In all his lineaments, though in his face
The glimpses of his father's glory shine.
Ye fee our danger on the utmoft edge
Of hazard, which admits no long debate,

But muft with fomething fudden be oppos'd,

95

Not force, but well couch'd fraud, well woven fnares, Ere in the head of nations he

appear

Their king, their leader, and fupreme on earth. I, when no other durft, fole undertook

The difmal expedition to find out

And ruin Adam, and th' exploit perform'd

Successfully; a calmer voyage now

*100

Will waft me; and the way found profp'rous once

Induces best to hope of like fuccess.

Thenceforth I thought thee
worth my nearer view,
And narrower fcrutiny, that I
might learn

In what degree or meaning thou
art call'd

The Son of God, which bears no fingle fenfe; &c.

94. Ye fee our danger on the utmost edge

Of hazard,] An expreffion bor-
rowed from Shakespear. All's well
that ends well. A&t III. Sc.
5.

-Sir, it is
A charge too heavy for my
Atrength; but yet

105

He

We'll ftrive to bear it for your worthy fake,

To th' extreme edge of hazard.

Milton applies this title very pro113. To him their great dictator, tion, as the authority he is now perly to Satan in his prefent fituavefted with is quite dictatorial, and the expedition on which he is going of the utmost confequence to the fallen Angels. Thyer.

119. So to the coaft of Jordan he directs

His eafy fteps, girded with fnaky wiles,] For as Lightfoot obferves Vol. II. p. 299. the wilder

nefs,

He ended, and his words impreffion left
Of much amazement to th' infernal crew,
Distracted and furpris'd with deep difmay
At these fad tidings; but no time was then
For long indulgence to their fears or grief:
Unanimous they all commit the care
And management of this main enterprize
To him their great dictator, whofe attempt
At first against mankind fo well had thriv'd
In Adam's overthrow, and led their march
From Hell's deep vaulted den to dwell in light,
Regents and potentates, and kings, yea Gods
Of many a pleasant realm and province wide.
So to the coaft of Jordan he directs

nefs, where our Saviour underwent his forty days temptation, was on the fame bank of Jordan where the baptifm of John was, St. Luke witneffing it, that Jefus being now babtized ὑπέστεψαν ce T: 0 18 Iopdave, returned from Jordan, namely from the fame tract, whereby he came thither. His eafy steps, for here was not that danger and difficulty as in his firft expedition to ruin mankind. It is faid in reference to what he had spoken before,

And ruin Adam

115

His

a caimer voyage now Will waft me &c.

Girded with fnaky wiles, alluding to the habit of forcerers and neciomancers, who are reprefented in fome prints as girded about the middle with the kins of fnakes and ferpents; a cin&ture totally cppofit to that recommended by the Apoftle Eph. VI. 14. baving your loins girt about with truth; and worn by our Saviour Ifa. XI. 5And righteoufnefs fall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the gir

I, when no other durft, fole un-
dertook
The difinal expedition to find out dle of his reins.

120.-girded

120

His easy steps, girded with fnaky wiles,
Where he might likeliest find this new-declar'd,
This man of men, attefted Son of God,
Temptation and all guile on him to try ;
So to fubvert whom he suspected rais'd
To end his reign on earth fo long enjoy'd:
But contrary unweeting he fulfill'd

125

The purpos'd counsel pre-ordain'd and fix'd
Of the moft High, who in full frequence bright
Of Angels, thus to Gabriel fmiling fpake.
Gabriel, this day by proof thou shalt behold, 130
Thou and all Angels converfant on earth
With man or mens affairs, how I begin

120.-girded with fnaky aviles,] The imagery very fine, and the circumftance extremely proper. Satan is here figured engaging on a great expedition, fuccinct, and his habit girt about him with a girdle of Inakes; which puts us in mind of the inftrument of the fall.

Warburton.

122. This man of men, attested Son of God,] The phrafe is low and idiotic; and I wish the poet

had rather written

This man, of Heav'n attefted
Son of God.
In the holy Scriptures God of Gods,

To

and Heaven of Heavens are truly grand expreffions: but then there is an idea of greatness in the words themselves to fupport the dignityof the phrafe; which is wanting in Milton's man of men. Calton.

129.thus to Gabriel Smiling

Spake,] This fpeech is properly addrefs'd to Gabriel particularly among the Angels, as he feems to have been the Angel particularly employed in the embaffies and tranfactions relating to the Gospel. Gabriel was fent to inform Daniel of the famous prophecy of the feventy weeks; Gabriel notified the conception of John the Baptift to

To verify that folemn meffage late,

On which I fent thee to the Virgin pure

In Galilee, that the fhould bear a fon

135

Great in renown, and call'd the Son of God;

Then toldst her doubting how these things could be To her a virgin, that on her should come

The Holy Ghost, and the pow'r of the Highest O'er-fhadow her: this man born and now up-grown, To show him worthy of his birth divine

And high prediction, henceforth I expose

141

To Satan; let him tempt and now assay
His utmost fubtlety, because he boasts
And vaunts of his great cunning to the throng 145

his father Zacharias, and of our bleffed Saviour to his virgin mo ther. And the Jewish Rabbi's fay, that Michael was the minifter of feverity, but Gabriel of mercy : and accordingly our poet makes Gabriel the guardian Angel of Paradife, and employs Michael to expel our first parents out of Paradife: and for the fame reafon this fpeech is directed to Gabriel in particular. And God's being reprefented as Smiling may be juftified not only by the Heathen poets, as Virg. Æn. I. 254.

Olli fubridens hominum fator atque deorum:

Of

but by the authority of Scripture itself. See Paradise Loft, V. 718.

131. Thou and all Angels converfunt on earth

With man or mens affairs,] This feems to be taken from the verfes attributed to Orpheus.

Αγγελος είναι με μπλε βροτοις δ πανία τελείται

144. -because he boats And vaunts &c] This alludes to what Satan had just before said to his companions, ver. 190.

I, when no other durst, sole undertook .

Thyer.

163. That

Of his apoftafy; he might have learnt
Lefs overweening, fince he fail'd in Job,
Whose constant perfeverance overcame
Whate'er his cruel malice could invent.
He now fhall know I can produce a man

150

Of female feed, far abler to refift

All his folicitations, and at length

All his vaft force, and drive him back to Hell,
Winning by conqueft what the first man lost
By fallacy furpris'd. But first I mean
To exercise him in the wilderness,

163. That all the Angels and ethereal Powers, &c] Not a word is faid here of the Son of God, but what a Socinian would allow. His divine nature is artfully concealed under a partial and ambiguous reprefentation; and the Angels are first to learn the mystery of the incarnation from that importantconflict, which is the fubject of this poem. They are feemingly invited to behold the triumphs of the man Chrift Jefus over the enemy of mankind; andthefe furprise them with the glorious discovery of the God. -infhrin'd

In fleshly tabernacle, and human

form.

That Chrift was perfect man is a partial truth, and serves to keep the higher perfection of his divine na

155

There

ture, for the prefent, out of fight, without denying or excluding it. It is likewife very truly faid of this perfect man, that he is by merit call'd the Son of God. Juftin Martyr obferves in his fecond Apology[p.67. Ed. Col.] that Chrift, confidered only as man, deferved for his fuperior wisdom to be called the Son of God. Υ.Θ. δε Θε8 ὁ Ιησες λε γομενος, ει και κοινως μόνον ανθρωπος, δια σοφίαν αξιος υιος Θε8 λεγεσθαι. In either capacity of God or Man he had a clame of merit to the title. The Father, fpeaking to his eternal Word in Paradife Loft, III, 3c8. on his generous undertakings for mankind, faith

and haft been found By merit more than birthright Son of God.