Not wand'ring poor, but trufting all his wealth- 135. I fee his tents Pitch'd about Sechem, and the neighbring plain Of Moreh; ] Gen. XII. 6. And Abram paffed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. Sichem or Sechem or Sychar (for it had all these names) was a town of the province of Samaria. there by promife he receives &c. as it follows immediately in Genefis XII. 7. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and faid, Unto thy feed will I give this land: So 135 (Things exactly does the poet copy the facred hiftorian. 139. From Hamath northward &c.] As fo much is faid of the promis'd land, the poet very properly gives us the bounds of it. Hamath into Hamath, fo frequently menwas a city of Syria, and the entring tion'd in Scripture, is the narrow pafs leading from the land of Caaan to Syria, through the valley which lies between Libanus and Antilibanus. This is fet down as the northern boundary of the land; Numb. XXXIV. 7, 8. To the defert fouth, the defert of Arabia, or the wilderness of Zin as it is call'd Numb. XXXIV. 3. Your fouthquarter fhall be from the wilderness of Zin. From Hermon caft, a mountain beyond Jordan, on the northeast, to the great western fea, the. Mediterranean. Numb. XXXIV. 6. And as for the western border, you hall even have the great fea for a border: this fhall be your weft-border. On the shore mount Carmel, a mountain famous in Scripture upon the coaft of the Mediterranean. Here the double founted fream ForCc 3 141 (Things by their names I call, though yet unnam❜d) dan, as it is commonly faid to arife from two fources at the foot of mount Libanus, the one called for, and the other Dan, as Thamifis from the Thame and Ifis; true limit eastward according to Numb. XXXIV. 10, 12. And ye shall point out your east-border from Hazar enan, a village at the fountain of Jordan, and the border fhall go down to Jordan &c. For the name of Canaan, tho' fometimes it includes the whole land poffeffed by the twelve tribes, yet peculiarly belongs to no more than the country weftward of the river Jordan: and the Jews themselves make a diftinction between the land promis'd to their fathers, and the lands of Sihon and Og which were to the eastward of the river. Mofes plainly does the fame in this expreffion, Deut. II. 29. Until I fhall pass over Jordan, into the land which the Lord our God giveth us. 145 Is And the land on this fide Jordan was efteemed more holy than the land on the other. The one was barely called the land of your poffeffion, the other the land of the poffeffion of the Lord, Joshua XXII. 19. See Univerfal History, Vol. 1. p. 566, 567. This river was the true limit eastward, but his fons were to extend themselves farther, shall dwell to Senir, that long ridge of bills. This Senir or Shenir is the fame as mount Hermon, mention'd as the eaftern border before ver. 141. as appears from Deut. III. 9. Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion, and the Amorites call it Shenir. And a more exact account of the boundaries of the promis'd land we shall hardly find in any proseauthor, than our poet has given us here in verfe. 140. Things by their names I call, though yet unnam'd] As Vir Is meant thy great deliverer, who shall bruise 150 156 gil's vifion in the fixth Æneid probably gave Milton the hint of this whole episode, this line is a tranflation of that verfe, wherein Anchifes mentions the names of places, which they were to bear hereafter, ver. 776. Hæc tum nomina erunt, nunc funt fine nomine terræ. Addifon. Grotius has likewife imitated the Things by their names I call, 147. This ponder,] As if he had faid, I mention other things for See your information, but this you fhould particularly remember, and meditate upon. 152. Whom faithful Abraham due time fhall call,] Dr. Bentley obferves that every where else Milton makes but two fyllables of Abraham; and therefore to do the fame here, he reads future instead of due. But I believe that Milton intended to make the name Abraham here confift of three fyllables, in allufion to God's adding a fyllable to it, as we find in Gen. XVII. 5. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name Pearce. shall be Abraham. Abram fignifies a great father, but Abraham is of larger extent, and fignifies a father of many nations. 155.—with twelve fons increas'd] A Latinifm; as Plaut. Trucul. II. 6. 34. Cumque es aucta liberis. See alfo Tacit. Agric. c. 6. Richardfon. 158. See Cc4 See where it flows, difgorging at fev'n mouths Into the fea: to fojourn in that land He comes invited by a younger fon In time of dearth, a fon whofe worthy deeds 160 165 To stop their overgrowth, as inmate guests Till by two brethren (those two brethren call 170 But first the lawless tyrant, who denies 180 To know their God, or meffage to regard, 185 |