Or range in th' air, nor far from the heav'n of heav'ns
Hath he excluded my resort sometimes.

I came among the sons of God, when he
Gave up into my hands Uzzean Job

To prove him, and illustrate his high worth;
And when to all his angels he propos'd
To draw the proud king Ahab into fraud
That he might fall in Ramoth, they demurring,
I undertook that office, and the tongues
Of all his flattering prophets glibb'd with lies
To his destruction, as I had in charge,
For what he bids I do: though I have lost

earth,] Milton uses the same phrase in his Paradise Lost, x. 684. speaking of the sun:

Had rounded still th' horizon

Thyer. 368. I came among the sons of God, &c.] Job i. 6. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. See too ii. 1.

372. To draw the proud king Ahab into fraud] That is, into mischief, as fraus sometimes means in Latin. Jortin.

The reader may see an instance of fraud and fraus used in this sense in the Paradise Lost, ix. 643, and the note there. And this story of Ahab is related 1 Kings xxii. 19, &c. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him, on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and

370

375

another on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.

And this symbolical vision of Micaiah, in which heavenly things are spoken of after the manner of men in condescension to the weakness of their capacities, our author was too good a critic to understand literally, though as a poet he sents it so.

repre

377. though I have lost Much lustre of my native brightness,]

Satan describes himself, changed in outward lustre, P. L. i. 97. and again it is said of him, P. L. i. 591.

-his form had yet not lost All her original brightness.

Much lustre of my native brightness, lost
To be beloved of God, I have not lost
To love, at least contemplate and admire
What I see excellent in good, or fair,

Or virtuous, I should so have lost all sense.
What can be then less in me than desire
To see thee and approach thee, whom I know
Declar'd the Son of God, to hear attent
Thy wisdom, and behold thy Godlike deeds?
Men generally think me much a foe

To all mankind: why should I? they to me
Never did wrong or violence; by them

I lost not what I lost, rather by them

I gain'd what I have gain'd, and with them dwell

380

385

390

Compare also Zephon's reply to templates them with admiration." Satan, P. L. iv. 835.

Speaking of them he says,

-whom my thoughts pursue With wonder, and could love, so lively shines

In them divine resemblance, &c.

Copartner in these regions of the world,
If not disposer; lend them oft my aid,

Oft

my

advice by presages and signs,

And answers, oracles, portents, and dreams,
Whereby they may direct their future life,
Envy they say excites me thus to gain
Companions of my misery and woe.

At first it may be ; but long since with woe
Nearer acquainted, now I feel by proof,

394. Oft my advice by presages

and signs,

And answers, oracles, portents,

and dreams,]

Mr. Calton, in a learned note, objects to the word portents; but by portents Milton plainly understands something more than presages and signs, as portenta are ranked with monstra and prodigia in the best Latin authors. A passage in Cicero de Nat. Deor. ii. 65. cited by Mr. Calton, reflects so much light on these lines, as would incline one to believe that Milton had it in mind as he was composing. Multa cernunt haruspices: multa augures provident: these are the presages and signs and answers: multa oraculis declarantur, multa vaticinationibus, multa somniis, multa portentis: here portents are annumerated with oracles and dreams: quibus cognitis, multæ sæpe res hominum sententia atque utilitate parta (or as Lambin reads, ex animi sententia atque utilitate parta) multa etiam pericula depulsa sunt: the sense of which is very well expressed by the following line in Milton,

Whereby they may direct their future

life.

395

400

397. Envy they say excites me,
thus to gain
Companions of my misery and
woe.]

They say is not here merely of
general reference; it relates to
what Raphael had said to Adam,
concerning Satan, Par. Lost, vi.
900.

he who envies now thy state, Who now is plotting how he may seduce

Thee also from obedience, that with him

Bereav'd of happiness thou may'st
partake

His punishment, eternal misery;
Which would be all his solace and

That fellowship in pain divides not smart,

Nor lightens ought each man's peculiar load.
Small consolation then, were man adjoin'd:

This wounds me most (what can it less ?) that man, Man fall'n shall be restor'd, I never more.

To whom our Saviour sternly thus replied.
Deservedly thou griev'st, compos'd of lies
From the beginning, and in lies wilt end;

Who boast'st release from hell, and leave to come
Into the heav'n of heav'ns: thou com'st indeed,
As a poor miserable captive thrall

Comes to the place where he before had sat
Among the prime in splendour, now depos'd,

402. Nor lightens ought each man's peculiar load.] I think it will not be cavilling to say, that each man's peculiar load should not be put in the mouth of Satan, who was no man, who had confessed to Christ that he was the unfortunate arch-fiend, and who speaks of himself. If Milton had been aware of it, he would have corrected it thus,

Nor lightens ought each one's peculiar load,

or in some other manner. Besides the word man is repeated here too often. Jortin.

404. This wounds me most &c.] Very artful. As he could not acquit himself of envy and mischief, he endeavours to soften his crimes by assigning this cause of them. Warburton.

This wounds me most (what can it less ?) that man,

Man fall'n shall be restor❜d, I never

more. 3

The poet very judiciously makes

405

410

the Tempter conclude with these lines concerning the restoration of fallen man, in order to lead our Saviour to say something about the manner of it, to know which was one great part of his design, that he might be able, if possible, to counterplot and prevent it. With no less judgment is our Saviour represented in the following answer, taking no other notice of it than by replying, Deservedly thou grievest &c. Thyer.

See the difference between the fall of the angels and the fall of man, with their respective consequences, [according to Milton's ideas, E.] pointed out, P. L. iii. 129.

The first sort by their own suggestion
fell,
Self-tempted, self-deprav'd;

falls deceiv'd

man

By the other first; man therefore

shall find grace, The other none.

Dunster.

Ejected, emptied, gaz'd, unpitied, shunn'd,
A spectacle of ruin or of scorn

To all the host of heav'n: the happy place
Imparts to thee no happiness, no joy,
Rather inflames thy torment, representing
Lost bliss to thee no more communicable,
So never more in hell than when in heav'n.
But thou art serviceable to heav'n's King.
Wilt thou impute t' obedience what thy fear
Extorts, or pleasure to do ill excites ?
What but thy malice mov'd thee to misdeem
Of righteous Job, then cruelly to' afflict him
With all inflictions? but his patience won.
The other service was thy chosen task,
To be a liar in four hundred mouths;

415

420

425

little before in ver. 400. Never acquainted for Nearer acquainted.

423 -pleasure to do ill excites.] So in P. L. i. 159. Satan says to his infernal compeer,

of this be sure

To do aught good never will be our
task;

But ever to do ill our sole delight.
Dunster.

426. With all inflictions? but his patience won.] So Mr. Fenton points this passage in his edition, and so it should be pointed. And the verb won I think is not often used as a verb neuter, but I find it so in Spenser's Faery Queen, b. i. cant. vi. st. 39.

And he the stoutest knight that ever

roon.

428.-in four hundred mouths;] Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men. 1 Kings