T' whom Satan turning boldly, thus. Ye Powers And Spirits of this nethermost abyss, Chaos and ancient Night, I come no fpy, fies the ufe of the word against Dr. Bentley by another paffage in our author's Latin works, p. 340. Apud vetuftiffimos itaque mythologiæ fcriptores memoriæ datum reperio Demogorgonem Deorum omnium atavum (quem eundem et Chaos ab antiquis nuncupatum hariolor) inter alios liberos, quos fuftulerat plurimos, Terram genuiffe. 965.-Rumor next and Chance,] In Satan's voyage through the Chaos there are feveral imaginary perfons defcribed, as refiding in that immenfe waste of matter. This may perhaps be conformable to the taffe of thofe critics who are pleafed with nothing in a poet which has not life and manners afcribed to it; but for my own part, I am pleafed most with those paffages in this defcription which carry in them a greater meafure of probability, and are fuch as might poffibly have happen'd. Of this kind is his firft mounting in the fmoke that rifes from the infernal pit, his falling into a cloud of nitre and the like combuftible materials, that by their explofion fill hurried him forward in his voyage; his fpringing upward like a pyramid of fire, with his laborious paffage through that confufion of clements which the poet calls The womb of nature, and perhaps her grave. 970 With Mr. Addifon feems to disapprove of these fictitious beings, thinking them I fuppofe (like Sin and Death) improper for an epic poem: but I fee no reason why Milton may not be allow'd to place fuch imaginary beings in the regions of Chaos, as well as Virgil defcribe the like beings, Grief, and Fear, and Want, and Sleep, and Death, and Difcord likewife within the confines of Hell; and why what is acdeemed a fault in the other. See counted a beauty in one should be En. VI. 273, &c. Vestibulum ante ipfum, primifque in faucibus Orci, Luctus, et ultrices pofuere cubilia Curæ: Pallentesque habitant Morbi, triftifque Senectus, Et Metus, et malesuada Fames, et turpis Egeftas, Terribiles vifu formæ : Letumque, Laborque: Tum confanguineus Leti Sopor, et mala mentis Gaudia, mortiferumque adverfo in limine Bellum, Ferreique Eumenidum thalami, et Difcordia demens Vipereum crinem vittis innexa cruentis. Juft in the gate, and in the jaws of Hell, Revengeful Cares, and fullen Sorrows dwell; And With purpose to explore or to disturb 975 What readieft path leads where your gloomy bounds I travel this profound; direct my course; 980 To your behoof, if I that region loft, (Which is my present journey) and once more 985 Erect the standard there of ancient Night: Yours be th' advantage all, mine the revenge. Made head against Heav'n's king, though overthrown. I faw and heard, for fuch a numerous hoft For fo in the fecond verfe he reads us but fo is right, and fignifies by keeping refidence on my frontiers and doing all I can. Again, he finds fault with our inteftin breils, and fays that Chaos's or Night's feetter is not weaken'd but is ftrengthen'd and fubfifts by them. So far he is right, and therefore Milton, if he wrote our inteflin broils, could never mean the broils within the realm of Chaos. It appears from the following verfes, that the encroachments which Chaos means were the creation of Hell first, and then of the new worid, the creation of both which was the effect not of 995 That any broils in Chaos's realm, but of the broils in Heaven between God and Satan, the good Angels and the bad, called inteftin war and broils in VI. 259, 277. So that the paffage as it stands feems to be faulty, but without fo great an alteration as Dr. Bentley makes, we may clear it of all difficulty. We muft remember that it is Satan, to whom Chaos here fpeaks, and therefore we may suppose that Milton gave it through your inteftin broils. In the first editions there is no comma after broils; and there fhould be none, because broils is the fubftantive with which the participle weakning agrees: It was their broils which weaken'd Night's fcepter, becaufe the confequences of them leffen'd her kingdom. Pearce. This change of our into your is fo juft and neceffary, that we thought it beft to admit it into the text. 1005.link'd in a golden chain] There is mention made in Homer of Jupiter's golden chain, by which he can draw up the Gods and the earth and fea and the whole uni That little which is left fo to defend, 1000 Encroach'd on still through your intestin broils If Let down our golden, everlafting heav'n, and earth and main: Strive all of mortal or immortal birth, To drag by this the Thund'rer down to earth : Ye ftrive in vain! If I but stretch this hand, I heave the Gods, the ocean, and the land, I fix the chain to great Olympus height, And the vaft world hangs trembling in my fight. Pope. It is moft probably and ingenioufly conjectur'd, that by this golden chain may be underfood the fuperior attractive force of the fun, whereby he continues unmovd, and draws all the reft of the planets toward him. But whatever is meant by it, it is certain that our poet took from hence the thought of hanging the world by a golden chain. 1009. Havac |