Fall of Man
, as it is related in Scripture. Besides, it was easier for
Homer
and
Virgil
to dash the Truth with Fiction, as they were in no danger of offending the Religion of their Country by it. But as for
Milton
, he had not only a very few Circumstances upon which to raise his Poem, but was also obliged to proceed with the greatest Caution in every thing that he added out of his own Invention. And, indeed, notwithstanding all the Restraints he was under, he has filled his Story with so many surprising Incidents, which bear so close an Analogy with what is delivered in Holy Writ, that it is capable of pleasing the most delicate Reader, without giving Offence to the most scrupulous.
The modern Criticks have collected from several Hints in the
Iliad