His daughter, sought by many prowest knights,
Both Paynim, and the peers of Charlemain.
Such and so numerous was their chivalry;
At sight whereof the Fiend yet more presum❜d,
And to our Saviour thus his words renew'd.

That thou may'st know I seek not to engage
Thy virtue, and not every way secure

345

355

On no slight grounds thy safety; hear, and mark
To what end I have brought thee hither and shown 350
All this fair sight: thy kingdom though foretold
By prophet or by angel, unless thou
Endeavour, as thy father David did,
Thou never shalt obtain; prediction still
In all things, and all men, supposes means,
Without means us'd, what it predicts revokes.
But say thou wert possess'd of David's throne
By free consent of all, none opposite,
Samaritan or Jew; how could'st thou hope
Long to enjoy it quiet and secure,
Between two such inclosing enemies
Roman and Parthian? therefore one of these

gelica &c.] This is that Angelica who afterwards made her appearance in the same character in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, which was intended as a continuation of the story, which Boiardo had begun. As Milton fetches his simile from a romance, he adopts the terms used by these writers, viz. prowest and Paynim. Thyer.

Prowest is the superlative of prow, from the old French preux, valiant, Preux chevalier is the

360

old term for the heroes of ro-
mance. The French writers of
chivalry call the "nine worthies,"
les neuf preux.

For yonder comes the prowest knight
alive
Prince Arthur, &c.

Spenser, Faery Qu. b. ii. c. viii. 18. Milton is still fond of the fables of romance, and retains its language. So also in the Par. Lost, he speaks of Charlemain with all his peerage and the best of Paynim chivalry, b. i. 585, 763. Dunster :

Thou must make sure thy own, the Parthian first
By my advice, as nearer, and of late

Found able by invasion to annoy

Thy country', and captive lead away her kings
Antigonus, and old Hyrcanus bound,

Maugre the Roman: it shall be my task

To render thee the Parthian at dispose;

365

Choose which thou wilt by conquest or by league. 370
By him thou shalt regain, without him not,
That which alone can truly reinstall thee
In David's royal seat, his true successor,
Deliverance of thy brethren, those ten tribes
Whose offspring in his territory yet serve,
In Habor, and among the Medes dispers'd;
Ten sons of Jacob, two of Joseph lost

366. and captive lead away
her kings
Antigonus, and old Hyrcanus
bound,]

Here seems to be a slip of memory in our author. The Parthians indeed led Hyrcanus away captive to Seleucia, when he was past seventy years of age, so that he might well be called old Hyrcanus: but instead of leading away Antigonus captive, they constituted him king of the Jews, and he was afterwards deprived of his kingdom by the Romans. See Josephus Antiq. 1. xiv. cap. 13. De Bell. Jud. lib. i. cap. 13. But it should be considered that Milton himself was old and blind, and composing from memory he might fall into such a mistake, which may be pardoned among so many excellencies.

376. In Habor, and among the

375

Medes dispers'd;] These were the ten tribes, whom Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, carried captive unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 2 Kings xviii. 11. which cities were now under the dominion of the Parthians.

377. Ten sons of Jacob, two of Joseph] The ten captive tribes of the Israelites were those of Reuben, Simeon, Zebulon, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Ephraim, and Manasses. Only eight of these were sons of Jacob; the two others sons of Joseph. I would suppose therefore the poet meant to give it,

were

Eight sons of Jacob, two of Joseph

lost.

Otherwise he must have included

Thus long from Israel, serving as of old
Their fathers in the land of Egypt serv'd,
This offer sets before thee to deliver.
These if from servitude thou shalt restore
To their inheritance, then, nor till then,
Thou on the throne of David in full glory,
From Egypt to Euphrates and beyond
Shalt reign, and Rome or Cæsar not need fear.
To whom our Saviour answer'd thus unmov'd.
Much ostentation vain of fleshly arm,
And fragile arms, much instrument of war

in the ten sons of Jacob both Levi and Joseph. As the Levites indeed did not form a distinct tribe, having no possessions allotted them, but were carried into captivity with the other tribes, amongst whom they were scattered, Levi might be referred to among the lost sons of Jacob. It seems however quite incorrect to refer to Joseph, as the head of a tribe, when he was really merged in the tribes of his two sons, Ephraim and Manasses. Dunster.

But the words two of Joseph are not intended to distinguish these tribes from the ten sons of Jacob, but to heighten the ignominy of their servitude by repetition, and by pointing the attention to their descent.

The ten sons of Jacob will therefore be the ten tribes which Mr. Dunster enumerated, (not including Levi,) "these are lost, and, what is yet more miserable and contrary to what was to have been expected, two of these are sons of Joseph." E.

380

385

384. From Egypt to Euphrates] That is, the kingdom of Ísrael in its utmost extent; for thus the land was promised to Abraham, Gen. xv. 18. Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt, unto the great river, the river Euphrates: and the extent of Solomon's kingdom is thus described, 1 Kings iv. 21. And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river (Euphrates) unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt.

387. Much ostentation vain of fleshly armi, &c.] Fleshly arm is scriptural, Jer. xvii. 5. Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. Spenser has,

What man is he that boasts of Aeshly might.

Faery Queen, b. i. c. x. 1. Instrument of war is a Latin phrase. Cicero. Academic. ii. 1. Totius belli instrumento et apparatu. Dunster.

Long in preparing, soon to nothing brought,

Before mine eyes thou' hast set; and in my ear
Vented much policy and projects deep

390

Of enemies, of aids, battles and leagues,
Plausible to the world, to me worth nought.
Means I must use, thou say'st, prediction else
Will unpredict and fail me of the throne:
My time I told thee (and that time for thee
Were better farthest off) is not yet come;
When that comes, think not thou to find me slack
On my part ought endeavouring, or to need
Thy politic maxims, or that cumbersome
Luggage of war there shown me, argument
Of human weakness rather than of strength.
My brethren, as thou call'st them, those ten tribes

-prediction else

394. Will unpredict] A manner of speaking this, rather too light and familiar for the dignity of the speaker. Thyer.

This refers to what the Tempter had said before, v. 354. The manner of speaking is perhaps less censurable for the lightness, than for the quaintness, of the expression, and somewhat of that jingling play upon words, of which our author was certainly too fond. To unpredict is something like to uncreate. See Par. Lost, v. 895. ix. 943. Rowe, in his admirable version of Lucan, (vi. 312.) has used the verb to undecree, but with a most happy boldness.

Rome had not worn a tyrant's hated chain,

395

400

I must deliver, if I mean to reign

David's true heir, and his full sceptre sway

To just extent over all Israel's sons;

But whence to thee this zeal, where was it then
For Israel, or for David, or his throne,

When thou stood'st up his tempter to the pride
Of numb'ring Israel, which cost the lives
Of threescore and ten thousand Israelites
By three days' pestilence? such was thy zeal
To Israel then, the same that now to me.
As for those captive tribes, themselves were they

409. When thou stood'st up his tempter &c.] Alluding to 1 Chron. xxi. 1. And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. Milton, we see, considers it not as the advice of any evil counsellor, as some understand the word Satan, but as the suggestion of the first author of evil: and he expresses it very properly by the pride of numbering Israel; for the best commentators suppose the nature of David's offence to consist in pride and vanity, in making flesh his arm, and confiding in the number of his people. And for this three things were proposed to him by the prophet, three years' famine, or three months to be destroyed before his enemies, or three days' pestilence; of which he chose the latter. So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel, and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men, ver. 14.

414. As for those captive tribes, &c.] The captivity of the ten tribes was a punishment owing to their own idolatry and wick

405

410

edness. They fell off from God to worship calves, the golden calves which Jeroboam had set up in Bethel and in Dan, and which the poet calls the deities of Egypt, for it is probable (as some learned men have conjectured) that Jeroboam having conversed with the Egyptians set up these two calves in imitation of the two which the Egyptians worshipped, the one called Apis at Memphis the metropolis of the upper Egypt, and the other called Mnevis at Hierapolis the metropolis of the lower Egypt. Baal next and Ashtaroth. Ahab built an altar and a temple for Baal, 1 Kings xvi. 32. and at the same time probably was introduced the worship of Ashtaroth, the goddess of the Zidonians, 1 Kings xi. 5. For Jezebel, Ahab's wife, who prompted him to all evil, was the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, 1 Kings xvi. 31. And by the prophets of the groves, 1 Žings xviii. 19. Mr. Selden understands the prophets of Ashtaroth or