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PARADISE REGAIN'D.

воо к IV.

Perplex'd and troubled at his bad fuccess

The Tempter stood, nor had what to reply,
Discover'd in his fraud, thrown from his hope
So oft, and the perfuafive rhetoric

That fleek'd his tongue, and won fo much on Eve, 5
So little here, nay loft; but Eve was Eve,
This far his over-match, who felf-deceiv'd
And rafh, beforehand had no better weigh'd
The strength he was to cope with, or his own:
But as a man who had been matchlefs held

7. This far his over-match, who felf-deceiv'd &c.] An ufual conftruction in Milton, This far an over-match for him, who felf-deceiv'd and rafh, before hand had no better weigh'd &c. Neither is this inconfiftent, as Mr. Thyer conceives it to be, with what Satan had.declar'd in Book II. 131.

Have found him, view'd him,

tafted him, but find Far other labor to be undergone vic.

ΙΟ

In cunning, over-reach'd where least he thought, To falve his credit, and for very spite,

Still will be tempting him who foils him still, And never cease, though to his fhame the more; Or as a swarm of flies in vintage time,

15 About the wine-prefs where fweet must is pour'd, Beat off, returns as oft with humming found; Or furging waves against a solid rock,

fhips and warriors and our author here follows his example, and prefents us, as I may fay, with a fring of fimilitudes together. This fecundity and variety of the two poets can never be fufficiently admired but Milton, I think, has the advantage in this refpect, that in Homer the lowest comparison is fometimes the laft, whereas here in Milton they rife in my opinion, and improve one upon another. The firft has too much fameness with the fubject it would illuftrate, and gives us no new ideas. The fecond is low, but it is the lowness of Homer, and at the fame time is very natural. The third is free from the defects of the other two, and rifes up to Milton's ufual dignity and majesty. Mr. Thyer, who has partly made the fame obfervations with me, fays that Milton, as if conscious of the defects of the

two foregoing comparisons, rifes up here to his ufual fublimity, and prefents to the reader's mind an

Though all to shivers dafh'd, th' affault renew,
Vain batt'ry, and in froth or bubbles end;
So Satan, whom repulfe upon repulse

Met ever, and to shameful filence brought,
Yet gives not o'er though defp'rate of success,
And his vain importunity pursues.

He brought our Saviour to the western fide

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25

Of that high mountain, whence he might behold

Another

Ήτε και εργόμενη μαλα περ χρο. of the fixth book of his Paradife

ανδρομεδίο, Ισχαναα δακεειν.

This fimile is very much in the fame taste with one in the fecond fliad of Homer, where he compares the Greek army to fwarms of flies buzzing about the shepherds milk-pail in the Spring, and feems liable to the fame objection which is made to that, of being too low for the grandeur of the fubject. It must however be allow'd, that nothing could better exprefs the teazing ceafeless importunity of the Tempter than this does. Mr. Pope in his note on this paffage of Homer obferves that Milton, who was a clofe imitator of him, has often copied him in these humble comparisons, and inftances thofe lines in the end

Loft, where the rebel Angels thun-
der-ftruck by the Meffiah are com-
flock together throng d. The obfer-
pared to a herd of goats or timorous
vation is juft, but very far in my
opinion from being verified by the
paffage produc'd. No image of
terror or confternation could be too
low for that exhaufted fpiritless
condition, in which those van-
quifh'd Angels must at that inftant
be fuppofed to be, and that abject
timoroufnefs imputed to them, in-
ftead of leffening the dignity of
the defcription rather adds to it,
by exciting in the reader's mind
a greater idea of the tremendous
majefty of the Son of God. This
comparison of the flies now before
us would have anfwer'd his pur-
pofe much better. Thyer.
I cannot entirely agree with my
ingenious friend; for Mr. Pope is
difcourfing there of low images,
which are preceded by others of a
lofty ftrain, and on that account

L 3

this

29

Another plain, long but in breadth not wide,
Wash'd by the fouthern fea, and on the north
To equal length back'd with a ridge of hills,
That screen'd the fruits of th' earth and feats of men
From cold Septentrion blasts, thence in the midft
Divided by a river, of whose banks
On each fide an imperial city stood,
With tow'rs and temples proudly elevate
On fev'n small hills, with palaces adorn'd,
Porches and theatres, baths, aqueducts,
Statues and trophies, and triumphal arcs,
Gardens and groves prefented to his eyes,
Above the highth of mountains interpos'd:
By what strange parallax or optic skill
Of vision multiply'd through air, or glass

this comparison, however fuitable in other refpects, would not have Been fo proper for his purpose.

27. Another plain, &c] The learned reader need not be inform'd, that the country here meant is Italy, which indeed is long but not broad, and is wafh'd by the Mediterranean on the fouth, and fcreen'd by the Alps on the north, and divided in the midft by the river Tiber.

35

40

Of

35. On fev'n small hills,] Virgil Georg. II. 535.

Septemque una fibi muro circumdedit arces.

40. By what ftrange parallax or

optic skill &c] The learned have been very idly busy in contriving the manner in which Satan fhowed to our Saviour all the kingdoms of the world. Some fuppose it was done by vifion; others

by

Of telescope, were curious to inquire:

And now the Tempter thus his filence broke.

The city which thou feeft no other deem

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Than great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth
So far renown'd, and with the spoils enrich'd 46
Of nations; there the capitol thou feest
Above the rest lifting his stately head
On the Tarpeian rock, her citadel
Impregnable, and there mount Palatine,
Th' imperial palace, compass huge, and high
The structure, skill of nobleft architects,
With gilded battlements, confpicuous far,
Turrets and terrafes, and glitt'ring spires.
Many a fair edifice befides, more like
Houses of God, (fo well I have dispos'd

by Satan's creating phantafms of fpecies of different kingdoms, and prefenting them to our Saviour's fight, &c. &c. But what Milton here alludes to is a fanciful notion which I find imputed to our famous countryman Hugh Broughton. Cornelius aLapide in fumming up the various opinions upon this fubject gives it in thefe words: Alii fubtiliter imaginantur, quod Dæmon per multa fpecula fibi invicem

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