485

490

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,

Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife
Among themselves, and levy cruel wars,
Wasting the earth, each other to destroy :

495

500

and tremble.” — 483. Virtue. Satan's public spirit? or their generous recognition of his seeming merit ? Lesti 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. See I. 1. 69 ; and 'sad occasion dear.' Lycidas, 6. — 488. As when, etc. “This simile 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.” 11. 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. låren, 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

515

As if (which might induce us to accord)
Man had not hellish foes enow besides,
That day and night for his destruction wait.

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. 520
Thence more at ease their minds, and somewhat raised

By false presumptuous hope, the rangèd powers son. 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

530

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
Till thickest legions close ; with feats of arms
From either end of heaven the welkin burns.
Others, with vast Typhæan rage, more fell,

535

in order under arms till then ? What does this show as to their absence from the great hall ? — 526. Entertain (Lat. inter, between ; tenēre, to hold ; Fr. entretenir; Ital, intrattenere), while away, beguile. — 528, etc. Similar the games in Elysium, Æn. VI. 612, etc.; also in the Greek army before Troy while Achilles abstained from battle. Il. II. 773-75. See, too, the mention of 'heroic games' among the gooil angels, IV. 551, 552. (Does not this last citation suggest a joyousness in heaven quite the reverse of the tedious solemuities 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. Ixviii. 17; Hab. iij. 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-shapel 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

540

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
Their own heroic deeds, and hapless fall
By doom of battle, and complain that Fate
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

550

555

560

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

565

570