Loud as from numbers without number, sweet As from bleft voices, uttering joy, Heav'n rung Th' eternal regions: lowly reverent Tow'ards either throne they bow, and to the ground With folemn adoration down they caft a fhout loud as &c. Heav'n rung, &c. where the first words are put in the ablative cafe abfolutely. ¡ Pearce. 351. down they caft Their crowns] So they are reprefented Rev. IV. 10. The four and twenty elders fall down before him that fat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and caft their crowns before the throne. 353 Immortal amarant,] Amarant Apapan Greek, for unfading, that decayeth not; a flower of a purple velvet color, which tho' gather'd, keeps its beauty, and when all other flowers fade, recovers its luftre by being fprinkled with a little water, as Pliny affirms, Lib. 21. c. 11. Our author feems to have taken this hint from 1 Pet. I. 4. To an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, apa and 1 Pet. V. 4 Ball receive a crown of glory that Fadith not away, apapalivo: both relating to the name of his ever 351 In lafting amarant, which he has finely fet near the tree of life. Amarantus flos, fymbolum eft immortalitatis. Clem. Alexand. Hume. 357- the fount of life, and river of blis] The abundant happiness and immortal joys of Heaven are in Scripture generally exprefs'd by the fountain of life and rivers of pleasure: So, Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures, for with thee is the fountain of life, Pfal. XXXVI. 8, 9. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne fhall feed them, and fall lead them unto living fountains of waters, Rev. VII. 17. and Rev. XXII. 1. He showed me a pure river of water of life. Hume. 359. Rolls o'er Elyfian flow'rs her amber ftream;] Dr. Bentley reads Rolls o'er relucent gems &c. becaufe (he fays) it is not well conreceiv'd that flow'rs grow at the bottom of a river. But (as Dr. Pearce replies) Milton's words don't neceffarily imply fo much; the river In Paradife, faft by the tree of life, Began to bloom; but foon for man's offenfe 355 To Heav'n remov'd, where first it grew, there grows, And flow'rs aloft fhading the fount of life, And where the riv'er of blifs through midft of Heaven Rolls o'er Elyfian flow'rs her amber stream; 360 With these that never fade the Spirits elect et deerefcentia ripas Flumina prætereunt, roll by and within their banks. But if we understand the paffage as it is exprefs'd, there is no kind of abfurdity in it; for we frequently fee grafs and weeds and flowers grow ing under water: and we may therefore fuppofe the finest flowers to grow at the bottom of the river of bliss, or rather the river to roll over them fometimes, to water, them. The author feems to intend much the fame thing that he has exprefs'd in IV. 240. where fpeaking of the brooks in Paradife he fays they From golden flumber on a bed Of heap'd Elyfian flow'rs. And then as to his calling it amber stream, it is only on account of its clearnefs and tranfparency, and not at all on account of its color, that he compares it to amber. The clearness of amber was proverbial among the Ancients; Callimachus in his hymn to Ceres, ver. 29. has expor dwp; and in like manner Virgil fays of a river, Georg. III. 522. Purior electro campum petit amnis. 360. With thefe that never fade] Dr. Bentley reads with this that P 3 ne ver Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright Pavement, that like a fea of jafper shone, Impurpled with celeftial rofes fmil'd. 364 Then crown'd again, their golden harps they took, Harps ever tun'd, that glittering by their side No voice exempt, no voice but well could join 370 never fades, that is amarant. But thefe is right, and refers to crowns fpoken of in ver. 352. all the intermediate verfes being in a parenthefis. Milton alludes here to i Pet. V. 4. Ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Pearce. Or perhaps thefe may more probably refer to Elyfian flow'rs mention'd in the verfe preceding. It is more natural and eafy, and agrees better with what follows, with their being thrown off in loofe garlands, which it is better to understand of flow'rs than of crowns, which are themfelves garlands; but then there must be no parenthefis, as there is none in Milton's own editions. 363.like a fea of jafper fhone,] Jaiper is a precious tone of feveral colors, but the green is moft esteem'd, and bears some similitude and refemblance to the color of the fea. 364. Impurpled with celeftial rafes fail'd] A word very fami Thee, liar with Spenfer from the Italian Oft from the foreft wildings he Mariano Ad. Cant. 4. St. 291. Tutto di rofe imporporare il Cielo. 372. Thee, Father, firft they fung &c.] This hymn feems to be compofed fomewhat in the spirit and manner of the hymn to Hercules in the 8th book of the Æneid; but is as much fuperior as the fubject of the one tranfcends that of the other. 377. Thron'd inacceffible, but when thou fhad'ft] The word but here is the fame as except, unless; inacceffible, but when thou fhad'ft, that Thee, Father, first they fung Omnipotent, Immutable, Immortal, Infinite, Eternal King; thee Author of all being, Fountain of light, thyself invisible 375 Amidst the glorious brightness where thou fitft The full blaze of thy beams, and through a cloud that is then only acceffible, when thou fhad'ft &c. Perhaps Milton had in view what Ovid fays of Phoebus when his fon Phaeton came to him, Met. II. 39. -circum caput omne micantes Depofuit radios, propiufque accedere juffit. Pearce. I rather conclude that these ideas were fuggefted by the 33d chapter of Exodus, ver. 18. and the following paffage which ends thus, Thou balt fee my back parts, but my face fhall not be feen. Greenwood. 380. Dark with exceffive bright thy fkirts appear,] Milton has the fame thought of darkness occafion'd by glory, V. 599. Brightnefs had made invifible. This allo explains his meaning here; the excefs of brightnefs had the effect of darknefs, invifibility. What an idea of glory! the fkirts only not 380 Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes, In whose confpicuous count'nance, without cloud Whom else no creature can behold; on thee 386 301 He Heav'n of Heav'ns and all the Pow'rs therein Back 382. Approach not,] So Ovid Met. în Col. I. 15. the first born of every II. 22. Confiftitque procul, neque enim but with both wings veil their eyes. Above it fiend the Seraphims; each one had fix wings; with twain he cover'd his face, &c. Ifa. VI. 2. 383.- of all creation firft,] So creature or of all creation, πασης κλίσεως ; and Rev III. 14. the beginning of the creation of God. 387. Whom elfe no creature can otherwife behold the Father but in behold;] No creature can and through the Son. No man hath Jeen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bofom of the Father, he hath declared him, John I. 18. But He that hath jeen me, hath feen the Father, John XIV. 9. 398. Thee |