Nor what the potent victor in his rage Can else inflict, do I repent or change, Though changed in outward lustre, that fix'd mind, lost? 95 100 What though the field be All is not lost the unconquerable will, 105 110 115 109. If there be any thing else (besides the particulars mentioned) which is not to be overcome: et si quid sit aliud quod superari nequeat.' Thus else is used, 683. Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed." PEARCE. Others read it interrogatively: 'If this is not to be unsubdued, what is?' 110. That ground for glorying, boasting: viz. submission. 'That which Satan reckoned his glory, viz. that he had still an unconquerable will, a study of revenge, &c.' PEARCE. 117. empyreal, fiery: the substantive is empyréan, ii. 771. Since through experience of this great event 6 So spake the apostate angel, though in pain, Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate; 120 125 130 135 The highest heaven, where the pure element of fire is supposed to subsist.' TODD's Johnson. 123. Triumphs. This word is always accented in prose on the first syllable, but in poetry sometimes on the last.' TODD's Johnson. So exíle' 632. vanquísh' Par. Regained. 125. The poet had probably in view this passage of Virg. Æn. i. 208. Talia voce refert; curisque ingentibus æger Spem vultu simulat, premit altum corde dolorem." N. 127. compeer: Lat. compar: colleague, associate. 131. perpetual, i. e. from time immemorial, without interruption; (as perpetuum carmen' Ovid Met. i. 4.) expressed more at large by Satan, v. 637. 'But he who reigns Monarch in heaven, till then as one secure ( With ever-burning sulphi Such place eternal justice For those rebellious; he In utter darkness, and t As far removed from G As from the centre thric O how unlike the place There the companions o With floods and whirlw He soon discerns; and One next himself in po Long after known in P Beelzebub. To whon. 72. utter for outer, as in treme, excessive, utmost.' 'l utter and through middle d 74. Thrice as far as it is the centre of the world x. 671.) to the pole of the far beyond the pole of the pole. It is observable that beneath the deepest pit of ΙΙ. Θ. 16. Τόσσον ἔνερθ' Α. makes it twice as far: Æ in præceps tantum tendit cæli suspectus Olympum.' 78. weltering: wallowi 81. Beelzebub, or Baal: Ekron, a city of the Phi (2 Kings i. 2.) being sit Mediterranean Sea, was from these visitations this hem. Some authors s abitants of Ekron wo they borrowed from ; for Pliny says, N. F numina colit.' ed to this sur experience of this great event rce or guile eternal war, Te to our grand foe, mphs, and in the excess of joy, holds the tyranny of heaven.' e apostate angel, though in pain, d, but rack'd with deep despair; answer'd soon his bold compeer : O chief of many throned powers, embattled seraphim to war onduct, and in dreadful deeds Tanger'd heaven's perpetual King, proof his high supremacy, held by strength, or chance, or fate; ee and rue the dire event, 120 125 In horrible destruction laid thus low, 140 Though all our glory extinct, and happy state But what if he our Conqueror (whom I now Of force believe almighty, since no less Than such could have o'erpower'd such force as ours) Have left us this our spirit and strength entire 146 Strongly to suffer and support our pains, By right of war, whate'er his business be, To undergo eternal punishment?' Whereto with speedy words the arch-fiend replied: Fall'n cherub, to be weak is miserable Doing or suffering; but of this be sure, 150 155 144. of force, as Big in Greek: opevŵv Bíą Æsch. S. c. Th. 608. 149. thralls: a Saxon word; slaves, bondmen. 150. 'his business: that is, the business which God hath appointed for us to do: so in ii. 70. his torments, are the torments which he hath appointed for us to suffer.' PEARCE. 156. speedy words: πeа πтeрóevтα, Hom. 157. Whether we are to suffer or to work, yet still it is some comfort to have our strength undiminished; for it is a miserable thing to be weak and without strength, whether we are doing or suffering. So Belial says ii. 199. to suffer as to do Our strength is equal.' PEARCE. |