Kindled through agitation to a flame, Which oft, they say, some evil spi'rit attends, Misleads th' amazed night-wand'rer from his way 640 Which when she saw, thus to her guide she spake. or forbidden tree. E. 645 650 648. Fruitless to me, though fruit be here to excess,] Besides the jingle, the same word is used in a literal and metaphorical sense, as in Bion, Idyl. i. 16, 17. Αγριον αγριον ἑλκος έχει κατα μπρον Μειζον δ' & Κυθέρεια φέρει ποτι καρδιαν And not unlike is that in Virgil, Æn. vii. 295. Num capti potuere capi ?. 653. Sole daughter of his voice ;] Another Hebraism. Bath Kol, The daughter of a voice, is a noted phrase among An Hebraism for the prohibited the Jews, and they understand by it a voice from heaven; and Law to ourselves, our reason is our law. To whom the Tempter guilefully replied. 655 Of the fruit 660 To whom thus Eve yet sinless. this command is called the sole -for well thou know'st God hath pronounc'd it death to taste that tree, The only sign of our obedience left &c. -Then let us not think hard One easy prohibition. 653. the rest, we live Law to ourselves,] The rest, as for what remains, in all things else. A Grecism, and common in Latin. So Virgil, Æn. iii. 594. cætera Graius. We live law to ourselves. Rom. ii. 14. These having not the law, are a law unto themselves. Richard son. 656. Indeed? hath God then said that of the fruit Of all these garden trees ye shall not eat,] Gen. iii. 1. Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? In which our author has followed the Chaldee paraphrase interpreting the He brew particle, Indeed. Is it true that God has forbid you to eat of the fruits of Paradise? as if he had forbidden them to taste, not of one, but of all the trees; another of Satan's sly insinuations. The Hebrew particle, Yea or Indeed, plainly shews that the short and summary account that Moses gives of the Serpent's temptation, has respect to some previous discourse, which could in all probability be no other than what our poet has pitched upon. Hume. 659. Of the fruit &c.] This is exactly the answer of Eve in Genesis iii. 2, 3. put into verse. We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And it shews great art and judgment in our author, in knowing so well when to adhere to the words of Scripture, and when to amplify and enlarge upon them, as he does in Satan's reply to Eve. She scarce had said, though brief, when now more bold The Tempter, but with shew of zeal and love To Man, and indignation at his wrong, 665 New part puts on, and as to passion mov'd, 673. Stood in himself collected,] This beautiful and nervous expression, which Milton has used in several places, was, I fancy, adopted from the Italian in se raccolto. I do not remember to have met with it in any English writer before his time. Thyer. 673. Stood in himself collected, while each part, Motion, each act won audience ere the tongue,] Dr. Bentley says that this passage has not Milton's character nor turn. Motion, he thinks, should have each before it as well as part and act: and he asks, What is each part and each act, before he had spoke a word? He therefore would have it, Stood in himself collected whole, while each Motion, each air won audience ere the tongue. But act is right, and is explained by Milton himself in ver. 668. to be what an orator puts himself into, before he begins to speak; -in act 670 Motion, each act won audience ere the tongue, Of preface brooking through his zeal of right: O sacred, wise, and wisdom-giving plant, Those rigid threats of death; ye shall not die : ear would be offended by the while each part, Motion, and act 673. There seems to be no necessity for any alteration; the expression may be somewhat unusual, but it is easy to understand each before motion: each part, each motion, each act won audience; and each succeeding word is more expressive, and more definite, than the one which precedes it. E. 675. Sometimes in highth began, 675 680 685 Thus Cicero in his first oration against Catiline, Quousque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? &c. Thyer. 685. -ye shall not die:] Gen. iii. 4. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. And it is very artfully contrived by our author to make the Serpent give an instance in himself. 686. How should ye? by the So the passage should evidently How should ye? by the fruit? it gives you life To knowledge? By the threat'ner, look on me. lot. 690 Meant me, by vent'ring higher than my For such a petty trespass, and not praise 695 700 705 710 705. -he knows that in the day &c.] Gen. iii. 5. For God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil. So that where the author comments and enlarges upon Scripture, he still preserves as much as may be the very words of Scripture. |