119 



lu tlie passage from the Sixth Book, (VT. 311,) we have met with an 

 ablative absolute, " Nature's concord broke." This is rather a strange 

 construction in a language which, like the English, has no ablative 

 case. No wonder then that, as the learned editor says, this makes 

 the style of Milton often obscure and difJ&cult to those who know not 

 Latin. There are numerous examples of an ablative absolute through- 

 out the poem. I refer here only to a few: — 



I. 604. " Cruel liis eye, but cast 



Signs of remorse and passion to beliold 



The fellows of his crime, the followers rather 



(Far other once beheld in bliss) condemned 



For ever now to have their lot in pain. 



Millions of spirits for his fault amerced 



Of Heav'n, and from eternal splendours flung 



For his revolt, yet faithful, how they stood,* 



Their glory ivithered. 

 I. 392. First Moloch, horrid Iving, besmeared with blood, 



Of human saciifice and parent's tears ; 



Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud. 



Their children's cries unheard, that passed through fire 



To his grim idol. 

 VI. 256. At his approach 



The great Archangel from his wai'like toil 



Suiceas'd, and glad, as hoping here to end 



Intestine war in Heav'n, the arch foe subdued, 

 260. Or captive dragged in chains, with hostile frown 



And visage all inflamed, first thus began." 



The difficulty of recognising at first sight the ablative absolute is 

 two-fold. In the first place, the ablative is not distinguishable in form 

 from the nominative ; nor, secondly, the past participle in regular verbs 

 from the imperfect tense. It may, therefore, happen to many readers, 

 at first sight, to look upon subdued and dragged, in the last quoted pas- 

 sage, as imperfect tenses, which, of course, destroys the sense. The 

 moral to be gathered from this fact is, that an ablative absolute should 

 not be attempted in a language which has no ablative, and in which, 

 moreover, the participle may often be mistaken for an imperfect tense.* 



We now come to another Latin construction, which Milton has 



do, by putting together in the manner that seems most likely, the most prominent words, 

 utterly heedless of syntactical laws. This kind of siiiierficial reading cannot be checked 

 better than by the careful study of the ancient classics and of the classical authors 

 of English literature. 



• The sentence, "bow they stood," as Richardson well remarks, is governed by the verb 

 behold, six lines higher up. 



• This is no doubt the reason, why modern use requires in Such cases the full form of 

 the participle, viz. being subdued, being dragged. 



