Dismay'd, and thus in haste to th' Angel cried. O Teacher, some great mischief hath befall'n T' whom Michael thus, he also mov'd, replied. Horrid to think, how horrible to feel! To whom thus Michaël. Death thou hast seen In his first shape on man; but many shapes 458. and th' other's faith approv'd] It was, according to the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who bears this testimony to it, xi. 4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and by it he being dead, yet speaketh. 462. But have I now seen Death? Is this the way &c.] Our author, in making Adam so ignorant of what death was and the way to it, seems to have forgot what he had put in the VOL. II. 450 455 460 465 Of Death, and many are the ways that lead 470 475 480 δικαται, και τυραννοι, c. 17. Dun To his grim cave,] Senec. Phoenissæ, act i. 151, ster. 153. Ubique mors est -mille ad hanc aditus patent. 467. Milton in this passage seems to have had in his mind that part of the Charon, or ExXOTOVITES of Lucian, in which Mercury having noticed to Charon, conqueror Death, ( BEλTI50s bavaros,) putting a sudden stop to the ardent hopes and vain schemes of man, proceeds to point out and describe the satellites or ministers of this great power, in the many and various modes of death. He specifies first diseases dire ; Αγγελοι δε αυτό και ύπηρεται μαλα πολλοι, ὡς όρας, ηπιαλοι, και πυρετοι, και φθοαι, και Egiμonar to which he humorously adds, suicide, robbers, public executions, and tyrants, ξιφη, και ληστηρια, και κωνεία, και 477. -Immediately a place &c.] The second vision sets before him the image of death in a great variety of appearances. The angel, to give him a general idea of those effects which his guilt had brought upon his posterity, places before him a large hospital or lazar-house, filled with persons lying under all kinds of mortal diseases. How finely has the poet told us, that the sick persons languished under lingering and incurable distempers, by an apt and judicious use of such imaginary beings as those I mentioned in my last paper! The passion, which likewise rises in Adam on this occasion, is very natural. The discourse between the angel and Adam which follows, abounds with noble morals. Addison. Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds, And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy, Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence, were not in the first, but were added by the author in the second edition, to swell the horror of the description. Dr. Bentley is for striking them out again, but Mr. Pope says they are three admirable lines. 489. Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; Despair &c.] This is entirely in the picturesque manner of Spenser, and seems to allude particularly to that beautiful passage, where describing the way to Pluto's grisly reign, he represents Pain, Strife, Revenge, &c. as so many persons assembled, and over them sat Horror soaring with grim hue, and beating his iron wings. Faery Queen, book ii. cant. vii. st. 21. to st. 24. 485 Shook, but delay'd to strike. As the image is wonderfully fine, so it is excellently expressed with the pause upon the first syllable of the verse, shook. One thinks one almost sees the dart shaking. How much better is this than Virgil's, Æn. xi. 767. -et certam quatit improbus hastam! If the line was to be altered, as thus, And o'er them death triumphant shook his dart, much of the fire and spirit Tended the sick busiest from couch to couch; would be lost. The reader may 490 495 500 505 510 His best of man, and gave him up to tears] This thought (as Mr. Whalley I had not so much of man about me, Retaining still divine similitude In part, from such deformities be free, And for his Maker's image sake exempt ? Their Maker's image, answer'd Michael, then I yield it just, said Adam, and submit. 515 520 525 530 There is, said Michael, if thou well observe The rule of not too much, by temp'rance taught, In what thou eat'st and drink'st, seeking from thence Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight, Till many years over thy head return : So may'st thou live, till like ripe fruit thou drop 517. To serve ungovern'd appetite,] Appetite here is made a person: and took his image whom they served, that is, ungoverned appetite's, a brutish vice, that was the principal occasion of the sin of Eve, inductive mainly to the sin of Eve. How different is this image from God's 535 image, when (as we read in iv. 291.) -in their looks divine The image of their glorious Maker shone, Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure! 531. The rule of not too much,] Ne quid nimis. |