And regal mysteries, that thou may'st know 250 With that (such pow'r was giv'n him then) he took The Son of God up to a mountain high. It was a mountain at whose verdant feet 253. It was a mountain &c.] All that the Scripture saith is, that the devil took our Saviour up into a high mountain, Luke iv. 5. an exceeding high mountain, Matt. iv. 8. and commentators generally suppose it to be one of the mountains in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, Jerusalem being surrounded by mountains, or some mountain near the wilderness, near the place where our Saviour was tempted. The ancients speak little concerning it, but the moderns conceive it to be the mountain Quarantania, as it is now called. That ingenious traveller, Mr. Maundrel, in his journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, mentioning the plain of Jericho, says, that (March 29.) we descended into it, after "about five hours' march from "Jerusalem. As soon as we entered the plain, we turned up " on the left hand, and going about one hour that way, came " to the foot of the Quarantania; "which they say is the moun" tain into which the devil took " our blessed Saviour, when he tempted him with that visionary scene of all the kingdoms "and glories of the world. It "is, as St. Matthew styles it, an "exceeding high mountain, and " in its ascent not only difficult, "but dangerous." But this is all conjecture, for the Scripture has not specified any particular place, and the Scripture having not ascertained the place, the poet was at liberty to choose any mountain, that best suited his fancy, for the scene of this vision. And accordingly he supposes the devil (such power was given him then) to carry our Saviour many a league up to a high mountain, of which he forbears to mention the name out of reverence to the Scripture, which hath likewise mentioned no name; but by his description of it he must mean Mount Taurus, as Mr. Thyer and Mr. Calton have concurred with me in observing; for he describes it exactly in the same manner as Strabo has described that part of Mount Taurus, which divides the greater Armenia from Mesopotamia, and contains the sources of the two rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Strabo, lib. xi. p. 521. edit. Amstel. To d'our VOTINTOL TOY (βορειοτατον) μαλιστα εστιν ὁ Ταυρος ορίζων την Αρμενίαν απο της Μεσοπο ταμίας. Εντευθεν δ' αμφοτεροι ῥέουσιν οἱ την Μεσοποταμίαν εγκυκλουμένοι ποταμοί, και συνάπτοντες αλληλοις εγγυς κατα την Βαβυλωνίαν, είτα εκ διδοντες εις την κατα Πέρσας θαλατταν, ό τε Ευφράτης, καὶ ὁ Τίγρις. And the course of the rivers is described in the same manner by Strabo, the Euphrates winding, and the Tigris straight and swift as an arrow. Εστι δε μείζων ὁ Ευφράτης, και πλείω διέξεισι χώραν, onorie iw jeldew, x. T. λ. Dionysius, and other ancient geographers, give us much the same A spacious plain out-stretch'd in circuit wide 255 description: of the Euphrates he and Tigris were in the northern says, ver. 797, edit. Wells, Ός δητοι πρωτος μεν απ' ουρεος Αρμένιοιο Μακρος επι νοτον εισι, παλιν δ' αγκώνας ελίξας Αντην ηλιο10, κ. τ. λ. And for the same reason, as Lloyd has remarked in his Dictionary, it is called vagus Euphrates by Statius, and flexuosus by Martianus Capella. Of the Tigris Dionysius says, Τον δε μετ' εις αυγας, ποταμων ωκιστος ἅπαντων Τίγρις εϋῤῥειτης φέρεται, κ. τ. λ. And as to the fertility of the country, Milton copies after Dionysius, but contracts his descrip tion. Τoιη επι κείνης άρεσις πελει, εν μεν αύξειν Ποιην, εν δε νομους ευανθίας, κ. τ. λ. 253. Mount Masius, or any projecting elevation of that ridge of Mount Taurus, which Bp. Newton describes, would have been no improper point for viewing a great part of this geographical scene. Milton might therefore be reasonably supposed to have followed Strabo, as above cited; and indeed from his side two rivers flowed seems almost an exact translation of Tv aμporegoi provviv, &c. (although it appears from other parts of Strabo's work that he did not mean that the sources of the Euphrates boundary of Mesopotamia.)— But still I conceive that this was not the exact spot which Milton had selected in his mind for his specular mount. In Par. Lost he fixed upon Mount Niphates as the place for Satan to alight upon, and thence to survey Eden. And this was certainly owing to his considering it the most elevated range of this part of Mount Taurus, which he collected from Strabo, who, having traced the course of the mountain north-east from the Euphrates, and having described the Gordyæan mountains (the part of Mount Taurus before mentioned) as being higher than any parts he had before considered, says, that it then rises still higher, and is called Niphates. The poet's object in this part of Par. Reg. was certainly to select a point of Mount Taurus inclining to the south-east, but sufficiently central and elevated to command the Caspian sea, Artaxata, and other places specified, that lay directly, or nearly, north. Mount Niphates suited his purpose, and will be found, I imagine, to agree perfectly with all his descriptions: and it rises immediately above Assyria, which is the first country shewed to our Lord. As to what is said that from its side two rivers flowed, the Tigris, it is agreed, rose in the southern side of this mountain; and several ancient authors supposed the Euphrates and Tigris to spring from the same source. So Sallust Th' one winding, th' other straight, and left between Fair champain with less rivers intervein'd, Then meeting join'd their tribute to the sea: Fertile of corn the glebe, of oil and wine; 259 With herds the pastures throng'd, with flocks the hills; Well have we speeded, and o'er hill and dale, in a fragment preserved by Seneca; Boethius, Cons. Philosoph. lib. v.; Lucan, iii. 256. And Strabo himself places one principal source of the Euphrates in Mount Abus, at no considerable distance north of Mount Niphates. And had the spectators here been placed on any point of Taurus immediately at the head of Mesopotamia, the plain at their feet would have been only Mesopotamia; whereas the poet distinguishes between this, which he terms fair champain with less rivers interveined, and his great plain at the foot of that vast range of Mount Taurus, of which Niphates may be considered as the highest and most central point; and this plain he describes as a spacious plain outstretched in circuit wide. Perhaps the word interveined, ver. 257, may be our clue to a passage, which was very probably in Milton's mind in this place. Quintus Curtius, lib. v. c. 1, speaking of 265 the great fertility of the country between the Euphrates and Tigris, says, Causa fertilitatis est humor, qui ex utroque amne manat toto fere solo propter venas aquarum resudante. Dunster. 261. Huge cities and high tow'r'd.] So also in the L'Allegro, Tow'red cities please us then. Turritæ urbes is very common amongst the Latin poets. Thyer. Ευπυργος πολις is no less common with the Greek authors. Dunster. 264. For barren desert fountainless and dry.] Fountainless, a word of much effect, was probably suggested by the Greek avugos. Diodorus Siculus terms Arabia Deserta senuos nai avudgos, and Strabo calls the most southern parts of Mesopotamia avuga xo xuñα. Dunster. 268.-temples and towers,] This is a frequent combination in the old metrical romances. Cut shorter many a league; here thou behold'st bounds,] A fitter spot could not have been chosen to take a view of the Assyrian empire and its ancient bounds, the river Araxes and the Caspian lake to the north, the river Indus to the east, the river Euphrates to the west, and oft beyond, as far as to the Mediterranean, and to the south the Persian bay and the deserts of Arabia. 274. the Arabian drought:] This figure of speech is equally bold and of fine effect. If we adopt the reading of the elder editions of Silius Italicus, xiv. 74, we find the very phrase. Hic, contra Libycamque sitim caurosque furentes, Cernit devexas Lilibæon nobile chelas. 270 275 flatness in the other reading, Libyamque situm, totally inconsistent with the rest of the description. Dunster. 275. Here Nineveh, &c.] This city was situated on the Tigris, of length, as Mr. Sympson says he means of circuit, within her wall several days' journey, and according to Diodorus Siculus, lib. ii. its circuit was sixty of our miles, and in Jonah iii. 3. it is said to be an exceeding great city of three days' journey, twenty miles being the common computation of a day's journey for a foottraveller: built by Ninus old, and after him the city is said to be called Nineveh; of that first golden monarchy the seat, a capital city of the Assyrian empire, which the poet styles golden monarchy, probably in allusion to the golden head of the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the four empires; and seat of Salmanassar, who in the reign of Hezekiah king of Judah carried the ten tribes captive into Assyria, seven hundred and twenty-one years before Christ, so that it might now be properly called a long And surely there is a prosaic captivity. And seat of Salmanassar, whose success 280. There Babylon, &c.] As Nineveh was situated on the river Tigris, so was Babylon on the river Euphrates; the wonder of all tongues, for it is reckoned among the seven wonders of the world; as ancient as Nineveh, for some say it was built by Belus, and others by Semiramis, the one the father, and the other the wife, of Ninus who built Nineveh; but rebuilt by him, whoever built it, it was rebuilt, and enlarged, and beautified, and made one of the wonders of the world by Nebuchadnezzar. (Is not this great Babylon that I have built, &c. Dan. iv. 30.) who twice Judah led captive, in the reign of Jehoiachin, 2 Kings xxiv. and eleven years after in the reign of Zedekiah, and laid waste Jerusalem, 2 Kings xxv. in which desolate condition it lay many years, till Cyrus set them free, and restored the Jews to their country again, Ezra i. and ii. 280.-the wonder of all tongues,] That Babylon was reckoned among the seven wonders of the world is ascribed by Strabo, 1. xvi. p. 738. to the great height and solidity of its walls; their height indeed Diodorus Siculus describes as incredible to those who had only heard it reported, 1. ii. Pomponius Mela terms 280 His city there thou seest, &c.]* The city of Cyrus, if not built by him, yet by him made the capital city of the Persian empire: and Bactra there, the chief city of Bactria, a province of Persia, famous for its fruitfulness. Virg. Georg. ii. 136. Sed neque Medorum sylvæ, ditissima terra, Nec pulcher Ganges, atque auro turbidus Hermus, Laudibus Italiæ certent, non Bactra neque Indi &c. Ecbatana, the metropolis of Media, her structure vast there shows, and the ancient historians speak of it as a very large city; Herodotus compares it to Athens, lib. i. cap. 98. and Strabo calls it a great city, peyaλn woλıs, lib. xi. p. 522. and Polybius says that it greatly excelled other cities in riches and magnificence of buildings, lib. x. [See also Judith i. 2. and Prideaux, part i. b. 1. Dunster.] And Hecatompylos her hundred gates, the name signifies a city with an hundred gates, and so the capital city of Parthia was called, Εκατόμπυλον το των Παρ |