Of his great warfare, ere I fend him forth 160 His weakness shall o'ercome Satanick ftrength, And all the world, and mafs of finful flesh, That all the Angels and ethereal Powers, Ver. 161. His weakness fhall o'ercome Satanick frength,] Thus in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, c. i. ver. 27. “And God hath chofen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." But the proper reference here is more probably to the second verfe of the eighth Pfalm. "Out of the mouth of babes and fucklings haft thou ordained ftrength, because of thine enemies; and that thou mighteft ftill the enemy and the avenger." This Pfalm is confidered by commentators as a faλμòs imivínios: Bp. Patrick fuppofes it to have been compofed by David after his victory over Goliath, "which," he adds, "was a lively emblem of Chrift's conqueft over our great enemy." DUNSTER. Ver. 162. And all the world,] “I have overcome the world,” John xvi. 33. DUNSTER. Ver. 163. That all the Angels and ethereal Powers, They now, and Men hereafter, may difcern, To earn falvation for the fons of men.] 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 important conflict, which is the fubject of this poem. They are feemingly invited to behold the triumphs of the Man Christ Jefus over the enemy of mankind; and thefe furprise them with the glorious discovery of the God, "enthrin'd "In fleshly tabernacle and human form," They now, and Men hereafter, may difcern, So fpake the Eternal Father, and all Heaven The Father, fpeaking to his Eternal Word, Par. Løft, B. iii. 308, on his generous undertakings for mankind, faith, " and haft been found "By merit, more than birthright, Son of God." ÇALTON. On a frequent perufal and thorough confideration of this paffage, I cannot forbear being of Mr. Calton's opinion, that there is not a word here faid of the Son of God, but what a Socinian, or at leaft an Arian, would allow. The fame obfervation may be made on fome other remarkable paffages of this poem. Jos. WARTON. Ver. 168. So fpake the Eternal Father, and all Heaven Admiring ftood a Space,] We cannot but notice the great art of the poet, in fetting forth the dignity and importance of his fubject. He reprefents all beings as interested one way or other in the event. A council of Devils is fummoned; an affembly of Angels is held. Satan is the fpeaker in the one; the Almighty in the other. Satan expreffes his diffidence, but ftill refolves to make trial of this Son of God; the Father declares his purpose of proving and illuftrating his Son. The infernal crew are diftracted and furprifed with deep difmay; all Heaven stands awhile in admiration. The fiends are filent through fear and grief; the Angels burft forth into finging with joy and the affured hopes of fuccefs. And their attention is thus engaged, the better to engage the attention of the reader. NEWTON. Ver. 169. then into hymns Burst forth, and in celeftial measures mov'd, fuppofe, had here in his mind the ancient chorus. In his original Burft forth, and in celeftial measures mov'd, 170 Circling the throne and finging, while the hand plan of the Paradife Loft, under a dramatick form, he propofed to introduce a chorus of Angels. The drama feems to have been his favourite fpecies of poetry, and that which particularly caught and occupied his imagination: fo at least we may judge from the numerous plans of tragedies which he left behind him. Indeed he has frequent allufions to dramatick compofitions in all his works. DUNSTER. Milton, perhaps, at this time, had in mind Dante's reprefentation of the Angels formed into choirs, and finging praises to the Eternal Father, in his Paradifo, c. xxviii. TODD. Ver. 171. while the hand Sung with the voice,] We have nearly the fame phrafe in Tibullus, iii. iv. 41; "Sed poftquam fuerant digiti cum voce locuti, "Edidit hæc dulci triftia verba modo." The word hand is used again in this poem, B. iv. 254, diftinguish instrumental harmony from vocal; "There thou shalt hear and learn the fecret power Alfo in the Arcades, v. 77: "If my inferiour hand or voice could hit "Inimitable founds." So, in Lucretius, iv. 588. CALTON. "Chordarúmque fonos fieri, dulcéfque querelas, Cano fignifies not only to fing, but also to perform on any infrument. Thus, Ovid, Ex Pont. I. i. 39. "Ante deum Martem cornu tibicen adunco "Cum canit." DUNSTER. This expreffion occurs in the beautiful version of the cxxxviith Pfalm, which I notice in the Account of Lawes. See the preli minary illuftrations of Comus: Sung with the voice, and this the argument. "Nor may we our hymns prophane; "To delight a favage band.” So, in Carew's elegant Mafk, Coelum Britannicum, 1634. "Harmony, that not refides "In ftrings or notes, but in the hand and voice." TODD. Ver. 174. Now entering his great duel,] If it be not a contradiction, it is at least inaccurate in Milton, to make an Angel fay in Par. Loft, B. xii. 386. “Dream not of their fight as of a duel;" and afterwards to make the Angels exprefs it here in the metaphor of a duel. NEWTON. There is, I think, a meannefs in the cuftomary fenfe of the word duel, that makes it unworthy of thefe fpeakers, and of this occafion. The Italian duello, if I am not mistaken, bears a ftronger fenfe, and this I fuppofe Milton had in view. THYER. Milton might rather be fuppofed to look to the Latin; where duellum is equivalent to bellum. See Hor. I Epift. ii. 6. and Ode IV. xiv. 18. But duel here is ufed by our author in its most common acceptation of fingle combat; and now entering his great duel means 66 now entering the lifts to prove, in perfonal combat with his avowed antagonist and appellant, the reality of his own divinity." See note on ver. 130, of this Book. In the opening of this poem we may notice allufions to the duel or trial by combat. See ver. 5, &c. And ver. 8-11. Indeed the Paradise Regained abfolutely exhibits the temptation of our blessed Saviour in the light of a duel, or perfonal contest, between him and the Archenemy of mankind; in which our Lord, by his divine patience, fortitude, and refignation to the will of his heavenly Father, vanquifhes the wiles of the Devil. He thereby attefts his own fuperiority over his antagonist, and his ability to restore the loft happiness of mankind, by regaining Paradife for them, and by refcuing and redeeming them from that power, which had led them captive. DUNSTER. 175 But to vanquish by wifdom hellish wiles! The Father knows the Son; therefore fecure Ventures his filial virtue, though untried, Against whate'er may tempt, whate'er feduce, Allure, or terrify, or undermine. 180 Be fruftrate, all ye ftratagems of Hell, Milton might have probably been influenced, in his adoption of the word duel, by the title and fubject of the following curious and rare book: “Le Duel et Combat de Jefus Empereur, Roy, et Monarque de tout l'Univers, et Prince de Lumiere, à lencontre de fon ennemy Sathan, Prince des Tenebres, et inique vfurpateur de ce monde visible. Compofé par F. Guillaume Zoline, Religieux profez d'Abbaye de Madame S. Geneuiefne, &c." 12mo. Paris, 1587. TODD. Ver. 175. But to vanquish] Milton lays the accent on the laft fyllable in vanquish, as elsewhere in triumph; and in many places he imitates the Latin and Greek profody, and makes a Towel long before two confonants. JORTIN. The accent upon the last fyllable of triumph was common in Milton's time; and the accent upon the last fyllable alfo of vanquish may be paralleled by a paffage in Shakspeare's Hen. VI. Part 1. A. iii. S. iii. "I am canquifh'd; thefe haughty words of hers Ver. 182. So they in Heaven their odes and vigils tun'd: Mean while the Son of God,] How nearly does the poet here adhere to the fame way of speaking which he had afed in Paradife Loft, on the fame occafion, B. iii. 416! "Thus they in Heaven, above the starry sphere, |