My hopes all flat, nature within me seems Believe not these suggestions which proceed To prosecute the means of thy deliverance By ransom, or how else: mean while be calm, O that torment should not be confin'd To the body's wounds and sores, 595 600 605 duces Satan in the shape of a toad at the ear of Eve. iv. 804. Or if, inspiring venom, he might taint Th' animal spirits &c. felt, and what he thought in -'tis but the lees 606. 0 that torment should not be confin'd &c.] Milton, no doubt, was apprehensive that this long description of Samson's grief and misery might grow tedious to the reader, and therefore here with great judgment varies both his manner of expressing it and the versification. These sudden starts of impatience are very natural to persons in such circumstances, and this rough and unequal measure of the verses is very well suited to it. Thyer. Though void of corporal sense. My griefs not only pain me As a ling'ring disease, But finding no redress, ferment and rage, Rankle, and fester, and gangrene, To black mortification. Thoughts my tormentors arm'd with deadly stings Dire inflammation, which no cooling herb 623. Thoughts my tormentors arm'd with deadly stings Mangle &c.] This descriptive imagery is fine and well pursued. The idea is taken from the effects of poisonous salts in the stomach and bowels, which stimulate, tear, inflame, and exulcerate the tender fibres, and end in a mortification, which he calls death's benumbing opium, as in that stage the pain is over. Warburton. 627. Or medicinal liquor can asswage,] Here medicínal is pronounced with the accent upon the last syllable but one, as in Latin: which is more musical 620 625 than as we commonly pronounce it medicinal with the accent upon the last syllable but two, or med' cinal as Milton has used it in the Mask. The same musical pronunciation occurs in Shakespeare. Othello, act v. sc. 10. Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees Their medicinal gum. 628. from snowy Alp.] He uses Alp for mountain in general, as in the Paradise Lost, ii. 620. O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp. Alp in the strict etymology of the word signifies a mountain white with snow. We have in Sleep hath forsook and giv'n me o'er To death's benumbing opium as my only cure: And sense of heav'n's desertion. 630 I was his nursling once, and choice delight, But now hath cast me off as never known, Whom I by his appointment had provok'd, deed appropriated the name to And the old Glossary interprets 633. I was his nursling once 645 &c.] This part of Samson's speech is little more than a repetition of what he had said before, ver. 23. O wherefore was my birth from heav'n foretold Twice by an angel &c. But yet it cannot justly be imputed as a fault to our author. Grief though eloquent is not tied to forms, and is besides apt in its own nature frequently to recur to and repeats its source and object. Thyer. No long petition, speedy death, The close of all my miseries, and the balm. Many are the sayings of the wise In ancient and in modern books inroll'd, 650 655 With studied argument, and much persuasion sought Lenient of grief and anxious thought: But with th' afflicted in his pangs their sound Little prevails, or rather seems a tune Harsh, and of dissonant mood from his complaint; Unless he feel within Some source of consolation from above, Secret refreshings, that repair his strength, 656. All chances incident to man's frail life, &c.] There is a full stop at the end of this line in all the editions, but there should be only a comma, as the sense evinces, the construction being And consolatories writ with &c. to the bearing well &c. Milton himself corrected it in the first edition; but when an error is once made, it is sure to be perpetuated through all the editions. 658. and much persuasion sought] I suppose an error of the press for fraught. Warbur ton. I conceive the construction to be, consolatories are writ with studied argument, and much persuasion is sought &c. 659. Lenient of grief] Ex 660 665 pressed from what we quoted before from Horace, epist. i. i. 34. Sunt verba et voces quibus hunc lenire dolorem Possis. 660. But with th' afflicted &c.] Here was another error perpetuated through all the editions, But to th' afflicted &c. Milton himself corrected it, and certainly their sound prevails with th' afflicted is better than prevails to th afflicted. 661. -or rather seems a tune Harsh, and of dissonant mood &c.] Alluding to Ecclus. xxii. 6. A tale out of season is as music in mourning. Thyer. And fainting spirits uphold. God of our fathers, what is man! That thou tow'ards him with hand so various, Or might I say contrarious, Temper❜st thy providence through his short course, 670 Not ev'nly, as thou rul'st Th' angelic orders and inferior creatures mute, Irrational and brute. Nor do I name of men the common rout, Grow up and perish, as the summer fly, And people's safety, which in part they' effect: 675 680 term for this lower class of mortals. They style them avagioμos or avagiunto, men not numbered, or not worth the numbering. Thyer. 683. Amidst their height of noon] Milton is accustomed to this expression. See below, v. 1612. The feast and noon grew high. So in P. L. iv. 564. This day at height of noon came to my sphere. Compare P. L. v. 174. and Il Pens. 68. So in Harrison's Description of Britaine, prefixed to Hollingshead, "The husbandmen dine at high noone, as they call it." T. Warton. |