Save what the glimmering of these livid flames There rest, if any rest can harbour there; Thus Satan talking to his nearest mate 185 190 See also Comus, ver. 428. and the note there. The latter part of the line before us is similar to an expression in Dante, Inf. C. v. 28. "I' venni in luogo d'ogni luce muto." TODD. Ver. 182. the glimmering of these livid flames] So Dante calls Charon, " nocchier della livida palude,” Inf. c. iii. And, in like manner, the Stygian lake is called by Statius, Theb. i. 57. "Umbrifero Styx livida fundo." TODD. Ver. 185. There rest, if any rest can harbour there ;] The turn of the words in this verse, resembles a passage in Shakspeare, Rich. II. A. v. S. i. "Here let us rest, if this rebellious earth "Have any resting." BowLE. Ver. 186. our afflicted Powers,] Afflicted is here intended to be understood in the Latin sense, routed, ruined, utterly broken. RICHARDSON. Ver. 191. If not, what resolution] What reinforcement; to which is returned, "If not ;" a vicious syntax: But the poet gave it " If none :" BENTLEY. The sentiment in this verse may be referred to Seneca's Medea, ver. 163. 66 Qui nihil potest sperare, nihil desperet." DUNSTER. With head up-lift above the wave, and eyes Ver. 193. with eyes 195 That sparkling blaz'd;] Dante describes Charon eyes of burning coal, con occhi di bragia," Infern. C. iii. 109. See also Marino's description of the Devil, Strage degl Innocenti, L. i. st. 19. "Poiche da' bassi effetti egli raccolse "Tinte di sangue, e di venen trauolse, "Quasi bragia infernal, l' empie lucerne." But Spenser's more elaborate account of the Old Dragon's eyes, was probably in Milton's mind, F. Q. i. xi. 14. "His blazing eyes, like two bright shining shields, "Did burne with wrath, and sparkled living fyre." TODD. Ver. 195. Prone on the flood, &c.] Virg. Æn. ii. 206. "Pectora quorum inter fluctus arrecta, jubæque 66 Sanguineæ exuperant undas; pars cætera pontum "Ponè legit, &c." TODD. Ver. 196. in bulk as huge &c.] So Dante, speaking of the devil, Inferno, C. xxxiv. 30. "E più con gigante i' mi convegno, "Che i giganti non fan con le sue braccia." TODD. Ver. 199. Typhon,] Typhon is the same with Typhoëus. That the den of Typhoëus was in Cilicia, of which Tarsus was a celebrated city, we are told by Pindar and Pomponius Mela. I am much mistaken, if Milton did not make use of Farnaby's note on Ovid, Met. v. 347, to which I refer the reader. He took ancient Tarsus perhaps from Nonnus : By ancient Tarsus held; or that sea-beast Ταρσὸς ἀειδομένη πρωτόπτολις, which is quoted in Lloyd's Dictionary. JORTIN. 200 But see Pindar, edit. Benedict. p. 252, who confounds Typhon and Typhoëus together. The Cilician den, mentioned by Pindar, shows also that Milton had this very passage in view. STILLINGFLEet. Ver. 201. Leviathan,] The best criticks seem to agree, that the leviathan in Job, means the crocodile; and Milton describes it, in the same manner, partly as a fish, and partly as a beast, and attributes scales to it: And yet by some things one would think that he took it rather for a whale, as was the general opinion; there being no crocodiles upon the coast of Norway, and what follows being related of the whale, but never, as I have heard of the crocodile. NEWTON. Ver. 202. the ocean stream:] The Greek and Latin poets frequently turn substantives into adjectives. So Juvenal, according to the best copies, Sat. xi. 94. 66 Qualis in oceano fluctu testudo nataret." JORTIN. The phrase is common in our own poetry. Thus, in the Hist. of Orlando Furioso, 4to. 1599. "To burst the billowes of the ocean sea." And in Drummond's Poems, 1616, part 2d. "And too long painted on the ocean streames.” And in Drayton's Barons Warres, C. v. st. 50. streame." And often in Spenser. TODD. "The ocean Ver. 204. The pilot of some small night-founder'd skiff] Some little boat, whose pilot dares not proceed in his course, for fear of the dark night: a metaphor taken from a foundered horse that can go no farther: Or, night-foundered, in danger of sinking at night, from the term, foundering at sea. I prefer the former, as being Milton's aim. HUME. Deeming some island, oft, as sea-men tell, Moors by his side under the lee, while night 205 Sò stretch'd out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay, Chain'd on the burning lake: nor ever thence 210 The phrase in Comus, v. 483, confirms the former of these explications. TODD. Ver. 205. Deeming some island,] Milton is justified in this description by various authorities. Olaus Magnus writes a whole chapter De anchoris dorso ceti impositis. "Habet etiam cetus super corium suum superficiem tanquam sabulum quod est juxta littus maris: unde plerunque, elevato dorso suo super undas, à navigantibus nihil aliud creditur esse quàm insula. Itaque nautæ ad eum appellunt: et super eum descendunt, inque ipsum palos figunt, naves alligant, etc." There is a similar relation of the whale in Hakluyt's Voyages, i. 568. And Ariosto's description of the balena, an enormous sea-monster, affords another proof of fish having been taken for islands: Orl. Fur. C. vi. st. 37. "Ch'ella sia un isoletta ci credemo." TODD. Ver. 208. Invests the sea,] A phrase often used by the poets, who call darkness the mantle of the night, with which she invests the earth. Milton, in another place, has another such beautiful figure, and truly poetical, when speaking of the moon, B. iv. 609, "And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw." And in another place, B. ix. 52, "Night's hemisphere had veil'd the horizon round." Thus the epithet, кyavóñɛñλoç, is given to the night by Musæus. "Vestit Athos, &c." Ver. 210. Chain'd on the burning lake :] 2 Pet. ii. 4. "God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness." TODD. 215 Had risen, or heav'd his head; but that the will Ver. 211. but that the will &c.] This is a material part of the poem; and the management of it is admirable. The poet has no where shown his judgement more, than in the reasons assigned, on account of which we find this Rebel released from his adamantine chains, and at liberty to become the great, though bad, agent of the poem. We may also notice the finely plain but majestick language, in which these reasons are assigned. Dunster. Ver. 222. on each hand the flames, Driven backward, &c.] See the achievement of Britomart in Spenser, Faer. Qu. iii. xi. 25. The circumstance of the fire, mixed with a most noisome smoke, which prevents her from entering into the house of Busyrane, is, I think, an obstacle, which we meet with in The Seven Champions of Christendom. And there are many instances in this achievement, parallel to those in the adventure of the Black Castle, and the Enchanted Fountain. "Therwith, resolv'd to prove her utmost might, |