Held by thy voice, thy potent voice, he hears, Haste to thy audience, night with her will bring suspense in heaven he hears, for after it is said he is held suspense in heaven by thy voice, to say he hears thy voice is poor and low indeed. He must hear it before he can be held by it. We have therefore followed the punctuation of Dr. Pearce; and the sense seems plain, as he has pointed these verses, Held by thy potent voice, he hears suspense in heaven, that is, he stops and hearkens, he stays and is attentive. The poets often feign the rivers to stop their course, and other inanimate parts of nature to hear the songs of Orpheus and the like, Virg. Ecl. viii. 4. Et mutata suos requierunt flumina cursus. Nay charms and verses can 100 105 110 bring the moon down from hea ven, Carmina vel cœlo possunt deducere lunam: ver. 69. and well therefore may Milton suppose the sun to delay, suspended in heaven, to hear the angel tell his generation, and especially since we read that the sun did stand still at the voice of Joshua. 103. unapparent deep :] Where nothing was to be seen according to Gen. i. 2. Darkness was upon the face of the deep. Hume. 110. And thus the Godlike angel answer'd mild.] The angel's encouraging our first parents in a modest pursuit after knowledge, with the causes which he assigns for the creation of the world, are very just and beautiful. Addison. Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve 115 To glorify the Maker, and infer Thee also happier, shall not be withheld Of knowledge within bounds; beyond abstain Know then, that after Lucifer from heaven (So call him, brighter once amidst the host Of angels, than that star the stars among) 116. and infer Thee happier,] And by inference make thee happier. 121. nor let thine own inventions hope] Milton seems here to allude to Eccles. vii. 20. they have sought out many inventions; which commentators explain by reasonings. Pearce. Thus they provoked him to anger with their own inventions, Psalm cvi. 29. The two following lines are almost a literal translation of these two in Horace, Od. iii. xxix. Prudens futuri temporis exitum 122. 120 125 130 Thyer. -th' invisible King,] 17. As God is styled in Scripture Fell with his flaming legions through the deep Their multitude, and to his Son thus spake. 135 140 This inaccessible high strength, the seat He trusted to have seiz'd, and into fraud Drew many, whom their place knows here no more; Their station, heav'n yet populous retains Though wide, and this high temple to frequent 135. Into his place,] As the traitor Judas is said likewise to go to his own place, Acts i. 25. 143. and into fraud Drew many,] Fraud in common acceptation means no more than deceit, but often signifies misfortune. Milton, who so constantly makes Latin or Greek of English, does it here, and extends the idea to the misery, the punishment consequent upon the deceit, as well as the deceit itself. So that Satan is said here, not only to have drawn many into fraud, not only that he 145 150 allur'd them, and with lies Drew after him the third part of heav'n's host, as v. 709. but that he ruin'd as well as cheated them, i. 609. Millions of spirits for his fault Of heav'n, and from eternal splen- Richardson. 144. -whom their place knows here no more;] A Scripture expression, Job vii. 10. neither shall his place know him any more. Psal. ciii. 16. and the place thereof shall know it no more. That detriment, if such it be to lose Another world, out of one man a race They open to themselves at length the way Up hither, under long obedience tried, 155 And earth be chang'd to heav'n, and heav'n to earth, One kingdom, joy and union without end. 161 Mean while inhabit lax, ye pow'rs of heaven, And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee 154. and in a moment] Our author seems to favour the opinion of some divines, that God's creation was instantaneous, but the effects of it were made visible and appeared in six days in condescension to the capacities of angels; and is so related by Moses in condescension to the capacities of men. 160. And earth be chang'd to heav'n, and heav'n to earth,] Milton's meaning seems to have been this, that earth would be so happy in being inhabited by obedient creatures, that it would be changed to, i. e. resemble, heaven; and heaven by receiving those creatures would in this resemble earth, that it would be stocked with men for its inhabitants. Pearce. Or thus in short, the angels frequently visiting earth, and 165 162. Mean while inhabit lax,] Dwell more at large, there being more room now than there was before the rebel angels were expelled, or than there will be after men are translated to heaven. If this be the meaning, we cannot much commend the beauty of the sentiment, as it intimates that the angels might be straitened for room in hea ven. 165. My overshadowing Spirit] As God's Spirit is said to do, Luke i. 35. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: and we read Gen. i. 2. that the Spirit of God moved, or rather brooded, upon the face of the waters. The Spirit of God co-operated in the creation, and therefore is said to be sent along with the Son. Within appointed bounds be heav'n and earth, So spake th' Almighty, and to what he spake When such was heard declar'd th' Almighty's will; 168. Boundless the deep, &c.] The sense is, the deep is boundless, but the space contained in it is not vacuous and empty, because there is an infinitude and I fill it. Though I, who am myself uncircumscribed, set bounds to my goodness, and do not exert it every where, yet neither necessity nor chance influence my actions, &c. Pearce. 173. and what I will is fate.] From Lucan, v. 91. Deus magnusque potensque Sive canit fatum, seu quod jubet ipse canendo Fit fatum. Bentley. Or from Statius, Theb. i. 212. grave et immutabile sanctis Pondus adest verbis, et vocem fata sequuntur. 170 175 180 An expression borrowed from Or rather from Claudian, De Sit fatum quodcunque voles. Thyer. 182. Glory they sung to the Most High, &c.] The angels are very properly made to sing the same divine song to usher in the creation, that they did to usher in the second creation by Jesus Christ, Luke ii. 14. And we cannot but approve_Dr. Bentley's emendation, Glory they sung to God most high, instead of to the Most High, as it improves the measure of the Jortin. verse, is more opposed to men |