With soot and cinders fill'd; so oft they fell Into the same illusion, not as Man 570 Whom they triumph'd once laps'd. Thus were they plagu'd And worn with famine, long and ceaseless hiss, The sound of Virgil's words admirably expresses the thing; nor are Milton's less expressive in this line, and that foregoing, -which th' offended taste With spattering noise rejected. 572. Whom they triumph'd once laps'd.] Is the construction thus, Not as Man whom they triumphed over, once lapsed, semel lapsus est: or thus rather, Quo semel lapso triumpharunt, Whom being once lapsed they triumphed? Mr. Fenton's pointing would lead one to the former sense, but Milton's own will rather determine one to the latter; and thus Dr. Trapp translates it, Non ut homo; quo, egere, semel labente, triumphos. The antithesis is between so oft they fell and once lapsed; and as so oft they fell are the first words of the sentence, once lapsed is very artfully thrown to the end. 573. And worn with famine, long and ceaseless hiss,] Dr. Bentley has several objections to this line; but the greatest objection to it is the want of a conjunction between with famine 575 and long and ceaseless hiss; but that might be remedied thus, And worn with famine long, and ceaseless hiss. 575. -some say,] I know not, or cannot recollect from what author or what tradition Milton hath borrowed this notion. Mr. Warburton believes that he took the hint from the old romances of which he was a great reader; where it is very common to meet with these annual, or monthly, or weekly penances of men changed into animals: but the words some say seem to imply that he has some express authority for it, it is the speech of the Faery and what approaches nearest to Manto in Ariosto, cant. xliii. st. 98. Ch' ogni settimo giorno ogn' una è certa, Che la sua forma in biscia si converta. Each sev'nth day we constrained are to take Upon ourselves the person of a snake, &c. Harrington. 575. Surely the words some say rather imply that he had no express authority for the idea. Compare Comus, 432. This annual humbling certain number'd days, Some say no evil thing that walks by Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity. And L'Allegro, 17. Or whether, as some sager sing, Where see Mr. Thyer's note. 580. And fabled how the Serpent, &c.] Dr. Bentley is for rejecting this whole passage: but our author is endeavouring to shew, that there was some tradition, among the heathen, of the great power that Satan had obtained over mankind. And this he proves by what is related of Ophion with Eurynome. Ophion with Eurynome, he says, had first the rule of high Olympus, and were driven thence by Satan and Ops or Rhea, ere yet their son Dictaan Jove was born, so called from Dicte a mountain of Crete where he was educated. And Milton seems to have taken this story from Apollonius Rhodius, Argonaut. i. 503. Ηείδεν δ ̓ ὡς πρωτον Οφίων Ευρυνόμητε 580 Now Ophion according to the Greek etymology signifies a Serpent; and therefore Milton conceives that by Ophion the old Serpent might be intended, the Serpent whom they called Ophion: and Eurynome signifying wideruling, he says, but says doubtfully, that she might be the wide-encroaching Eve perhaps. For I understand the wide-encroaching not as an epithet to Eurynome, explaining her name, but as an epithet to Eve, Milton having placed the comma after Eurynome, and not after the wide-encroaching. And besides some epithet should be added to Ere to shew the similitude between her and Eurynome, and why he takes the one for the other; and therefore in allusion to the name of Eurynome he styles Eve the wide-encroaching, as extending her rule and dominion farther than she should over her husband, and affecting Godhead. This explanation may be farther confirmed and illustrated by the following note of the learned Mr. Jortin. "Milton "took this story from Apollo"nius i. who is quoted by Lloyd's Dictionary, under the word "Ophion. Prometheus in Æs chylus, ver. 956. says, that two "Gods had borne rule before Jupiter: where the Scholiast; « εβασίλευσε πρωτον μεν ὁ Οφίων και Ευρυνόμη έπειτα Κρονος και Για· Ophion, with Eurynome, the wide μετα ταυτα δε ὁ Ζευς και Ήρα. "Others will have it that Ouga" νος and In reigned first. I "think the epithet wide-encroach "ing belongs to Eve, not to Eurynome. He calls Eve wide"encroaching, because, as he tells "us, she wanted to be supe"rior to her husband, to be a "Goddess, &c." 586. -Sin there in pow'r before, Once actual, now in body, and to dwell Habitual habitant;] The sense is, That before the fall Sin was in power, or potentially, in Paradise; that once, viz. upon the fall, it was actually there, though not bodily; but that now, upon its arrival in Paradise, it was there in body, and dwelt as a constant inhabitant. The words in body allude to what St. Paul says Rom. vi. 6. that the body of sin might be destroyed. Pearce. 590. On his pale horse:] Though the author in the whole course of his poem, and particularly in the book we are now examining, 585 590 Of has infinite allusions to places of -behind her Death On his pale horse : Second of Satan sprung, all conqu❜ring Death, What think'st thou of our empire now, though earn'd With travel difficult, not better far Then still at hell's dark threshold to' have sat watch, Whom thus the Sin-born monster answer'd soon. 595 600 To whom th' incestuous mother thus replied. Thou therefore on these herbs, and fruits, and flowers Feed first, on each beast next, and fish, and fowl, No homely morsels; and whatever thing 605 The scythe of Time mows down, devour unspar'd; His thoughts, his looks, words, actions all infect, This said, they both betook them several ways, 610 Both to destroy, or unimmortal make All kinds, and for destruction to mature Sooner or later; which th' Almighty seeing, ing that Death had not mounted yet on his pale horse: for though he was to have a long and allconquering power, he had not yet begun, neither was he for some time to put it in execution. Greenwood. 601. this vast unhide-bound corpse.] It is strange how Dr. Bentley and others have puzzled this passage. The meaning is plain enough. For Death though lean is yet described as a vast monster in book ii. And his skin was not tight-braced, and did not look sleek and smooth, as when creatures are swoln and full; but hung loose about him, and was capable of containing a great deal without being distended. From his transcendent seat the saints among, See with what heat these dogs of hell advance 615 620 Phil. iii. 2. Without are dogs. Rev. xxii. 15. Thus far perhaps our author may be justified, but in some other parts of this speech the metaphors are wonderfully coarse indeed, and seem to be beneath the dignity of an epic poem, and much more unbecoming the majesty of the divine Speaker; unless they may be vindicated by the following passage in Scripture, which is expressed by the Son of God himself. Rev. iii. 16. I will spue thee out of my mouth. The foregoing quotation from Shakespeare, Cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of war, Mr. Warburton thinks much happier (as indeed it is) than this passage in our author, because havoc was formerly the cry made use of when the irregulars in an army destroyed all before them with fire and sword. When Henry V. made his expedition into France, he had rules and orders of war drawn up, (a copy of which is in Lincoln's Inn library,) where there is one chapter denouncing the punishment on those who cry Havoc. |