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Hurl'd headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantin chains and penal fire,
Who durft defy th' Omnipotent to arms.

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Nine times the space that measures day and night 50
To mortal men, he with his horrid crew

Lay vanquish'd, rolling in the fiery gulf,
Confounded though immortal: But his doom
Referv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought

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Hurl'd headlong downward from

th' ethereal height. Pope.

46. With bideous ruin and tombuftion,] Ruin is deriv'd from ruo, and includes the idea of falling with violence and precipitation, and combuftion is more than flaming in the foregoing verfe, it is burning in a dreadful manner. So that he was not only burl'd head. long flaming, but he was hurl'd headlong flaming with hideous ruin and combuftion; and what occafion is there then for reading with Dr. Bentley confusion instead of combustion?

Both

48. In adamantin chains] Æfchylus Prometh. 6.

Αδαμαντίναις πεδησιν.

50. Nine times &c.] The nine days aftonishment, in which the Angels lay intranced after their dreadful overthrow and fall from Heaven, before they could recover either the use of thought or fpeech, is a noble circumftance, and very finely imagined. The divifion of Hell into feas of fire, and into firm ground impregnant with the fame furious element, with that particular circumftance of the exclufion of hope from thofe infernal regions, are inftances of the fame great and fruitful invention.

Addison.

63. darkness vifible] Milton feems to have used thefe words to fignify gloom: Abfolute darknefa

Both of loft happiness and lafting pain

Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes,
That witness'd huge affliction and dismay
Mix'd with obdurate pride and stedfaft hate:
At once, as far as Angels ken, he views
The difmal fituation wafte and wild;

A dungeon horrible on all fides round

As one great furnace flam'd, yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible

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60

Serv'd only to difcover fights of woe,

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Seneca has a like expreffion, fpeaking of the Grotta of Paufilypo, Senec. Epift. LVII. Nihil illo carcere longius, nihil illis faucibus obfcurius, quæ nobis præftant, non ut per tenebras videamus, fed ut ipfas. And, as Monf. Voltaire obferves, Antonio de Solis, in his excellent Hiftory of Mexico hath ventur'd on the fame thought, when speaking of the place wherein Montezuma was wont to confult his Deities; " "Twas a large dark "fubterraneous vault, fays he,

Regions

"where fome difmal tapers af"forded juft light enough to fee "the obfcurity." See his Effay on Epic Poetry, p. 44. Euripides too expreffes himself in the fame poetical manner. Bac. 510.

We ay oxation Hoopa wvegas. There is much the fame image in Spenfer, but not fo bold, Fairy Queen, B. 1. Cant. 1. St. 14.

A little glooming light, much like a fhade.

Or after all, the author might perhaps take the hint from himself in his Il Penferofo,

Where glowing embers through

the room

Teach light to counterfeit a gloom.

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Regions of forrow, doleful fhades, where peace 65

And reft can never dwell, hope never comest
That comes to all but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed
With ever-burning fulphur unconfum'd:
Such place eternal Juftice had prepar'd

For those rebellious, here their prison ordain'd

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In utter darkness, and their portion set

As far remov'd from God and light of Heaven,
As from the center thrice to th' utmoft pole.

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74. As from the center thrice to

th' utmost pole.] Thrice as far

as it is from the center of the earth (which is the center of the world according to Milton's fyftem, IX. 103. and X. 671.) to the pole of the world; for it is the pole of the univerfe, far beyond the pole of the earth, which is here call'd that Homer makes the feat of the utmost pole. It is obfervable Hell as far beneath the deepest pit of earth, as the Heaven is

above the earth,

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Τόσσον ενερθ' αϊδεω, όσον κρανο es' awo youns. Iliad. VIII. 16. Virgil makes it twice as far,

Tum Tartarus ipfe.

O how unlike the place from whence they fell! 75
There the companions of his fall, o'erwhelm'd
With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,
He foon difcerns, and welt'ring by his fide
One next himself in pow'r, and next in crime,
Long after known in Palestine, and nam'd
Beelzebub. To whom th' Arch-Enemy,

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And thence in Heav'n call'd Satan, with bold words Breaking the horrid filence thus began.

If thou beeft he; but O how fall'n! how chang'd

Bis patet in præceps tantum ten-
ditque fub umbras,
Quantus ad æthereum cœli fufpe-
&tus Olympum. Æn. VI. 577.

And Milton thrice as far,

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As far remov'd from God and light of Heaven,

As from the center thrice to th' utmost pole:

As if these three great poets had fretched their utmoft genius, and vied with each other, who fhould extend his idea of the depth of Hell fartheft. But Milton's whole defcription of Hell as much exceeds theirs, as in this fingle circumftance of the depth of it. And how cool and unaffecting is the ταρταρον περιενία, the σιδηραι ειτε πυλαι και χαλκεον &δ Homer, and the lugentes campi, the

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From

ferrea turris, and horrifono firidentes cardine porte of Virgil, in comparifon with this description by Milton, concluding with that artful contraft,

O how unlike the place from whence they fell !

81. Beelzebub.] The lord of flies, an idol worshipped at Ecron, a city of the Philiftines, 2 Kings I. 2. He is called prince of the Devils, Mat. XII. 24. therefore defervedly here made fecond te Satan himself. Hume.

82. And thence in Heav'n call'd

Satan,] For the word Satan in Hebrew fignifies an enemy: he is the enemy by way of eminence, the chief enemy of God and Man.

84. If thou beeft be; &c.] The thoughts in the first speech and

de

185

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From him, who in the happy realms of light
Cloth'd with transcendent brightness didst outshine. I
Myriads though bright! If he whom mutual league,
United thoughts and counfels, equal hope
And hazard in the glorious enterprise,

Join'd with me once, now mifery hath join'd
In equal ru'in: into what pit thou seest

defcription of Satan, who is one of the principal actors in this poem, are wonderfully proper to give us a full idea of him. His pride envy and revenge, obftinacy defpair and impenitence, are all of them very artfully interwoven. In fhort, his firft fpeech is a complication of all thofe paffions, which discover themselves feparately in feveral other of his fpeeches in the poem. Addifon.

The change and confufion of thefe enemies of God is moft artfully exprefs'd in the abruptnefs of the beginning of this fpeech: If thou art he, that Beelzebub He ftops, and falls into a bitter reflection on their prefent condition, compared with that in which they lately were. He attempts again to open his mind; cannot proceed on what he intends to fay, but returns to thofe fad thoughts; ftill doubting whether 'tis really his affoeiate in the revolt, as now in mifery and ruin; by that time he had expatiated on this (his heart was opprefs'd with it) he is affured to

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From

whom he speaks, and goes on to declare his proud unrelenting mind. Richardfon.

84.

but how fall'n! how chang'd

From bim,] He imitates Ifaiah and Virgil at the fame time. Ifa. XIV. 12, How art thou fallen, &c. and Virgil's Æn. II. 274.

Hei mihi qualis erat! quantum mutatus ab illo !

86. Cloth'd with tranfcendent

brightness didft outshine from Homer, Odyf.VI. 110. where Myriads though bright!] Imitated Diana excels all her nymphs in beauty, though all of them be beautiful.

Pad SavTV WIXSTW, HAAas δε τε πάσαι. Bentley.

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91. In equal ruin:] So it is in all the editions. And equal ruin is Dr. Bentley's emendation, which Dr. Pearce allows (and I believe every body muft allow) to be just and proper; it being very easy to mistake one of

thefe

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