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Following, as seem'd, the quest of some stray ewe, 315
Or wither'd sticks to gather, which might serve
Against a winter's day when winds blow keen,
To warm him wet return'd from field at eve,
He saw approach, who first with curious eye
Perus'd him, then with words thus utter'd spake. 320
Sir, what ill chance hath brought thee to this place
So far from path or road of men, who pass
In troop or caravan? for single none
Durst ever, who return'd, and dropt not here

Thus in the Faery Queen, b. i. c. i. 29. Una and the Red-cross Knight are met by the enchanter Archimago, disguised under the appearance of an old hermit,

At length they chanc'd to meet upon their way

An aged man in long black weeds y-clad.

safest way of travelling in Turkey and Persia with the caravan, though it goes indeed slower than in less company, or with a guide alone, as some will do. See Travels into Persia in Harris, vol. ii. b. ii. ch. 2.

323. Milton seems here to have had in his mind the sandy

So the Spirit in Comus, 84, says deserts of Africa, as they are

he must

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described by Diodorus Siculus, full of wild beasts, of a vast extent, and, from the want of water and of all kind of food, not only difficult, but absolutely dan❤ gerous to pass over.

Indeed the wilderness of Judea itself (and it was not necessary to confine these descriptions merely to that part of it, into which our Lord was just entering) was of a great length, the most habitable part being northward towards the river Jordan; southward it extended into vast and uninhabited deserts, termed in Reland's Palæstina, vastissimæ solitudines. And to describe these in such a manner as might excite a lively idea of danger, was perfectly consistent with the Tempter's purpose. Dunster.

His carcase, pin'd with hunger and with drought. 325

I ask the rather, and the more admire,

For that to me thou seem'st the man, whom late
Our new baptizing Prophet at the ford

Of Jordan honour'd so, and call'd thee Son

Of God; I saw and heard, for we sometimes

330

Who dwell this wild, constrain'd by want, come forth
To town or village nigh (nighest is far)

Where ought we hear, and curious are to hear,
What happens new; fame also finds us out..

To whom the Son of God. Who brought me hither, Will bring me hence; no other guide I seek.

By miracle he may, replied the swain,

What other way I see not, for we here
Live on tough roots and stubs, to thirst inur'd
More than the camel, and to drink go far,

339.-tough roots and stubs,] This must certainly be a mistake of the printer, and instead of stubs it ought to be read shrubs. It is no uncommon thing to read of hermits and ascetics living in deserts upon roots and shrubs, but I never heard of stubs being used for food, nor indeed is it reconcileable to common sense. Some have thought that the angides, which the Scripture says were the meat of the Baptist, were the tops of plants or shrubs. Thyer.

I find the word stubs used in Spenser. Faery Queen, b. i.

cant. ix. st. 34.

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336

340

as food, which seems impossible, and therefore I embrace the former ingenious conjecture.

839. Yet, in the Tempest, Prospero threatens Ferdinand with nearly as hard fare. Act i. sc. 3.

-thy food shall be The fresh brook mussels, wither'd roots, and husks

Wherein the acorn cradled.

Stubs are in fact only broken ends of the larger withered roots. Dunster.

340. More than the camel,] It is commonly said, that camels will go without water three or four days. Sitim et quatriduo tolerant. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. viii. sect. 26. But Tavernier says, that they will ordinarily live without drink eight or nine days. See Harris, ibid. And therefore, as Dr. Shaw

Men to much misery and hardship born;

But if thou be the Son of God, command

That out of these hard stones be made thee bread,
So shalt thou save thyself and us relieve

With food, whereof we wretched seldom taste.

345

He ended, and the Son of God replied.
Think'st thou such force in bread? is it not written
(For I discern thee other than thou seem'st)
Man lives not by bread only, but each word
Proceeding from the mouth of God, who fed
Our fathers here with manna? in the mount
Moses was forty days, nor eat nor drank ;
And forty days Elijah without food
Wander'd this barren waste; the same I now:
Why dost thou then suggest to me distrust,

justly observes in his physical observations on Arabia Petræa, p. 389, we cannot sufficiently admire the great care and wisdom of God in providing the camel for the traffic and commerce of these and such like desolate countries.

340. An Arabian author, cited by Bochart, (Hierozoicon, part i. b. ii. c. 2.) says, "the camel can not only go without water for ten days, but will eat such things as grow in the deserts, which no other beasts of burthen will eat." Dunster.

349. Man lives not by bread only, &c.] St. Matt. iv. 44. He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. This refers to Deut. viii. 3, and the Poet has availed himself of the

350

355

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Knowing who I am, as I know who thou art? Whom thus answer'd th' arch-fiénd now undisguis'd. 'Tis true, I am that spirit unfortunate,

356. Knowing who I am,] This is not to be understood of Christ's divine nature. The Tempter knew him to be the person declared the Son of God by a voice from heaven, ver. 385. and that was all that he knew of him. Calton.

358. 'Tis true, I am that Spirit unfortunate, &c.] Satan's frankness in confessing who he was, when he found himself discovered, is remarkable. Hitherto he has been called an aged man, and the swain; and we have no intimation from the poet, that Satan was concealed under this appearance, which adds to our pleasure by an agreeable surprise upon the discovery. In the first book of the Æneid, Æneas being driven by a storm upon an unknown coast, and going in company with Achates to take a survey of the country, is met in a thick wood by a lady, in the habit of a huntress. She enquires of them if they had seen two sisters of hers in a like dress, employed in the chace. Æneas addresses her as Diana, or one of her nymphs, and begs she would tell him the name and state of the country the tempest had thrown him upon. She declines his compliment, informs him she was no goddess, but only a Tyrian maid, gives an account of the place, and a full relation of Dido's history and settlement there. In return, Eneas acquaints her with his story, and particularly the loss of great part of his fleet in the late storm.

Upon which she assures him, from an omen which appeared to them, that his ships were safe, bids him expect a kind reception from the queen; and then turning to go away, Æneas discovers her to be his mother, the Goddess of Love. If Virgil had not informed us of her being Venus, till this time, and in this manner, it would have had an agreeable effect in surprising the reader, as much as she did Æneas: but his conduct has been quite the reverse, for in the beginning of the story, he lets the reader into the secret, and takes care every now and then to remind him.

Cui mater media sese tulit obvia sylva, &c.

See An Essay upon Milton's imitations of the Ancients, p. 60.

359. Satan's instantaneous avowal of himself here has a

great and fine effect. It is consistent with a certain dignity of character which is given him in general, through the whole of the Paradise Lost. The rest of his speech is artfully submissive. He returns only aporebukes of our Saviour, notwithlogies and flattery to the stern standing that he was

-inly stung with anger and disdain. The arch-fiend's demeanour here should be compared with his scornful and indignant answers to Ithuriel and Zephon, and to Gabriel, after the somewhat similar discovery of himself on the touch of Ithuriel's spear, in

Who leagu'd with millions more in rash revolt
Kept not my happy station, but was driven
With them from bliss to the bottomless deep,
Yet to that hideous place not so confin'd
By rigour unconniving, but that oft
Leaving my dolorous prison I enjoy
Large liberty to round this globe of earth,

360

365

phon, on Satan's resuming his
proper form, knew him not; and
even Gabriel only says, that he
-by his gait,

And fierce demeanour, seems the
Prince of hell.

Satan also, under disguise, had
deceived Uriel, who was held to
be

the Paradise Lost, b. iv. 827, et seq. The conduct of our author on both these occasions is highly proper. Satan in the one case finds himself in the presence of those, who had formerly been his compeers or inferiors; and, on their attempting to restrain him, breaks forth, as might be expected from his haughty and violent character, into sentiments of rage and indignation, and The poet says indeed, P. L. iii. prepares for the most determined resistance. On the present occasion, awe from above had quelled his heart." He knew the superiority of the Son of God;

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The sharpest sighted spirit of all in heaven.

682.

-neither man nor angel can discern Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks Invisible, except only to God alone.

But our Lord is here acquainted with all the wiles and intentions of his adversary, and knows him under all his disguise, and at his first approach. Dunster.

360. Kept not my happy station,] A manner of speaking borrowed from the Scripture, Jude 6. And the angels which kept not their first

estate.

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