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But Satan smitten with amazement fell.
As when earth's son Antæus (to compare
Small things with greatest) in Irassa strove

down, and stood. His standing
properly makes the discovery,
and is the principal proof of his
progeny that the Tempter re-
quired: Now shew thy progeny.
His standing convinces Satan.
His standing is considered as the
display of his divinity, and the
immediate cause of Satan's fall;
and the grand contrast is formed
between the standing of the one
and the fall of the other.

-He said, and stood: But Satan smitten with amazement fell.

And afterwards, ver. 571.

Fell whence he stood to see his victor fall.

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has imitated Virgil'ssic parvis componere magna solebam. Ecl. i. 24. See Par. Lost, ii. 921. x. 306. Some such mode of qualifying common similies is necessary to a poet writing on divine subjects. Dunster.

564.

-in Irassa strove With Jove's Alcides,] Irassa is a place in Libya, mentioned by Herodotus, iv. 158. εστι δε τῷ χώρα τούτῳ ούνομα Γρασα, and from him by Stephanus Byzant, who says, 'Igara, toños Aiβυης, εἰς ὃν μετηγαγον Βαττον οἱ Λίβυες, ὡς Ἡρόδοτος— where Berkelius notes, Hujus urbis quoque meminit Pindarus Pyth. ix. sed du➡ plicis (read duplici s) scribitur:

Οίοι Λίβυσσας αμ

Οι γυναικος εβαν

Ιρασσαν προς πολιν Ανται
ου, μετα καλλικομον
μναστηρες αγαλλια κουραν.

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Ad
quem locum sic scribit Scho-
liastes: 'Igora odis Aibung, ny
ρκησεν Ανταίος, ουχ' ὁ παλαίσας
Ηρακλεί, εκείνος γαρ διαλλάσσει τοις
χρονοις, όν και ανειλεν Ηρακλης. Pin-
darus nomen urbis genere fœm.
protulit, quod Schol. alio loco
numero multitudinis et genere
neut. effert: Emιοι γαρ φασιν, ότι
ὁ απο Ηρακλέους καταγονισθείς Ανα
ταιος, Ιράσσευς ην, απο Ίρασσων των
εν τη Τριτωνίδι λίμνη, ὡς φησι Φερε
xvdns. From whence we may
observe, that in Herodotus and
Stephanus, Irasa is the name of
a place, in Pindar and his Scho-
liast, the name of a town: that
the name is Irasa in Herodotus,
Hirasa in Stephanus, (though

With Jove's Alcides, and oft foil'd still rose,
Receiving from his mother earth new strength,
Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple join'd,
Throttled at length in th' air, expir'd and fell;
So after many a foil the Tempter proud,
Renewing fresh assaults, amidst his pride
Fell whence he stood to see his victor fall.

perhaps it should be Irasa, not Igara, there,) Irassa in Pindar and his Scholiast: that the Scholiast says, Antæus dwelt at Irassa, not he who wrestled with Hercules, but one later than him; which, if true, makes against Milton: that he afterwards adds, that according to the opinion of some, the Antaus whom Hercules overcame was 'Igaσosus, año 'Igaowy, which Berkelius takes to be the genitive of ra 'Igarra, though it may be of ai Igarral. Jortin. Antaus dwelt at the city Irassa, according to Pindar. But it was not there that he wrestled with Hercules, but at Lixos, according to Pliny. Lixos vel fabulosissime antiquis narrata. Ibi regia Antæi, certamenque cum Hercule. Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 1. Meadowcourt.

564. strove

With Jove's Alcides, &c.] To strive is a frequent scriptural term for any violent personal contest: see Gen. xxvi. 20. Exod. ii. 13. Acts vii. 26. With Jove's

Alcides-for there were so many Hercules in the Grecian Mythology, that it was necessary to specify when the principal Hercules, the son of Jove and Alcinena, was meant. Thus Cicero, de Nat. Deor. iii. 16. Quanquam quem potissimum Hercu

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570

lem colamus, scire sane velim ; plures enim nobis tradunt ii, qui interiores scrutantur et reconditas literas; antiquissimum Jove natum. Varro says there were forty-three Hercules. The son of Jupiter however by Alcmena ought not to be called Alcides, the proper name of the son of Amphitryon, whose father was Alcæus. Yet Virgil also refers to Alcides as the son of Jove, Æn. vi. 123. and the name may be derived from aλxn robur ; in which sense it was also applied to Minerva, Liv. xlii. 51. oft foiled, still rose. Thus in Tasso,

1.

xx. st. 100.

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And as that Theban monster that propos'd
Her riddle', and him who solv'd it not, devour'd,
That once found out and solv'd, for grief and spite
Cast herself headlong from th' Ismenian steep;
So struck with dread and anguish fell the Fiend,
And to his crew, that sat consulting, brought
Joyless triumphals of his hop'd success,
Ruin, and desperation, and dismay,

Who durst so proudly tempt the Son of God.
So Satan fell; and straight a fiery globe

572. And as that Theban monster &c.] The Sphinx, whose riddle being resolved by Edipus, she threw herself into the sea. Statius, Theb. i. 66.

Si Sphingos iniquæ Callidus ambages te præmonstrante resolvi.

572. Statius also refers to the falling of the Sphinx from the Ismenian steep, (Theb. xi. 490.) when her riddle had been solved.

-dum Cadmus arat? dum victa

cadit Sphynx?

The Ismenian sleep may either be the mountain Phicius, the usual haunt of the Sphinx, at no great distance from Thebes, or the Cadmea, i. e. the citadel of Thebes, according to Apollodorus, so termed from the river Ismenus, which ran by Thebes. See Pausanias, ix. 26. and Apollodorus, 1. iii. c. v. 8. whose account of the Sphinx indeed, from the coincidence of expression in the Mythologist and the poet, Milton seems here to have had in his mind. Dunster.

581. So Satan fell; and straight &c.] Thus in G. Fletcher's Christ's Triumph on Earth, where

575

580

Presumption is personified, and represented, as in vain tempting our blessed Lord; (stanza xxxviii.)

But, when she saw her speech prevailed naught,

Herself she tumbled headlong to the

floor;

But him the angels on their feathers
caught,

And to an airy mountain nimbly bore.
Dunster.
581.—and straight a fiery globe
Of angels &c.]

There is a peculiar softness and
delicacy in this description, and
neither circumstances nor words
could be better selected to give
the reader an idea of the easy
and gentle descent of our Sa-
viour, and to take from the ima-
gination that horror and uneasi-
ness which it is naturally filled
with in contemplating the dan-
gerous and uneasy situation he
was left in. Thyer.

So Psyche was carried down from the rock by zephyrs, and laid lightly on a green and flowery bank, and there entertained with invisible music. See Apuleius, lib. iv. Richardson.

Psyche was also entertained

Of angels on full sail of wing flew nigh,
Who on their plumy vans receiv'd him soft
From his uneasy station, and upbore

As on a floating couch through the blithe air,
Then in a flow'ry valley set him down
On a green bank, and set before him spread
A table of celestial food, divine,
Ambrosial fruits, fetch'd from the tree of life,
And from the fount of life ambrosial drink,

with a banquet ministered by spirits. Psycham autem paventem ac trepidam, et in ipso scopuli vertice deflentem, mitis aura molliter spirantis zephyri, vibratis hinc inde laciniis et reflato sinu sensim levatam, suo tranquillo spiritu vehens paulatim per devexa rupis excelsæ, vallis subditæ florentis cespitis gremio leniter delapsam reclinat. And at the beginning of the fifth book-Et illico vini nectarei eduliorumque variorum fercula copiosa, nullo serviente, sed tantum spiritu quodam impulsa, subministrantur. Nec quemquam illa videre poterat, sed verba tantum audiebat excidentia, et solas voces famulas habebat. Post opimas dapes quidam intro cessit, et cantavit invisus; et alius citharam pulsavit, quæ non videbatur, nec ipse. Tunc modulata multitudinis conferta vox aures ejus affertur; ut quamvis hominum nemo pareret, chorum tamen esse pateret. Dunster.

585. As on a floating couch through the blithe air,] Mr. Sympson objects to the word blithe, but I conceive through the blithe air to be much the same as if he had said through the glad

585

590

air, and the propriety of such a metaphor wants no justification or explanation.

585. This description of the descent of our Lord on the angels' plumy vans reminds me of an Assumption of the Virgin, by Guido, in St. Ambrosio's church at Genoa; only the motion of the whole group there is ascending. If it is not from any famous painting, it is certainly a subject for one. It is to be lamented that we find any inaccuracy in a part of the poem so eminently beautiful: the word him in v. 583, is evidently incorrect, but the intended reference to our Saviour cannot be misunderstood. With the description of the banquet, &c. v. 587-595. compare G. Fletcher's Christ's Triumph upon earth, st. 61.

But to their Lord now musing in his thought

A heavenly volley of light angels flew, And from his father him a banquet brought

Through the fine element, for well
they knew

After his lenten fast he hungry grew;
And, as he fed, the holy quires com-

bine

To sing a hymn of the celestial trine. Dunster.

That soon refresh'd him wearied, and repair'd
What hunger, if ought hunger had impair'd,
Or thirst; and as he fed, angelic quires
Sung heav'nly anthems of his victory
Over temptation, and the Tempter proud.
True Image of the Father, whether thron'd

593.angelic quires
Sung heav'nly anthems of his
victory]

As Milton in his Paradise Lost
had represented the angels sing-
ing triumph upon the Messiah's
victory over the rebel angels;
so here again with the same pro-
priety they are described cele-
brating his success against tempt
ation, and to be sure he could
not have possibly concluded his
work with greater dignity and
solemnity, or more agreeably to
the rules of poetic decorum.
Thyer.

596. True Image of the Father, &c.]

Cedite Romani scriptores, cedite

Graii.

All the poems that ever were written, must yield, even Paradise Lost must yield to Regained in the grandeur of its close. Christ stands triumphant on the pointed eminence. The Demon falls with amazement and terror, on this full proof of his being that very Son of God, whose thunder forced him out of heaven. The blessed angels receive new knowledge. They behold a sublime truth established, which was a secret to them at the beginning of the temptation; and the great discovery gives a proper opening to their hymn on the victory of Christ, and the defeat of the Tempter. Calton.

595

596. True image of the Father is from Heb. i. 8. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, &c. Thus also, Par. Lost, iii. 384.

Begotten Son! Divine similitude.

throned in the bosom of bliss, is an expression often found in the Par. Lost, see iii. 238, 305. x. 225.-light of light conceiving, is from the Nicene creed. -in

shrined in fleshly tabernacle and human form, so St. John, i. 14. Και ὁ Λόγος σαρξ εγένετο, και εσκήνωσεν

, literally, the Word was made flesh, and tabernacled among us. St. Paul terms the body, our earthly house of this tabernacle, (2 Cor. v. 1.) Indeed oxnves, tabernacle, is frequently used by the mortal body. So Longinus, profane writers also, to signify sect. xxxii. has avbewπivov oxNTOUS. And Plato, ynov oxnvos: and again, as cited by Eschines the Socratic, το δε σκηνος τουτο προς κακα περίηςLexicon in voc. vos, ON, μοσεν Quris. See Parkhurst's σxnvaμa. Thus also Milton in. the Passion,

He sovran Priest

Poor fleshly tabernacle entered. of Felton Bp. of Ely, he speaks of And in the poem, On the death

Animasque mole carnea reconditas. Seneca has the expression, Deum in humano corpore hospitantem, epist. xxxi. But it is only a

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