110 



Greek mythological ideas, is that passage in the Second Book, in -which 

 the journey of Satan from hell to earth is described, (II. 951): — 

 " At length a universal hubbub wild, 



Of stunning sounds and voices all confused, 



Borue through the hoUow dark, assaults his ear 



With loudest vehemence : Thither he jjlies. 



Undaunted to meet there whatever Power 



Or Spirit of the netheiinost abyss 



Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask 



^Miich way the nearest coast of darkness lies 



Bordering on light ; when straight behold the throne 



Of Chaos, and his dark pa%Tlion spread 



Wide on the wasteful deep ; with him enthroned 



Sat sable-vested Kight, eldest of things. 



The consort of his reign ; and by them stood 



Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded Name 



Of Demogorgon : Eumom- next and Chance, 



And Tumult and Confusion all embroil'd, 



And Discord flith a thousand Viuious mouths." 



We meet here with real beings, that have a personal existence, inde- 

 pendent as it seems of God, and hostile to him. Nothing could be 

 more offensive in a philosophical and religious point of view, or more 

 improbable and aesthetically misplaced, than the god Chaos, and the 

 goddess Night enthroned in royal state and in sullen independence of 

 the spiritual hierarchy, which the poet acknowledges in the remainder 

 of his work. It is nothing less than the acknowledgment of the 

 eternity of matter.-- 



Less blameable perhaps, though more generally condemned, are the 

 two allegorical conceptions of Sin and Death. It must be confessed 

 by Milton's most ardent admirers that they cannot be defended: and I 

 for one can not agi'ee with Mr. Hallam, who " does not wish them away," 

 though he admits that " they will not bear exact criticism," (Lit. of 

 Europe, vol. IV. chap. Y. s. '28.) Who can beai" to see Satan 

 I'epresented hke another Zeus, generating a being from his head, 

 or as having carnal conne.xion with a woman? It is doubtful what 

 is more offensive, the idea in itself, or the corruption and misplace- 

 ment of the Homeric fable in the Christian epic. These and all 

 the other mythological persons taken from the Greek Parnassus to 

 adorn Christian poetiy, remind me of the marble statues of Zeus or 

 Apollo taken from their ancient altars, and with a few adaptations in 

 emblems, or with new heads, placed in Christian chuixhes to represent 

 St. Peter or St. John. 



* .fohnson, p. 175. 



