Volume Ii Part 69 (1/2)
Di, quibus imperium est animarum, umbraeque silentes, Et Chaos, et Phlegethon, loca nocte silentia late; Sit mihi fas audita loqui! sit numine vestro Pandere res alta terra et caligine mersas.
Virg.
I have before observed in general, that the Persons whom Milton introduces into his Poem always discover such Sentiments and Behaviour, as are in a peculiar manner conformable to their respective Characters.
Every Circ.u.mstance in their Speeches and Actions is with great Justness and Delicacy adapted to the Persons who speak and act. As the Poet very much excels in this Consistency of his Characters, I shall beg Leave to consider several Pa.s.sages of the Second Book in this Light. That superior Greatness and Mock-Majesty, which is ascribed to the Prince of the fallen Angels, is admirably preserved in the Beginning of this Book.
His opening and closing the Debate; his taking on himself that great Enterprize at the Thought of which the whole Infernal a.s.sembly trembled; his encountering the hideous Phantom who guarded the Gates of h.e.l.l, and appeared to him in all his Terrors, are Instances of that proud and daring Mind which could not brook Submission even to Omnipotence.
Satan was now at hand, and from his Seat The Monster moving onward came as fast With horrid strides, h.e.l.l trembled as he strode, Th' undaunted Fiend what this might be admir'd, Admired, not fear'd--
The same Boldness and Intrepidity of Behaviour discovers it self in the several Adventures which he meets with during his Pa.s.sage through the Regions of unformed Matter, and particularly in his Address to those tremendous Powers who are described as presiding over it.
The Part of Moloch is likewise in all its Circ.u.mstances full of that Fire and Fury which distinguish this Spirit from the rest of the fallen Angels. He is described in the first Book as besmeared with the Blood of Human Sacrifices, and delighted with the Tears of Parents and the Cries of Children. In the Second Book he is marked out as the fiercest Spirit that fought in Heaven: and if we consider the Figure which he makes in the Sixth Book, where the Battle of the Angels is described, we find it every way answerable to the same furious enraged Character.
--Where the might of Gabriel fought, And with fierce Ensigns pierc'd the deep array Of Moloc, furious King, who him defy'd, And at his chariot wheels to drag him bound Threatened, nor from the Holy one of Heavn Refrain'd his tongue blasphemous; but anon Down cloven to the waste, with shatter'd arms And uncouth pain fled bellowing.--
It may be worth while to observe, that Milton has represented this violent impetuous Spirit, who is hurried only by such precipitate Pa.s.sions, as the first that rises in that a.s.sembly, to give his Opinion upon their present Posture of Affairs. Accordingly he declares himself abruptly for War, and appears incensed at his Companions, for losing so much Time as even to deliberate upon it. All his Sentiments are Rash, Audacious and Desperate. Such is that of arming themselves with their Tortures, and turning their Punishments upon him who inflicted them.
--No, let us rather chuse, Arm'd with h.e.l.l flames and fury, all at once O'er Heavens high tow'rs to force resistless way, Turning our tortures into horrid arms Against the Torturer; when to meet the Noise Of his almighty Engine he shall hear Infernal Thunder, and for Lightning see Black fire and horror shot with equal rage Among his Angels; and his throne it self Mixt with Tartarean Sulphur, and strange Fire, His own invented Torments--
His preferring Annihilation to Shame or Misery, is also highly suitable to his Character; as the Comfort he draws from their disturbing the Peace of Heaven, that if it be not Victory it is Revenge, is a Sentiment truly Diabolical, and becoming the Bitterness of this implacable Spirit.
Belial is described in the first Book, as the Idol of the Lewd and Luxurious. He is in the Second Book, pursuant to that Description, characterised as timorous and slothful; and if we look in the Sixth Book, we find him celebrated in the Battel of Angels for nothing but that scoffing Speech which he makes to Satan, on their supposed Advantage over the Enemy. As his Appearance is uniform, and of a Piece, in these three several Views, we find his Sentiments in the Infernal a.s.sembly every way conformable to his Character. Such are his Apprehensions of a second Battel, his Horrors of Annihilation, his preferring to be miserable rather than not to be. I need not observe, that the Contrast of Thought in this Speech, and that which precedes it, gives an agreeable Variety to the Debate.
Mammon's Character is so fully drawn in the First Book, that the Poet adds nothing to it in the Second. We were before told, that he was the first who taught Mankind to ransack the Earth for Gold and Silver, and that he was the Architect of Pandaemonium, or the Infernal Place, where the Evil Spirits were to meet in Council. His Speech in this Book is every way suitable to so depraved a Character. How proper is that Reflection, of their being unable to taste the Happiness of Heaven were they actually there, in the Mouth of one, who while he was in Heaven, is said to have had his Mind dazled with the outward Pomps and Glories of the Place, and to have been more intent on the Riches of the Pavement, than on the Beatifick Vision. I shall also leave the Reader to judge how agreeable the following Sentiments are to the same Character.
--This deep World Of Darkness do we dread? How oft amidst Thick cloud and dark doth Heavns all-ruling Sire Chuse to reside, his Glory umobscured, And with the Majesty of Darkness round Covers his Throne; from whence deep Thunders roar Mustering their Rage, and Heavn resembles h.e.l.l?
As he our Darkness, cannot we his Light Imitate when we please? This desart Soil Wants not her hidden l.u.s.tre, Gems and Gold; Nor want we Skill or Art, from whence to raise Magnificence; and what can Heavn shew more?
Beelzebub, who is reckoned the second in Dignity that fell, and is, in the First Book, the second that awakens out of the Trance, and confers with Satan upon the Situation of their Affairs, maintains his Rank in the Book now before us. There is a wonderful Majesty described in his rising up to speak. He acts as a kind of Moderator between the two opposite Parties, and proposes a third Undertaking, which the whole a.s.sembly gives into. The Motion he makes of detaching one of their Body in search of a new World is grounded upon a Project devised by Satan, and cursorily proposed by him in the following Lines of the first Book.
s.p.a.ce may produce new Worlds, whereof so rife There went a Fame in Heavn, that he erelong Intended to create, and therein plant A Generation, whom his choice Regard Should favour equal to the Sons of Heaven: Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps Our first Eruption, thither or elsewhere: For this Infernal Pit shall never hold Celestial Spirits in Bondage, nor th' Abyss Long under Darkness cover. But these Thoughts Full Counsel must mature:--
It is on this Project that Beelzebub grounds his Proposal.
--What if we find Some easier Enterprise? There is a Place (If ancient and prophetick Fame in Heavn Err not) another World, the happy Seat Of some new Race call'd MAN, about this Time To be created like to us, though less In Power and Excellence, but favoured more Of him who rules above; so was his Will p.r.o.nounc'd among the G.o.ds, and by an Oath, That shook Heavns whole Circ.u.mference, confirm'd.
The Reader may observe how just it was not to omit in the First Book the Project upon which the whole Poem turns: As also that the Prince of the fallen Angels was the only proper Person to give it Birth, and that the next to him in Dignity was the fittest to second and support it.
There is besides, I think, something wonderfully Beautiful, and very apt to affect the Readers Imagination in this ancient Prophecy or Report in Heaven, concerning the Creation of Man. Nothing could shew more the Dignity of the Species, than this Tradition which ran of them before their Existence. They are represented to have been the Talk of Heaven, before they were created. Virgil, in compliment to the Roman Commonwealth, makes the Heroes of it appear in their State of Pre-existence; but Milton does a far greater Honour to Man-kind in general, as he gives us a Glimpse of them even before they are in Being.
The rising of this great a.s.sembly is described in a very Sublime and Poetical Manner.