Note 208 — THE THEOGONY.
George Chapman translation
His whole of might Broke from him.]
Milton attains to a higher conception of omnipotence in the passage:
Yet half in strength he put not forth, but check’d His thunder in mid-volley: for he meant Not to destroy, but root them out of heaven.
There is, however, nothing in Milton which equals in sublimity the sudden expansion of power in the soul of the deity: ειθαρ μεν μενεος πληντο φρενες. The plan of the battle of angels is evidently built on that of the battle of giants: the Messiah, like Hesiod’s Jove, coming forth to decide the contest; and sending before him thunderbolts and plagues. Milton’s magnificent imagery of the chariot is borrowed from the vision of the prophet Ezekiel.