Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate; Sad Acheron of forrow, black and deep; Heard on the rueful ftream; fierce Phlegethon, 580 Far off from thefe a flow and filent ftream, . Her watry labyrinth, whereof who drinks, 577. Abhorred Styx, &c.] The Greeks reckon up five rivers in Hell, and call them after the names of the noxious fprings and rivers in their own country. Our poet follows their example both as to the number and the names of thefe infernal rivers, and excellently defcribes their nature and properties, with the explanation of their names, Styx, fo named of a Greek word OTVYw that fignifies to bate and abbor, and therefore cailed here Abbarred Styx, the flood of deadly hate, and by Virgil palus inamabilis, Æn. VI. 438. Acheron has its name from axos dolor and pew fluo, floring with grief; and is reprefented according y Sad Acheron, the river of Jorrow as Styx was of hate, black and deep, agreeable to Virgil's character of it. tenebrofa palus Acheronte refufo. En. VI. 107. Corytus, nam'd of lamentation, becaule derived from a Greek word Forthwith xwxvw fignifying to weep and la. ment: as Phlegethon is from another Greek word yw fignifying to burn; and therefore rightly defcribed here fierce Phlegethon, whofe waves of torrent fire inflame with rage, as it is by Virgil, Æn. VI. 550. -rapidus flammis - torrentibus amnis Tartareus Phlegethon. We know not what to fay as to the fituation of these rivers. Homer, the most ancient poet, reprefents Cocytus as branching out of Styx, and both Cocytus and Phlegethon (or Pyriphlegethon) as flowing into Acheron, Odyff. X. 513. Ενθα μεν εις Αχέροντα Πυριφλεγέθων TE GEBOT Κωκυτα θ ̓ ὁς δη Στυγός ύδατος εσιν aπeffat. and perhaps he defcribes their fituation as it really was in Greece: but Virgil and the other poets fre quently Forthwith his former state and be'ing forgets, 585 Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land quently confound them, and mention their names and places without fufficient difference or diftinction. Our poet therefore was at liberty to draw (as I may fay) a new map of these rivers; and he fuppofes a burning lake agreeably to Scripture that often mentions the lake of fire; and he makes thefe four rivers to flow from four different quarters and empty themfelves into this burning lake, which gives us a much greater idea than any of the Heathen poets have done. Befides these there is a fifth river called Lethe, which name in Greek fignifies forgetfulness, and its waters are faid to have occafion'd that quality, Æn. VI. 714. Lethæi ad fluminis undam Securos latices, et longa oblivia potant: and Milton attributes the fame effect to it, and defcribes it as a flow and filent ftream, as Lucan had done before him, IX. 355. Betwixt Betwixt Damiata and mount Cafius old, Where armies whole have funk: the parching air Burns frore, and cold performs th' effect of fire. 595 Thither by harpy-footed furies hal'd At certain revolutions all the damn'd Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change 609 and we meet with it feveral times in Shakespear. 603-thence burried back to fire.] This circumftance of the damned's fuffering the extremes of heat and cold by turns is finely invented to aggravate the horror of the defcription, and feems to be founded upon Job XXIV. 19. but not as it is in the English tranflation, but in the vulgar Latin verfion, which Milton frequently used. Ad nimium calorem tranfeat ab aquis nivium; Let him pafs to excelfive heat from waters of now. And fo Jerom and other commentators understand it. There Immoveable, infix'd, and frozen round, Periods of time, thence hurried back to fire, Both to and fro, their forrow to augment, 605 And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach All in one moment, and so near the brink; But fate withstands, and to oppofe th' attempt 610 Medufa vation of their mifery, that tho they were fo near the brink, fo near the brim and furface of the water, yet they could not tafte one drop of it. But the reafons follow, fate withstands, fata obftant, as it is in Virgil Æn. IV. 440. and Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards the ford. Medufa was one of the Gorgon monsters, whofe locks were ferpents fo terrible that they turned the beholders into ftone. Ulyffes in Homer was defirous of seeing more of the departed heroes, but I was afraid, fays he, Odyf XI. 633. Medufa with Gorgonian terror guards The ford, and of itself the water flies All taste of living wight, as once it fled In confus'd march forlorn, th' adventrous bands 615 O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp, 620 Rocks,caves,lakes,fens, bogs,dens, and shades of death, Where fage; and particularly in this rough Chimera's dire.] Our author Quinquaginta atris immanis hiatibus Hydra. ver. 576. Taffo has likewife given them a place in his description of Hell, or rather he copies 'Virgil's defcription, Cant. 4. St. 5. |