Milton's
Gates is not so extraordinary as this of the
Tripodes
, so I am persuaded he would not have mentioned it, had not he been supported in it by a Passage in the Scripture, which speaks of Wheels in Heaven that had Life in them, and moved of themselves, or stood still, in conformity with the Cherubims, whom they accompanied.
There is no question but
Milton
had this Circumstance in his Thoughts, because in the following Book he describes the Chariot of the
Messiah
with
living