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IX.

The fiend, with all his fol. Always fire or arrows,
lowers,

some hard tortures,
fell then out of heaven; they must have :
during the space

made for their punishment.
of three nights and days; Their world was turned.
the angels from heaven Hell was filled,
into hell, and them all their former place,
the Lord turned into devils : with the execrable ones. —
because that they

They suffer the punishment his deed and word

of their battle against their would not reverence.

Ruler ;
For this, into a worse light the fierce torrents of fire
under the earth beneath in the midst of hell:
the Almighty God

brands and broad flames;
placed them, defeated; so likewise bitter smoke,
in the black hell.

vapour and darkness.
There have they for ever,

They were all fallen
for an immeasurable length, to the bottom of that fire
each of the fiends,

in the hot hell,
fire always renewed.

thro' their folly and pride. There comes at last

Sought they other land, the eastern wind,

it was all void of light, the cold frost

and full of fire, mingling with the fires.

a great journey of fire. Another of Satan's speeches may be cited: Then spake the over-proud deprived of our kingdom. king,

He hath not done us right, that was before

that he hath felled us of angels the most shining ; to the fiery bottom the whitest in heaven;

of this hot hell, by his Master beloved, and taken away heaven's kingto his Lord endeared ;

dom. till he turned to evil ;

6. He hath marked that Satan said,

with mankind with sorrowing speech – to be settled.

“ Is this the narrow place. This is to me the greatest sorunlike, indeed, to the others

row,
which we before knew, that Adam shall,
high in heaven's kingdom, he that was made of earth,
that my Master puts me in ? my stronglike stool possess.
But those we must not have, He is to be thus happy,
by the Omnipotent

while we suffer punishment;

CHAP.

III.

be out ;

misery in this hell!

my hands imprisoned ! Oh that I had free

Thus hath God confined me. the power of my hands, Hence I perceive and might for a time

that he knows my mind.

The Lord of Hosts for one winter's space,

likewise knows I and my army!

that Adam should from us but iron bonds

suffer evil lay around me!

about heaven's kingdom, knots of chains press me down! if I had the power of my I am kingdomless!

hands.— hell's fetters

He hath now marked out hold me so hard,

a middle region ; so fast encompass me!

where he hath made man Here are mighty flames after his likeness. above and beneath;

From him he will I never saw

again settle a more hateful landscape. the kingdom of heaven This fire never languishes; with

pure

souls. hot over hell,

We should to this end encircling rings,

diligently labour, biting manacles,

that we on Adam, forbid my course.

if we ever may, My army is taken from me,

and on his offspring, my feet are bound,

work some revenge." After explaining his plan of seducing Adam to disobedience, he adds, « If, when king,

thro' these barriers; to any of my thegns

that he with wings may ily, I formerly gave treasures ; may wind into the sky, when we in that good kingdom where Adam and Eve sat happy,

stand created on the earth. and had the power of our “ If any of you thrones;

could by any means change it, when he to me,

that they of God's word in that beloved time,

the command would neglect, could give no recompense,

soon they to him to repay my favour;

would become odious. let him now again,

If Adam break thro' some one of my thegns,

his obedience, become my helper,

then with them would the Suthat he may escape hence

preme

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BOOK become enraged,

to acquire the advantages. IX.

and prepare their punishment, I will let him sit
some destructive portion, opposite to myself,
if he should lose that kingdom. whoever he may be,
“ Strive ye all for this,

that shall come to say,
how ye may deceive them! in this hot hell,
Then shall I repose softly, that they the command
even in these bonds.

of the king of heaven
To him that accomplishes this unworthily
a reward shall he ready by words and deeds
for his future life.

have disobeyed.”5
Of this we may from hence

Cæd. 6-11. go from this fire

From these poems, of Beowulf, Judith, and Cædmon, it is clear that the Anglo-Saxons had begun to compose long narrative poems, rising at times both to fancy and feeling, and making some pretensions to the name of heroic poems. From whence did this taste originate?

The epic poems of antiquity seem to me to be the legitimate parents of all the narrative poetry of

5 In that Saxon composition in the Exeter MS. which Mr. Conybeare denominates the “ Gnomic Poem” there is a passage on the whale, which he has thus translated in his Illustrations : “ This monster of the deep resembles in appearance the rude and barren rock; so that incautious mariners cast their anchor in its side, disembark, and kindle their fire ; when suddenly it plunges and overwhelms them amid the waves." This is so like the ground-work of Milton's simile, that we may adduce it as another proof that he was not unacquainted with the Saxon remains :

“ Him, haply, slumbering on the Norway foam,

The pilot of some small, night-founder'd skiff,
Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell,
With fixed anchor in his scaly rind,
Moors by his side under the lee, while night
Invests the sea, and wished morn delays.

Par. L. b. i. 1. 203. Here Milton has converted the rude simplicity of the Saxon into a rich picture. Yet an incident of this sort occurs also in the Arabian Tales; and this fact leads us to the inference, that as these two minds, without any communication or borrowing from each other, thought of it, so might others.

III.

success.

Europe, and the progress of the descent may be

be CHAP. sufficiently traced.

The Romans derived this species of composition from the Greeks, and cultivated it with varying

Their epic poetry established a taste for narrative poems wherever their language spread. This

appears from the poems of this sort which the writers, of the various countries of Europe under their influence, attempted to compose, and some of which may be briefly enumerated.

In the fourth century we have a narrative poem, in Latin hexameter verse, written by VICTORINUS, an African rhetorician, on the slaughter of the Maccabees. It is not much above four hundred lines in length.

In the same century, Juvencus, a Spaniard, wrote a narrative poem, in hexameter verse, on the history of Christ, which contains four books, and above three thousand lines. The narration is carefully carried on, but the poetry is of an humble cast.?

One of the most remarkable poems of AURELIUS Prudentius, a Spaniard of consular dignity, is the Psychomachia. This is an allegorical poem, in eight books, on the virtues and vices of the mind, in a sort of heroic narration. It is partly the same subject which our Spenser has combined with a chivalric story. In Prudentius, every virtue and every vice come out as persons, armed or dressed appropriately to their different qualities, and harangue and fight. It consists of one thousand and twenty-two hexameter lines.

In the fifth century, SEDULIUS, an Irishman, went to France, Italy, and Asia ; and on his return 6 Bib. Mag. tom. viii. p. 625—628. 7 Ibid. p. 629-657. 463–471.

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8 Ibid. p.

IX.

BOOK from Achaia, settled at Rome. He has written a

narrative poem on the miracles of Christ, which he calls his Paschale Opus. It is in five books, containing about two thousand hexameter lines. It is almost wholly narration and description, seldom enlivened by dialogue ; but his style of verse is much superior to that of the preceding authors, and has somewhat of the air of Statius.'

CLAUDIUS Marius Victor, a rhetorician of Marseilles, lived in the same century. His poetical commentary on Genesis is a narrative poem on the creation, the fall of man, and the subsequent history, including that of Abraham. In the part of his poem which concerns “ Paradise Lost,” the

« most original incidents are these: while Adam is addressing the Deity in a long penitential speech, they see the serpent gliding before them. Eve counsels his destruction. She immediately pursues him with stones, in which Adam joins, till one of them, striking a flint, elicits a spark, which instantly kindles a flame and sets the woods in a blaze. The unexpected sight of this new element of fire terrifies our parents into a hasty flight. The poem contains about eighteen hundred lines.

The poems of SIDONIUS on the emperor, his friend, contain a sort of heroic fable. In the panegyric on Avitus, the emperor speaks, as do others; and Jupiter likewise harangues." The life of St. Martin, by Paulinus, a senator of Aquitain, afterwards a bishop, in hexameter verse, must be also considered as a narrative poem of considerable length. It is in six books, and contains about three thousand seven hundred hexameter lines. Though it abounds with fiction it is very dull.2 9 Bib. Mag. tom. viii. 658–678. 10 Ibid. p. 580—595.

12 Bib. Mag. tom. viii. p. 852-882.

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11 Sid. Apoll.

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