And by command of Heav'n's all-pow'rful king

I keep, by him forbidden to unlock
These adamantin gates; against all force
Death ready ftands to interpofe his dart,

Fearless to be o'ermatch'd by living might.

855

But what owe I to his commands above

Who hates me, and hath hither thruft me down
Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,

To fit in hateful office here confin'd,
Inhabitant of Heav'n, and heav'nly-born,
Here in perpetual agony and pain,

With terrors and with clamors compass'd round
Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed?
Thou art my father, thou my author, thou

860

My

855. Fearless to be o'ermatch'd by

living might.] In fome edi tions it is living wight, that is creature, and we have living wight before ver. 613 and this is likewise Dr. Bentley's reading, for living might, fays he, would not except even God himself, the ever-living and the almighty. But God himfelf muft neceffarily be excepted here; for it was by his command that Sin and Death fat to guard the gates, and therefore living might cannot poffibly be understood of God, but of any one else who fhould endevor to force a paffage.

T3

868. The

My being gav❜st me; whom should I obey

865

870

But thee, whom follow? thou wilt bring me foon
To that new world of light and blifs, among
The Gods who live at ease, where I shall reign
At thy right hand voluptuous, as befeems
Thy daughter and thy darling, without end.
Thus faying, from her fide the fatal key,
Sad inftrument of all our woe, fhe took;
And towards the gate rolling her beftial train,
Forthwith the huge portcullis high up drew,
Which but herself, not all the Stygian Powers 875
Could once have mov'd; then in the key-hole turns
Th' intricate wards, and every bolt and bar

Of

ly as highly gratified by the minute detail of particulars our author has given us. It may with juftice be farther obferved, that in no part of the poem, the verfification is better accommodated to the

fenfe. The drawing up of the portcullis, the turning of the key, the fudden fhooting of the bolts, and the flying open of the doors are in fome fort defcribed by the very break and found of the verses. Thyer.

873. And towards the gate rolling

her beftial train,] A modern riming poet would perhaps have faid,

And rolling tow'rds the gate her beftial train,

and

Of maffy ir'on or folid rock with ease

Unfaftens: on a fudden open fly

With impetuous recoil and jarring found

880

885

Th' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook
Of Erebus. She open'd, but to fhut
Excell'd her pow'r; the gates wide open stood,
That with extended wings a banner'd hoft
Under spread enfigns marching might pafs through
With horse and chariots rank'd in loofe array;
So wide they stood, and like a furnace mouth
Caft forth redounding smoke and ruddy flame.
Before their eyes in fudden view appear

or Æn. VI. 573

890 The

of Macbeth remarks that this expreffion is copied from the Hiftory of Don Bellianis, where, when one of the knights approaches the caftle of Brandezar, the gates are faid to open grating harsh thunder upon their brazen hinges. And it is not improbable that Milton might take it from thence, as he was a reader of all kinds of romances.

882. the lowest bottom shook Of Erebus.] The most profound

horrifono ftridentes cardine depth of Hell.
facræ
Panduntur portæ ?

The ingenious author of the Mif-
cellaneous Obfervations on the Tragedy

Erebi de fedibus imis.

Virg. Georg. IV. 471.

Hume.

T 4

The secrets of the hoary deep, a dark

Illimitable ocean, without bound,

Without dimenfion, where length, breadth, and highth,

And time, and place are loft; where eldest Night

And Chaos, ancestors of nature, hold

Eternal anarchy, amidft the noise

Of endless wars, and by confufion ftand.

For hot, cold, moift, and dry, four champions fierce, Strive here for maft'ry, and to battel bring

Their embryon atoms; they around the flag

Of each his faction, in their several clans,

Light-arm'd or heavy, sharp, smooth, fwift or flow,
Swarm populous, un-number'd as the fands

Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid foil,

Levied to fide with warring winds, and poise

905

Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere,
He rules a moment; Chaos umpire fits,
And by decifion more embroils the fray
By which he reigns: next him high arbiter
Chance governs all. Into this wild abyss,

Mollia cum duris, fine pondere

habentia pondus.

The reader may compare this whole description of Chaos with Ovid's, and he will eafily fee how the Roman poet has leffen'd the grandeur of his by puerile conceits and quaint antithefes: every thing in Milton is great and masterly.

902. Light-arm'd or heavy,] He continues the warlike metaphor; some of them are light-arm'd or beavy, levis or gravis armaturæ.

Hume. 904. Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid Joil,] A city and province of dry fandy Libya, Virg. Æn. IV. 42.

Hinc deferta fiti regio, lateque
furentes
Barcæi.

910 The

905.and poife] Give weight or ballaft to. Pliny speaks of certain birds, who when a ftorm arises

poife themselves with little ftones, L. 11. C. 10. Virgil has the fame thought of his bees, Georg. IV. 194. Richardfon.

906. To whom thefe moft adhere,] Dr. Bentley reads the most adhere, that is (fays he) he of the four rules, while he has the majority. But this is not Milton's fenfe; for according to him no atoms adhere to moift, but fuch as belong to his faction, and the fame is to be faid of hot, cold, and dry. Therefore the reason why any one of these four champions rules (tho' but for a moment) is because the atoms of his faction adhere most to him. Firm dependence indeed (fays the Doctor) and worthy the fuperla

tive