Know therefore when my season comes to sit Licence they mean when they cry For who loves that must first be wise No one had ever more refined notions of true liberty than Milton, and I have often thought that there never was a greater proof of the weakness of human nature, than that he with a head so clear, and a heart I really believe perfectly honest and disinterested, should concur in supporting such a tyrant and professed trampler upon the liberties of his country as Cromwell was. Thyer. There is a passage in a truly philosophical work, (Ferguson on Civil Society, p. 6. s. 5.) which is a good comment on this and the two preceding lines; "the project of bestowing liberty on a people who are actually servile, is perhaps of all others the most difficult. Men are qualified to receive this blessing; only in proportion as they are made to apprehend their own rights, and to respect the just pretensions of mankind; in proportion as they are willing to sustain in their own persons the burthen of government and of national defence, and to prefer the engagements of a liberal mind to the enjoyments of sloth, and the 150 delusive hopes of a safety purchased by submission and fear." Dunster. 146. Know therefore when my season comes to sit &c.] A particular manner of expression, but frequent in Milton; as if he had said, Know therefore when the season comes for me to sit on David's throne, it shall be like a It refers to throne. tree, &c. The throne of David shall then be like a tree, &c; alluding to the parable of the mustard-seed grown into a tree, so that the birds lodge in the branches thereof, Matt. xiii. 32. and to (what that parable also respects) Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great tree whose height reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth, Dan. iv. 11. Tertullian also compares the kingdom of Christ to that of Nebuchadnezzar. See Grotius in Matt. Or as a stone, &c; alluding to the stone in another of Nebuchadnezzar's dreams, which brake the image in pieces, and so this kingdom shall break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Dan. ii. 44. And of my kingdom there shall be no end: the very words of Luke i. 33. with only the necessary change of the person; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Is not for thee to know, nor me to tell. 162. All these, which in a mo ment thou behold'st, The kingdoms of the world &c.] And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give unto thee, and the glory of them for that is delivered unto me; and unto whomsoever I will, I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. Luke iv. 5, 6, 7. Dunster. 166. On this condition, if thou wilt fall down, &c.] In my opinion (and Mr. Thyer concurs with me in the same observation) there is not any thing in the disposition and conduct of the whole poem so justly liable to censure as the aukward and preposterous introduction of this incident in this place. The Tempter should have proposed VOL. III. 155 160 165 the condition at the same time that he offered the gifts; as he doth likewise in Scripture: but after his gifts had been absolutely refused, to what purpose was it to propose the impious condition? Could he imagine that our Saviour would accept the kingdoms of the world upon the abominable terms of falling down and worshipping him, just after he had rejected them unclogged with any terms at all? Well might the author say that Satan impudent replied: but I think that doth not entirely solve the objection. 166. I conceive this passage to be, on the contrary, a striking instance of the great judgment of the poet, in arranging his work, as well as of his great skill in decorating it. The conduct of Satan had hitherto been artfully plausible, and such as N And worship me as thy superior lord, For what can less so great a gift deserve? Whom thus our Saviour answer'd with disdain. 170 175 The first of all commandments, Thou shalt worship. To worship thee accurs'd, now more accurs'd For this attempt bolder than that on Eve, 180 seemed most likely to forward As It not be done without changing the whole plan of the poem; as by pushing the question immediately to a point, it must have precluded the gradually progressive temptations which the poet so finely brings forward. might perhaps have been wished that the circumstance of Satan's thus betraying himself and his purpose had been kept back till the subsequent temptation had been tried, and had also failed. But the apologetic speech of Satan, (v. 196.) in which he so far recovers himself, and repairs the indiscretion of his present irritation, as to pave the way for another temptation, is not only marked with such admirable art and address, but gives likewise such material variety and relief to this part of the poem, that I cannot wish it to have been in any respect different from what it is. Dunster. And more blasphemous? which expect to rue. 185 By thee how fairly is the giver now Repaid? But gratitude in thee is lost Long since. Wert thou so void of fear or shame, To whom the Fiend with fear abash'd replied. Than these thou bear'st that title, have propos'd 190 195 188. But gratitude in thee is being the Son of God, he must lost of course be like him whose son he is; and being like him, it necessarily follows, that he is lord and king. S. Athanas. Or. 3. contra Arianos. Op. vol. i. p. 387. edit. Col. Calton. 191.abhorred pact,] He uses the word pact, as it is the technical term for the contracts of sorcerers with the devil. Warburton. 199. -have propos'd What both from men and angels I receive, &c.] The terms of worship and vassalage. See v. 166. supra. Dun ster. What both from men and angels I receive, 201. Tetrarchs of fire, air, flood, and on the earth] See Mr. Warton's note, Par. Reg. ii. 122. E. 203. God of this world invok'd] Milton pursues the same notion, which he had adopted in his Paradise Lost, of the gods of the Gentiles being the fallen angels, and he is supported in it by the authority of the primitive fathers, who are very unanimous in accusing the heathens of worshipping devils for deities. Thyer. The devil, in Scripture, is termed the god of this world, 2 Cor. iv. 4. Dunster. 213. 200 205 210 215 -addicted more To contemplation] Milton, Par. Lost, iv. 297. describes Adam in his state of innocence for contemplation formed. Dunster. 217. there wast found] In Milton's own edition, and in most of the following ones, it was printed by mistake was found; but the syntax plainly requires wast, as there is thou went'st in the verse preceding. 219. fitting Moses' chair,] Moses' chair was the chair in which the doctors sitting expounded the law either publicly |