And just in time thou com'st to have a view Of his great pow'r; for now the Parthian king Nor seems laid by history to the charge of Antiochus Theus, though the profligate conduct of the governor of Parthia under him caused the revolt of Arsaces. See Prideaux, part ii. b. 2. are any luxurious excesses recorded of Seleucus, son of Antiochus, who carried on the contest with Arsaces. Antiochus the Great, the next king of Syria who attempted to recover Parthia, did indeed give himself up to luxury, but not till he was above fifty years old, (Livy, 1. xxxvi.) and when he had already ceded Parthia and Hyrcania to the son of the great Arsaces. But Milton had probably in his mind the history of the abandoned conduct and dissipation of Antiochus Epiphanes, which procured him the name of Epimanes, or the Madman, instead of that which he had himself assumed of Epiphanes, or the Illustrious. See Polyb. apud Athenæum, 1. v. Dunster. 298. And just in time thou com'st to have a view Of his great pow'r ;] Although Milton in this temptation had no less a scene at his command than all the empires of the world, yet being sensible how incapable his subject was of poetic decoration in many other parts of it, and considering too, very probably, that a geographic description of kingdoms, however varied in the manner of expression and diversified with little circumstances, must soon grow tedious, he has very judi ciously thrown in this digressive picture of an army mustering for an expedition, which he has executed in a very masterly manner. The same conduct he has observed in the subsequent description of the Roman empire by introducing into the scene prætors and proconsuls marching out to their provinces with troops, lictors, rods, and other ensigns of power, and ambassadors making their entrance into that imperial city from all parts of the world. There is great art and design in this contrivance of the author's, and the more as there is no appearance of any, so naturally are the parts connected. Thyer. Thus in the Phænissæ of Euripides, where Antigone has ascended the tower to behold the Grecian army, her conductor says to her, In Ctesiphon hath gather'd all his host He marches now in haste; see, though from far, His thousands, in what martial equipage 300 They issue forth, steel bows, and shafts their arms 305 Of equal dread in flight, or in pursuit; All horsemen, in which fight they most excel; In rhombs and wedges, and half-moons, and wings. parations and provisions for them: and therefore the poet might well suppose the Scythians at this time to have made an incursion into Sogdiana, which was the province next adjoining to them, and the Parthian king to have assembled a great army at Ctesiphon in order to oppose them. 302. to her aid lon. The first Mercury tells him has been so completely destroyed, that no traces of it remain: the second he shews him, and deseribes it as umugyos and τον μέγαν wigibonov (exovra) like our Poets, huge cities and high-towered. Dun ster. 305. steel bows and shafts their arms, Of equal dread in flight, or in pursuit; &c.] Thus Catullus terms them sagittiferos Parthos, Ep. xi. and Dionysius describes them as agnior, ayxvhorožo. Perieges, 1040. and ὡς as habituated from their infancy to archery and horsemanship, ibid. 1044. Dunster. He marches now in haste ;] In the Charon or Επισκοπουντες of Lucian, Mercury in a similar manner shews, and describes to Charon, Cyrus marching on his expedition against Croesus: xa νυν ελασειόντι επι Λυδιαν EOIXEY, καθελων τον Κροίσον αρχοι ἁπαντων. c. 9. The Dialogue resembles in other respects this part of our author's poem. Mercury, to gratify Charon in a short time with a full view of what is passing in the world, devises a specular mount, any ixarny σov, on purpose, by piling Pelion on Ossa, and Eta and Parnassus on these. Thence he shews him an outstretched prospect of land and water, γην πολλήν, και ορη, και που ταμους. Charon afterwards desires to see Nineveh and Baby 309. In rhombs and wedges,] Rhombs is a word formed from the Greek poucos, or Latin rhombus, a figure of four sides, which being converted into one of three makes a wedge. In re militari etiam transformatum in triquetrum, cuneum seu rostrum vocamus. Rob. Stephens. In Greek it was called jouborions paλayt. 309. See Vegetius, 1. iii. 29. And for the effect produced by the wedge, Cæsar, Bell. Gall. i. He look'd, and saw what numbers numberless In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong, vi. ad finem. Virgil also mentions the wedge, En. xii. 470. And Statius, Theb. x. 470. The half-moon was the μ λay, in the form of a half moon, the wings being turned backwards, and the main body presented to the enemy; it was also called »vern or xaλŋ, being convex and hollow. Statius alludes to this form, Theb. v. 145. And Silius Italicus, iv. 319. Frontinus says, that by this Scipio overcame Asdrubal, Stratag. 1. ii. c. 3, 4. The wings are the xsgaτa of the Greeks, and the ale or cornua of the Latins. Dunster. 310. what numbers numberless] A manner of expression this, though much censured in our author, very familiar with the best Greek poets. Eschyl. From. 904. Απολεμος ὅδε γ' ὁ πολεμος, απορα ναες αναες αναες-πολις απολις. Thyer. Thus Lucretius, iii. 799. and x. 1053. Innumero numero 310 315 -light arm'd troops. So Virgil, Georg. iv. 314. Prima leves ineunt si quando prælia 313. In mail their horses clad,] That this was the practice among the Parthians we learn from Justin, xli. 2. Munimentum ipsis equisque loricæ plumatæ sunt, quæ utrumque toto corpore tegunt: and from Appian, De Bell. Parth. οἱ θ ̓ ἱπποι καταπεφραγμένοι χαλκοις και σιδηροις σκεπασμασι. 313. And Plutarch, in his account of the defeat of Crassus by the Parthians, says, that, on suddenly throwing off the covering of their armour, they seemed all on fire from the glittering brightness of their helmets and breastplates, of Margian steel, and from the brass and iron trappings of their horses. We may compare with our author's Milton has a similar expression, description in this place a pasPar. Lost, iii. 346. Loud as from numbers without number. Dunster. sage of Claudian, In Rufin. ii. 351. Dunster. 315. Of many provinces from Of Caucasus, and dark Iberian dales, From Atropatia and the neighb'ring plains Of Susiana, to Balsara's haven. He saw them in their forms of battle rang'd, 320 How quick they wheel'd, and fly'ing behind them shot bound to bound;] He had mentioned before the principal cities of the Parthians, and now he recounts several of their provinces: Aracosia near the river Indus, μέχρι του Ινδού ποταμου τεTaμvn. Strabo, lib. xi. p. 516. Candaor, not Gandaor as in some editions, I suppose the Candari, a people of India mentioned by Pliny, lib. vi. sect. 18. who are different, Father Harduin says, from the Gandari. These were provinces to the east, and to the north Margiana and Hyrcania, ἅπασαι ve αὗται προσέχεις μεν εισι τη βορεια πλευρά του Ταύρου, Strabo, lib. ii. p. 72. and mount Caucasus, and Iberia, which is called dark, as the country abounded with forests, Iberi saltuosos locos incolentes. Tacitus, Annal. lib. vi. προς Atropatia lay west of Media, δε μεγάλη Μηδια durly. Strabo, lib. xi. p. 523. Adiabene was the western part of Babylonia, «ñо di duosas Adiabarn, and Strabo says was a plain country, της μεν ουν Αδιαβηνης ή πλειστη πεδιας εστί, Strabo, lib. xvi. p. 745. Susiana was on the south, extending to the Persian gulf, i de xweα ons Jaλarтns xalxa, Strabo, lib. xv. p. 728. where was also Balsara's haven, the same as Teredon before mentioned. And thus he surveys their provinces from bound to bound. And the reader cannot Sharp sleet of arrowy show'rs] In the first edition it was printed shower by mistake, and is corrected showers among the errata, but this notwithstanding the faulty reading is followed in all the editions since. Sharp sleet &c. is a metaphor, as Mr. Richardson has noted, not unlike, that in Virgil, Æn. xi. 610. -fundunt simul undique tela Crebra nivis ritu. of shooting their arrows behind them and overcoming by flight is so celebrated by historians and poets, and is so well known to every one of the least reading, that it is almost needless to bring any authorities to prove it. Φευγον γαρ άμα βαλλοντες οἱ Παρθοι— και σοφωτάτον εστιν, αμυνομένους ετι σωζεσθαι, και της φυγής αφαίρειν το ago. Appian. de Bel. Parth. Virg. Georg. iii. 31. And the custom of the Parthians Fidentemque fugâ Parthum versisque sagittis. Hor. Od. i. xix. 11. Sharp sleet of arrowy show'rs against the face Et versis animosum équis 324. Sharp sleet of arrowy show'rs] Virgil has a similar passage, Æn. xii. 284. -it toto turbida cœlo 325 to have spun out into a paragraph of half a page length. Thyer. I believe the reader will agree with me that it greatly exceeds. Fairfax, cant. i. st. 64. Imbatteled in walls of iron brown. Tempestas telorum, ac ferreus ingruit and even Virgil, Æn. xi. 601. imber. 327. Nor wanted clouds of foot,] So we have in Homer, Iliad. iv. 274. νεφος πέζων, and in Virgil, Æn. vii. 793. nimbus peditum : but as Mr. Thyer observes with me, this verse is not very consistent with what goes before, ver. 307. All horsemen, in which fight they most excel; nor with what follows to the same purpose, ver. 344. Such and so numerous was their chivalry. 327. By horsemen Milton meant only skilled in the management of a horse, as every Parthian was; and by no means that they never engaged except on horseback. We may collect from Tacitus, Ann. vi. 34. that the Iberians who make a part of this L |