Before the feat fupreme; from whence a voice Of truth, in word mightier than they in arms; Than violence; for this was all thy care To stand approv'd in fight of God, though worlds 29. Servant of God,] So the name of Abdiel fignifies in Hebrew. 34. Univerfal reproach, far worse to bear Than violence; ] This fentiment is very juft, and not unlike what Florus fays in his character of Tarquin the proud in omnes fuperbia, quæ crudelitate gravior eft bonis, graffatus, Flor. Lib. 1. c. 7. So allo Spenfer, Faery Queen B. 4. Cant. 4. St. 4. For evil deeds may better than bad words be bore. Thyer. Beaumont and Fletcher exprefs the fame fentiment very well. Beggars Bush A& II. 30 35 40 By By force, who reason for their law refuse, Right reason for their law, and for their king 50 His 41.-reafon for their law] Al. they are order'd to drive the rebel luding to the word A.. 44. Go Michael of celestial armies prince,] As this battel of the Angels is founded principally on Rev. XII. 7, 8. There was war in Heaven; Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon, and the Dragon fought and his Angels, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in Heaven; Michael is rightly made by Milton the leader of the heavenly armies, and the name in Hebrew fignifies the power of God. But it may be cenfur'd perhaps as a piece of wrong conduct in the poem, that the commiffion here given is not executed; Angels out from God and blifs, but this is effected at last by the Meffiah alone. Some reasons for it are aífign'd in the fpeech of God, ver. 680. and in that of the Meffiah, ver. 801. in this book. faid to draw after him the third part 49. Equalin number] As Satan was of Heav'n's hoft, V. 710. fo God here fends another third part, equal in number, to pursue him; and the remaining third was probably rethe fovran throne. See V. 655ferved to attend upon duty about Green-wood. mean any place of confufion; but 55. His fiery Chaos] Chaos may His fiery Chaos to receive their fall. So fpake the fovran voice, and clouds began In filence their bright legions, to the found Under their God-like leaders, in the cause Of God and his Meffiah. if we take it strictly, Tartarus or Hell was built in Chaos (II. 100z.) and therefore that part of it being ftor'd with fire, may not improperly be call'd a fiery Chaos. Dr. Bentley's change of his into its, because which (not who) went before, proceeds upon a fuppofition that which is not to be referred to a perfon; though it is well known that formerly which was as often apply'd to a perfon as who: as Dr. Pearce observes. 56. and clouds began To darken all the hill, and smoke to roll &c.] In this defcription the author manifeftly alludes VOL. I. On they move 55 60 65 Ins to that of God defcending upon mount Sinai, Exod. XIX. 16, &c. And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders, and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount- and mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord defcended upon it in fire. 58. reluctant flames,] As flow and unwilling to break forth, Stupa vomens tardum fumum. Virg. n. V. 682. 64. In filence] So Homer obferves, Iliad III. 8. to the honor of his countrymen the Grecians, that they march'd on in filence, Ff while Indiffolubly firm; nor obvious hill, 69 Nor ftrait'ning vale, nor wood, nor ftream divides Their nimble tread; as when the total kind Came fummon'd over Eden to receive Their names of thee; fo over many a tract 75 Of Heav'n they march'd, and many a province wide Tenfold the length of this terrene: at last Far in th' horizon to the north appear'd From while the Trojans advanc'd with noife and clamor. 71.-for high above the ground &c.] Our author attributes the fame kind of motion to the Angels, as the Ancients did to their Gods; which was gliding thro' the air without ever touching the ground with their feet, or as Milton elfewhere elegantly expreffes it (B. VIII. 302.) Imooth fliding without ftep. And Homer, Iliad V. 778. compares the motion of two Goddeffes to the flight of doves, as Milton here compares the march of the Angels to the birds coming on the wing to Adam to receive their names, A de farn Tingwol ιθμαθ' ομοίαι. Smooth as the failing doves they glide along. Pope. 73-as when the total kind &c.] Homer has ufed the fimile of a flight of fowls twice in his Iliad, to exprefs the number and the motions, the order and the clamors of an army. See Iliad II. 459III. 2. As Virgil has done the fame number of times in his Æneid. VII. 699. X. 264. But this fimile exceeds any of thofe; Firft, as it rifes fo naturally out of the fubject, and was a comparison fo familiar to Adam. Secondly, the Angels were marching thro' the air, and not on the ground, which gives it another propriety; and here I believe the poet intended the chief likeness. Thirdly, The total kind how of birds much more proper ex prefes a prodigious number han From skirt to fkirt a fiery region stretch'd, Bristled with upright beams innumerable Of rigid fpears, and helmets throng'd, and fhields The banded Pow'rs of Satan hafting on 80 85 Aspirer, but their thoughts prov'd fond and vain 90 In Milton has before, in II. 513, the expreffion of horrent arms. 84. Various, with boastful argu ment portray'd,] Shields various are varied with diverfe fculptures and paintings; an elegant Latinifm. And the thought of attributing fields various, with boastful argument portray'd, to the evil Angels feems to be taken from the Phoeniffe of Euripides, where the heroes who befiege Thebes are defcrib'd with the like boastful fhields, only the prophet Amphiaraus hath no fuch boastful argument on his fhield, but a shield without argument as became a modeft man, ver. 1117. Ο μαλλος Αμφιαραίο, ο σημείο έχων όπλα, 93. And |