when Alcides, from Echalia crowned
With conquest, felt the envenomed robe, and tore
Through pain up by the roots Thessalian pines,
And Lichas from the top of Eta threw
Into the Euboic sea. Others, more mild,
Retreated in a silent valley, sing

With notes angelical to many a harp

540

545

Their own heroic deeds, and hapless fall

By doom of battle, and complain that Fate

550

Free Virtue should enthrall to Force or Chance.

Their song was partial; but the harmony

(What could it less when spirits immortal sing?)
Suspended hell, and took with ravishment

ranks and squadrons and right form of war." Troubled sky. Shakes. has 'troubled heaven,' Henry IV., I. 1. 10.- Prick their horses with the spur? So, "A gentle knight was pricking on the plain," beginning of Faerie Queene. Couch (Fr. coucher, to place in rest), place in rest against a portion of the breast armor? Close, grapple. Welkin (A. S. wolcen, Ger. Wolke, cloud. Perhaps from the woolly (Ger. Wolle, wool) aspect of the clouds. Wedgewood. Morris derives it fr. wealcan, to roll, turn. 539. Others. These are not 'on the plain' (1. 528), but in a rocky, hilly region, probably not far away. See I. 670. Typhoan. Typhoeus (pronounced Ty-phō'-eus, trisyl.) was the same as Typhon, who, according to the Athenian writer Apollodorus, hurled great rocks against heaven. See I. 199. 540. Ride the air. "Infected be the air whereon they ride." Macbeth, IV. I. See note 1. 663.542. Alcides, Hercules, grandson of Alcæus. Echalia, a city near the middle of Eubœa, or, as some say, in Thessaly.543. Conquest, of Eurytus, King of Echalia. Robe, which Deïanira, wife of Hercules, unwittingly steeped in poison, thinking the substance had a magic power to win back her husband's affection. See Class. Dict. Ovid. Met. IX. 136, etc.—545. Lichas, the luckless bearer of the poisoned robe to Hercules. Eta, a rugged pile of mountains in the S. E. of Thessaly. See Ov. Met. IX. 136 to 229; and the masterly dramatic treatment of the whole in Sophocles' Trachiniæ. - 546. Euboic Sea, between the mainland of Greece and the island Euboea. —547. Retreated, retired, withdrawn. — 551. Virtue should enthrall, etc. Bentley pointed out the origin of this line in the whining utterance which Dion Cassius alleges to have been quoted from Euripides by Brutus just before his suicide, “Impudent virtue, thou wast, then, mere talk. I practised thee as a reality'; but thou wast, it would seem, enthralled to force" (or enthralled to chance,' açcording to another reading). — 554. So at the music of Orpheus in hell, the

The thronging audience. In discourse more sweet
(For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense)
Others apart sat on a hill retired,

In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high
Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate,
Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute,
And found no end, in wandering mazes lost.
Of good and evil much they argued then,
Of happiness and final misery,
Passion and apathy, and glory and shame;
Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy!
Yet, with a pleasing sorcery, could charm
Pain for a while, or anguish, and excite
Fallacious hope, or arm the obdurèd breast
With stubborn patience as with triple steel.
Another part, in squadrons and gross bands,
On bold adventure to discover wide

That dismal world, if any clime perhaps

·

555

560

565

570

snaky-tressed Eumenides were spell-bound, Cerberus held his triple mouth agape, and the wheel of Ixion stood still. Virg. Georg. I V., 481–4. Took, captivated. Milton shows here, as often elsewhere, his fondness for music. 556. Eloquence the soul, song charms the sense. How far is this distinction true?-558. Elevate. Others? or thoughts? As in I. 193, the omission of d is for euphony. The principle, as shown in Early English,' is thus stated by Morris: "If the root of a verb end in d or t doubled or preceded by another consonant, the d or t of the past participle is omitted. Specimens, XXXV. Reasoned high. The endless and fruitless discussions of insoluble questions by the schoolmen, half theologians, half metaphysicians, here have their prototype! See Himes's Study of Par. Lost, p. 47. - 560. The repetition with epithets suggests the mazes of puzzling and barren 'philosophy.' What Milton himself thought on these themes is hinted in III. 110-30. Absolute apart from predestination? - 561. Wandering. Causing to wander? or coming and going? — 562. Of good, etc.; i. e. 'summum bonum, of the origin of evil, and other philosophic topics, on which also certainty is not to be attained.' Keightley. -564. Apathy. The Stoics argued that the wise man feels neither pain nor pleasure. - 566. Charm. As music did the torments of Prometheus and Tantalus. Hor. Odes, II. XIII. 33-38.- 568. Obdurèd (Lat. obduro, I harden), hardened. -569. Triple. Horace says, "That man had oak and triple brass around his breast, who first entrusted a frail vessel to the merciless ocean."-570. Squadrons, battalions. See note on I. 758. Gross