V. Le déluge raconté en vingtdeux vers, p

V^ Vision. 709-89'.». Le luxe, l'excès, la volupté. Efforts de Noé pour convertir ses compatriotes. >'oé bâtit l'arche. Le déluge (Gn du livre Xi).

Entre les passages indiqués au numéro IV il peut y avoir une ressemblance. Lauder a fait deux rapprochements entre ces passages. \'oici un de ces rapprochements.

« To whom thyii Michael ; Thèse are tlie product Of those ill-mated Mariages thou saw'st ; Where good with bad were matcht, who of themselves Abhor to joyn ; and by imprudence mixt, Produce prodigious Births of bodie or mind. Such were thèse Giants, men of high renown ;

For in those dayesMight onely shall be admir'd, And Valour and Horoic Vertu call'd ; To overcome in Battel, and subdue Nations, and bring borne spoils witb infinité Man-sbuighter, shall beheld tbe highest pitch Of bunian Glorie. and for Glorie done Of triumph, to be styl'd great Conquerours, Patrons of Mankind, Gods, and Sons of Gods, Destroyers rightlier call'd and Plagues of men » (1).

« From thèse profane, foui, cursed kisses sprung A cruell brood, feeding on blond and wrong ; Fell Gyants strange, of baugbty band and niinde, Plagues of tbe World and scourges of Mankinde » (2).

Les derniers vers des passag^es cités ont une certaine ressemblance, mais ces passag-es n'ont entre eux en général rien d'analogue qui ne se trouve dans le récit biblique. Les citations suivantes convaincront le lecteur que c'est bien de la Bible que Milton s'est souvenu :

« And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the faceof the earlh, and daug"hters were born unto them, Tliat tbe sons of God saw the daugliters of men thaï they were fair ; and they took them wives of ail

which they chose There were giants in the earth

in those days : and also after that when the sons ofGod came in unto the daugiiters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old men of renown. And God saw that the