445

he and Peter Lombard alledge for it. Calton. This notion Milton very probably had from Turtullian and St. Auftin. Tertullian fpeaking of theGods of the Heathens and their oracles fays -Difpofitiones etiam Dei & tunc prophetis concionantibus exceperunt, & nunc lectionibus refonantibus carpunt. ita & hinc fumentes quafdam temporum fortesæmulantur divinitatem,dum furantur divinationem. In oraculis autem, quo ingenio ambiguitates temperent in eventus, fciunt Crofi, fciunt Pyrrhi. Apol. C. 22. St. Austin more appofitely to our prefent purpofe, anfwering the Heathen boafts of their oracles fays-tamen nec ista ipfa, quæ abeis vix raro & clanculo proferuntur, movere nos debent,fi cuiquam Dæmonum extortum eft id prodere cultoribus fuis quod didicerat ex eloquiis prophetarum, vel oraculis Angelorum. Aug. De Div. Dæmonum. Se&t. 12. Tom. 6. Ed. Bened. And again Cum enim vult Deus etiam per infimos infernofque fpiritus aliquem vera cog

T'approach

nofcere, temporalia dumtaxat atque ad iftam mortalitatem pertinentia, facile eft, & non incongruum, ut omnipotens & juftus ad corum pœnam, quibus ifta prædicuntur, ut malum quod eis impendet ante quam veniat prænofcendo patiantur, occulto apparatu minifteriorum fuorum etiam fpiritibus talibus aliquid divinationis impertiat, ut quod audiunt ab Angelis, prænuntient hominibus. De Div. Quæft. ad Simpl. L. 2. S. 3. Tom. 6. The following paffage from the fame place of St. Austin may serve to illuftrate what Milton fays above at ver. 432.

that hath been thy craft, By mixing fomewhat true to vent more lies.

Mifcent tamen ifti (Dæmones) fallacias, & verum quod noffe potuerint, non docendi magis quam decipiendi fine prænuntiant. Thyer.

447. -or his Angels prefident In every province ?] Milton has here follow'd the Septuagintread

450

453. Then to thyself afcrib'ft the

truth foretold.] The Demons (Lactantius fays) could certainly forefee, and truly foretel many future events, from the knowledge they had of the difpofitions of Providence before their fall. And then they affumed all the honor to themselves, pretending to be the authors, and doers of what they predicted. Nam cum difpofitiones Dei præfentiant, quippe qui miniftri ejus fuerunt, interponunt fe in his rebus; ut quæcunque à Deo vel facta funt, vel fiunt, ipfi potif fimum facere,aut feciffe videantur. Div. Inft. II. 16. Calton.

456. henceforth oracles are ceas'd,] I would not cenfure Milton for mentioning the filence of oracles, at our Saviour's appearing in the world, both here and in his elegant hymn on Chrift's nativity, because it adorns the poems, tho' it be a vulgar error. Fortin. As Milton had before adopted the

No

ancient opinion of oracles being the operations of the fall'n Angels, fo here also again he follows the fame authority in making them ceafe at the coming of our Saviour. See this matter fully dif cufs'd in Fontenelle's hiftory of oracles, and father Baltus's anfwer Thyer.

to him.

458.at Delphos] In the faand modern learning Mr. Wotton mous controverfy about ancient reproves Sir William Temple, for where in his Effays. Mr. Boyle putting Delphos for Delphi, every juftifies it, and fays that it is ufed by all the fineft writers of our tongue, and beft judges of it, particularly Waller, Dryden, Creech &c. If these authorities may justify Sir William Temple, they may alfo juftify Milton; but certainly the true way of writing is not Delphos in the accufative cafe, but Delphi in the nominative. And though one would not condemn thofe excellent writers, who haye unawares fallen into the common error, yet to defend Delphos upon this only pretence, that it has been the custom of our English writers

to

455

to call it fo; is, as Dr. Bentley replies, like the Popish priest, who for 30 years together had read Mumpfimus in his breviary inftead of Sumpfimus; and when a learned man told him of his blunder, I'll not change, fays he, my old Mumpfimus for your new Sumpfimus.

460. God hath now fent his living oracle

Into the world] This heavenly oracle delivers himself here, in terms clear enough to alarm the Tempter: but it was not time yet to put an end to the temptation by giving him full conviction. Tantum vero ei innotuit (Chriftus) quantum voluit: tantum autem voluit, quantum oportuit. [Aug.De Civ. Dei IX. 21. I have put ei for eis to fuit it to my prefent purpofe] The Son of God was fent, a man amongst men, to teach them viva voce, conveying his inftructions to the understanding by the ear. In this view he was a living oracle, and diftinguifh'd from the other oracle, the Holy Spirit, who communicates himself by filent impreffions upon the mind within.

460 Into

But Chrift had a nobler meaning. In the Greek Fathers he is ftil'd avtown, (wou Buλn, λoyos (wv, effential life, the living counfel, and the living word of God. And St. John fays, that in him was life, and the life was the light of men. I. 4. This meaning was not unobferved by the Tempter. He eafily perceived that the eternal Word might be the living oracle intended: and his words a little below ver. 475. feem to be a feign'd acknowledgement of what he would not yet believe, tho' he feared it might be true.

But thou art plac'd above me, thou art Lord; From thee I can and must submifs indure

Check or reproof, and glad to 'fcape fo quit.

Thou art the first begotten of God, and Lord of all things; and thou canft remand me to that dreadful deep, whither thy thunder drove me out of Heaven. Calton.

460.--his living oracle] We