Chapter IV: Introduction (4)

347. ~Count ... dames~: comp. _L'Alleg._ 52, "the cock ... Stoutly struts his _dames_ before"; 114, "Ere the first cock his matin rings." Grammatically, 'count' (infinitive) forms with 'cock' the complex object of 'might hear.'

349. ~innumerous~, innumerable (Lat. _innumerus_). Comp. _Par. Lost_, vii. 455, "_Innumerous_ living creatures"; ix. 1089.

350. ~hapless~, unfortunate. Many words, such as happy, lucky, fortunate, etc., which strictly refer to a person's hap or chance, whether good or bad, have become restricted to good hap: in order to give them an unfavourable meaning a negative prefix or suffix is necessary.

With reference to the word _fortune_, Max Müller says: "We speak of good and evil fortune, so did the French, and so did the Romans. By itself _fortuna_ was taken either in a good or a bad sense, though it generally meant good fortune. Whenever there could be any doubt, the Romans defined _fortuna_ by such adjectives as _bona_, _secunda_, _prospera_, for good; _mala_ or _adversa_ for bad fortune ... _Fortuna_ came to mean something like chance."

351. ~her~, herself. On the reflexive use of _her_, see note, l. 163.

352. ~burs~; burrs, prickly seed-vessels of certain plants, _e.g._ the burr-thistle, the burdock (= the burr-dock), etc.

355. ~leans~. As Milton frequently omits the nominative, we may supply _she_: otherwise _leans_ would be intransitive and its nominative 'head': see note, l. 715. ~fraught~, freighted, filled. _Freight_ is itself a later form of _fraught_: in _Sams. Agon._, 1075, _fraught_ is a noun (Ger. _fracht_, a load). See line 732.

356. ~What~, etc. The ellipses may be supplied thus: "What (shall be done) if (she be) in wild amazement?"

358. ~savage hunger~. 'Hunger' is put by synecdoche for hungry animals.

359. ~over-exquisite~, _i.e._ too curious, over-inquisitive. _Exquisite_ is here used in the sense of _inquisitive_; in modern English 'exquisite' has a passive sense only, while 'inquisitive' has an active sense (Lat. _quaero_, to seek): see note, l. 714.

"The dialogue between the two brothers is an amicable contest between fact and philosophy. The younger draws his arguments from common apprehension, and the obvious appearance of things; the elder proceeds on a profounder knowledge, and argues from abstracted principles. Here the difference of their ages is properly made subservient to a contrast of character" (Warton).

360. ~To cast the fashion~, _i.e._ to prejudge the form. 'To cast' was common in the sense of to calculate or compute; see Shakespeare, ii. _Henry IV._ i. 1. 166, "You _cast_ the event of war." Some think, however, that the word has here its still more restricted sense as used in astrology, _e.g._ "to _cast_ a nativity"; others see in it a reference to the founder's art; and others to medical diagnosis.

361. ~Grant they be so~: a concessive clause = granted that the evils turn out to be what you imagined. The alternative is given in l. 364.

362. ~What need~, etc., _i.e._ why should a man anticipate his hour of sorrow. 'What' = for what (Lat. _quid_): comp. l. 752; also _On Shakespeare_, 6, "_What need'st_ thou such weak witness of thy name?" On the verb _need_ Abbott, § 297, says: "It is often found with 'what,' where it is sometimes hard to say whether 'what' is an adverb and 'need' a verb, or 'what' an adjective and 'need' a noun. 'What need the bridge much broader than the flood?' _M. Ado_, i. 1. 318; either '_why need_ the bridge (be) broader?' or '_what need_ is there (that) the bridge (be) broader?'"

363. Compare Hamlet's famous soliloquy, "rather bear those ills we have," etc.; and Pope's _Essay on Man_, "Heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate," etc.

366. ~to seek~, at a loss. Compare _Par. Lost_, viii. 197: "Unpractised, unprepared, and still _to seek_." Bacon, in _Adv. of Learning_, has: "Men bred in learning are perhaps _to seek_ in points of convenience."

367. ~unprincipled in virtue's book~, _i.e._ ignorant of the elements of virtue. A principle (Lat. _principium_, beginning) is a fundamental truth; hence the current sense of 'unprincipled,' implying that the man who has no fixed rules of life is the one who will readily fall into evil. Comp. _Sams. Agon._ 760, "wisest and best men ... with goodness _principled_."

368. ~bosoms~, holds within itself. The nom. is 'goodness.' 'Peace' is governed by 'in,' l. 367.

369. ~As that~, etc. This is an adverbial clause of consequence to 'unprincipled'; in modern English such a clause would be introduced by 'that,' and in Elizabethan English either by 'as' or 'that.' Here we have both connectives together. ~single~: see note, l. 204. noise, sound.

370. ~Not being in danger~, _i.e._ she not being in danger: absolute construction. This parenthetical line is equivalent to a conditional clause--'if she be not in danger, the mere want of light and noise need not disquiet her.'

371. ~constant~, steadfast.

372. ~misbecoming~: see note on 'misused,' l. 47. ~plight~, condition. Skeat derives this word from A.S. _pliht_, danger; others connect it with _pledge_. It is distinct from _plight_, l. 301.

373. ~Virtue could see~, etc. The best commentary on this line is in lines 381-5: comp. Spenser: "Virtue gives herself light through darkness for to wade," _F. Q._ i. 1. 12.

375. ~flat sea~: comp. _Lyc._ 98, "level brine": Lat. _aequor_, a flat surface, used of the sea.

376. ~seeks to~, applies herself to. This use of seek is common in the English Bible: see _Deut._ xii. 5, "_unto_ his habitation shall ye _seek_"; _Isaiah_, viii. 19, xi. 10, xix. 3; i. _Kings_, x. 24.

377. ~her best nurse, Contemplation~. The wise man loves contemplation and solitude: comp. _Il Penseroso_, 51, where "the Cherub Contemplation" is the "first and chiefest" of Melancholy's companions. In Sidney's _Arcadia_, "Solitariness" is "the nurse of these contemplations."

378. ~plumes~. Some would read _prunes_, both words being used of a bird's smoothing or trimming its feathers--or (more strictly) picking out damaged feathers. See Skeat's _Dictionary_, and compare Pope's line, "Where Contemplation _prunes_ her ruffled wings."

379. ~various~, varied: comp. l. 22. The 'bustle of resort' is in _L'Allegro_ the 'busy hum of men.'

380. ~all to-ruffled~. Milton wrote "all to ruffled," which may be interpreted in various ways: (1) all to-ruffled, (2) all too ruffled, (3) all-to ruffled. The first of these is given in the text as it is etymologically correct: _to_ is an intensive prefix as in 'to-break' = to break in pieces; 'to-tear' = to tear asunder, etc.; while _all_ (= quite) is simply an adverb modifying _to-ruffled_. But about 1500 A.D. this idiom was misunderstood, and the prefix _to_ was detached from the verb and either read along with _all_ (thus all-to = altogether), or confused with _too_ (thus all-to = too too, decidedly too). It is doubtful in which sense Milton used the phrase; like Shakespeare, he may have disregarded its origin. See Morris, § 324; Abbott, §§ 28, 436.

381. ~He that has light~, etc. Comp. _Par. Lost_, i. 254: 'The mind is its own place,' etc.

382. ~centre~, _i.e._ centre of the earth: comp. _Par. Lost_ i. 686, "Men also ... Ransacked the _centre_"; and _Hymn Nat._ 162, "The aged Earth ... Shall from the surface to the _centre_ shake." Sometimes the word 'centre' was used of the Earth itself, the _fixed_ centre of the whole universe according to the Ptolemaic system. The idea here conveyed, however, is not that of immovability (as in _Par. Reg._ iv. 534, "as a _centre_ firm") but of utter darkness.

385. ~his own dungeon~: comp. _Sams. Agon._ 156, "Thou art become (O worst imprisonment!) The _dungeon_ of thyself."

386. ~most affects~: has the greatest liking for. It now generally denotes rather a feigned than a real liking: comp. _pretend_. Lines 386-392 may be compared with _Il Pens._ 167-174.

393. ~Hesperian tree~. An allusion to the tree on which grew the golden apples of Juno, which were guarded by the Hesperides and the sleepless dragon Ladon. Hence the reference to the 'dragon watch': comp. Tennyson's _Dream of Fair Women_, 255, "Those dragon eyes of anger'd Eleanor Do hunt me, day and night." See also ll. 981-983.

395. ~unenchanted~, superior to all the powers of enchantment, not to be enchanted. Similarly Milton has 'unreproved' for 'not reprovable,' 'unvalued' for 'invaluable,' etc.; and Shakespeare has 'unavoided' for 'inevitable,' 'imagined' for 'imaginable,' etc. Abbott (§ 375) says: The passive participle is often used to signify, not that which _was_ and _is_, but that which _was_ and therefore _can be hereafter_; in other words _-ed_ is used for _-able_.

396. Compare Chaucer, _Doctor's Tale_, 44, "She flowered in virginity, With all humility and abstinence."

398. ~unsunned~, hidden. Comp. _Cym._ ii. 5. 13, "As chaste as _unsunned_ snow"; _F. Q._ ii. 7, "Mammon ... _Sunning_ his treasure hoar."

400. ~as bid me hope~, etc. The construction is, 'as (you may) bid me (to) hope (that) Danger will wink on Opportunity and (that Danger will) let a single helpless maiden pass uninjured.'

401. ~Danger will wink on~, etc., _i.e._ danger will shut its eyes to an opportunity. To _wink on_ or _wink at_ is to connive, to refuse to see something: comp. _Macbeth_, i. 4. 52, "The eye _wink_ at the hand"; _Acts_, xvii. 30. Warton notes a similar argument by Rosalind in _As You Like It_, i. 3. 113: "Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold."

403. ~surrounding~. Milton is said to be the first author of any note who uses this word in its current sense of 'encompassing,' which it has acquired through a supposed connection with _round_. Shakespeare does not use it. Its original sense is 'to overflow' (Lat. _superundare_).

404. ~it recks me not~, _i.e._ I do not heed: an impersonal use of the old verb _reck_ (A.S. _récan_, to care). Comp. _Lyc._ 122, "What _recks_ it them."

405. ~dog them both~, _i.e._ follow closely upon night and loneliness. Comp. _All's Well_, iii. 4. 15, "death and danger _dogs_ the heels of worth."

407. ~unownèd~, _i.e._ 'thinking her to be unowned,' or 'as if unowned.' Milton thus, as in Latin, frequently condenses a clause into a participle.

408. ~infer~, reason, argue. This use of the word is obsolete. See Shakespeare, iii. _Hen. VI._ ii. 2. 44, "_Inferring_ arguments of mighty force"; _K. John_, iii. 1. 213, "Need must needs _infer_ this principle": also _Par. Lost_, viii. 91, "great or bright _infers_ not excellence."

409. ~without all doubt~, _i.e._ beyond all doubt: a Latinism = _sine omni dubitatione_.

411. ~arbitrate the event~, judge of the result. The meaning is 'Where the result depends equally upon circumstances to be hoped and to be dreaded I incline to hope.'

413. ~squint suspicion~. Compare Quarles: "Heart-gnawing Hatred, and squint-eyed Suspicion." To look askance or sideways frequently indicates suspicion.

419. ~if Heaven gave it~, _i.e._ even _although_ Heaven gave it.

420. ~'Tis chastity~. "The passage which begins here and ends at line 475 is a concentrated expression of the moral of the whole Masque, and an exposition also of a cardinal idea of Milton's philosophy" (Masson).

421. ~clad in complete steel~, _i.e._ completely armed; comp. _Hamlet_, i. 4. 52, where the phrase occurs. The accent is on the first syllable.

422. ~quivered nymph~. The chaste Diana of the Romans was armed with bow and quiver; and Shakespeare makes virginity "Diana's livery." So in Spenser, Belphoebe, the personification of Chastity, has "at her back a bow and quiver gay." 'Quivered' is the Latin _pharetrata_.

423. ~trace~, traverse, track. ~unharboured~, affording no shelter. Radically, a harbour is a lodging or shelter.

424. ~Infámous~, having a bad name, ill-famed: a Latinism. The word now implies disgrace or guilt. It is here accented on the penult.

425. ~sacred rays~: comp. l. 782.

426. ~bandite or mountaineer~. 'Bandite' (in Shakespeare _bandetto_, and now _bandit_) is borrowed from the Italian _bandito_, outlawed or _banned_. 'Mountaineer,' here used in a bad sense. In modern English it has reverted to its original sense--a dweller in mountains. The dwellers in mountains are often fierce and readily become freebooters: hence the changes of meaning. See _Temp._ iii. 3. 44, "Who would believe that there were _mountaineers_ Dew-lapp'd like bulls"; also _Cym._ iv. 2. 120, "Who called me traitor, _mountaineer_."

428. ~very desolation~. Very (as an adj.) = true or real and may be traced to Lat. _verus_ = true: comp. l. 646.

429. ~shagged ... shades~. 'Shagged' is rugged or shaggy, and 'horrid' is probably used in the Latin sense of 'rough': see note, l. 38.

430. ~unblenched~, undaunted, unflinching. This word, sometimes confounded with 'unblanched,' is from _blench_, a causal of _blink_.

431. ~Be it not~: a conditional clause = on condition that it be not.

432. ~Some say~, etc. Compare _Hamlet_, i. 1. 158:

"Some say that, ever against that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long:
And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad."

433. ~In fog or fire~, etc. Comp. _Il Pens._ 93, "those demons that are found In fire, air, flood, or underground": an allusion to the different orders and powers of demons as accepted in the Middle Ages. Burton, in his _Anat. of Mel._, quotes from a writer who thus enumerates the kinds of sublunary spirits--"fiery, aerial, terrestrial, watery, and subterranean, besides fairies, satyrs, nymphs, etc."

434. ~meagre hag~, lean witch. _Hag_ is from A.S. _haegtesse_, a prophetess or witch. Comp. _Par. Lost_, ii. 662; _M. W. of W._ iv. 2. 188, "Come down, you witch, you _hag_." ~unlaid ghost~, unpacified or wandering spirit. It was a superstition that ghosts left the world of spirits and wandered on the earth from the hour of curfew (see _Temp._ v. 1. 40; _King Lear_, iii. 4. 120, "This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet; he begins at curfew," etc.) until "the first cock his matin rings" (_L'Alleg._ 14). 'Curfew' (Fr. _couvre-feu_ = fire-cover), the bell that was rung at eight or nine o'clock in the evening as a signal that all fires and lights were to be extinguished.

436. ~swart faery of the mine~. In Burton's _Anat. of Mel._ we read, "Subterranean devils are as common as the rest, and do as much harm. Olaus Magnus makes six kinds of them, some bigger, some less. These are commonly seen about mines of metals," etc. Warton quotes from an old writer: "Pioneers or diggers for metal do affirm that in many mines there appear strange shapes and spirits who are apparelled like unto the labourers in the pit." 'Swart' (also _swarty_, _swarth_, and _swarthy_) here means black: in Scandinavian mythology these subterranean spirits were called the _Svartalfar_, or black elves. Comp. _Lyc._ 138, "the _swart_ star," where 'swart' = swart making.

438. ~Do ye believe~. _Ye_ is properly a second person plural, but (like _you_) is frequently used as a singular: for examples, see Abbott, § 236.

439. ~old schools of Greece~. The brother now turns for his arguments from the mediaeval mythology of Northern Europe to the ancient legends of Greece.

440. ~to testify~, to bear witness to: comp. l. 248, 421.

441. ~Dian~. Diana was the huntress among the immortals: she was insensible to the bolts of Cupid, _i.e._ to the power of love. She was the protectress of the flocks and game from beasts of prey, and at the same time was believed to send plagues and sudden deaths among men and animals. Comp. the song to Cynthia (Diana) in _Cynthia's Revels_, v. 1, "Queen and huntress, chaste and fair," etc.

442. ~silver-shafted queen~. The epithet is applicable to Diana both as huntress and goddess of the moon: as the former she bore arrows which were frequently called _shafts_, and as the latter she bore shafts or rays of light. _Shaft_ is etymologically 'a _shaven_ rod.' In Chaucer, _C. T._ 1364, 'shaft' = arrow.

443. ~brinded lioness~. 'Brinded' = brindled or streaked. Comp. "_brinded_ cat," _Macb._ iv. 1. 1: _brind_ is etymologically connected with _brand_.

444. ~mountain-pard~, _i.e._ panther or other spotted wild beast. _Pard_, originally a Persian word, is common in the compounds leo-_pard_ and camelo-_pard_.

445. ~frivolous ... Cupid~. See the speech of Oberon, _M. N. D._ ii. 1. 65. The epithet 'frivolous' applies to Cupid in his lower character as the wanton god of sensual love, not in his character as the fair Eros who unites all the discordant elements of the universe: see note, l. 1004.

447. ~snaky-headed Gorgon shield~. Medusa was one of the three Gorgons, frightful beings, whose heads were covered with hissing serpents, and who had wings, brazen claws, and huge teeth. Whoever looked at Medusa was turned into stone, but Perseus, by the aid of enchantment, slew her. Minerva (Athene) placed the monster's head in the centre of her shield, which confounded Cupid: see _Par. Lost_, ii. 610.

449. ~freezed~, froze. The adjective 'congealed' is used proleptically, the meaning being 'froze into a stone so that it was congealed.'

450. ~But~, except: a preposition.

451. ~dashed~, confounded: this meaning of the word is obsolete.

452. ~blank awe~: the awe of one amazed. Comp. the phrase, 'blank astonishment,' and see _Par. Lost_, ix. 890.

454. ~so~, _i.e._ chaste.

455. ~liveried angels lackey her~, _i.e._ ministering angels attend her. So, in _L'Alleg._ 62, "the clouds in thousand _liveries_ dight"; a servant's livery being the distinctive dress _delivered_ to him by his master. 'Lackey,' to wait upon, from 'lackey' (or lacquey), a footboy, who runs by the side of his master. The word is here used in a good sense, without implying servility (as in _Ant. and Cleop._ i. 4. 46, "_lackeying_ the varying tide"). 'Her': the soul. Milton is fond of the feminine personification: see line 396.

457. ~vision~: a trisyllable.

458. ~no gross ear~. See notes, l. 112 and 997.

459. ~oft converse~, frequent communion. _Oft_ is here used adjectively: this use is common in the English Bible, _e.g._ i. _Tim._ v. 23, "thine _often_ infirmities."

460. ~Begin to cast ... turns~. 'Begin' is subjunctive; 'turns' is indicative: the latter may be used to convey greater certainty and vividness.

461. ~temple of the mind~, _i.e._ the body. This metaphor is common: see Shakespeare, _Temp._ i. 2. 57, "There's nothing ill can dwell in such a _temple_"; and the Bible, _John_, ii. 21, "He spake of the _temple_ of his body."

462. ~the soul's essence~. As if, by a life of purity, the body gradually became spiritualised, and therefore partook of the soul's immortality.

465. ~most~, above all.

467. ~soul grows clotted~. This doctrine is expounded in Plato's _Phaedo_, in a conversation between Socrates and Cebes:

_Socrates_ (speaking of the pure soul). That soul, I say, herself
invisible, departs to the invisible world--to the divine and
immortal and rational: thither arriving, she is secure of bliss,
and is released from the error and folly of men, their fears and
wild passions and all other human ills, and for ever dwells, as
they say of the initiated, in company with the gods. Is not this
true, Cebes?

_Cebes._ Yes; beyond a doubt.

_Soc._ But the soul which has been polluted, and is impure at the
time of her departure, and is the companion and servant of the body
always, and is in love with and fascinated by the body and by the
desires and pleasures of the body, until she is led to believe that
the truth only exists in a bodily form, which a man may touch and
see and taste, and use for the purposes of his lusts--the soul, I
mean, accustomed to hate and fear and avoid the intellectual
principle, which to the bodily eye is dark and invisible and can be
attained only by philosophy;--do you suppose that such a soul will
depart pure and unalloyed?

_Ceb._ That is impossible.

_Soc._ She is held fast by the corporeal, which the continual
association and constant care of the body have wrought into her
nature.

_Ceb._ Very true.

_Soc._ And this corporeal element, my friend, is heavy and weighty
and earthy, and is that element by which such a soul is depressed
and dragged down again into the visible world, because she is
afraid of the invisible and of the world below--prowling about
tombs and sepulchres, in the neighbourhood of which, as they tell
us, are seen certain ghostly apparitions of souls which have not
departed pure, but are cloyed with sight and therefore visible.

_Ceb._ That is very likely, Socrates.

_Soc._ Yes, that is very likely, Cebes; and these must be the
souls, not of the good, but of the evil, who are compelled to
wander about such places in payment of the penalty of their former
evil way of life; and they continue to wander until through the
craving after the corporeal which never leaves them, they are
imprisoned finally in another body. And they may be supposed to
find their prisons in the same natures which they have had in their
former lives.

Further on in the same dialogue, Socrates says:

Each pleasure and pain is a sort of nail which nails and rivets the
soul to the body, until she becomes like the body, and believes
that to be true which the body affirms to be true; and from
agreeing with the body, and having the same delights, she is
obliged to have the same habits and haunts, and is not likely ever
to be pure at her departure, but is always infected by the
body.--_Extracted from Jowett's Translation of the Dialogues._

468. ~imbodies and imbrutes~, _i.e._ becomes materialised and brutish. _Imbody_, ordinarily used as a transitive verb, is here intransitive. _Imbrute_ (said to have been coined by Milton) is also intransitive; in _Par. Lost_, ix. 166, it is transitive. The use of the word may have been suggested by the _Phaedo_, where the souls of the wicked are said to "find their prisons in the same natures which they have had in their former lives," those of gluttons and drunkards passing into asses and animals of that sort.

469. ~divine property~. In his prose works Milton calls the soul 'that divine particle of God's breathing': comp. Horace, _Sat._ ii. 2. 79, "affigit humo _divinae particulam aurae_"; and Plato's _Phaedo_, "The soul resembles the divine, and the body the mortal."

470. ~gloomy shadows damp~: see note, l. 207.

471. ~charnel-vaults~, burial vaults. 'Charnel' (O.F. _charnel_, Lat. _carnalis_; _caro_, flesh): comp. 'carnal,' l. 474.

473. ~As loth~, etc. The construction is: 'As (being) loth to leave the body that it loved, and (as having) linked itself to a degenerate and degraded state.' ~it~: by syntax this pronoun refers to 'shadows,' or (in thought) '_such_ shadow.' It seems best, however, to connect it with 'soul,' line 467.

474. ~sensualty~. The modern form of the word is _sensuality_.

475. ~degenerate and degraded~: the former because 'imbodied,' the latter because 'imbruted.'

476. ~divine Philosophy~, _i.e._ such philosophy as is to be found in "the divine volume of Plato" (as Milton has called it).

477. ~crabbed~, sour or bitter: comp. crab-apple. _Crab_ (a shell-fish) and _crab_ (a kind of apple) are radically connected, both conveying the idea of scratching or pinching (Skeat).

478. ~Apollo's lute~: Apollo being the god of song and music. Comp. _Par. Reg._ i. 478-480; _L. L. L._ iv. 3. 342, "as sweet and musical As bright _Apollo's lute_, strung with his hair."

479. ~nectared sweets~. Nectar (Gk. +nektar+, the drink of the gods) is repeatedly used by Milton to express the greatest sweetness: see l. 838; _Par. Lost_, iv. 333, "Nectarine fruits"; v. 306, 426.

482. ~Methought~: see note, l. 171. ~what should it be?~ This is a direct question about a past event, and means 'What was it likely to be?' "It seems to increase the emphasis of the interrogation, since a doubt about the past (time having been given for investigation) implies more perplexity than a doubt about the future" (Abbott, § 325). ~For certain~, _i.e._ for certain truth, certainly.

483. ~night-foundered~; benighted, lost in the darkness. Radically, 'to founder' is to go to the bottom (Fr. _fondrer_; Lat. _fundus_, the bottom), hence applied to ships; it is also applied to horses sinking in a slough. The compound is Miltonic (see _Par. Lost_, i. 204), and is sometimes stigmatised as meaningless; on the contrary, it is very expressive, implying that the brothers are swallowed up in night and have lost their way. 'Founder' is here used in the secondary sense of 'to be lost' or 'to be in distress.'

484. ~neighbour~. An adjective, as in line 576, and frequently in Shakespeare. Neighbour = nigh-boor, _i.e._ a peasant dwelling near.

487. ~Best draw~: we had best draw our swords.

489. ~Defence is a good cause~, etc., _i.e._ 'in defending ourselves we are engaged in a good cause, and may Heaven be on our side.'

490. ~That hallo~. We are to understand that the Attendant Spirit has halloed just before entering; this is shown by the stage-direction given in the edition of _Comus_ printed by Lawes in 1637: _He hallos; the Guardian Dæmon hallos again, and enters in the habit of a shepherd._

491. ~you fall~, etc., _i.e._ otherwise you will fall on our swords.

493. ~sure~: see note, l. 246.

494. ~Thyrsis~, Like Lycidas, this name is common in pastoral poetry. In Milton's _Epitaphium Damonis_ it stands for Milton himself; in _Comus_ it belongs to Lawes, who now receives additional praise for his musical genius. In lines 86-88 the compliment is enforced by alliterative verses, and here by the aid of rhyme (495-512). Masson thinks that the poet, having spoken of the madrigals of Thyrsis, may have introduced this rhymed passage in order to prolong the feeling of Pastoralism by calling up the cadence of known English pastoral poems.

495. ~sweetened ... dale~; poetical exaggeration or hyperbole, implying that fragrant flowers became even more fragrant from Thyrsis' music.

496. ~huddling~. This conveys the two ideas of hastening and crowding: comp. Horace, _Ars Poetica_, 19, "Et _properantis_ aquae per amoenos ambitus agros." ~madrigal~: a pastoral or shepherd's song (Ital. _mandra_, a flock): such compositions, then in favour, had been made by Lawes and by Milton's father.

497. ~swain~: a word of common use in pastoral poetry. It denotes strictly a peasant or, more correctly, a young man: comp. the compounds boat-_swain_, cox-_swain_. See _Arc._ 26, "Stay, gentle _swains_," etc.

499. ~pent~, penned, participle of _pen_, to shut up (A.S. _pennan_, which is connected with _pin_, seen in _pin_-fold, l. 7). ~forsook~: a form of the past tense used for the participle.

501. ~and his next joy~, _i.e._ 'and (thou), his next joy'--words addressed to the second brother.

502. ~trivial toy~, ordinary trifle. The phrase seems redundant, but 'trivial' may here be used in the strict sense of common or well-known. Compare _Il Pens._ 4, "fill the fixed mind with all your _toys_"; and Burton's _Anat. of Mel._, "complain of _toys_, and fear without a cause."

503. ~stealth of~, things stolen by.

506. ~To this my errand~, etc., _i.e._ in comparison with this errand of mine and the anxiety it involved. 'To' = in comparison with; an idiom common in Elizabethan English, _e.g._ "There is no woe _to_ this correction," _Two Gent._ ii. 4. 138. See Abbott, § 187.

508. ~How chance~. _Chance_ is here a verb followed by a substantive clause: 'how does it chance that,' etc. This idiom is common in Shakespeare (Abbott, § 37), where it sometimes has the force of an adverb (= perchance): compare _Par. Lost_, ii. 492: "If chance the radiant sun, with farewell sweet," etc.

509. ~sadly~, seriously. Radically, sad = sated or full (A.S. _saed_); hence the two meanings, 'serious' and 'sorrowful,' the former being common in Spenser, Bacon, and Shakespeare. Comp. 'some _sad_ person of known judgment' (Bacon); _Romeo and Jul._ i. 1. 205, "Tell me in _sadness_, who is that you love"; _Par. Lost_, vi. 541, "settled in his face I see _Sad_ resolution." See also Swinburne's _Miscellanies_ (1886), page 170.

510. ~our neglect~, _i.e._ neglect on our part.

511. ~Ay me~! Comp. _Lyc._ 56, "Ay me! I fondly dream"; 154. This exclamatory phrase = ah me! Its form is due to the French _aymi_ = alas, for me! and has no connection with _ay_ or _aye_ = yes. In this line _true_ rhymes with _shew_: comp. _youth_ and _shew'th_, _Sonnet on his having arrived at the age of twenty-three_.

512. ~Prithee~. A familiar fusion of _I pray thee_, sometimes written 'pr'ythee.' Lines 495-512 form nine rhymed couplets.

513. ~ye~: a dative. See note on l. 216.

514. ~shallow~. Comp. _Son._ i. 6, "_shallow_ cuckoo's bill," xii_a_. 12; _Arc._ 41, "_shallow_-searching Fame."

515. ~sage poets~. Homer and Virgil are meant; both of these mention the chimera. Milton (_Par. Lost_, iii. 19) afterwards speaks of himself as "taught by the heavenly Muse." Comp. _L'Alleg._ 17; _Il Pens._ 117, "great bards besides In sage and solemn tunes have sung."

516. ~storied~, related: 'To story' is here used actively: the past participle is frequent in the sense of 'bearing a story or picture'; _Il Pens._ 159, "storied windows"; Gray's _Elegy_, 41, "storied urn"; Tennyson's "storied walls." _Story_ is an abbreviation of _history_.

517. ~Chimeras~, monsters. Comp. the sublime passage in _Par. Lost_, ii. 618-628. The Chimera was a fire-breathing monster, with the head of a lion, the tail of a dragon, and the body of a goat. It was slain by Bellerophon. As a common name 'chimera' is used by Milton to denote a terrible monster, and is now current (in an age which rejects such fabulous creatures) in the sense of a wild fancy; hence the adj. _chimerical_ = wild or fanciful. ~enchanted isles~, _e.g._ those of Circe and Calypso, mentioned in the _Odyssey_.

518. ~rifted rocks~: rifted = riven. Orpheus, in search of Eurydice, entered the lower world through the rocky jaws of Taenarus, a cape in the south of Greece (see Virgil _Georg._ iv. 467, _Taenarias fauces_); here also Hercules emerged from Hell with the captive Cerberus.

519. ~such there be~. See note on l. 12 for this indicative use of _be_.

520. ~navel~, centre, inmost recess. Shakespeare (_Cor._ iii. l. 123) speaks of the 'navel of the state'; and in Greek Calypso's island was 'the navel of the sea,' while Apollo's temple at Delphi was 'the navel of the earth.'

521. ~Immured~, enclosed. Here used generally: radically it = shut up within walls (Lat. _murus_, a wall).

523. ~witcheries~, enchantments.

526. ~murmurs~. The incantations or spells of evil powers were sung or murmured over the doomed object; sometimes they were muttered (as here) over the enchanted food or drink prepared for the victim. Comp. l. 817 and _Arc._ 60, "With puissant words and _murmurs_ made to bless."

529. ~unmoulding reason's mintage charactered~, _i.e._ defacing those signs of a rational soul that are stamped on the human face. The figure is taken from the process of melting down coins in order to restamp them. 'Charactered': here used in its primary sense (Gk. +charaktêr+, an engraven or stamped mark), as in the phrase 'printed characters.' The word is here accented on the second syllable; in modern English on the first.

531. ~crofts that brow~ = crofts that overhang. Croft = a small field, generally adjoining a house. Brow = overhang: comp. _L'Alleg._ 8, "low-browed rocks."

532. ~bottom glade~: the glade below. The word _bottom_, however, is frequent in Shakespeare in the sense of 'valley'; hence 'bottom glade' might be interpreted 'glade in the valley.'

533. ~monstrous rout~; see note on the stage-direction after l. 92. Comp. 'the bottom of the monstrous world,' _Lyc._ 158. In _Aen._ vii. 15, we read that when Aeneas sailed past Circe's island he heard "the growling noise of lions in wrath, ... and shapes of huge wolves fiercely howling."

534. ~stabled wolves~, wolves in their dens. _Stable_ (= a standing-place) is used by Milton in the general sense of abode, _e.g._ in _Par. Lost_, xi. 752, "sea-monsters whelped and _stabled_." Comp. "Stable for camels," _Ezek._ xxv. 5, and the Latin _stabulum_, _Aen._ vi. 179, _stabula alta ferarum_.

535. ~Hecate~: see l. 135.

536. ~bowers~: see note, l. 45.

539. ~unweeting~; unwitting, unknowing. This spelling is found in Spenser's _Faerie Queene_, both in the compounds and in the simple verb _weet_, a corruption of _wit_ (A.S. _witan_, to know). Compare _Par. Reg._ i. 126, "_unweeting_, he fulfilled The purposed counsel." _Sams. Agon._ 1680; Chaucer, _Doctor's Tale_, "Virginius came _to weet_ the judge's will."

540. ~by then~, _i.e._ by the time when. The demonstrative adverb thus implies a relative adverb: comp. the Greek, where the demonstrative is generally omitted, though in Homer occasionally the demonstrative alone is used. Another rendering is to make line 540 parenthetical.

542. ~knot-grass~. A grass with knotted or jointed stem: some, however, suppose marjoram to be intended here. ~dew-besprent~, _i.e._ besprinkled with dew: comp. _Lyc._ 29. _Be_ is an intensive prefix; _sprent_ is connected with M.E. _sprengen_, to scatter, of which _sprinkle_ is the frequentative form.

543. ~sat me down~: see note, l. 61.

544. ~canopied, and interwove~. Comp. _M. N. D._ ii. 2. 49, 'I know a bank,' etc. In sense 'canopied' refers to 'bank,' and 'interwove' to 'ivy.' There are two forms of the past participle of _weave_, viz. _wove_ and _woven_: see _Arc._ 47.

545. ~flaunting~, showy, garish. In _Lyc._ 146, the poet first wrote 'garish columbine,' then 'well-attired woodbine.'

547. ~meditate ... minstrelsy~, _i.e._ to sing a pastoral song: comp. _Lyc._ 32. 66. _To meditate the muse_ is a Virgilian phrase: see _Ecl._ i. and vi. The Lat. _meditor_ has the meaning of 'to apply one's self to,' and does not mean merely to ponder.

548. ~had~, should have: comp. l. 394. ~ere a close~, _i.e._ before he had finished his song (Masson). _Close_ occurs in the technical sense of 'the final cadence of a piece of music.'

549. ~wonted~: see note, l. 332.

550. ~barbarous~: comp. _Son._ xii. 3, "a _barbarous_ noise environs me Of owls and cuckoos, etc."

551. ~listened them~. The omission of _to_ after verbs of hearing is frequent in Shakespeare and others: comp. "To listen our purpose"; "List a brief tale"; "hearken the end"; etc. (see Abbott, § 199). 'Them': this refers to the _sounds_ implied in 'dissonance.'

552. ~unusual stop~. This refers to what happened at l. 145, and the "soft and solemn-breathing sound" to l. 230.

553. ~drowsy frighted~, _i.e._ drowsy and frighted. The noise of Comus's rout is here supposed to have kept the horses of night awake and in a state of drowsy agitation until the sudden calm put an end to their uneasiness. In Milton's corrected MS. we read 'drowsy flighted,' where the two words are not co-ordinate epithets but must be regarded as expressing one idea = flying drowsily; to express this some insert a hyphen. Comp. 'dewy-feathered,' _Il Pens._ 146, and others of Milton's remarkable compound adjectives. The reading in the text is that of the printed editions of 1637, '45, and '73.

554. ~Sleep~ (or Night) is represented as drawn by horses in a chariot with its curtains closely drawn. Comp. _Macbeth_, ii. l. 51, "curtained sleep."

555. 'The lady's song rose into the air so sweetly and imperceptibly that silence was taken unawares and so charmed that she would gladly have renounced her nature and existence for ever if her place could always be filled by such music.' Comp. _Par. Lost_, iv. 604, "She all night long her amorous descant sung; _Silence was pleased_"; also Jonson's _Vision of Delight_:

"Yet let it like an odour rise
To all the senses here,
And fall like sleep upon their eyes,
Or music in their ear."

558. ~took~, taken. Comp. l. 256 for a similar use of _take_, and compare 'forsook,' line 499, for the form of the word.

560. ~Still~, always. This use of _still_ is frequent in Elizabethan writers (Abbott, § 69). ~I was all ear~. Warton notes this expressive idiom (still current) in Drummond's 'Sonnet to the Nightingale,' and in _Tempest_, iv. l. 59, "all eyes." _All_ is an attribute of _I_.

561. ~create a soul~, etc., _i.e._ breathe life even into the dead: comp. _L'Alleg._ 144. Warton supposes that Milton may have seen a picture in an old edition of Quarles' _Emblems_, in which "a soul in the figure of an infant is represented within the ribs of a skeleton, as in its prison." _Rom._ vii. 24, "Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?"

565. ~harrowed~, distracted, torn as by a _harrow_. This is probably the meaning, but there is a verb 'harrow' corrupted from 'harry,' to subdue; hence some read "harried with grief and fear."

567. ~How sweet ... how near~. This sentence contains two exclamations: this is a Greek construction. In English the idiom is "How sweet ... _and_ how near," etc. We may, however, render the line thus: "How sweet..., how near the deadly snare _is_!"

568. ~lawns~. 'Lawn' is always used by Milton to denote an open stretch of grassy ground, whereas in modern usage it is applied generally to a smooth piece of grass-grown land in front of a house. The origin of the word is disputed, but it seems radically to denote 'a clear space'; it is said to be cognate with _llan_ used as a prefix in the names of certain Welsh towns, _e.g._ Llandaff, Llangollen. In Chaucer it takes the form launde.

569. ~often trod by day~, which I have often trod by day, and therefore know well.

570. ~mine ear~: see note, l. 171.

571. ~wizard~. Here used in contempt, like many other words with the suffix _-ard_, or _-art_, as braggart, sluggard, etc. Milton occasionally, however, uses the word merely in the sense of magician or magical, without implying contempt: see _Lyc._ 55, "Deva spreads her _wizard_ stream."

572. ~certain signs~: see l. 644.

574. ~aidless~: an obsolete word. See Trench's _English Past and Present_ for a list of about 150 words in _-less_, all now obsolete: comp. l. 92, note. ~wished~: wished for. Comp. l. 950 for a similar transitive use of the verb.

575. ~such two~: two persons of such and such description.

577. ~durst not stay~. _Durst_ is the old past tense of _dare_, and is used as an auxiliary: the form _dared_ is much more modern, and may be used as an independent verb.

578. ~sprung~: see note, l. 256.

579. ~till I had found~. The language is extremely condensed here, the meaning being, 'I began my flight, and continued to run till I _had found_ you'; the pluperfect tense is used because the speaker is looking back upon his meeting with the brothers after completing a long narration of the circumstances that led up to it. If, however, 'had found' be regarded as a subjunctive, the meaning is, 'I began my flight, and determined to continue it until I had found (_i.e._ should have found) you.' Comp. Abbott § 361.

581. ~triple knot~, a three-fold alliance of Night, Shades, and Hell.

584. "This confidence of the elder brother in favour of the final efficacy of virtue, holds forth a very high strain of philosophy, delivered in as high strains of eloquence and poetry" (Warton). And Todd adds: "Religion here gave energy to the poet's strains."

585. ~safely~, confidently. ~period~, sentence.

586. ~for me~, _i.e._ for my part, so far as I am concerned: see note, l. 602.

588. ~Which erring men call Chance~. 'Erring' belongs to the predicate; "which men erroneously call Chance." Comp. Pope, _Essay on Man_:

"All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see."

588. ~this I hold firm~. 'This' is explained by the next line: "this belief, namely, that Virtue may be assailed, etc., I hold firmly."

590. ~enthralled~, enslaved. Comp. l. 1022.

591. ~which ... harm~, which the Evil Power intended to be most harmful.

595-7. ~Gathered like scum~, etc. According to one editor, this image is "taken from the conjectures of astronomers concerning the dark spots which from time to time appear on the surface of the sun's body and after a while disappear again; which they suppose to be the scum of that fiery matter which first breeds it, and then breaks through and consumes it."

598. ~pillared firmament~. The firmament (Lat. _firmus_, firm or solid) is here regarded as the roof of the earth and supported on pillars. The ancients believed the stars to be fixed in the solid firmament: comp. _Par. Reg._ iv. 55; also _Wint. Tale_, ii. l. 100, "If I mistake In those foundations which I build upon, The centre is not big enough to bear A schoolboy's top."

602. ~for~, as regards. ~let ... girt~, though he be surrounded.

603. ~grisly legions~. 'Grisly,' radically the same as _grue-some_ = horrible, causing terror. In _Par. Lost_, iv. 821, Satan is called "the grisly king." 'Legions' is here a trisyllable.

604. ~sooty flag of Acheron~. Acheron, at first the name of a river of the lower world, came to be used as a name for the whole of the lower world generally. Todd quotes from P. Fletcher's _Locusts_ (1627): "All hell run out and sooty flags display."

605. ~Harpies and Hydras~. The Harpies (lit. 'spoilers') were unclean monsters, being birds with the heads of maidens, with long claws and gaunt faces. _Hydras_, here used as a general name for monstrous water-serpents (Gk. _hyd{=o}r_, water); the name was first given to the nine-headed monster slain by Hercules. See _Son._ xv. 7, "new rebellions raise Their _Hydra_ heads"; the epithet 'hydra-headed' being applied to a rebellion, an epidemic, or other evil that seems to gain strength from every endeavour to repress it.

607. ~return his purchase back~, _i.e._ 'give up his spoil,' or (as in the MS.) 'release his new-got prey.' To purchase (Fr. _pour-chasser_) originally meant to pursue eagerly, hence to acquire by fair means or foul: it thus came to mean 'to steal' (as frequently in Spenser, Jonson, and Shakespeare), and 'to buy' (its current sense). See Trench, _Study of Words_; _Hen. V._ iii. 2. 45, "They will steal anything, and call it _purchase_"; i. _Hen. IV._ ii. l. 101, "thou shalt have share in our _purchase_."

609. ~venturous~, ready to venture. See note, l. 79.

610. ~yet~, nevertheless. The meaning is: '_Though_ thy courage is useless, _yet_ I love it.' ~emprise~: an obsolete form (common in Spenser) of _enterprise_. It is literally that which is undertaken; hence 'readiness to undertake'; hence 'daring.'

611. ~can do thee little stead~, _i.e._ can help thee little. _Stead_, both as noun and verb, is obsolete except in certain phrases, _e.g._ 'to stand in good stead,' and in composition, _e.g._ _stead_fast, home_stead_, in_stead_, Hamp_stead_, etc. Its strict sense is place or position: comp. _Il Pens._ 3, "How little you _bested_."

612. ~Far other arms~, _i.e._ very different arms. 'Other' has here its radical sense of 'different,' and can therefore be modified by an adverb.

615. ~unthread~, loosen. Comp. _Temp._ iv. l. 259, "Go charge my goblins that they grind their joints With dry convulsions, shorten up their sinews With aged cramps."

617. ~As to make this relation~, _i.e._ as to be able to tell this.

619. ~a certain shepherd lad~. This is supposed to refer to Charles Diodati, Milton's dearest friend, to whom he addressed his 1st and 6th elegies, and after whose death he wrote the touching poem _Epitaphium Damonis_, in which he alludes to his friend's medical and botanical skill:

"There thou shalt cull me simples, and shalt teach
Thy friend the name and healing powers of each."

(_Cowper's translation._)

620. ~Of small regard to see to~: in colloquial English, 'not much to look at.' This is an old idiom: comp. Greek +kalos idein+: see English Bible, "goodly to look to," i. _Sam._ xvi. 12; _Ezek._ xxiii. 15; _Jer._ xlvii. 3.

621. ~virtuous~, of healing power: see note, l. 165. Comp. _Il Pens._ 113, "the virtuous ring and glass."

623. ~beg me sing~: see note, l. 304.

625. ~ecstasy~: see note, l. 261. The Greek _ekstasis_ = standing out of one's self.

626. ~scrip~, wallet.

627. ~simples~, medicinal herbs. 'Simple' (Lat. _simplicem_, 'one-fold,' 'not compound') was used of a single ingredient in a medicine; hence its popular use in the sense of 'herb' or 'drug.'

630. ~me~, _i.e._ for me: the ethic dative.

633. ~bore~. The nom. of this verb is, in sense, some such word as the plant or the root.

634. ~unknown and like esteemed~: known and esteemed to a like extent, _i.e._ in both cases not at all. _Like_ here corresponds to the prefix _un_ in _unknown_. On the description of the plant, see Introduction, reference to Ascham's _Scholemaster_.

635. ~clouted shoon~, patched shoes. The expression is found in Shakespeare, ii. _Hen. VI._ iv. 2. 195, "Spare none but such as go in _clouted shoon_"; _Cym._ iv. 2. 214, "put My _clouted brogues_ from off my feet, whose rudeness Answer'd my steps too loud": see examples in Mayhew and Skeat's _M. E. Dictionary_. There are instances, however, of _clout_ in the sense of a plate of iron fastened on the sole of a shoe. In either sense of the word 'clouted shoon' would be heavy and coarse. _Shoon_ is an old plural (O.E. _scon_); comp. _hosen_, _eyen_ (= eyes), _dohtren_ (= daughters), _foen_ (= foes), etc.

636. ~more med'cinal~, of greater virtue. The line may be scanned thus: And yet | more med | 'cinal is | it than | that Mo | ly. ~Moly~. When Ulysses was approaching the abode of Circe he was met by Hermes, who said: "Come then, I will redeem thee from thy distress, and bring deliverance. Lo, take this herb of virtue, and go to the dwelling of Circe, that it may keep from thy head the evil day. And I will tell thee all the magic sleight of Circe. She will mix thee a potion and cast drugs into the mess; but not even so shall she be able to enchant thee; so helpful is this charmed herb that I shall give thee ... Therewith the slayer of Argos gave me the plant that he had plucked from the ground, and he showed me the growth thereof. It was black at the root, but the flower was like to milk. _Moly_ the gods call it, but it is hard for mortal men to dig; howbeit with the gods all things are possible" (_Odyssey_, x. 280, etc., _Butcher and Lang's translation_). In his first Elegy Milton alludes to M{=o}ly as the counter-charm to the spells of Circe: see also Tennyson's _Lotos-Eaters_, "beds of amaranth and _moly_."

638. ~He called it Hæmony~. _He_ is the shepherd lad of line 619. _Haemony_: Milton invents the plant, both name and thing. But the adjective _Haemonian_ is used, in Latin poetry as = _Thessalian_, Haemonia being the old name of Thessaly. And as Thessaly was regarded as a land of magic, 'Haemonian' acquired the sense of 'magical' (see Ovid, _Met._ vii 264, "_Haemonia_ radices valle resectas," etc.), and Milton's Haemony is simply "the magical plant." Coleridge supposes that by the prickles and gold flower of the plant Milton signified the sorrows and triumph of the Christian life.

639. ~sovran use~: see note, l. 41. The use of this adjective with charms, medicines, or remedies of any kind was so very common that the word came to imply 'all-healing,' 'supremely efficacious'; see _Cor._ ii. 1. 125, "The most _sovereign_ prescription in Galen."

640. ~mildew blast~: comp. _Arc._ 48-53, _Ham._ iii. 4. 64, "Here is your husband; Like a _mildew'd_ ear _Blasting_ his wholesome brother." A mildew blast is one giving rise to that kind of blight called mildew (A.S. meledeáw, honey-dew), it being supposed that the prevalence of dry east winds was favourable to its formation.

642. ~pursed it up~, etc., _i.e._ put it in my wallet, though I did not attach much importance to it. ~little reckoning~: comp. _Lyc._ 116, where the very same phrase occurs.

643. ~Till now that~. Here _that_ = when, the clause introduced by it being explanatory of _now_ (see Abbott, § 284).

646-7. ~Entered ... came off~. 'I entered into the very midst of his treacherous enchantments, and yet escaped.' _Lime-twigs_ = snares; in allusion to the practice of catching birds by means of twigs smeared with a viscous substance (called on that account 'birdlime'). Shakespeare makes repeated allusion to this practice: see _Macbeth_, iv. 2. 34; _Two Gent._ ii. 2. 68; ii. _Hen. VI._ i. 3. 91; etc.

649. ~necromancer's hall~. Warton supposes that Milton here thought of a magician's castle which has an enchanted hall invaded by Christian knights, as we read of in the romances of chivalry. _Necromancer_, lit. one who by magical power can commune with the dead (Gk. +nekros+, a corpse); hence a sorcerer. From confusion of the first syllable with that of the Lat. _niger_, black, the art of necromancy came to be called "the black art."

650. ~Where if he be~, Lat. _ubi si sit_: in English the relative adverb in such cases is best rendered by a conjunction + a demonstrative adverb; thus, '_and_ if he be _there_.'

651. ~brandished blade~. Comp. Hermes' advice to Ulysses: "When it shall be that Circe smites thee with her long wand, even then draw thy sharp sword from thy thigh, and spring on her, as one eager to slay her," _Odyssey_, x. ~break his glass~. An imitation of Spenser, who makes Sir Guyon break the golden cup of the enchantress Excess, _F. Q._ i. 12, stanza 56.

652. ~luscious~, delicious. The word is a corruption of _lustious_ from O.E. _lust_ = pleasure: see note, l. 49.

653. ~But seize his wand~. The force of this injunction is shown by lines 815-819.

654. ~menace high~, violent threat. _High_ is thus used in a number of figurative senses, _e.g._ a high wind, a high hand, high passions (_Par. Lost_, ix. 123), high descent, high design, etc.

655. ~Sons of Vulcan~. In the _Aeneid_ (Bk. viii. 252) we are told that Cacus, son of Vulcan (the Roman God of Fire), "vomited from his throat huge volumes of smoke" when pursued by Hercules, "_Faucibus ingentem fumum_," etc.

657. ~apace~; quickly, at a great pace. This word has changed its meaning: in Chaucer it means 'at a foot pace,' _i.e._ slowly. The first syllable is the indefinite article '_a_' = one (Skeat).

658. ~bear~: the subjunctive used optatively (Abbott, § 365). (_Stage Direction_) ~puts by~: puts on one side, refuses. ~goes about to rise~, _i.e._ endeavours to rise. This idiomatic use of _go about_ still lingers in the phrase 'to _go about_ one's business'; comp. 'to _set about_' anything.

659. ~but~, merely: comp. l. 656. After the conditional clause we have here a verb in the present tense ('are chained'), a construction which well expresses the certainty and immediate action of the sorcerer's spell (see Abbott, § 371).

660. ~your nerves ... alabaster~. Comp. _Tempest_, i. 2. 471-484. Milton has the word alabaster three times, twice incorrectly spelled _alablaster_ (in this passage and _Par. Lost_, iv. 544) and once correctly, as now entered in the text (_Par. Reg._ iv. 548). Alabaster is a kind of marble: comp. _On Shak._ 14, "make us _marble_ with too much conceiving."

661. ~or, as Daphne was~, etc. The construction is: 'if I merely wave this wand, you (become) a marble statue, or (you become) root-bound, as Daphne was, that fled Apollo.' Milton inserts the adverbial clause in the predicate, which is not unusual; he then adds an attributive clause, which is not usual in English, though common in Greek and Latin. Daphne, an Arcadian goddess, was pursued by Apollo, and having prayed for aid, she was changed into a laurel tree (Gk. +daphnê+): comp, the story of Syrinx and Pan, referred to in _Arc._ 106.

662. ~fled~. Comp. the transitive use of the verb in l. 829, 939, _Son._ xviii. 14, "_fly_ the Babylonian woe"; _Sams. Agon._ 1541, "_fly_ The sight of this so horrid spectacle."

663. ~freedom of my mind~, etc. Comp. Cowper's noble passage, "He is the freeman whom the truth makes free," etc. (_Task_, v. 733).

665. ~corporal rind~: the body, called in _Il Pens._ 92, "this fleshly nook."

668. ~here be all~. See note, l. 12.

669. ~fancy can beget~: comp. _Il Pens._ 6.

672. ~cordial julep~, heart-reviving drink. _Cordial_, lit. hearty (Lat. _cordi_, stem of _cor_, the heart): _julep_, Persian _gul{=a}b_, rose-water.

673. ~his~ = its: see note, l. 96.

674. ~syrups~: Arab, _shar{=a}b_, a drink, wine.

675. ~that Nepenthes~, etc. The allusion is explained by the following lines of the _Odyssey_: "Then Helen, daughter of Zeus, turned to new thoughts. Presently she cast a drug into the wine whereof they drank, a drug to lull all pain and anger, and bring forgetfulness of every sorrow. Whoso should drink a draught thereof, when it is mingled in the bowl, on that day he would let no tear fall down his cheeks, not though his father and his mother died ... Medicines of such virtue and so helpful had the daughter of Zeus, which Polydamna, the wife of Thon, had given her, a woman of Egypt, where earth the grain-giver yields herbs in greatest plenty, many that are healing in the cup, and many baneful" (_Butcher and Lang's translation_, iv. 219-230). 'Nepenthes,' a Greek adj. = sorrow-dispelling (+nê+, privative; +penthos+, grief). It is here used by Milton as the name of an opiate and it is now occasionally used as a general name for drugs that relieve pain.

677. ~Is of such power~, etc.: see note, l. 155. The construction is, 'That Nepenthes is not of such power to stir up joy as this (julep is, nor is it) so friendly to life (nor) so cool to thirst.'

679. ~Why ... to yourself~. Comp. Shakespeare, _Son._ i. 8, "Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel."