Hafted, reforting to the fummons high,

And took their feats; till from his throne fupreme
Th' Almighty thus pronounc'd his fovran will.

O Sons, like one of us Man is become
To know both good and evil, fince his tafte
Of that defended fruit; but let him boast
His knowledge of good loft, and evil got,
Happier, had it fuffic'd him to have known
Good by itself, and evil not at all.
He forrows now, repents, and prays contrite,
My motions in him; longer than they move,
His heart I know, how variable and vain
Self-left. Left therefore his now bolder hand
Reach alfo of the tree of life, and eat,

85

90

And

idea of taking fuits, fo much better with feats than ftand. Pearce.

82. And took their feats;] Dr. Bentley fays that if the poet gave it thus, he had forgot himself; for he never makes the Angels to fit round the of all the Angels of Heaven, to hear 84. O Sons, &c.] The affembling throne of God: But if he never did the folemn decree paffed upon Man, elsewhere, he has authority for do- is reprefented in very lively ideas. ing fo here. I know that it is a The Almighty is here defcrib'd as maxim with the Schoolmen, Sola fedet Trinitas, that only the three remembring mercy in the midft of perfons in the Trinity fit: but this judgment, and commanding Michael is contrary to Scripture; for in Rev. to deliver his meffage in the mildeft IV. 4. and XI. 16, the four and terms, left the spirit of Man, which twenty elders are defcribed as fitting of his guilt and mifery, fhould fail was already broken with the fense en feats round about the throne. There is no occafion then to read with the Addifon.

Doctor and took their ftand: efpeially when it is confider'd that the

before him.

This whole fpeech is founded upon the following paffage in Genefis III.

And live for ever, dream at least to live
For ever, to remove him I decree,

And fend him from the garden forth to till
The ground whence he was taken, fitter foil.
Michael, this my beheft have thou in charge,
Take to thee from among the Cherubim
Thy choice of flaming warriors, left the Fiend,
Or in behalf of Man, or to invade
Vacant poffeffion, fome new trouble raise:

95

100

Hafte thee, and from the Paradife of God

Without remorfe drive out the finful pair,

105

From hallow'd ground th' unholy, and denounce

To them and to their progeny from thence
Perpetual banishment. Yet left they faint

22, 23, 24. And the Lord God faid, Behold the Man is become as one of as, to know good and evil: And now left he put forth his hand, and take alfo of the tree of life, and eat and live for ever; Therefore the Lord God fent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence be was taken. So he drove out the Man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims and a flaming ford, which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

86. Of that defended fruit;] Forbidden fruit, from defendre (French) to forbid; fo ufed by Chaucer,

At the fad fentence rigorously urg'd,

For I behold them foften'd and with tears
Bewailing their excess, all terror hide.
If patiently thy bidding they obey,

Dismiss them not disconfolate; reveal

To Adam what shall come in future days,
As I fhall thee inlighten; intermix

110

115

My covenant in the Woman's feed renew'd;

So fend them forth, though forrowing, yet in peace:
And on the east fide of the garden place,
Where entrance up from Eden easiest climbs,
Cherubic watch, and of a sword the flame
Wide-waving, all approach far off to fright,

111. Bewailing their excess,] God is here reprefented as pitying our first parents, and even while he is ordering Michael to drive them out of Paradife, orders him at the fame time to hide all terror; and for the fame reason he chooses to speak of their offenfe in the fofteft manner, calling it only an excess, a going be. yond the bounds of their duty, by the fame metaphor as fin is often call'd tranfgreffion.

120

And

every one had four faces, and that their whole bodies, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings were full of eyes round about.

Addifon.

Dr. Bentley throws out the greatest part of these verses, and reads thus,

four fac'd were each And all their fhape fpangled with eyes. Mean while &c. His chief objection is to the expreffon more wakeful than to drouse ; which (he fays) is the fame as more vocal than to be mute, more white than to be black. But the whole expreffion is, more wakeful than to droufe, charm'd with Arcadian pipe, or opiate rod of Hermes. When two fuch powerful causes of drousing are mention'd,

And guard all paffage to the tree of life:
Left Paradise a receptacle prove

To Spirits foul, and all my trees their prey,

With whofe ftol'n fruit Man once more to delude. 125
He ceas'd; and th' archangelic Pow'r prepar'd
For fwift defcent, with him the cohort bright
Of watchful Cherubim; four faces each

Had, like a double Janus, all their shape
Spangled with eyes, more numerous than those 130
Of Argus, and more wakeful than to drouse,
Charm'd with Arcadian pipe, the paft'ral reed
Of Hermes, or his opiate rod.
To refalute the world with facred light

mention'd, there is great force in saying, that they were more wakeful than to be influenc'd by them.

Pearce. Ezekiel fays that every one had four faces, X. 14. The poet adds, four faces each bad, like a double fanus; Janus was a king in Italy, and is reprefented with two faces, to denote his great wisdom, looking upon things paft and to come; and the mention of a well-known image with two faces may help to give us the better idea of others with four. Ezekiel fays X. 12. And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings were full of eyes round about: The poet expreffes it by a delightful metaphor, all their shape Spangled with eyes, and then adds by

Mean while

Leu

way of comparison more numerous than those of Argus, a fhepherd who had an hundred eyes, and more wakeful than to droufe, as his did, charm'd with Arcadian pipe, the past'ral reed that is the pait'ral pipe made of reeds, as was that of Hermes or Mercury, who was employ'd by Jupiter to lull Argus afleep and kill him, or his opiate rod, the caduceus of Mercury with which he could give fleep to whomfoever he pleased. With this pipe and this rod he lull'd Argus afleep and cut off his head. It is an allufion to a celebrated story in Ovid, Met. I. 625. &c.

Centum luminibus cinctum caput
Argus habebat &e.

Leucothea wak'd, and with fresh dews imbalm'd 135

The earth, when Adam and first matron Eve

135. Leucothea wak'd,] The White Goddess as the name in Greek imports, the fame with Matuta in Latin, as Cicero fays, Leucothea nominata a Græcis, Matuta habetur a noftris. Tufc. I. 12. Quæ Leucothea a Græcis, a nobis Matuta dicitur. De Nat. Deor. III. 19. And Matuta is the early morning that ushers in the Aurora rofy with the fun beams, according to Lucretius, V. 655. Tempore item certo rofeam Matuta

Earth's inmoft womb..

He and Adam converfe together,
which difcourfe is related at large in
the remainder of Book V, and Book
VI, VII, and VIII, till the evening
parts them, VIII. 630.

But I can now no more; the part-
ing fun
Beyond the earth's green Cape and
verdant Iles

Hefperian fets, my signal to depart.