Now not, though sin, not time, first wrought the change, Where Tigris at the foot of Paradise Into a gulf shot under ground, till part Rose up a fountain by the tree of life; In with the river sunk, and with it rose 71 Satan involv'd in rising mist, then sought Where to lie hid; sea he had search'd and land 75 80 75. involv'd in rising mist,] agros the bear, the most conHomer, Iliad. i. 359. πανίδα πολίης άλος ηὔτ ̓ ομιχλη. 77. From Eden over Pontus, &c.] As we had before an astronomical, so here we have a geographical, account of Satan's peregrinations. He searched both sea and land, northward from Eden over Pontus, Pontus Euxinus, the Euxine Sea, now the Black Sea, above Constantinople, and the pool Mæotis, Palus Mæotis above the Black Sea, up beyond the river Ob, Ob or Oby, a great river of Muscovy near the northern pole. Downward as far antarctic, as far southward; the northern hemisphere being elevated on our globes, the north is called up and the south downwards; antarctic south the contrary to arctic north from a spicuous constellation near the north pole; but no particular place is mentioned near the south pole, there being all sea or land unknown. And in length, as north is up and south is down, so in length is east or west; west from Orontes, à river of Syria, westward of Eden, running into the Mediterranean, to the ocean barred at Darien, the isthmus of Darien in the WestIndies, a neck of land that joins North and South America together, and hinders the ocean as it were with a bar from flowing between them; and the metaphor of the ocean barred is an allusion to Job xxxviii. 10. and set bars to the sea. Thence to the land where flows Ganges and Indus, thence to the East-Indies: thus the orb he roamed. Most opportune might serve his wiles, and found Him after long debate, irresolute Of thoughts revolv'd, his final sentence chose 85 Fit vessel, fittest imp of fraud, in whom To enter, and his dark suggestions hide Proceeding, which in other beasts observ'd 86. The serpent subtlest beast of all the field.] So Moses says, Gen. iii. 1. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field: the subtlety of the serpent is commended likewise by Aristotle and other naturalists: and therefore he was the fitter instrument for Satan, because (as Milton says agreeably with the doctrine of the best divines) any sleights in him might be thought to proceed from his native wit and subtlety, but observed in other creatures might the easier beget a suspicion of a diabolical power acting within them beyond their natural sense. 89. fittest imp of fraud,] Fittest stock to graft his devilish fraud upon. Imp of the Saxon impan, to put into, to graft upon. Thus children are called little imps, from their 90 95 imitating all they see and hear. 99. if not preferr'd I reckon this panegyric upon the earth among the less perfect parts of the poem. The beginning is extravagant, and what follows is not consistent with what the author had said before in his description of Satan's passage among the stars and planets, which are said then to appear to him as other worlds inhabited. See iii. 566. The imagination that all the heavenly bodies were created for the sake of the earth was natural to human ignorance, and human vanity might find its account in it: but neither of these could influence Satan. Heylin. As it is common with people More justly, seat worthier of Gods, as built 100 105 Centring receiv'st from all those orbs; in thee, Of creatures animate with gradual life Of growth, sense, reason, all summ'd up in man. must be best, because it was created last; For what God after better worse would build? A sophistical argument worthy of Satan, and for the same reason man would be better than angels. But Satan was willing to insinuate imperfection in God, as if he had mended his hand by creation, and as if all the works of God were not perfect in their kinds, and in their degrees, and for the ends for which they were intended. 113. Of growth, sense, reason, all summ'd up in man.] The three kinds of life rising as it were by steps, the vegetable, animal, and rational; of all which man partakes, and he only; he grows as plants, minerals, and all things inanimate; With what delight could I have walk'd thee round, Of hill, and valley, rivers, woods, and plains, Now land, now sea, and shores with forest crown'd, 115 Bane, and in heav'n much worse would be my state. But neither here seek I, no nor in heaven 120 To dwell, unless by mast'ring heav'n's Supreme; 125 As I, though thereby worse to me redound: To my relentless thoughts; and him destroyed, Th' infernal pow'rs, in one day to have marr'd 180 135 140 And to repair his numbers thus impair'd, Whether such virtue spent of old now fail'd A creature form'd of earth, and him endow, 145 150 With heav'nly spoils, our spoils: what he decreed Magnificent this world, and earth his seat, if they at least 146. Are his created,] He questions whether the angels were created by God; he had before asserted that they were not, to the angels themselves, v. 859. We know no time when we were not as now; Know none before us, self-begot, self-rais d By our own quick'ning pow'r. |