Of stern Achilles on his foe purfu'd my Of celestial patronefs, who deigns part of it, concerning God's anger and Adam's diftrefs, is a more heroic fubject than the wrath of Achilles on his for, Hector whom he purfued three times round the walls of Troy according to Homer, or than the rage of Turnus for Lavinia difefpous'd, having been firft betroth'd to him, and afterwards promis'd to Æneas according to Virgil, or Neptune's ire that fo long perplex'd the Greek, Ulyffes as we read in the Odyssey, or Juno's ire that for fo many years perplex'd Cytherea's fon. Eneas as we read at large in the Æneid. The anger that he is about to fing is an argument more heroic not only than the anger of men, of Achilles and Turnus, but than that even of the Gods, of Neptune and Juno. The anger of the true God is a more noble fubject than of the falfe Gods. In this refpect he has the advantage of Homer and Virgil, his argument is more heroic as he says, if he can but make his ftile answerable. 15 20 And And dictates to me flumb'ring, or infpires Easy my unpremeditated verse: Since first this fubject for heroic fong Pleas'd me long choosing, and beginning late; Not fedulous by nature to indite Wars, hitherto the only argument 25 Heroic deem'd, chief maft'ry to diffect With long and tedious havoc fabled knights pretty early to write an epic poem, and propofed the ftory of king Arthur for the fubject of it: but that was laid afide probably for the reafons here intimated. The Paradife Loft he defigned at firft as a tragedy; it was not till long after that he began to form it into an epic poem: and indeed for feveral years he was fo hotly engaged in the controverfies of the times, that he was not at leifure to think of a work of this nature, and did not begin to fashion it in its prefent form till after the Salmafian controverfy which ended in 1655, and probably did not fet about the work in earnest till after the Restoration, fo that he was long choofing and beginning late. 28. hitherto the only argument Heroic deem'd,] By the Moderns as well as by the Ancients; wars being the principal fubject of all the heroic poems from Homer down to this time. But Milton's fubject was different, and whatever others may call it, we fee he reckons it himfelf An heroic poem, tho' he names it only A pours in his title page. 30 In It is indeed, as Mr. Warburton most excellently obferves in his Divine Legation of Mofes, Book 2. Sect. 4a the third fpecies of epic poetry. For juft as Virgil rivaled Homer, fo Milton emulated both. He found Homer poffeffed of the province of morality, Virgil of politics, and nothing left for him but that of religion. This he feifed, as aspiring to fhare with them in the government of the poetic world; and by means of the fuperior dignity of his fubject, got to the head of that triumvirate which took fo many ages in forming. These are the three fpecies of the epic poem; for its largest province is human action, which can be confidered but in a moral, a political, or religious view; and these the three great creators of them; for each of thefe poems was ftruck out at an heat, and came to perfection from its firft effay. Here then the grand scene is closed, and all farther improvements of the epic at an end. 29. chief maftry to diffect &c.] As the admir'd fubjects for an heroic poem were mistaken, so those were wrong A In battels feign'd; the better fortitude wrong who thought the diffecting of knights was a principal part of the skill of a poet, defcribing wounds as a furgeon. He doubtlefs here glanc'd at Homer's perpetual affectation of this fort of knowledge, which certainly debases his poetry. Richardfon. 33. or to defcribe races and games,] As the ancient poets have done; Homer in the twentythird book of the Iliad, Virgil in the fifth book of the Æneid, and Statius in the fixth book of his The baid: Or tilts and torneaments, which are often the fubject of the modern poets, as Ariofto, Spenfer, and the like. 35 The 35. Impreffes quaint, &c.] Uncommon witty devices or emblems, painted on their fhields ufually with a motto. We remember one which the table; in old French affcours. We may obferve that Milton fpells The skill of artifice or office mean, extraction: but as he has used the words imprefs'd III. 388. and in other places, and imprefs IV. 558. we have caused it to be printed impreffes out of regard to the uniformity of fpelling. And fo torneament he fpells here after the Italian torneamento, though in XI. 652. he writes it tournament, which seems to be after the French tournoy: but the fame regard to the uniformity of fpelling obliges us to print it in both places alike; and we prefer torneament, because we fuppofe the Italian to have been the original word; as we write impreses according to the Latin, because that word is originally derived from the Latin. Shakefpear too ufes the word impress as a fubftantive in the fame fenfe, Richard II. A& III. 40 45 Not 44. unlefs an age too late, or nature and the imboldning of art "ought may be trufted, and that "there be nothing adverfe in our "climate. or the fate of this age, " it haply would be no rafhness "from an equal diligence and in"clination to prefent the like offer " in our own ancient ftories." Or years damp &c. for he was near From mine own windows torn my fixty when this poem was publish'd. houshold coat, Ras'd out my imprefs. And Fairfax in Taffo, Cant. 20. Their arms, impresses, colors, gold And it is furprising, that at that time of life, and after fuch troublefome days as he had passed thro gh, he fhould have fo much poetical fire remaining. Not hers who brings it nightly to my ear. The fun was funk, and after him the ftar Of Hesperus, whose office is to bring Twilight upon the earth, 50. fhort arbiter "Twixt day and night,] This expreffion was probably borrow'd from the beginning of Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, where fpeaking of the fun about the time of the equinox, he calls him an indifferent arbiter between the night and the day. 53. When Satan who late fled &c.] If we look into the three great heroic poems which have appeared in the world, we may obferve that they are built upon very flight foundations. Homer lived near 300 years after the Trojan war; and, as the writing of history was not then in ufe among the Greeks, we may very well fuppofe, that the tradition of Achilles and Ulyffes had brought down but very few particulars to his knowledge; tho' there is no question but he has wrought into his two poems fuch of their remarkable adventures, as were ftill talked of among his contemporaries. The story of Eneas, on which Virgil founded his poem, was likewife very bare of circumstances, and by that means afforded him an opportunity of embellishing it with fiction, and giving a full range to his own invention. We find however that he has interwoven in the courfe of his fable the principal particulars which were generally believed among the Romans of Æneas's voyage and fettlement in Italy. The reader may fhort arbiter 50 "Twixt find an abridgement of the whole ftory as collected out of the ancient hiftorians, and as it was received among the Romans, in Dionyfius Halicarnaffeus. Since none of the critics have confider'd Virgil's fable, with relation to this hiftory of Æneas; it may not perhaps be amifs to examin it in this light, fo far as regards my prefent purpose. Whoever looks into the abridgement above mention'd, will find that the character of Eneas is filled with piety to the Gods, and a fuperftitious observation of prodigies, oracles and predictions. Virgil has not only preferved this character in the perfon of Æneas, but has given a place in his poem to those particular prophecies, which he found recorded of him in history and tradition. The poet took the matters of fact as they came down to him, and circumftanced them after his own manner, to make them appear the more natural, agreeable or furprising. I believe very many readers have been fhocked at that ludicrous prophecy which one of the Harpy ies pronounces to the Trojans in the third book, namely, that before they had built their intended city, they should be reduced by hunger to eat their very tables. But when they hear that this was one of the circumftances that had been tranfmitted to the Romans in the hiftory of Eneas, they will think the |