That sleek'd his tongue," and won so much on Eve,
So little here, nay, lost: but Eve was Eve;
This far his over-match, who, self-deceived
And rash, beforehand had no better weigh'd
The strength he was to cope with, or his own
But as a man, who had been matchless held
In cunning, over-reach'd where least he thought,
To salve his credit, and for very spite,

b

Still will be tempting him who foils him still,
And never cease, though to his shame the more;
Or as a swarm of flies in vintage time,
About the wine-press where sweet moust is pour'd,
Beat off, returns as oft with humming sound;
Or surging waves against a solid rock,
Though all to shivers dash'd, the assault renew,
(Vain battery!) and in froth or bubbles end;
So Satan, whom repulse upon repulse
Met ever, and to shameful silence brought,
Yet gives not o'er, though desperate of success,
And his vain importunity pursues.

He brought our Saviour to the western side
Of that high mountain, whence he might behold
Another plain, long, but in breadth not wide,

e

a That sleek'd his tongue.

So Quarles in his "Elegy on Dr. Wilson," st. iii. :

No far-fetch'd metaphor shall smoothe or sleek
My ruffled strain.-DUNSTER.

b But as a man, &c.

5

10

15

d

20

4

It is the method of Homer to illustrate and adorn the same subject with several similitudes our author here follows his example, and presents us with a string of similes together. This fecundity and variety of the two poets can never be sufficiently admired; but Milton, I think, has the advantage in this respect; that in Homer the lowest comparison is sometimes the last, whereas here they rise one upon another. The first has too much sameness with the subject that it would illustrate, and give us no new ideas: the second is low, but it is the lowness of Homer, and at the same time is very natural: the third is free from the defects of the other two, and rises up to Milton's usual dignity and majesty. Mr. Thyer also observes, that Milton, as if conscious of the defects of his first two comparisons, rises in the third to his usual sublimity.-NEWTON.

c Or as a swarm of flies, &c.

This comparison, Dr. Jortin observes, is very just; and in the manner of Homer, "Il." xvi. 641. See also "Il." xvii. 570, &c. Mr. Thyer notices likewise the simile of the flies in the second book of the "Iliad," 469.-DUNSTER.

a Or surging waves against a solid rock,

Though all to shivers dash'd, the assault renew.

There can be but one opinion respecting this simile. "It presents," says Mr. Thyer, "to the reader's mind an image, which not only fills and satisfies the imagination, but also perfectly expresses both the unmoved steadfastness of our Saviour, and the frustrated baffled attempts of Satan."-DUNSTER.

e Another plain, &c.

The learned reader need not be informed that the country here meant is Italy, which indeed is long but not broad, and is washed by the Mediterranean on the south, and screened by the Alps on the north, and divided in the midst by the river Tiber.NEWTON.

The ridge of hills here does not mean the Alps, but the Apennines, which divide the south-west part of Italy from the north-west, and in which the river Tiber has its source. The plain, contained between these hills and the Mediterranean sea, consists

Wash'd by the southern sea; and, on the north,

That screen'd the fruits of the earth, and seats of men,

30

To equal length back'd with a ridge of hills,

From cold Septentrion blasts; thence in the midst
Divided by a river, of whose banks

On each side an imperial city stood,
With towers and temples proudly elevate
On seven small hills, with palaces adorn'd,
Porches, and theatres, baths, aqueducts,
Statues, and trophies, and triumphal ares,h
Gardens, and groves, presented to his eyes,
Above the highth of mountains interposed:
(By what strange parallax, or optick skill
Of vision, multiplied through air, or glass
Of telescope, were curious to inquire)
And now the tempter thus his silence broke :-
The city, which thou seest, no other deem

35

40

of the old Etruria, Latium, and Campania; the two latter being divided from the former by the course of the Tiber.-DUNSTER.

f With towers and temples proudly elevate, &c.

Thus Spenser, in his "Ruins of Time," where Verulam, comparing herself with Rome, describes "the beauty of her buildings fair:"

High towers, fair temples, goodly theatres,
Strong walls, rich porches, princely palaces,
Large streets, brave houses, sacred sepulchres,
Sure gates, sweet gardens, &c.-DUNSTER.

On seven small hills.

Thus Virgil," Georg." ii. 535, speaking of Rome, "Septemque una sibi muro circumdedit arces."-NEWTON.

h With palaces adorn'd,

Porches, and theatres, baths, aqueducts,

Statues, and trophies, and triumphal ares.

All these articles of grandeur and expense, both public and private, are recorded and minutely illustrated, by Hakewill, in his "Apologie of the Power and Providence of God," through several sections of a chapter entitled, "Of the Romans excessiue luxurie in building.”—TODD.

i Gardens, and groves.

The extravagance of the Romans in these articles of luxury was carried to a ridiculous height. They planted " gardens and orchards and groues upon their house toppes; therein like Antipodes running a contrary course to nature, as Seneca truly and justly taxes them, Epist. 122." Hakewill's "Apologie," &c., in the chapter entitled, "Their [the Romans] prodigall sumptuousnesse in their private buildings, in regard of the largenesse and height of their houses, as also in regard of their marble pillars, walls, roofes, beames, and pauement full of art and cost." p. 404. Compare ver. 58, &c.— Todd.

By what strange parallax, or optick skill
Of vision, multiplied through air, or glass
Of telescope.

The learned have been very idly busy in contriving the manner in which Satan showed to our Saviour all the kingdoms of the world. Some suppose it was done by vision; others, by Satan's creating phantasms or species of different kingdoms, and presenting them to our Saviour's sight, &c. But what Milton here alludes to is a fanciful notion which I find imputed to our famous countryman Hugh Broughton. Cornelius a Lapide, in summing up the various opinions upon this subject, gives it in these words:"Alii subtiliter imaginantur, quod dæmon per multa specula sibi invicem objecta species regnorum ex uno speculo in aliud et aliud continuo reflexerit, idque fecerit usque ad oculos Christi."-THYER.

m

Than great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth,*
So far renown'd, and with the spoils enrich'd
Of nations: there the Capitol thou seest,
Above the rest lifting his stately head
On the Tarpeian rock, her citadel
Impregnable; and there Mount Palatine,
The imperial palace, compass huge, and high
The structure, skill of noblest architects,
With gilded battlements conspicuous far,
Turrets, and terraces," and glittering spires:
Many a fair edifice besides, more like
Houses of gods, (so well I have disposed
My aery microscope) thou mayst behold,
Outside and inside both," pillars and roofs,
Carved work, the hand of famed artificers,
In cedar, marble, ivory, or gold.
Thence to the gates cast round thine
What conflux issuing forth, or entering in;
Prætors, proconsuls to their provinces
Hasting, or on return, in robes of state,
Lictors and rods, the ensigns of their power,

eye,

and see

Legions and cohorts, turms of horse and wings:
Or embassies from regions far remote,

In various habits, on the Appian road,

* Great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth.

See "Par. Lost," b. xi. 405.-Dunster.

This refers to the immense sums carried to Rome, and deposited in the treasury by their generals; and to what was amassed by the fines which the Romans arbitrarily set upon other states and kingdoms, as the price of their friendship.-DUNSTER.

This might be said of Paris in the time of Napoleon.

m There Mount Palatine,

The imperial palace, compass huge, and high

The structure.

See Claudian "De vI. Cons. Hon." 35.-DUNSTER.

n Turrets, and terraces.

Mr. Dunster remarks, that Milton here seems to have blended the old English castle with his Roman view: and Mr. Warton thinks that Milton was impressed with this idea from his vicinity to Windsor Castle. See "Comus," ver. 934.-TODD.

• Outside and inside both.

So Menippus, in Lucian's "Icaro-Menippus," could see clearly and distinctly, from the moon, cities and men upon the earth, and what they were doing, both without doors and within, where they thought themselves most secret. Luciani Opp. vol. ii. p. 197, edit. Græv.-CALTON.

P Prætors, proconsuls to their provinces

Hasting, or on return, in robes of state, &c.

The rapacity of the Roman provincial governors, and their eagerness to take possession of their prey, is here strongly marked by the word "hasting." Their pride and vanity were not less than their rapacity, and were displayed, not only in their triumphs, but in their magisterial state upon all occasions.-DUNSTER.

q Turms.

Troops of horse; a word coined from the Latin, turma. Virg. “En.” v. 560:-"equitum turma."-NEWTON.

Or on the Emilian: some from farthest south,
Syene, and where the shadow both way falls,
Meroe, Nilotick isle; and, more to west,
The realm of Bocchus to the Black-moor sea;
From the Asian kings, and Parthian among these; t
From India and the golden Chersonese,
And utmost Indian isle Taprobane,

Dusk faces with white silken turbans wreathed;"
From Gallia, Gades, and the British west;

Germans, and Scythians, and Sarmatians, north
Beyond Danubius to the Taurick pool."
All nations now to Rome obedience pay;

To Rome's great emperour, whose wide domain,
In ample territory, wealth, and power,
Civility of manners, arts, and arms,

And long renown, thou justly mayst prefer
Before the Parthian.

These two thrones except,

The Appian road from Rome led towards the south of Italy, and the Emilian towards the north. The nations on the Appian road are included in ver. 69-76, those on the Emilian in ver. 77-79.-NEWTON.

Milton had in view what he read in Pliny and other authors; that Syene was the limit of the Roman empire, and the remotest place to the south that belonged to it. Or it may be said, that poets have not scrupled to give the epithets extremi, ultimi, to any people that lived a great way off; and that possibly Milton intended farthest south to be so applied both to Syene and to Meroe.-JORTIN.

t And Parthian among these.

The tempter having failed to captivate our Lord with the view of the immense forces of the Parthians and their military preparations and skill, now endeavours to impress upon him a sense of the great power of the Roman empire.-DUNSter.

u Dusk faces with white silken turbans wreathed.

I have been told, that a truly respectable prelate, whose taste and literary acquirements are of the first eminence, has noticed this verse as one of the most picturesque lines that he has ever met with in poetry: almost every word conveys a distinct idea, and generally one of great effect.-DUNSTER.

▾ Gades.

The old Roman name for Cadiz or Cales, a principal sea-port of Spain without the Straits of Gibraltar: and is here put to signify the part of Spain most distant from Rome; which the Romans distinguished by the name of Hispania ulterior."DUNSTER.

w Germans, and Scythians, and Sarmatians, north
Beyond Danubius to the Taurick pool.

The Danube was the southern boundary of ancient Germany. From the mouth of the Danube to the Palus Mæotis, all along the shores of the Euxine sea, lay the European Scythians; and beyond them northward, the Sauromatæ, Sarmatæ, or Sarmatians all the intermixed nations seem at the time of the Christian æra to have ranked under the general head of Scythians or Sarmatians. Milton may therefore be understood, in this description, as meaning to comprehend all the European nations from the banks of the Danube, and the shores of the Euxine, to the northern ocean.DUNSTER.

The tempter had before advised our Saviour to prefer the Parthian, b. iii. 363: but this shuffling and inccnsistency is very natural and agreeable to the father of lies, and by these touches his character is set in a proper light.-NEWTON.

The rest are barbarous, and scarce worth the sight,
Shared among petty kings too far removed.
These having shown thee, I have shown thee all
The kingdoms of the world, and all their glory.
This emperour hath no son, and now is old,
Old and lascivious, and from Rome retired
To Capreæ, an island small, but strong,
On the Campanian shore; with purpose there
His horrid lusts in private to enjoy ;
Committing to a wicked favourite a

All publick cares, and yet of him suspicious;
Hated of all, and hating. With what ease,
Endued with regal virtues, as thou art,
Appearing, and beginning noble deeds,
Mightst thou expel this monster from his throne,
Now made a stye; and, in his place ascending,
A victor people free from servile yoke!
And with my help thou mayst; to me the
Is given, and by that right I give it thee."
Aim therefore at no less than all the world;
Aim at the highest: without the highest attain'd,
Will be for thee no sitting, or not long,
On David's throne, be prophesied what will.

power

To whom the Son of God, unmoved, replied:-
Nor doth this grandeur and majestick show
Of luxury, though call'd magnificence,
More than of arms before, allure mine eye,

Much less my mind; though thou shouldst add to tell

There appears to me here no inconsistency whatever. What is here said rather marks the great and accomplished art of the tempter, than indicates a "shuffling." Satan only varies the attack, by changing the ground on which it had not been successful. His manner of doing it is perfectly plausible. "You," says he, "may very possibly prefer an alliance with the Romans, whose power and splendour I have just displayed, to one with the Parthians; and you judge wisely in so doing."-Dunster.

y I have shown thee all

The kingdoms of the world, and all their glory.

The poet, in the preceding book, had displayed at large the military power of the Parthian empire. In the beginning of this book he shows and describes imperial Rome, the "queen of the earth," in all her magnificence of splendour and pride of power; and introduces the rest of the world as subject to her, doing homage to her greatness, and suing to her with embassies.-DUNSTER.

z This emperor, &c.

This account of the emperor Tiberius is perfectly agreeable to Suetonius and Tacitus, who have painted this monster, as Milton calls him, in such colours as he deserved to be described in.-NEWTON.

a A wicked favourite.

Our poet, I dare say, read, with great displeasure and disgust, the fulsome praises of Paterculus on Sejanus, in his history.-Jos. Warton.

b Expel this monster.

Thus Cicero, "II. in Catalin." 1.-DUNSTER.
See also Juvenal, Sat. iv. 2.

Luke iv. 6.-DUNSTER.

c To me the power Is given, and by that right I give it thee.