Where he might likeliest find this new-declar'd,
This man of men, attested Son of God,
Temptation and all guile on him to try;
So to subvert whom he suspected rais'd
To end his reign on earth so long enjoy'd:
But contrary unweeting he fulfill'd

The purpos'd counsel pre-ordain'd and fix'd
Of the Most High, who in full frequence bright
Of angels, thus to Gabriel smiling spake.

the passages cited from the
Scriptures by Bishop Newton.
So dolis instructus, Virg. Æn. ii.
150. And thus also Satan is
described in the Par. Reg. iii. 5.

At length collecting all his serpent

wiles.

This man, of heav'n attested Son of
God.

In the holy Scriptures God of
gods, and heaven of heavens, are
truly grand expressions: but
then there is an idea of great
ness in the words themselves to
support the dignity of the phrase:
which is wanting in Milton's
man of men. Calton.

128. in full frequence] So frequent and full, Par. Lost, i. 797. where see the note. E.

129.-thus to Gabriel smiling spake.] This speech is properly addressed to Gabriel particularly among the angels, as he seems to have been the angel particuJarly employed in the embassies and transactions relating to the Gospel. Gabriel was sent to in

125

form Daniel of the famous prophecy of the seventy weeks; Gabriel notified the conception of John the Baptist to his father Zacharias, and of our blessed And the Jewish Rabbis say, that Saviour to his virgin mother. Michael was the minister of severity, but Gabriel of mercy: Gabriel the guardian angel of and accordingly our poet makes Paradise, and employs Michael to expel our first parents out of Paradise and for the same reaGabriel in particular. And God's son this speech is directed to being represented as smiling may be justified not only by the heathen poets, as Virg. Æn. i.

254.

Olli subridens hominum sator atque deorum :

but by the authority of Scripture itself. See Paradise Lost, v. 718.

129. Tasso speaking of Gabriel, in the opening of the Gerusalemme Liberata, says,

E tra Dio questi e l' anime migliori Interprete fedel, nuncio giocondo: Giù i decreti del ciel porta, ed al cielo Riporta dè mortali i preghi, e 'l zelo. 'Twixt God and souls of men that righteous been

Ambassador is he for ever blest;

Gabriel, this day by proof thou shalt behold,
Thou and all angels conversant on earth
With man or men's affairs, how I begin
To verify that solemn message late,

On which I sent thee to the Virgin pure
In Galilee, that she should bear a Son

Great in renown, and call'd the Son of God;

130

Then told'st her doubting how these things could be To her a virgin, that on her should come

135

141

The Holy Ghost, and the pow'r of the Highest
O'er-shadow her: this man born and now up-grown,
To show him worthy of his birth divine
And high prediction, henceforth I expose
To Satan; let him tempt and now assay
His utmost subtlety, because he boasts

The just commands of heaven's eternal King

contrary to the usage of our Twixt skies and earth, he up and language. So ver. 221. of this

down doth bring. Fairfax. Smiling is here no casual expletive. It is particularly meant to contrast the description of Satan, in the preceding part of the book, where his "gloomy consistory," it is said,

With looks aghast and sad he thus bespake.

Dunster.

book,

Yet held it more humane &c. where the passage is confused for want of the pronoun I. So also ver. 85.

This is my Son belov'd. In him am
pleas'd.

We may
in this respect apply to
Milton what Cicero has said of
the ancient orators; Grandes
erant verbis, crebri sententiis,
compressione rerum breves, et ob
eam ipsam causam interdum sub-
obscuri. Brutus, 29. Ed. Proust.

Dunster.

137. Then told'st her doubting
how these things could be
To her a virgin, &c.]
The words are from Luke i. 34,
$5. Dunster..

144. because he boasts
And vaunts &c.]

And vaunts of his great cunning to the throng
Of his apostasy; he might have learnt
Less overweening, since he fail'd in Job,
Whose constant perseverance overcame
Whate'er his cruel malice could invent.
He now shall know I can produce a man
Of female seed, far abler to resist
All his solicitations, and at length

All his vast force, and drive him back to hell,
Winning by conquest what the first man lost
By fallacy surpris'd. But first I mean
To exercise him in the wilderness,
There he shall first lay down the rudiments
Of his great warfare, ere I send him forth

To
conquer Sin and Death, the two grand foes,
By humiliation and strong sufferance:
His weakness shall o'ercome Satanic strength,
And all the world, and mass of sinful flesh;
That all the angels and ethereal powers,

This alludes to what Satan had
just before said to his compa-
nions, ver. 100.

I, when no other durst, sole under

took &c.

Thyer.

146. Of his apostasy;] That is, of his apostates; the abstract for the concrete, as in Par. Lost,

xii. 131.

-a cumbrous train

Of flocks and herds, and numerous servitude.

157. -the rudiments

Of his great warfare,]

Primitiæ juvenis miseræ, bellique propinqui

Dura rudimenta. Virg. Æn. xi, 156.

145

150

155

1.60

Quod si militiæ jam te, puer inclyte, prima

Clara rudimenta. Stat. 5. Sylv. ii. 3. 161. His weakness shall o'ercome Satanic strength, And all the world,] We may compare Par. Lost, xii. 567. See also 1 Cor. i. 27. God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And Ps. viii. 2. compared with Matt. xxi. 16. And John xvi. 33. I have overcome the world. Dunster.

163. That all the angels and ethereal powers, &c.] Not a word is said here of the Son of God, but what a Socinian would allow.

They now, and men hereafter may discern, From what consummate virtue I have chose This perfect man, by merit call'd my Son, To earn salvation for the sons of men.

So spake th' eternal Father, and all heaven
Admiring stood a space, then into hymns
Burst forth, and in celestial measures mov'd,
Circling the throne and singing, while the hand

168. So spake th' eternal Father,
and all heaven
Admiring stood a space,]
We cannot but take notice of
the great art of the poet in set-
ting forth the dignity and im-
portance of his subject. He
represents all beings as interested
one way or other in the event.
A council of devils is summoned;
an assembly of angels is held
upon the occasion. Satan is the
speaker in the one, the Almighty
in the other. Satan expresses
his diffidence, but still resolves
to make trial of this Son of God;
the Father declares his purpose
of proving and illustrating his
Son. The infernal crew are dis-
tracted and surprised with deep
dismay; all heaven stands a
while in admiration. The fiends
are silent through fear and grief;
the angels burst forth into sing-
ing with joy and the assured
hopes of success. And their at-
tention is thus engaged, the bet-
ter to engage the attention of
the reader.

169. then into hymns

Burst forth, and in celestial

170

may judge from the numerous plans of tragedies which he left behind him. Indeed he has frequent allusions to dramatic compositions in all his works. In the second book of his Reason of Church Government against Prelacy he terms the Song of ma, consisting of two persons and Solomon 66 a divine Pastoral draa double chorus:" and he speaks of the Apocalypse of St. John, as high and stately tragedy, shutas "the majestic image of a ting up and intermingling her solemn scenes and acts with a sevenfold chorus of halleluiahs and harping symphonies." Dun

ster.

171. while the hand

We have pretty near the same
Sung with the voice,]
phrase in Tibullus, iii. iv. 41.

Sed postquam fuerant digiti cum voce
locuti,

Edidit hæc dulci tristia vérba modo.

And the word hand is used by Milton once again in this poem, and also in the Arcades, to dis

tinguish instrumental harmony

from vocal, iv. 254.

There thou shalt hear and learn the secret power

Of harmony in tones and numbers hit

By voice or hand.

measures mov'd,] Milton, we may suppose, had here in his mind the ancient chorus. In his original plan of the Par. Lost, under a dramatic form, he proposed to introduce a chorus of angels. The drama Arcades, 77. seems to have been his favourite species of poetry, and that which particularly caught and occupied his imagination: so at least we

If my inferior hand or voice could hit
Inimitable sounds.

Calton.

Compare also the Hymn on the