So spake the Son of God; and Satan stoodA while as mute, confounded what to say,
What to reply, confuted and
Of his weak arguing and fallacious drift;
At length, collecting all his serpent wiles,
With soothing words renewed, him thus accosts:-- "I see thou know'st what is of use to know,
What best to say canst say, to do canst do;
Thy actions to thy words accord; thy
To thy large heart give utterance due; thy heart Contains of good, wise, just, the perfet shape.
Should kings and nations from thy mouth consult,
Thy counsel would be as the
Urim and Thummim, those oraculous
On Aaron's breast, or tongue of Seers
Infallible; or, wert thou sought to
That might require the array of war, thy
Of conduct would be such that all the
Could not sustain thy prowess, or
In battle, though against thy few in arms. These godlike virtues wherefore dost thou hide?
Affecting private life, or more
In savage wilderness, wherefore
All Earth her wonder at thy acts,
The fame and glory—glory, the
That sole excites to high attempts the
Of most erected spirits, most tempered
Ethereal, who all pleasures else despise,
All treasures and all gain esteem as dross,
And dignities and powers, all but the highest? Thy years are ripe, and over-ripe. The
Of Macedonian Philip had ere
Won Asia, and the throne of Cyrus
At his dispose; young Scipio had brought
The Carthaginian pride; young Pompey
The Pontic king, and in triumph had rode.
Yet years, and to ripe years judgment mature,
Quench not the thirst of glory, but augment.
Great Julius, whom now all the world admires,
The more he grew in years, the more inflamed With glory, wept that he had lived so
Ingloroious. But thou yet art not too late." To whom our Saviour calmly thus replied:—"Thou neither dost persuade me to seek
For empire's sake, nor empire to
For glory's sake, by all thy argument.
For what is glory but the blaze of fame,
The people's praise, if always praise unmixed?
And what the people but a herd confused,
A miscellaneous rabble, who extol Things vulgar, and, well weighed, scarce worth the praise?
They praise and they admire they know not what,
And know not whom, but as one leads the other;
And what delight to be by such extolled,
To live upon their tongues, and be their talk?
Of whom to be dispraised were no small praise—His lot who dares be singularly good.
The intelligent among them and the
Are few, and glory scarce of few is raised.
This is true glory and renown—when God, Looking on the Earth, with approbation
The just man, and divulges him through
To all his Angels, who with true
Recount his praises. Thus he did to Job,
When, to extend his fame through Heaven and Earth,
As thou to thy reproach may'st well remember,
He asked thee, 'Hast thou seen my servant Job?'Famous he was in Heaven; on Earth less known,
Where glory is false glory,
To things not glorious, men not worthy of fame. They err who count it glorious to
By conquest far and wide, to
Large countries, and in field great battles win,
Great cities by assault. What do these
But rob and spoil, burn, slaughter, and
Peaceable nations, neighbouring or remote,
Made captive, yet deserving freedom
Than those their conquerors, who leave
Nothing but ruin wheresoe'er they rove,
And all the flourishing works of peace destroy; Then swell with pride, and must be titled Gods,
Great benefactors of mankind,
Deliverers,
Worshipped with temple, priest, and sacrifice?
One is the son of Jove, of Mars the other;
Till conqueror Death discover them scarce men,
Rowling in brutish vices, and deformed,
Violent or shameful death their due reward.
But, if there be in glory aught of good;
It may be means far different be attained,
Without ambition, war, or violence— By deeds of peace, by wisdom eminent,
By patience, temperance. I mention
Him whom thy wrongs, with saintly patience borne,
Made famous in a land and times obscure;
Who names not now with honour patient Job?
Poor Socrates, (who next more memorable?)By what he taught and suffered for so doing,
For truth's sake suffering death unjust, lives
Equal in fame to proudest conquerors.
Yet, if for fame and glory aught be done, Aught suffered—if young African for
His wasted country freed from Punic rage—The deed becomes unpraised, the man at least,
And loses, though but verbal, his reward.
Shall I seek glory, then, as vain men seek,
Oft not deserved? I seek not mine, but
Who sent me, and thereby witness whence I am." To whom the Tempter, murmuring, thus replied:—"Think not so slight of glory, therein
Resembling thy great Father. He seeks glory, And for his glory all things made, all
Orders and governs; nor content in Heaven,
By all his Angels glorified,
Glory from men, from all men, good or bad,
Wise or unwise, no difference, no exemption.
Above all sacrifice, or hallowed gift,
Glory he requires, and glory he receives,
Promiscuous from all nations,
Jew, or Greek,
Or Barbarous, nor exception hath declared;
From us, his foes pronounced, glory he exacts." To whom our Saviour fervently replied:"And reason; since his Word all things produced,
Though chiefly not for glory as prime end,
But to shew forth his goodness, and
His good communicable to every
Freely; of whom what could He less
Than glory and benediction—that is, thanks—The slightest, easiest, readiest
From them who could return him nothing else,
And, not returning that, would likeliest render Contempt instead, dishonour, obloquy?
Hard recompense, unsuitable
For so much good, so much beneficience!
But why should man seek glory, who of his
Hath nothing, and to whom nothing
But condemnation, ignominy, and shame—Who, for so many benefits received,
Turned recreant to God, ingrate and false,
And so of all true good himself despoiled;
Yet, sacrilegious, to himself would take That which to God alone of right belongs?
Yet so much bounty is in God, such grace,
That who advances his glory, not their own,
Them he himself to glory will advance." So spake the Son of God; and here
Satan had not to answer, but stood
With guilt of his own sin—for he himself,
Insatiable of glory, had lost all;
Yet of another plea bethought him soon:— "Of glory, as thou wilt," said he, "so deem; Worth or not worth the seeking, let it pass.
But to a Kingdom thou art
To sit upon thy father David's throne,
By mother's side thy father, though thy
Be now in powerful hands, that will not
Easily from possession won with arms.
Judaea now and all the Promised Land,
Reduced a province under Roman yoke,
Obeys Tiberius, nor is always
With temperate sway: oft have they violated The Temple, oft the Law, with foul affronts,
Abominations rather, as did
Antiochus. And think'st thou to
Thy right by sitting still, or thus retiring?
So did not Machabeus. He
Retired unto the Desert, but with arms;
And o'er a mighty king so oft
That by strong hand his family obtained,
Though priests, the crown, and David's throne usurped,
With Modin and her suburbs once content. If kingdom move thee not, let move thee
And duty—zeal and duty are not slow,
But on Occasion's forelock watchful wait:
They themselves rather are occasion best—Zeal of thy Father's house, duty to
Thy country from her heathen servitude.
So shalt thou best fulfil, best verify,
The Prophets old, who sung thy endless reign—The happier reign the sooner it begins.
Rein then; what canst thou better do the while?" To whom our Saviour answer thus returned:—"All things are best fulfilled in their due time;
And time there is for all things,
Truth hath said.
If of my reign Prophetic Writ hath
That it shall never end, so, when
The Father in his purpose hath decreed—He in whose hand all times and seasons rowl.
What if he hath decreed that I shall
Be tried in humble state, and things adverse,
By tribulations, injuries, insults, Contempts, and scorns, and snares, and violence,
Suffering, abstaining, quietly
Without distrust or doubt, that He may
What I can suffer, how obey? Who
Can suffer best can do, best reign who
Well hath obeyed—just trial ere I
My exaltation without change or end.
But what concerns it thee when I
My everlasting Kingdom? Why art
Solicitous? What moves thy inquisition? Know'st thou not that my rising is thy fall,
And my promotion will be thy destruction?" To whom the Tempter, inly racked, replied:—"Let that come when it comes. All hope is
Of my reception into grace; what worse?
For where no hope is left is left no fear.
If there be worse, the expectation
Of worse torments me than the feeling can.
I would be at the worst; worst is my port,
My harbour, and my ultimate repose, The end I would attain, my final good.
My error was my error, and my
My crime; whatever, for itself condemned,
And will alike be punished, whether
Reign or reign not—though to that gentle
Willingly I could fly, and hope thy reign,
From that placid aspect and meek regard,
Rather than aggravate my evil state,
Would stand between me and thy Father's ire(Whose ire I dread more than the fire of Hell) A shelter and a kind of shading
Interposition, as a summer's cloud.
If I, then, to the worst that can be haste,
Why move thy feet so slow to what is best?
Happiest, both to thyself and all the world,
That thou, who worthiest art, shouldst be their King!
Perhaps thou linger'st in deep thoughts
Of the enterprise so hazardous and high!
No wonder; for, though in thee be
What of perfection can in Man be found, Or human nature can receive,
Thy life hath yet been private, most part
At home, scarce viewed the Galilean towns,
And once a year Jerusalem, few days'Short sojourn; and what thence couldst thou observe?
The world thou hast not seen, much less her glory,
Empires, and monarchs, and their radiant courts—Best school of best experience, quickest in
In all things that to greatest actions lead.
The wisest, unexperienced, will be ever Timorous, and loth, with novice modesty(As he who, seeking asses, found a kingdom)Irresolute, unhardy, unadventrous.
But I will bring thee where thou soon shalt
Those rudiments, and see before thine
The monarchies of the Earth, their pomp and state—Sufficient introduction to
Thee, of thyself so apt, in regal arts,
And regal mysteries; that thou may'st
How best their opposition to withstand." With that (such power was given him then), he
The Son of God up to a mountain high.
It was a mountain at whose verdant feetA spacious plain outstretched in circuit
Lay pleasant; from his side two rivers flowed,
The one winding, the other straight, and left
Fair champaign, with less rivers interveined,
Then meeting joined their tribute to the sea.
Fertil of corn the glebe, of oil, and wine;
With herds the pasture thronged, with flocks the hills; Huge cities and high-towered, that well might
The seats of mightiest monarchs; and so
The prospect was that here and there was
For barren desert, fountainless and dry.
To this high mountain-top the Tempter
Our Saviour, and new train of words began:— "Well have we speeded, and o'er hill and dale,
Forest, and field, and flood, temples and towers,
Cut shorter many a league. Here thou
Assyria, and her empire's ancient bounds, Araxes and the Caspian lake; thence
As far as Indus east,
Euphrates west,
And oft beyond; to south the Persian bay,
And, inaccessible, the Arabian drouth:
Here,
Nineveh, of length within her
Several days' journey, built by Ninus old,
Of that first golden monarchy the seat,
And seat of Salmanassar, whose
Israel in long captivity still mourns;
There Babylon, the wonder of all tongues, As ancient, but rebuilt by him who
Judah and all thy father David's
Led captive, and Jerusalem laid waste,
Till Cyrus set them free;
Persepolis,
His city, there thou seest, and Bactra there;
Ecbatana her structure vast there shews,
And Hecatompylos her hunderd gates;
There Susa by Choaspes, amber stream,
The drink of none but kings; of later fame,
Built by Emathian or by Parthian hands, The great Seleucia,
Nisibis, and
Artaxata,
Teredon,
Ctesiphon,
Turning with easy eye, thou may'st behold.
All these the Parthian (now some ages
By great Arsaces led, who founded
That empire) under his dominion holds,
From the luxurious kings of Antioch won.
And just in time thou com'st to have a
Of his great power; for now the Parthian
In Ctesiphon hath gathered all his host Against the Scythian, whose incursions
Have wasted Sogdiana; to her
He marches now in haste. See, though from far,
His thousands, in what martial
They issue forth, steel bows and shafts their arms,
Of equal dread in flight or in pursuit—All horsemen, in which fight they most excel;
See how in warlike muster they appear,
In rhombs, and wedges, and half-moons, and wings." He looked, and saw what numbers numberless The city gates outpoured, light-armed
In coats of mail and military pride.
In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong,
Prauncing their riders bore, the flower and
Of many provinces from bound to bound—From Arachosia, from Candaor east,
And Margiana, to the Hyrcanian
Of Caucasus, and dark Iberian dales;
From Atropatia, and the neighbouring
Of Adiabene,
Media, and the south Of Susiana, to Balsara's haven.
He saw them in their forms of battle ranged,
How quick they wheeled, and flying behind them
Sharp sleet of arrowy showers against the
Of their pursuers, and overcame by flight;
The field all iron cast a gleaming brown.
Nor wanted clouds of foot, nor, on each horn,
Cuirassiers all in steel for standing fight,
Chariots, or elephants indorsed with
Of archers; nor of labouring pioners A multitude, with spades and axes armed,
To lay hills plain, fell woods, or valleys fill,
Or where plain was raise hill, or
With bridges rivers proud, as with a yoke:
Mules after these, camels and dromedaries,
And waggons fraught with utensils of war.
Such forces met not, nor so wide a camp,
When Agrican, with all his northern powers,
Besieged Albracea, as romances tell,
The city of Gallaphrone, from thence to win The fairest of her sex,
Angelica,
His daughter, sought by many prowest knights,
Both Paynim and the peers of Charlemane.
Such and so numerous was their chivalry;
At sight whereof the Fiend yet more presumed,
And to our Saviour thus his words renewed:— "That thou may'st know I seek not to
Thy virtue, and not every way
On no slight grounds thy safety, hear and
To what end I have brought thee hither, and shew All this fair sight. Thy kingdom, though
By Prophet or by Angel, unless
Endeavour, as thy father David did,
Thou never shalt obtain: prediction
In all things, and all men, supposes means;
Without means used, what it predicts revokes.
But say thou wert possessed of David's
By free consent of all, none opposite,
Samaritan or Jew; how couldst thou
Long to enjoy it quiet and secure Between two such enclosing enemies,
Roman and Parthian? Therefore one of
Thou must make sure thy own: the Parthian first,
By my advice, as nearer, and of
Found able by invasion to
Thy country, and captive lead away her kings,
Antigonus and old Hyrcanus, bound,
Maugre the Roman. It shall be my
To render thee the Parthian at dispose,
Choose which thou wilt, by conquest or by league. By him thou shalt regain, without him not,
That which alone can truly reinstall
In David's royal seat, his true successor—Deliverance of thy brethren, those Ten
Whose offspring in his territory yet
In Habor, and among the Medes dispersed:
The sons of Jacob, two of Joseph,
Thus long from Israel, serving, as of
Their fathers in the land of Egypt served,
This offer sets before thee to deliver. These if from servitude thou shalt
To their inheritance, then, nor till then,
Thou on the throne of David in full glory,
From Egypt to Euphrates and beyond,
Shalt reign, and Rome or Caesar not need fear." To whom our Saviour answered thus, unmoved:—"Much ostentation vain of fleshly
And fragile arms, much instrument of war,
Long in preparing, soon to nothing brought,
Before mine eyes thou hast set, and in my ear Vented much policy, and projects
Of enemies, of aids, battles, and leagues,
Plausible to the world, to me worth naught.
Means I must use, thou say'st; prediction
Will unpredict, and fail me of the throne!
My time,
I told thee (and that time for
Were better farthest off), is not yet come.
When that comes, think not thou to find me
On my part aught endeavouring, or to
Thy politic maxims, or that cumbersome Luggage of war there shewn
Of human weakness rather than of strength.
My brethren, as thou call'st them, those Ten Tribes,
I must deliver, if I mean to
David's true heir, and his full sceptre
To just extent over all Israel's sons!
But whence to thee this zeal? Where was it
For Israel, or for David, or his throne,
When thou stood'st up his tempter to the
Of numbering Israel—which cost the lives of threescore and ten thousand
By three days' pestilence? Such was thy
To Israel then, the same that now to me.
As for those captive tribes, themselves were
Who wrought their own captivity, fell
From God to worship calves, the
Of Egypt,
Baal next and Ashtaroth,
And all the idolatries of heathen round,
Besides their other worse than heathenish crimes;
Nor in the land of their captivity Humbled themselves, or penitent
The God of their forefathers, but so
Impenitent, and left a race
Like to themselves, distinguishable
From Gentiles, but by circumcision vain,
And God with idols in their worship joined.
Should I of these the liberty regard,
Who, freed, as to their ancient patrimony,
Unhumbled, unrepentant, unreformed,
Headlong would follow, and to their gods perhaps Of Bethel and of Dan? No; let them
Their enemies who serve idols with God.
Yet He at length, time to himself best known,
Remembering Abraham, by some wondrous
May bring them back, repentant and sincere,
And at their passing cleave the Assyrian flood,
While to their native land with joy they haste,
As the Red Sea and Jordan once he cleft,
When to the Promised Land their fathers passed.
To his due time and providence I leave them." So spake Israel's true King, and to the
Made answer meet, that made void all his wiles.
So fares it when with truth falsehood contends.(line 13: --- as the
Urim and Thummim, those oraculous
On Aaron's breast; ... &c):
Aaron's breast-plate was a piece of cloth doubled, of a span square, in which were set in sockets of gold twelve precious stones bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel ingraven on them, which being fixed to the ephod, or upper vestment of the high-priest's robes, was worn by him on his breast on all solemn occasions.
In his breast-plate the Urim and Thummim, say the Scriptures, were put.
And the learned Prideaux, after giving some account of the various opinions concerning Urim and Thummim, says it will be safest to hold, that the words "Urim and Thummim" meant only the divine virtue and power, given to the breast-plate in its consecration, of obtaining an oraculous answer from God, whenever counsel was asked of him by the high-priest with it on, in such manner as his word did direct; and that the names of Urim and Thummim were given hereto only to denote the clearness and perfection, which these oracular answers always carried with them.
For "Urim" signifieth 'light', and "Thummim" 'perfection'.
But Milton by adding,"--- those oraculous
On Aaron's breast----"seems to have been of the common received opinion among the Jews, that the answer was given by the precious stones, that it was by the shining and protuberating of the letters in the names of the twelve tribes graven on the twelve stones in the breast-plate of the high-priest, and that in them he did read the answer.
But as Dr.
Prideaux says, it appears plain from Scripture, that when the high-priest appeared before the veil to ask counsel of God, the answer was given him by an audible voice from the mercy seat, which was within behind the veil. (line 25: --- glory the reward):
Our Saviour having withstood the allurement of riches,
Satan attacks him in the next place with the charms of glory.(line 31:
Thy years are ripe, and overripe...):
Our Saviour's temptation was soon after his baptism, and he was baptized when he was about thirty years of age.
Luke
II. 23.
And "the son of Macedonian Philip",
Alexander the Great, "had ere these," before these years, "won Asia, and the throne of Cyrus," the Persian empire founded by Cyrus, "held at his dispose;" for Alexander was but 20 when he began to reign, and in a few tears overturn'd the Persian empire, and died in the 33rd year of his age. "Young Scipio had brought down the Carthaginian pride;" for Scipio Africanus was no more than 24 years old, when he was sent proconsul into Spain, and was only between 28 and 29, when he was chosen consul before the usual time, and transferr'd the war into Africa. "Young Pompey quell'd the Pontic king, and in triumph had rode." In this instance our author is not so exact as the rest, for when Pompey was sent to command the war in Asia against Mithridates king of Pontus, he was above 40, but had signalized himself by many extraordinary actions of his younger years, and had obtained the honor of two triumphs before that time.
Pompey and Cicero were born in the same year; and the Manilian law, which gave the command in Asia to Pompey, was proposed when Cicero was in the 41st year of his age.
But no wonder that Milton was mistaken in point of time, when several of the Ancients were, and Plutarch himself, who speaking of Pompey's three memorable triumphs over the three parts of the world, his first over Africa, his second over Europe, and this last over Asia, says that as for his age, those who affect to make the parallel exact in all things betwixt him and Alexander the Great, would not allow him to be quite 34, whereas in truth at this time he was near 40. (line 41: -- wept that he had liv'd so
Inglorious.....):
Alluding to a story related of Julius Caesar, that one day reading the history of Alexander, he sat a great while very thoughtful, and at last burst into tears, and his friends wondring at the reason of it,
Do you not think, said he,
I have just cause to weep, when I consider that Alexander at my age had conquer'd so many nations, and I have all this time done nothing that is memorable? (line 71:
They err who count it glorious ...&c):
From hence to verse 88 we have a just and complete character of the great conquerors of the world.
The character is general, but yet not without particular allusions; as when it is said,"--- must be titled Gods,
Great Benefactors of mankind,
Deliverers,...."it is in allusion to the titles of Theus,
Euergetes and Soter, which have often been ascrib'd by their sycophants and flatterers to the world of tyrants: and when it is said,"One is the son of Jove, of Mars the other,"Alexander is particularly intended by the one, and Romulus by the other, who tho' better than Alexander, yet it must be said founded his empire in the blood of his brother, and for his overgrown tyranny was at last destroy'd by his own senate.
And certainly the method that Milton has here taken, is the best method that can be taken of drawing general characters, by selecting the particulars here and there, and then adjusting and incorporating them together; as Apelles from the different beauties of several nymphs of Greece drew his portrait of Venus, the Goddess of beauty.(line 158:
Reduc'd a province under Roman yoke...):
Judaea was reduced to the form of a Roman province, in the reign of Augustus, by Quirinius or Cyrenius then governor of Syria; and Coponius a Roman of the equestrian order was appointed to govern it under the title of Procurator of Judaea.(line 160: --- oft have they violated The temple, .... &c):
As Pompey did particularly with several of his officers, who enter'd not only into the holy place, but also penetrated into the holy of holies, where none were permitted by the law to enter, except the high-priest alone once in a year, on the great day of expiation.
And this profanation of the temple might well remind the author of a former one by Antiochus Epiphanes.
See 2 Maccab.
V.(line 165:
So did not Maccabeus:....):
The Tempter had compared the profanation of the temple by the Romans to that by Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria; and now he would infer that Jesus was to blame for not vindicating his country against the one, as Judas Maccabeus had done against the other.
He fled indeed into the wilderness from the persecutions of Antiochus, but there he took up arms against him, and obtained so many victories over his forces, that he recovered the city and sanctuary out of their hands, and his family was in his brother Jonathan advanced to the high priesthood, and in his brother Simon to the principality, and so they continued for several descents sovran pontiffs and sovran princes of the Jewish nation till the time of Herod the great: tho' their father Mattathias (the son of John, the son of Simon, the son of Asmonaeus, from whom the family had the name of Asmoneans) was no more than a priest of the course of Joarib, and dwelt at Modin, which is famous for nothing so much as being the country of the Maccabees.
See 1 Maccab.
Josephus,
Prideaux, &c.(line 269: --- here thou
Assyria and her empire's ancient bounds,...):
A fitter spot could not have been chosen to take a view of the Assyrian empire and its ancient bounds, the river "Araxes and the Caspian lake" to the north, the river Indus to the east, the river Euphrates to the west, "and oft beyond," as far as to the Mediterranean, and to the south the Persian bay and the deserts of Arabia.(line 275:
Here Ninevah,... &c):
This city was situated on the Tigris, "of length," as Mr.
Sympson says he means "of circuit, within her wall several days journey," and according to Diodorus Siculus Lib.
II. its circuit was 60 of our miles, and in Jonah
II. 3. it is said to be "an exceeding great city of three days journey," 20 miles being the common computation of a day's journey for a foot-traveler: "built by Ninus old," and after him the city is said to be called "Ninevah; of that first golden monarchy the seat," a capital city of the Assyrian empire, which the poet stiles "golden monarchy", probably in allusion to the 'golden head' of the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the four empires; "and seat of Salmanassar," who in the reign of Hezekiah king of Judah carried the ten tribes captive into Assyria 721 years before Christ, so that it might now be properly called "a long captivity."(line 280:
There Babylon, .... &c):
As Ninevah was situated on the river Tigris, so was Babylon on the river Euphrates; "the wonder of all tongues," for so it is reckon'd among the seven wonders of the world; as ancient as Ninevah, for some say it was built by Belus, and others by Semiramis, the one the father, and the other the wife, of Ninus who built Ninevah; "but rebuilt by him," whoever built it, it was rebuilt, and inlarged, and beautify'd, and made one of the wonders of the world by Nebuchadnezzar.(line 284 onwards: ---
His city there thou sees, ... &c):
The city of Cyrus, if not built by him, yet by him made the capital city of the Persian Bactra there:
The chief city of Bactia, a province of Persia, famous for its fruitfulness.
Echatana:
The metropolis of Media, "her structure vast there shows," and the ancient historians speak of it as a very large city;
Herodotus compares it to Athens,
Lib. 1. cap. 98. and Strabo calls it a great city; and Polybis says that it greatly excelled other cities in riches and magnificence of buildings.
And Hecatompylos ...:
The name signifies a city with an hundred gates, and so the capital city of Parthia was call'd;
Strabo Lib.
XI. as was likewise Thebes in Egypt for the same reason.
There Susa...:
The Shushan of the holy Scriptures, the royal seat of the kings of Persia, who resided here in the winter and at Ecbatana in the Choaspes:
Situated on the river Choaspes, or Eulaeus, or Ulai as it is called in Daniel, or rather on the confluence of these two rivers, which meeting as Susa form one greater river, sometimes called by one name, sometimes by the other.(line 328:
Cuirassiers all in steel for standing fight...):
By "cuirassiers" are to be understood horsemen armed with cuirasses, which covered the body quite round from the neck to the waste.
It appears that the Parthians had such troops.(line 333: --- or overlay With bridges rivers proud, as with a yoke...):
Alluding probably to
Eschylus's description of Xerxes's bridge over the Hellespont.
Persae ver. 71.(line 337:
Such forces met not, nor so wide a camp,
When Agrican.... &c):
What Milton here alludes to is related in Boiardo's Orlando Inamorato.
L.1.
Cant.10.
The number of forces said to be there assembled is incredible, and extravagant even beyond the common extravagancy of romances.
Agrican the Tartar king brings into the field no less than two millions two hundred thousand; ...
And Sacripante the king of Circassia, who comes to the assistance of Gallaphrone, three hundred and eighty two thousand. (line 341.
The fairest of her sex Angelica....&c):
This is that Angelica, who afterwards made her appearance in the same character in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, which was intended as a continuation of the story, which Boiardo had begun. (line 366: --- and captives lead away her
Antigonus, and old Hyrcanus bound....):
Here seems to be a slip of memory in the author.
The Parthians indeed led Hyrcanus away captive to Seleucia, after his eyes were put out, and when he was past 70 years of age, so that he might well be called "old Hyrcanus": but instead of leading away Antigonus captive, they constituted him king of the Jews, and he was afterwards depriv'd of his kingdom by the Romans.
See Josephus Antiq.
Lib. 14. cap. 13.
De Bell.
Jud.
Lib. 1. cap. 13.
But it should be considered that Milton himself was old and blind, and composing from memory he might fall into such a mistake, which may be pardon'd among so many excellences. (line 376:
In Habor, and among the Medes dispers'd;....):
These were the ten tribes, whom Shalmaneser king of Assyria carried captive unto Assyria, "and put them in Halah in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes." 2 Kings
II.
II. which cities were now under the dominion of the Parthians.(line 384:
From Egypt to Euphrates....):
That is the kingdom of Israel in its utmost extent; for thus the land was promis'd to Abraham,
Gen.
XV. 18. "Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt, unto the great river, the river Euphrates:" and the extent of Solomon's kingdom is thus describ'd, 1 Kings IV. 21. "And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river (Euphrates) unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt."(line 409:
When thou stoodst up his tempter...&c):
Alluding to 1 Chron.
XI.
I. "And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel." (line 414:
As for those captive tribes,...&c):
The captivity of the ten tribes was a punishment owing to their own idolatry and wickedness. "They fell off from God to worship calves," the golden calves which Jeroboam had set up in Bethel and in Dan, and which the poet calls "the deities of Egypt," for so it is probable (as some learned men have conjectured) that Jeroboam having conversed with the Egyptians set up these two calves in imitation of the two which the Egyptians worshipped, the one called Apis at Memphis the metropolis of the upper Egypt, and the other called Mnevis at Hierapolis the metropolis of the lower Egypt.(last lines:
And at their passing cleave th' Assyrian flood,...&c):
There are several prophecies of the restoration of Israel: but in saying that the Lord would cleave "th' Assyrian flood," that is the river Euphrates, at their return from Assyria, as he cleft the Red Sea and the river Jordan at their coming from Egypt, the poet seems particularly to allude to Revelation
VI. 12. "And the sixth Angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared:" and to Isaiah XI. 15, 16. "And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river,"'&c.~ Th.
Newton,
Milton's Works, 2nd edition, 1753.
