3 Not long divifible; and from the gash A stream of necta'rous humor iffuing flow'd 331 Forthwith almoft painful in defcribing Satan's Ιχωρ διόσπερ τε ρέει μακάρεσσι pain, deep entring bar'd All his right fide: then Satan firft knew pain, And writh'd him to and fro convolv'd; fo fore The griding fword with difcontinu ous wound Pafs'd through him. 329. The griding fword with dif continuous wound] Difcontinuous wound is faid in allufion to the old definition of a wound, that it feparates the continuity of the parts, vulnus eft folutio continui: And griding is an old word for cutting, and used in Spenfer, as in Fairy Queen, B. 2. Cant. 8. St. 36. That through his thigh the mortal fteel did gride. 332. Aftream of nectarous humor iffuing flow'd Sanguin,] Here's an odious blunder. Nectar is the drink of the Gods; and was Satan's humor or blood a proper drink? But the next line fhows what the author dictated, Sanguin, fuch as celestial Spirits may bleed. The whole diftich is word for word taken from a verse in Homer, VOL. I. θεοισι. Homer's Gods when wounded bled Ichor, different from human blood, ton makes his Angels bleed the and peculiar to them. And Milfame humor, that has no other name. He gave it therefore A fream of ichorous humor iffuing flow'd. Bentley. I fhould have thought that an attentive reader could not have mifs'd obferving that the fream which Milton fpeaks of was not of nectarous humor only, but of nectarous bumor fanguin, that is, converted into what celeftial Spirits bleed: and what is that but the fame which Homer expreffes by one word Icher? If this was the poet's meaning, the Doctor's objection is wide of the mark. Befides, if nectarcus was wrong, yet ichorous would not feem to be right, becaufe the middle fyllable of it should be long, according to the profody of the word from which it is deriv'd. Forthwith on all fides to his aid was run By Angels many and ftrong, who interpos'd 335 340 Yet Yet foon he heal'd; for Spi'rits that live throughout Vital in every part, not as frail man In entrails, heart or head, liver or reins, Cannot but by annihilating die; 345 Nor in their liquid texture mortal wound - Τον δ' αρ' έταροι Ωκεας, οι οι οπιπε μάχης ηδε much more loose and redundant 344. for Spirits that live throughout &c.] Our author's reafon for Satan's healing fo foon is better than Homer's upon a like occafion, as we quoted it just now. And we fee here Milton's notions of Angels. They are vital in every part, and can receive no mortal wound, and cannot die but by annihilation. They are all eye, all ear, all fenfe and understanding; and can affume what kind of bodies they pleafe. And thefe no tions, if not true in divinity, yet certainly are very fine in poetry; 350 Affume, but most of them are not disagreeable to thole hints which are left us of these spiritual beings in Scripture. 348. Nar in their liquid texture mortal wound Receive, no more than can the fluid air:] The fame comparifon in Shakespear, Macbeth, A&tv. As eafy may't thou the intren. chant air With thy keen fword imprefs, as make me bleed. 350. All heart they live, all head, eye, all ear, all All intellect, all fenfe ;] This is expreffed very much like Pliny's account of God. Nat. Hift. L. 1. c. 7. Quifquis eft Deus, fi modo eft alius, et quacunque in parte, totus eft fenfus, totus vifus, totus auditus, totus anime, totus animi, totus fui. Affume, as likes them beft, condenfe or rare. Mean while in other parts like deeds deserv'd Memorial, where the might of Gabriel fought, 355 And with fierce enfigns pierc'd the deep array Of Moloch furious king; who him defy'd, And at his chariot wheels to drag him bound Threaten'd, nor from the Holy One of Heaven Refrain'd his tongue blafphemous; but anon Down cloven to the wafte, with shatter'd arms And uncouth pain fled bellowing. On each wing Uriel and Raphaël his vaunting foe, 362. And uncouth pain fled belloving] I queftion not but Milton in his defcription of his furious Moloch flying from the battel, and bellowing with the wound he had received, had his eye on Mars in the Iliad; who upon his being wounded is reprefented as retiring out of the fight, and making an outcry louder than that of a whole army when it begins the charge. Homer adds that the Greeks and Trojans, who were engaged in a general battel, were terrify'd on each fide with the bellowing of this wounded deity. The reader will eafily obferve, how Milton has kept all the horror of this image, without running into the ridicule of it. Addifon. With uncouth pain fled bellowing. 360 Though with Spenfer; but Milton, no doubt, in this particular application of it had in view the following lines, Fairy Queen, B. 1. Cant. 11. St. 20. The piercing steel there wrought a wound full wide, That with the uncouth pain the monster loudly cry'd." Thyer. 363. Uriel and Raphael] The fpeaker here is Raphael; and it had been improper to mention himfelf as a third perfon, and tell his own exploits; but that Adam knew not his name. Had he known it, he must have faid Uriel and I; which he car'd not to do. Bentley. 363. Uriel and Raphaël his vaunting foe,] Dr. Bentley and Uncouth is a word very common Mr. Thyer are of opinion, that a word Though huge, and in a rock of diamond arm'd, 365 Two potent Thrones, that to be lefs than Gods The atheist crew, but with redoubled blow Of Ramiel fcorch'd and blafted overthrew. word is left out in this line, and that the fenfe and the measure would be improv'd by reading it thus, Uriel and Raphael, each his vaunting foe. 365. Adramelech, ] Hebrew, Mighty magnificent king, one of the idols of Sepharvaim, worshipped by them in Samaria, when tranfplanted thither by Shalmanefer. And the Sepbarvites burnt their children in the fire to Adramelech, 2 Kings XVII. 31. Afmadai, the luftful and destroying Angel Afmodeus, mention'd Tobit III. 8. who robbed Sara of her feven husbands; of a Hebrew word fignifying to deftroy. Hume. 368. - plate and mail.] Plate is the broad folid armour. Mail is 370 |