As clouds, and clouds may rain, and rain produce they are described to have ap- not. 150. Communicating male and female light] The suns communicate male, and the moons female, light. And thus Pliny mentions it as a tradition, that the sun is a masculine star, drying all things: on the contrary, the moon is a soft and feminine star, dissolving humours: and so the balance of nature is preserved, some of the stars binding the elements, and others loosing them. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. ii. c. 100. Solis ardore siccatur liquor; et hoc esse masculum sidus accepimus, torrens cuncta sorbensque.-E contrario ferunt lunæ femineum ac molle sidus, atque nocturnum solvere humorem.-Ita pensari naturæ vices, semperque sufficere, aliis siderum elementa cogentibus, aliis vero fundentibus. 150 155 155. Only to shine, yet scarce to contribute] The accent here upon contribúte is the same as upon attribute, in ver. 107. The swiftness of those circles attribúte: and upon attributed in ver. 12. With glory attributed to the high. But now-a-days we generally lay the accent differently. 155. In each of these words Mr. Todd throws back the accent on the first syllable. Milton perhaps pronounced many words in the foreign manner without any very marked emphasis on either syllable: and if we avoid the modern method of placing the accent on the second syllable of contribute, attribute, &c. a greater stress is necessarily laid both on the first syllable, where Mr. Todd would place the accent, and upon the third, where it is placed by Newton. E. 157. —this habitable,] An adjective used substantively: earth Light back to them, is obvious to dispute. is understood; as in vi. 78. this terrene. This habitable is pure Greek, Oxun, the inhabited, the earth. Richardson. 158. Light back to them,] I think that Dr. Bentley very justly objects to the word light here: for if the fixed stars convey only a glimpse of light to our earth, it is too much to say that she returns back to them light in general, which implies more than a glimpse of it. He therefore would read Nought back to them: but this is not agreeable to the philosophy which Milton puts in Raphael's mouth: for it is intimated in ver. 140. that our earth does send out light from her; and if so, then some of her light might be returned back to the fixed stars. Suppose we should read Like back to them &c. i. e. only a glimpse of light, just as much and no more than she receives. Pearce. 159. But whether thus these things, or whether not, &c.] The angel is now recapitulating the whole. He had argued upon the supposition of the truth of the Ptolemaic system to ver. 122. Then he proposes the Copernican system, and argues upon 160 165 that supposition. Now he sums up the whole, But whether thus these things, or whether not, whether the one system or the other be true, whether heaven move or earth, solicit not thyself about these matters, fear God and do thy duty. 162.his flaming road] Elegantly applying to the road what belongs to the sun. So i. 786. he says the moon wheels her pale course. Richardson. 164.that spinning sleeps On her soft axle,] Metaphors taken from a top, of which Virgil makes a whole simile, En. vii. 378. It is an objection to the Copernican system, that if the earth moved round on her axle in twentyfour hours, we should be sensible of the rapidity and violence of the motion; and therefore to obviate this objection it is not only said that she advances her silent course with inoffensive pace that spinning sleeps on her soft axle, but it is farther added to explain it still more, while she paces even, and bears thee soft with the smooth air along: for the air, the atmosphere, moves as well as the earth. And bears thee soft with the smooth air along, 170 175 Not of earth only but of highest heaven. To whom thus Adam, clear'd of doubt, replied. How fully hast thou satisfied me, pure 180 Intelligence of heav'n, angel serene, And freed from intricacies, taught to live The easiest way, nor with perplexing thoughts God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares, 185 And not molest us, unless we ourselves Seek them with wand'ring thoughts, and notions vain. But apt the mind or fancy is to rove Uncheck'd, and of her roving is no end; Till warn'd, or by experience taught, she learn, 190 193. That which before us lies in daily life,] Shadowed from Is the prime wisdom; what is more, is fume, By sufferance, and thy wonted favour deign'd. Ere my 194. Is the prime wisdom; what is more, is fume, &c.] An excellent piece of satire this, and a fine reproof of those men who have all sense but common sense, and whose folly is truly represented in the story of the philosopher, who while he was gazing at the stars fell into the ditch. Our author in these lines, as Mr. Thyer imagines, might probably have in his eye the character of Socrates, who first attempted to divert his countrymen from their airy and chimerical notions about the origin of things, and turn their attention to that prime wisdom, the consideration of moral duties, and their conduct in social life. 204. now hear me relate My story,] Adam, to detain the angel, enters upon his own history, and 195 200 relates to him the circumstances in which he found himself upon his creation; as also his conversation with his Maker, and his first meeting with Eve. There is no part of the poem more apt to raise the attention of the reader, than this discourse of our great ancestor; as nothing can be more surprising and delightful to us, than to hear the sentiments that arose in the first man while he was yet new and fresh from the hands of his Creator. The poet has interwoven every thing which is delivered upon this subject in holy writ with so many beautiful imaginations of his own, that nothing can be conceived more just and natural than this whole episode. As our author knew this subject could not but be agreeable to his reader, he would not throw it into the relation of the six days' works, but reserved it for a distinct episode, that he might have an opportunity of expatiating upon it more at large. Before I enter on this part of the poem, I cannot but take notice of two My story, which perhaps thou hast not heard; 205 210 Though pleasant, but thy words with grace divine 215 Imbued, bring to their sweetness no satiety. shining passages in the dialogue between Adam and the angel. The first is that wherein our ancestor gives an account of the pleasure he took in conversing with him, which contains a very noble moral. For while I sit with thee, I seem in heaven, &c. The other I shall mention is that in which the angel gives a reason why he should be glad to hear the story Adam was about to relate. For I that day was absent, &c. Addison. 211. And sweeter thy discourse is to my ear &c.] The poet had here probably in mind that passage in Virgil, Ecl. v. 45. Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine poeta, O heav'nly poet! such thy verse ap pears, So sweet, so charming to my ravish'd ears, As to the weary swain, with cares opprest, Beneath the sylvan shade, refreshing rest; As to the feverish traveller, when first He finds a crystal stream to quench his thirst. Dryden. But the fine turn in the three last lines of Milton is entirely his own, and gives an exquisite beauty to this passage above Virgil's. See An Essay upon Milton's imitations of the Ancients, p. 37. 212. fruits of palm-tree] The palm-tree bears a fruit called a date, full of sweet juice, a great restorative to dry and exhausted bodies by augmenting the radical moisture. There is one kind of it called Palma Quale sopor fessis in gramine: quale Ægyptiaca, which from its vir per æstum Dulcis aquæ saliente sitim restinguere rivo. tue against drought was named Ados, sitim sedans. Hume. |