Chapter V: Introduction (5)

680. 'Nature gave you your beautiful person to be held in trust on certain conditions, of which the most obligatory is that the body should have refreshment after toil, ease after pain. Yet this very condition you disregard, and deal harshly with yourself by refusing my proferred glass at a time when you are in need of food and rest.' Comp. Shakespeare, _Son._ iv. "Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend Upon thyself thy beauty's legacy," etc.

685. ~unexempt condition~, _i.e._ a condition binding on all and at all times, a law of human nature.

687. ~mortal frailty~, _i.e._ weak mortals: abstract for concrete.

688. ~That~. The antecedent of this relative is _you_, l. 682. See note, l. 2.

689. ~timely~, seasonable. So 'timeless' = unseasonable (Scott's _Marmion_, iii. 223, "gambol rude and _timeless_ joke"): comp. _Son._ ii. 8, "_timely_-happy spirits"; and l. 970.

693. ~Was this ... abode~? The verb is singular, because 'cottage' and 'safe abode' convey one idea: see Comus's words, l. 320. Notice also that the past tense is used as referring to the past act of telling.

694. ~aspects~: accent on final syllable.

695. ~oughly-headed~: so spelt in Milton's MS. = ugly-headed. _Ugly_ is radically connected with _awe_.

698. ~with visored falsehood and base forgery~. A vizor (also spelt _visor_, _visard_, _vizard_) is a mask, "a false face." The allusion is to Comus's disguise: see l. 166. _With_ in this line, as in lines 672 and 700, denotes _by means of_.

700. ~liquorish baits~: see note on _baited_, l. 162. 'Liquorish,' by catachresis for _lickerish_ = tempting to the appetite, causing one to _lick_ one's lips. The student should carefully distinguish the three words _lickerish_ (as above), _liquorish_ (which is really meaningless) and _liquorice_ (= licorice = Lat. _glycyrrhiza_), a plant with a sweet root.

702. ~treasonous~; an obsolete word. The current form 'treasonable' has usually a more restricted sense: Milton and Shakespeare use _treasonous_ in the more general sense of _traitorous_ (a cognate word). In this line 'offer' = the thing offered.

703. ~good men ... good things~. This noble sentiment Milton has borrowed from Euripides, _Medea_, 618, +Kakou gar andros dôr' onêsin ouk echei+ "the gifts of the bad man are without profit." (Newton).

704. ~that which is not good~, etc. This is Platonic: the soul has a rational principle and an irrational or appetitive, and when the former controls the latter, the desires are for what is good only (_Rep._ iv. 439).

707. ~budge doctors of the Stoic fur~. Budge is lambskin with the wool dressed outwards, worn on the edge of the hoods of bachelors of arts, etc. Therefore, if both _budge_ and _fur_ be taken literally the line is tautological. But 'budge' has the secondary sense of 'solemn,' like a doctor in his robes; and 'fur' may be used figuratively in the sense of _sect_, just as "the cloth" is used to denote the clergy. The whole phrase would thus be equivalent to 'solemn doctors of the Stoic sect.' It is possible that Milton makes equivocal reference to the two senses of 'budge.'

708. ~the Cynic tub~ = the tub of Diogenes the Cynic, here put in contempt for the Cynic school of Greek philosophy, which was the forerunner of the Stoic system. Diogenes, one of the early Cynics, lived in a tub, and was fond of calling himself +ho kyôn+ (the dog).

709. ~the~: here used generically.

711. ~unwithdrawing~. In this participle the termination _-ing_ seems almost equivalent to that of the past participle: comp. "_all-obeying_ breath" (= obeyed by all), _A. and C._ iii. 13, 77. Nature's gifts are not only full but continuous.

714. ~all to please ... curious taste~. _All_ = entirely, here modifies the infinitives please and sate. _Curious_ = fastidious: its original sense is 'careful' or 'anxious.' Compare the two senses of _exquisite_, note l. 359.

715. ~set~, _i.e._ she set. The pronominal subject is omitted.

717. ~To deck~: infinitive of purpose.

718. ~in her own loins~, _i.e._ in the bowels of the earth.

719. ~hutched~ = stored up, enclosed. _Hutch_ is an old word for chest or coffer, chiefly used now in the compound 'rabbit-hutch.'

720. ~To store her children with~, _i.e._ _wherewith_ to store her children. Or we may read, 'in order to store her children with (them).' 'Store' = provide.

721. ~pet of temperance~, _i.e._ a sudden and transitory fit of temperance. ~pulse~. So Daniel and his three companions refused the dainties of the King of Babylon and fed on pulse and water; _Dan._ i.

722. ~frieze~, coarse woollen cloth.

723. ~All-giver~. Comp. Gk. +pandôra+, an epithet applied to the earth as the giver of all.

725. 'And we should serve him as (if he were) a grudging master and a penurious niggard of his wealth, and (we should) live like Nature's bastards': see _Hebrews_ xii. 8, "If ye are without chastening, whereof all have been made partakers, then are ye _bastards, and not sons_."

728. ~Who~. The pronoun here relates not to the word immediately preceding it, but to the substantive implied in the possessive pronoun _her_, _i.e._ the sons of her who. His, her, etc., in such constructions have their full force as genitives: comp. _L'Alleg._ 124, "her grace whom" = the grace of her whom. ~surcharged~: overloaded, 'overfraught' (l. 732). ~waste fertility~, wasted or unused abundance. This participial use of 'waste' seems to be due to the similarity in sound to such participles as 'elevate' (= elevated), 'instruct' (= instructed), etc., which occur in Milton (comp. _English Past and Present_, vi.).

729. ~strangled~, suffocated.

730. ~winged air darked with plumes~, _i.e._ the air being darkened by the flight of innumerable birds. Spenser also has _dark_ as a verb. Both clauses in this line are absolute.

731. ~over-multitude~, outnumber. This line and the preceding one illustrate the freedom with which, in earlier English, one part of speech was used for another.

732. ~o'erfraught~: see note, l. 355.

733. ~emblaze~, make to blaze, make splendid. There is perhaps a reference to the sense of _emblazon_, which is from M.E. _blazen_, to blaze abroad, to proclaim.

734. ~bestud with stars~. In Milton's MS. it is 'bestud the centre with their star-light,' _centre_ being the 'centre of the earth.'

735. ~inured~, accustomed, by custom rendered less sensitive. _Inure_ is from the old phrase 'in ure' = in operation (Fr. _oeuvre_, work).

737. ~coy~: shy or reserved. ~cozened~: cheated, beguiled. The origin of this word is interesting: a cozener is one who, for selfish ends, claims kindred or _cousinship_ with another, and hence a flatterer or cheat.

739-755. ~Beauty is Nature's coin~, etc. "The idea that runs through these seventeen lines is a favourite one with the old poets; and Warton and Todd cite parallel passages from Shakespeare, Daniel, Fletcher, and Drayton. Thus, from Shakespeare (_M. N. D._ i. 1. 76-8):

"Earthlier happy is the rose distilled
Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
Grows, lives, and dies, in single blessedness."

See also Shakespeare's first six sonnets, which are pervaded by the idea in all its subtleties" (Masson).

743. ~let slip time~, _i.e._ allow time _to_ slip: see note, l. 304. Comp. _Par. Lost_, i. 178. "Let us not _slip_ the occasion."

744. ~It~ = beauty. ~languished~, languid or languishing: comp. _Par. Lost_, vi. 496, "their languished hope revived"; _Epitaph on M. of W._ 33. The suffix _-ed_ is frequent in Elizabethan English where we now have _-ing_ (Abbott, § 374).

747. ~most~, as many as possible.

748. ~homely ... home~. There is here a play upon words as in _Two Gent._ i. 1. 2: "_Home-keeping_ youth have ever _homely_ wits." _Homely_ is derived from _home_.

749. Women with coarse complexions and dull cheeks are good enough for household occupations.

750. ~of sorry grain~, not brilliant, of poor colour. 'Grain' is from Lat. _granum_, a seed, applied to small objects, and hence to the coccus or cochineal insect which yields a variety of red dyes. Hence _grain_ came to denote certain colours, _e.g._ Tyrian purple, violet, etc., and is so used by Milton: see _Il Pens._ 33, "a robe of darkest _grain_"; _Par. Lost_, v. 285, "sky-tinctured _grain_"; xi. 242, "A military vest of purple ... Livelier than ... the _grain_ Of Sarra," etc. And as these were fast or durable colours we have such phrases as 'to dye in grain,' 'a rogue in grain,' 'an ingrained habit.' (See further in Marsh's _Lect. on Eng. Lang._ p. 55).

751. ~sampler~, a sample or pattern piece of needlework. It is a doublet of _exemplar_. ~tease the huswife's wool~. To _tease_ is to comb or card: comp. the Lat. _vexare_. 'Huswife' = house-wife, further corrupted into _hussy_. _Hussif_ (a case for needles, etc.) is a different word.

752. ~What need a vermeil-tinctured lip~? See note, l. 362, on 'what need.' _Vermeil_: a French spelling of _vermilion_. The name is from Lat. _vermis_, a worm (the cochineal insect, from which the colour used to be got); and as _vermis_ is cognate with Sansk. _krimi_, a worm, it follows that _vermilion_, _crimson_, and _carmine_ are cognate.

753. ~tresses~. Homer (_Odyssey_, v. 390) speaks of "the fair-tressed Dawn," +euplokamos Êôs+.

755. ~advised~. Contrast with 'Advice,' l. 108.

756. Lines 756-761 are not addressed to Comus.

757. ~but that~: were it not that.

758. ~as mine eyes~: as he has already charmed mine eyes; see note, l. 170.

759. ~rules pranked in reason's garb~, _i.e._ specious arguments. _Pranked_ = decked in a showy manner: Milton (Prose works, i. 147, ed. 1698) speaks of the Episcopal church service _pranking_ herself in the weeds of the Popish mass. Comp. _Wint. Tale_, iv. 4. 10, "Most goddess-like _prank'd_ up"; _Par. Lost_, ii. 226, "Belial, with words clothed in _reason's garb_."

760-1. I hate when Vice brings forward refined arguments, and Virtue allows them to pass unchallenged. ~bolt~ = to sift or separate, as the _boulting-mill_ separates the meal from the bran; in this sense the word (also spelt _boult_) is used by Chaucer, Spenser (_F. Q._ ii. 4. 24), Shakespeare (_Cor._ iii. 1. 322, _Wint. Tale_, iv. 4. 375, "the fanned snow that's _bolted_ By the northern blasts twice o'er," etc.). The spelling _bolt_ has confused the word with 'bolt,' to shoot or start out. See Index to Globe _Shakespeare_.

763. ~she would her children~, etc., _i.e._ she wished (that) her children should be wantonly luxurious: comp. l. 172; _Par. Lost_, i. 497-503.

764. ~cateress~, stewardess, provider: lit. 'a buyer.' _Cateress_ is feminine: the masculine is _caterer_, where the final _-er_ of the agent is unnecessarily repeated.

765. ~Means ... to the good~: intends ... for the good.

767. ~dictate~. The accent in Milton's time was on the first syllable, both in noun and verb. ~spare Temperance~. For Milton's praises of Temperance comp. _Il Pens._ 46, "Spare Fast that oft with gods doth diet"; also the 6th Elegy, 56-66; _Son._ xx., etc. "There is much in the Lady which resembles the youthful Milton himself--he, the Lady of his college--and we may well believe that the great debate concerning temperance was not altogether dramatic (where, indeed, is Milton truly dramatic?), but was in part a record of passages in the poet's own spiritual history." Dowden's _Transcripts and Studies_.

768. If Nature's blessings were equally distributed instead of being heaped upon a luxurious few, then (as Shakespeare says, _King Lear_, iv. 1. 73) "distribution should undo excess, And each man have enough."

769. ~beseeming~, suitable. The original sense of _seem_ is 'to be fitting,' as in the words _beseem_ and _seemly_.

770. ~lewdly-pampered~; one of Milton's most expressive compounds = wickedly gluttonous. _Lewd_ has passed through several changes of meaning: (1) the lay-people as distinct from the clergy; (2) ignorant or unlearned; and finally (2) base or licentious.

774. ~she no whit encumbered~, _i.e._ Nature would not be in the least surcharged (as Comus represented in l. 728). _No whit_, used adverbially = not in the least, lit. 'not a particle.' Etymologically _aught_ = a whit, _naught_ = no whit.

776. ~His praise due paid~, _i.e._ would be duly paid. On _due_, see note, l. 12. ~gluttony~: abstract for concrete.

779. ~Crams~, _i.e._ crams himself. There are many verbs in English that may be thus used reflexively without having the pronoun expressed, _e.g._ _feed_, _prepare_, _change_, _pour_, _press_, etc.

780. ~enow~. 'Enow' conveys the notion of a number, as in early English: it is also spelt _anow_, and in Chaucer _ynowe_, and is the plural of _enough_. It still occurs as a provincialism in England. On lines 780-799 Masson says: "A recurrence, by the sister, with much more mystic fervour, to that Platonic and Miltonic doctrine which had already been propounded by the Elder Brother (see lines 420-475)."

782. ~sun-clad power of chastity~. With 'sun-clad' compare 'the sacred rays of chastity,' l. 425. Similarly in the _Faerie Queene_, iii. 6, Spenser says of Belphoebe, who represents Chastity, "And Phoebus with fair beams did her adorn."

783. ~yet to what end?~ A rhetorical question, = it would be to no purpose.

784. ~nor ... nor~. These correlatives are often used in poetry for _neither ... nor_ (Shakespeare often omitting the former altogether), and are equally correct. _Nor_ is only a contraction of _neither_, and the first may as well be contracted as the second.

785. ~sublime notion and high mystery~. In the _Apology for Smectymnuus_ Milton tells of his study of the "divine volume of Plato," wherein he learned of the "abstracted sublimities" of Chastity and Love: also of his study of the Holy Scripture "unfolding these chaste and high mysteries, with timeless care infused, that the body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body."

790. ~dear wit~. 'Dear' is here used in contempt: its original sense is 'precious' (A.S. _deore_), but in Elizabethan English it has a variety of meanings, _e.g._ intense, serious, grievous, great, etc. Comp. "sad occasion _dear_," _Lyc._ 6; "_dear_ groans," _L. L. L._ v. 2. 874. Craik suggests "that the notion properly involved in it of love, having first become generalised into that of a strong affection of any kind, had thence passed on to that of such an emotion the very reverse of love," as in my _dearest_ foe. ~gay rhetoric~: here so named in contempt, as being the instrument of sophistry.

791. ~fence~, argumentation, _Fence_ is an abbreviation of _defence_: comp. "tongue-fence" (Milton), "fencer in wits' school" (Fuller), _Much Ado_, v. 1. 75.

794. ~rapt spirits~. 'Rapt' = enraptured, as if the mind or soul had been _carried out of itself_ (Lat. _raptus_, seized): comp. _Il Pens._ 40, "Thy _rapt_ soul sitting in thine eyes." Milton also uses the word of the actual snatching away of a person: "What accident hath _rapt_ him from us," _Par. Lost_, ii. 40.

797. ~the brute Earth~, etc., _i.e._ the senseless Earth would become sensible and assist me. 'Brute' = Lat. _brutus_, dull, insensible: comp. Horace, _Odes_, i. 34. 9, "_bruta tellus_."

800. ~She fables not~: she speaks truly. This line is alliterative.

801. ~set off~: comp. _Lyc._ 80, "_set off_ to the world."

802. ~though not mortal~: _sc._ 'I am.' ~shuddering dew~. The epithet is, by hypallage, transferred from the person to the dew or cold sweat which 'dips' or moistens his body.

804. ~Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus~, etc.; in allusion to the _Titanomachia_ or contest between Zeus and the Titans. Zeus, having been provided with thunder and lightning by the Cyclops, cast the Titans into Tartarus or Erebus, a region as far below Hell as Heaven is above the Earth. The leader of the Titans was Cronos (Saturn). There is a zeugma in _speaks_ as applied to 'thunder' and 'chains,' unless it be taken as in both cases equivalent to _denounces_.

806. ~Come, no more!~ Comus now addresses the lady.

808. ~canon laws of our foundation~, _i.e._ the established rules of our society. "A humorous application of the language of universities and other foundations" (Keightley).

809. ~'tis but the lees~, etc. _Lees_ and _settlings_ are synonymous = dregs. The allusion is to the old physiological system of the four primary humours of the body, viz. blood, phlegm, choler, and melancholy (see Burton's _Anat. of Mel._ i. 1, § ii. 2): "Melancholy, cold and dry, thick, black, and sour, begotten of the more feculent part of nourishment, and purged from the spleen"; Gk. +melancholia+, black bile. See _Sams. Agon._ 600, "_humours black_ That mingle with thy fancy"; and Nash's _Terrors of the Night_ (1594): "(Melancholy) sinketh down to the bottom like the lees of the wine, corrupteth the blood, and is the cause of lunacy."

811. ~straight~, immediately. The adverb _straight_ is now chiefly used of direction; to indicate time _straightway_ (= in a straight way) is more usual: comp. _L'Alleg._ 69: "Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures."

814. ~scape~, a mutilated form of 'escape,' occurs both as a noun and a verb in Shakespeare and Milton: see _Par. Lost_, x. 5, "what can _scape_ the eye of God?"; _Par. Reg._ ii. 189, "then lay'st thy _scapes_ on names adored."

816. ~without his rod reversed~. This use of the participle is a Latinism: see note, l. 48. At the same time it is to be noted that a phrase of this kind introduced by 'without' is in Latin frequently rendered by the ablative absolute: such construction is here inadmissible because 'without' also governs 'mutters.'

817. ~backward mutters~. The notion of a counter-charm produced by reversing the magical wand and by repeating the charm backwards occurs in Ovid (_Met._ xiv. 300), who describes Circe as thus restoring the followers of Ulysses to their human forms. Milton skilfully makes the neglect of the counter-charm the occasion for introducing the legend of Sabrina, which was likely to interest an audience assembled in the neighbourhood of the River Severn. On 'mutters,' see note, l. 526.

820. ~bethink me~. The pronoun after this verb is reflexive. "The deliverance of their sister would be impossible but for supernatural interposition, the aid afforded by the Attendant Spirit from Jove's court. In other words, Divine Providence is asserted. Not without higher than human aid is the Lady rescued, and through the weakness of the mortal instruments of divine grace but half the intended work is accomplished." Dowden's _Transcripts and Studies_.

821. In this line and the next the attributive clauses are separated from the antecedent: see note, l. 2.

822. ~Meliboeus~. The name of a shepherd in Virgil's _Eclogue_ i. Possibly the poet Spenser is here meant, as the tale of Sabrina is given in the _Faerie Queene_, ii. 10, 14. The tale is also told by Geoffrey of Monmouth and by Sackville, Drayton and Warner. As Milton refers to a 'shepherd,' _i.e._ a poet, and to 'the soothest shepherd,' _i.e._ the truest poet, and as he follows Spenser's version of the story in this poem, we need not hesitate to identify Meliboeus with Spenser.

823. ~soothest~, truest. The A.S. _sóth_ meant _true_; hence also 'a true thing' = truth. It survives in _soothe_ (lit. to affirm to be true), _soothsay_ (see l. 874), and _forsooth_ (= for a truth).

824. ~from hence~. _Hence_ represents an A.S. word _heonan_, _-an_ being a suffix = from: so that in the phrase 'from hence' the force of the preposition is twice introduced. Yet the idiom is common: it arises from forgetfulness of the origin of the word. Comp. _Arc._ 3: "which _we from hence_ descry."

825. ~with moist curb sways~: comp. l. 18. Sabrina was a _numen fluminis_ or river-deity.

826. ~Sabrina~: The following is Milton's version of the legend:--"After this, Brutus, in a chosen place, builds Troja Nova, changed in time to Trinovantum, now London; and began to enact laws (Heli being then High Priest in Judea); and, having governed the whole isle twenty-four years, died, and was buried in his new Troy. His three sons--Locrine, Albanact, and Camber--divide the land by consent. Locrine had the middle part, Loëgria; Camber possessed Cambria or Wales; Albanact, Albania, now Scotland. But he, in the end, by Humber, King of the Huns, who, with a fleet, invaded that land, was slain in fight, and his people driven back into Loëgria. Locrine and his brother go out against Humber; who now marching onward was by them defeated, and in a river drowned, which to this day retains his name. Among the spoils of his camp and navy were found certain young maids, and Estrilidis, above the rest, passing fair, the daughter of a king in Germany, from whence Humber, as he went wasting the sea-coast, had led her captive; whom Locrine, though before contracted to the daughter of Corineus, resolves to marry. But being forced and threatened by Corineus, whose authority and power he feared, Gwendolen the daughter he yields to marry, but in secret loves the other; and, ofttimes retiring as to some sacrifice, through vaults and passages made underground, and seven years thus enjoying her, had by her a daughter equally fair, whose name was Sabra. But when once his fear was off by the death of Corineus, not content with secret enjoyment, divorcing Gwendolen, he makes Estrilidis his Queen. Gwendolen, all in rage, departs into Cornwall; where Pladan, the son she had by Locrine, was hitherto brought up by Corineus, his grandfather; and gathering an army of her father's friends and subjects, gives battle to her husband by the river Sture, wherein Locrine, shot with an arrow, ends his life. But not so ends the fury of Gwendolen, for Estrilidis and her daughter Sabra she throws into a river, and, to have a monument of revenge, proclaims that the stream be thenceforth called after the damsel's name, which by length of time is changed now to _Sabrina_ or Severn."--_History of Britain_ (1670).

827. ~Whilom~, of old. An obsolete word, lit. 'at time'; A.S. _hwílum_, instr. or dat. plur. of _hwil_, time.

830. ~step-dame~. For the actual relationship, see note, l. 826. The prefix _step_ (A.S. _steóp-_) means 'orphaned,' and applies properly to a child whose parent has re-married: it was afterwards used in the words 'step-father,' etc. _Dame_ (Fr. _dame_, a lady) retains the sense of mother in the form _dam_.

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

834. ~pearled wrists~, wrists adorned with pearls. An appropriate epithet, as pearls were said to exist in the waters of the Severn.

835. ~aged Nereus' hall~, the abode of old Nereus, _i.e._ the bottom of the sea. Nereus, the father of the Nereids, or sea nymphs, is described as the wise and unerring old man of the sea; in Virgil, _grandaevus Nereus_. See also, l. 871, and compare Jonson's _Neptune's Triumph_, last song: "Old Nereus, with his fifty girls, From aged Indus laden home with pearls."

836. ~piteous of~, _i.e._ full of pity for; comp. Lat. _miseret te aliorum_ (genitive). Milton occasionally uses the word in this passive sense; its active sense is 'causing pity,' _i.e._ pitiful. Comp. Abbott, § 3. ~reared her lank head~, _i.e._ raised up her drooping head: comp. _Par. Lost_, viii.: "In adoration at his feet I fell Submiss: he _reared_ me." 'Lank,' lit. slender; hence weak. The adjective _lanky_ is in common use = tall and thin.

837. ~imbathe~, to bathe in: the force of the preposition being reduplicated, as in Lat. _incidere in_.

838. ~nectared lavers~, etc., baths sweetened with nectar and scented with asphodel flowers. On 'nectar,' see note, l. 479. ~asphodel~; the same, both name and thing, as 'daffodil' (see _Lyc._ 150, where it takes the form 'daffadillies'): Gk. +asphodelos+, M.E. _affodille_. The initial _d_ in daffodil has not been satisfactorily explained: see l. 851.

839. ~the porch~. So Quintilian calls the ear the vestibule of the mind: comp. _Haml._ i. 5. 63: "the porches of mine ear"; also the phrase, "the five gateways of knowledge."

840. ~ambrosial oils~, oils of heavenly fragrance: see note, l. 16, and compare Virgil's use of _ambrosia_ in _Georg._ iv. 415, _liquidum ambrosiae diffundit odorem_.

841. ~quick immortal change~: comp. l. 10.

842. ~Made Goddess~, etc. This participial construction is frequent in Milton as in Latin: it is equivalent to an explanatory clause.

844. ~twilight meadows~: comp. "twilight groves," _Il Pens._ 133; "twilight ranks," _Arc._ 99; _Hymn Nat._ 188.

845. ~Helping all urchin blasts~, remedying or preventing the blighting influence of evil spirits. 'Urchin blasts' is probably here used generally for what in _Arcades_, 49-53, are called "noisome winds and blasting vapours chill," 'urchin' being common in the sense of 'goblin' (_M. W. of W._ iv. 4. 49). Strictly the word denotes the hedgehog, which for various reasons was popularly regarded with great dread, and hence mischievous spirits were supposed to assume its form: comp. Shakespeare, _Temp_, i. 2. 326, ii. 2. 5, "Fright me with _urchin_-shows"; _Titus And._ ii. 3. 101; _Macbeth_, iv. 1. 2, "Thrice and once the _hedge-pig_ whined," etc. Compare the protecting duties of the Genius in _Arcades_. ~Helping~: comp. the phrases, "I cannot _help_ it," _i.e._ prevent it; "it cannot be _helped_," _i.e._ remedied, etc.

846. ~shrewd~. Here used in its radical sense = _shrew-ed_, malicious, like a shrew. Comp. _M. N. D._ ii. 1, "That _shrewd_ and knavish sprite called Robin Goodfellow." Chaucer has the verb _shrew_ = to curse; the current verb is _beshrew_.

847. ~vialed~, contained in _phials_.

850. ~garland wreaths~. A garland is a wreath, but we may take the phrase to mean 'wreathed garlands': comp. "twisted braids," l. 862.

852. ~old swain~, _i.e._ Meliboeus (l. 862). "But neither Geoffrey of Monmouth nor Spenser has the development of the legend" (Masson).

853. ~clasping charm~: see l. 613, 660.

854. ~warbled song~: comp. _Arc._ 87, "touch the _warbled_ string"; _Son._ xx. 12, "_Warble_ immortal notes."

857. ~This will I try~, _i.e._ to invoke her rightly in song.

858. ~adjuring~, charging by something sacred and venerable. The adjuration is contained in lines 867-889, which, in Milton's MS., are directed "to be said," not sung, and in the Bridgewater MS. "to sing or not." From the latter MS. it would appear that these lines were sung as a kind of trio by Lawes and the two brothers.

863. ~amber-dropping~: see note, l. 333; and comp. l. 106, where the idea is similar, warranting us in taking 'amber-dropping' as a compound epithet = dropping amber, and not (as some read) 'amber' and 'dropping.' _Amber_ conveys the ideas of luminous clearness and fragrance: see _Sams. Agon._ 720, "_amber_ scent of odorous perfume."

865. ~silver lake~, the Severn. Virgil has the Lat. _lacus_ in the sense of 'a river.'

868. ~great Oceanus~, Gk. +Ôkeanon te megan+. The early Greeks regarded the earth as a flat disc, surrounded by a perpetually flowing river called Oceanus: the god of this river was also called Oceanus, and afterwards the name was applied to the Atlantic. Hesiod, Drayton, and Jonson have all applied the epithet 'great' to the god Oceanus; in fact, throughout these lines Milton uses what may be called the "permanent epithets" of the various divinities.

869. ~earth-shaking Neptune's mace~, _i.e._ the trident of Poseidon (Neptune). Homer calls him +ennosigaios+ = earth-shaking: comp. _Iliad_, xii. 27, "And the Shaker of the Earth with his trident in his hands," etc. In _Par. Lost_, x. 294, Milton provides Death with a "mace petrifick."

870. ~Tethys' ... pace~. Tethys, wife of Oceanus, their children being the Oceanides and river-gods. In Hesiod she is 'the venerable' (+potnia Têthys+), and in Ovid 'the hoary.'

871. ~hoary Nereus~: see note, l. 835.

872. ~Carpathian wizard's hook~. See Virgil's _Georg._ iv. 387, "In the sea-god's Carpathian gulf there lives a seer, Proteus, of the sea's own hue ... all things are known to him, those which are, those which have been, and those which drag their length through the advancing future." _Wizard_ = diviner, without the depreciatory sense of line 571; see note there. _Hook_: Proteus had a shepherd's hook, because he tended "the monstrous herds of loathly sea-calves": _Odyssey_, iv. 385-463.

873. ~scaly Triton's ... shell~. In _Lycidas_, 89, he is "the Herald of the Sea." He bore a 'wreathed horn' or shell which he blew at the command of Neptune in order to still the restless waves of the sea. He was 'scaly,' the lower part of his body being like that of a fish.

874. ~soothsaying Glaucus~. He was a Boeotian fisherman who had been changed into a marine deity, and was regarded by fishermen and sailors as a soothsayer or oracle: see note, l. 823.

875. ~Leucothea~: lit. "the white goddess" (Gk. +leukê+, +thea+), the name by which Ino, the daughter of Cadmus, was worshipped after she had thrown herself into the sea to avoid her enraged husband Athamas.

876. ~her son~, _i.e._ Melisertes, drowned and deified along with his mother: as a sea-deity he was called Palaemon, identified by the Romans with their god of harbours, Portumnus.

877. ~tinsel-slippered~. The 'permanent epithet' of Thetis, a daughter of Nereus and mother of Achilles, is "silver-footed" (Gk. +argyropeza+). Comp. _Neptune's Triumph_ (Jonson):

"And all the silver-footed nymphs were drest
To wait upon him, to the Ocean's feast."

'Tinsel-slippered' is a paraphrase of this, for 'tinsel' is a cloth worked with silver (or gold): the notion of cheap finery is not radical. Etymologically, _tinsel_ is that which glitters or _scintillates_. On the beauty of this epithet, and of Milton's compound epithets generally, see Trench, _English Past and Present_, p. 296.

878-80. ~Sirens ... Parthenopè's ... Ligea's~. The three Sirens (see note, l. 253) were Parthenopè, Lig{=e}a, and Lucosia. The tomb of the first was at Naples (see Milton's _Ad Leonaram_, iii., "Credula quid liquidam Sirena, Neapoli, jactas, Claraque Parthenopes fana Achelöiados," etc.). Ligea, described by Virgil (_Georg._ iv. 336) as a sea-nymph, is here represented as seated, like a mermaid, in the act of smoothing her hair with a golden comb.

881. ~Wherewith~ = with which. The true adjective clause is "sleeking ... locks" = with which she sleeks, etc.; and the true participial clause is "she sits ... rocks" = seated on ... rocks.

882. ~Sleeking~, making sleek or glossy. The original sense of 'sleek' is greasy: comp. _Lyc._ 99, "On the level brine _Sleek_ Panopè with all her sisters played."

885. ~heave~, raise. Comp. the similar use of the word in _L'Alleg._ 145, "Orpheus' self may heave his head."

887. ~bridle in~, _i.e._ restrain.

888. ~have~: subjunctive after _till_, as frequently in Milton.

890. ~rushy-fringèd~, fringed with rushes. The more usual form would be rush-fringed: we may regard Milton's form as a participle formed from the compound noun "rushy-fringe": comp. 'blue-haired,' l. 29; "false-played," Shakespeare, _A. and C._ iv. 14.

891. ~grows~. A singular with two nominatives connected by _and_: the verb is to be taken with each. But the compound subject is really equivalent to "the willow with its osiers dank," osiers being water-willows or their branches. ~dank~, damp: comp. _Par. Lost_, vii. 441, "oft they quit the _dank_" (= the water).

893. ~Thick set~, etc., _i.e._ thickly inlaid with agate and beautified with the azure sheen of turquoise, etc. There is a zeugma in _set_. ~azurn sheen~. Sheen = brightness: it occurs again in l. 1003; see note there. 'Azurn': modern English has a tendency to use the noun itself as an adjective in cases where older English used an adjective with the suffix _-en_ = made of. Most of the adjectives in _-en_ that still survive do not now denote "made of," but simply "like," _e.g._ golden hair, etc. _Azurn_ and _cedarn_ (l. 990), _hornen_, _treen_, _corden_, _glassen_, _reeden_, etc., are practically obsolete; see Trench, _English Past and Present_. Comp. 'oaten' (_Lyc._ 33), 'oaken' (_Arc._ 45). As the words 'azurn' and 'cedarn' are peculiar to Milton some hold that he adopted them from the Italian _azzurino_ and _cedrino_.

894. ~turkis~; also spelt turkoise, turquois, and turquoise: lit. 'the Turkish stone,' a Persian gem so called because it came through Turkey (Pers. _turk_, a Turk).

895. ~That ... strays~. Milton does not imply that these stones were found in the Severn, nor does he in lines 932-937 imply that cinnamon grows on its banks.

897. ~printless feet~. Comp. _Temp._ v. i. 34: "Ye that on the sands with _printless foot_ Do chase the ebbing Neptune"; also _Arc._ 85: "Where no print of step hath been."

902. It will be noticed that the Spirit takes up the rhymes of Sabrina's song ('here,' 'dear'; 'request,' 'distressed'), and again Sabrina continues the rhymes of the Spirit's song ('distressed,' 'best').

913. ~of precious cure~, of curative power. See note on this use of 'of,' l. 155.

914. References to the efficacy of sprinkling are frequent, _e.g._ in the English Bible, in Spenser, in Virgil (_Aen._ vi. 229), in Ovid (_Met._ iv. 479), in _Par. Lost_, xi. 416.

916. ~Next~: an adverb modifying 'touch.'

917. ~glutinous~, sticky, viscous. The epithet is transferred from the effect to the cause.

921. ~Amphitrite~: the wife of Neptune (Poseidon) and goddess of the Sea.

923. ~Anchises line~: see note, l. 827. Locrine was the son of Brutus, who was the son of Silvius, who was the grandson of the great Aeneas, who was the son of old Anchises.

924. ~may ... miss~. This verb is optative: so are '(may) scorch,' '(may) fill,' 'may roll,' and 'may be crowned.'

925. ~brimmèd~. The passive participle is so often used where we now use the active that 'brimmed' may mean 'brimming' = full to the brim. On the other hand, 'brim' is frequent in the sense of _bank_ (comp. l. 119), so that some regard 'brimmed' as = enclosed within banks.

928. ~singèd~, scorched. We should rather say 'scorching.' On the good wishes expressed in lines 924-937 Masson's comment is: "The whole of this poetic blessing on the Severn and its neighbourhood, involving the wish of what we should call 'solid commercial prosperity,' would go to the heart of the assemblage at Ludlow."

933. ~beryl~: in the Bible (_Rev._ xxi. 20) this precious stone forms one of the foundations of the New Jerusalem. The word is of Eastern origin: comp. Arab, _billaur_, crystal. ~golden ore~. As a matter of fact gold has been found in the Welsh mountains.

934. ~May thy lofty head~, etc. The grammatical construction is: 'May thy lofty head be crowned round with many a tower and terrace, and here and there (may thy lofty head be crowned) with groves of myrrh and cinnamon (growing) upon thy banks.' This makes 'banks' objective, and 'upon' a preposition: the only objection to this reading is that the notion of crowning the head upon the banks is peculiar. The difficulty vanishes when we recollect that Milton frequently connects two clauses with one subject rather loosely: the subject of the second clause is 'thou,' implied in 'thy lofty head.' An exact parallel to this is found in _L'Alleg._ 121, 122: 'whose bright eyes rain influence and _judge_ the prize'; also in _Il Pens._ 155-7; 'let my due feet never fail to _walk ... and love_, etc.': also in _Lyc._ 88, 89. The explanation adopted by Prof. Masson is that Milton had in view two Greek verbs--+peristephanoô+, 'to put a crown round,' and +epistephanoô+, "to put a crown upon": thus, "May thy lofty head be _crowned round_ with many a tower and terrace, and thy banks here and there be _crowned upon_ with groves of myrrh and cinnamon." This makes 'banks' nominative, and 'upon' an adverb.

In the Bridgewater MS. the stage direction here is, _Song ends_.

942. ~Not a waste~, etc., _i.e._ 'Let there not be a superfluous or unnecessary sound until we come.' 'waste' is an attributive: see note, l. 728.

945. ~gloomy covert wide~: see note, l. 207.

946. ~not many furlongs~. These words are deliberately inserted to keep up the illusion. It is probable that, in the actual representation of the mask, the scene representing the enchanted palace was removed when Comus's rout was driven off the stage, and a woodland scene redisplayed. This would give additional significance to these lines and to the change of scene after l. 957. 'Furlong' = furrow-long: it thus came to mean the length of a field, and is now a measure of length.

949. ~many a friend~. 'Many a' is a peculiar idiom, which has been explained in different ways. One view is that 'many' is a corruption of the French _mesnie_, a train or company, and 'a' a corruption of the preposition 'of,' the singular noun being then substituted for the plural through confusion of the preposition with the article. A more correct view seems to be that 'many' is the A.S. _manig_, which was in old English used with a singular noun and without the article, _e.g._ _manig mann_ = many men. In the thirteenth century the indefinite article began to be inserted; thus _mony enne thing_ = many a thing, just as we say 'what _a_ thing,' 'such _a_ thing.' This would seem to show that 'a' is not a corruption of 'of,' and that there is no connection with the French word _mesnie_. Milton, in this passage, uses 'many a friend' with a plural verb. ~gratulate~. The simple verb is now replaced by the compound _congratulate_ (Lat. _gratulari_, to wish joy to a person).

950. ~wished~, _i.e._ wished for; see note, l. 574. ~and beside~, _i.e._ 'and where, besides,' etc.

952. ~jigs~, lively dances.

958. ~Back, shepherds, back!~ On the rising of the curtain, the stage is occupied by peasants engaged in a merry dance. Soon after the attendant Spirit enters with the above words. ~Enough your play~, _i.e._ we have had enough of your dancing, which must now give way to 'other trippings.'

959. ~sunshine holiday~. Comp. _L'Alleg._ 98, where the same expression is used. There is a close resemblance between the language of this song and lines 91-99 of _L'Allegro_. Milton's own spelling of 'holiday' is 'holyday,' which shows the origin of the word. The accent in such compounds (comp. blue-bell, blackbird, etc.) falls on the adjective: it is only in this way that the ear can tell whether the compound forms (_e.g._ hóliday) or the separate words (_e.g._ hóly dáy) are being used.

960. ~Here be~: see note, l. 12. ~without duck or nod~: words used to describe the ungraceful dancing and awkward courtesy of the country people.

961. ~trippings ... lighter toes ... court guise~: words used to describe the graceful movements of the Lady and her brothers: comp. _L'Alleg._ 33: "trip it, as you go, On the light fantastic toe." _Trod_ (or trodden), past participle of _tread_: 'to tread a measure' is a common expression, meaning 'to dance.' 'Court guise,' _i.e._ courtly mien; _guise_ is a doublet of _wise_ = way, _e.g._ 'in this wise,' 'like_wise_,' 'other_wise_.' In such pairs of words as _guise_ and _wise_, _guard_ and _ward_, _guile_ and _wile_, the forms in _gu_ have come into English through the French.

963. ~Mercury~ (the Greek Hermes) was the herald of the gods, and as such was represented as having winged ankles (Gk. +ptênopedilos+): his name is here used as a synonym both for agility and refinement.

964. ~mincing Dryades~. The Dryades are wood-nymphs (Gk. +drys+, a tree), here represented as mincing, _i.e._ tripping with short steps, unlike the clumsy striding of the country people. Comp. _Merch. of V._ iii. 4. 67: "turn two _mincing_ steps Into a manly stride." Applied to a person's gait (or speech), the word now implies affectation.

965. ~lawns ... leas~. On 'lawn,' see note, l. 568: a 'lea' is a meadow.

966. This song is sung by Lawes while presenting the three young persons to the Earl and Countess of Bridgewater.

967. ~ye~: see note, l. 216.

968. ~so goodly grown~, _i.e._ grown so goodly. _Goodly_ = handsome (A.S. _gódlic_ = goodlike).

970. ~timely~. Here an adverb: in l. 689 it is an adjective. Comp. the two phrases in _Macbeth_: "To gain the _timely_ inn," iii. 3. 7; and "To call _timely_ on him," ii. 3. 51.

972. ~assays~, trials, temptations. _Assay_ is used by Milton in the sense of 'attempt' as well as of 'trial': see _Arc._ 80, "I will _assay_, her worth to celebrate." The former meaning is now confined to the form _essay_ (radically the same word); and the use of _assay_ has been still further restricted from its being used chiefly of the testing of metals. Comp. _Par. Lost_, iv. 932, "hard _assays_ and ill successes"; _Par. Reg._ i. 264, iv. 478.

974, 5. ~To triumph~. The whole purpose of the poem is succinctly expressed in these lines. _Stage Direction_: ~Spirit epiloguizes~, _i.e._ sings the epilogue or concluding stanzas. In one of Lawes' manuscripts of the mask, the epilogue consists of twelve lines only, those numbered 1012-1023. From the same copy we find that line 976 had been altered by Lawes in such a manner as to convert the first part of the epilogue into a prologue which, in his character as Attendant Spirit, he sang whilst descending upon the stage:--

_From the heavens_ now I fly,
And those happy climes that lie
Where day never shuts his eye,
Up in the broad _field_ of the sky.
There I suck the liquid air
All amidst the gardens fair
Of Hesperus, and his daughters three
That sing about the golden tree.
There eternal summer dwells,
And west winds, with musky wing,
About the cedarn alleys fling
Nard and cassia's balmy smells.
Iris there with humid bow
Waters the odorous banks, that blow
Flowers of more mingled hue
Than her purfled scarf can show,
_Yellow, watchet, green, and blue_,
And drenches oft with _Manna_ dew
Beds of hyacinth and roses,
Where _many a cherub soft_ reposes.

Doubtless this was the arrangement in the actual performance of the mask.

976. ~To the ocean~, etc. The resemblance of this song, in rhythm and rhyme, to the song of Ariel in the _Tempest_, v. 1. 88-94, has been frequently pointed out: "Where the bee sucks, there suck I," etc. Compare also the song of Johphiel in _The Fortunate Isles_ (Ben Jonson): "Like a lightning from the sky," etc. The epilogue as sung by Lawes (ll. 1012-1023) may also be compared with the epilogue of the _Tempest_: "Now my charms are all o'erthrown," etc.

977. ~happy climes~. Comp. _Odyssey_, iv. 566: "The deathless gods will convey thee to the Elysian plain and the world's end ... where life is easiest for men. No snow is there, nor yet great storm, nor any rain; but always ocean sendeth forth the breeze of the shrill west to blow cool on men": see also l. 14. 'Clime,' radically the same as _climate_, is still used in its literal sense = a region of the earth; while 'climate' has the secondary meaning of 'atmospheric conditions.' Comp. _Son._ viii. 8: "Whatever _clime_ the sun's bright circle warms."

978. ~day ... eye~. Comp. _Son._ i. 5: "the _eye_ of day"; and _Lyc._ 26: "the opening _eyelids_ of the Morn."

979. ~broad fields of the sky~. Comp. Virgil's "_Aëris in campis latis_," _Aen._ vi. 888.

980. ~suck the liquid air~, inhale the pure air. 'Liquid' (lit. flowing) is used figuratively and generally in the sense of pure and sweet: comp. _Son._ i. 5, "thy liquid notes."

981. ~All amidst~. For this adverbial use of _all_ (here modifying the following prepositional phrase), compare _Il Pens._ 33, "_all_ in a robe of darkest grain."

982. ~Hesperus~: see note, l. 393. Hesperus, the brother of Atlas, had three daughters--Aegle, Cynthia, and Hesperia. They were famed for their sweet song. In Milton's MS. _Hesperus_ is written over _Atlas_: Spenser makes them daughters of Atlas, as does Jonson in _Pleasure reconciled to Virtue_.

984. ~crispéd shades~. 'Crisped,' like 'curled' (comp. "curl the grove," _Arc._ 46) is a common expression in the poetry of the time, and has the same meaning. The original form is the adjective 'crisp' (Lat. _crispus_ = curled), from which comes the verb _to crisp_ and the participle _crisped_. Compare "the _crisped_ brooks ... ran nectar," _Par. Lost_, iv. 237, where the word is best rendered 'rippled'; also Tennyson's _Claribel_, 19, "the babbling runnel _crispeth_." In the present case the reference is to the foliage of the trees.

985. ~spruce~, gay. This word, now applied to persons with a touch of levity, was formerly used both of things and persons in the sense of gay or neat. Compare the present and earlier uses of the word _jolly_, on which Pattison says:--"This is an instance of the disadvantage under which poetry in a living language labours. No knowledge of the meaning which a word bore in 1631 can wholly banish the later and vulgar associations which may have gathered round it since. Apart from direct parody and burlesque, the tendency of living speech is gradually to degrade the noble; so that as time goes on the range of poetical expression grows from generation to generation more and more restricted." The origin of the word _spruce_ is disputed: Skeat holds that it is a corruption of Pruce (old Fr. _Pruce_, mod. Fr. _Prusse_) = Prussia; we read in the 14th century of persons dressed after the fashion of Prussia or Spruce, and Prussia was called Sprussia by some English writers up to the beginning of the 17th century. See also Trench, _Select Glossary_.

986. ~The Graces~. The three Graces of classical mythology were Euphrosyne (the light-hearted one), Aglaia (the bright one), and Thalia (the blooming one). See _L'Alleg._ 12: "Euphrosyne ... Whom lovely Venus, at a birth, With two sister Graces more, To ivy-crownèd Bacchus bore." They were sometimes represented as daughters of Zeus, and as the goddesses who purified and enhanced all the innocent pleasures of life. ~rosy-bosomed Hours~. The Hours (Horæ) of classical mythology were the goddesses of the Seasons, whose course was described as the dance of the Horæ. The Hora of Spring accompanied Persephone every year on her ascent from the lower world, and the expression "The chamber of the Horæ opens" is equivalent to "The Spring is coming." 'Rosy-bosomed'; the Gk. +rhodokolpos+: compare the epithets 'rosy-fingered' (applied by Homer to the dawn), 'rosy-armed,' etc.

989. ~musky ... fling~. Compare _Par. Lost_, viii. 515: "Fresh gales and gentle airs Whispered it to the woods, and from their wings Flung rose, flung odours from the spicy shrub." In this passage the verb _fling_ is similarly used. 'Musky' = fragrant: comp. 'musk-rose,' l. 496.

990. ~cedarn alleys~, _i.e._ alleys of cedar trees. For 'alley,' comp. l. 311. For the form of 'cedarn,' see note on 'azurn,' l. 893. Tennyson uses the word 'cedarn' in _Recoll. of Arab. Nights_, 115.

991. ~Nard and cassia~; two aromatic plants. Cassia is a name sometimes applied to the wild cinnamon: nard is also called _spike-nard_; see allusion in the Bible, _Mark_, xiv. 3; _Exod._ xxx. 24, etc.

992. ~Iris ... humid bow~: see note, l. 83. The allusion is, of course, to the rainbow.

993. ~blow~, here used actively = cause to blossom: comp. Jonson, _Mask at Highgate_, "For thee, Favonius, here shall _blow_ New flowers."

995. ~purfled~ = having an embroidered edge (O.F. _pourfiler_): the verb _to purfle_ survives in the contracted form _to purl_, and is cognate with profile = a front line or edge. ~shew~: here rhymes with _dew_; comp. l. 511, 512. This points to the fact that in Milton's time the present pronunciation of _shew_, though familiar, was not the only one recognised.

996. ~drenches with Elysian dew~, _i.e._ soaks with heavenly dew. The Homeric Elysium is described in _Odyssey_, iv.: see note, l. 977; it was afterwards identified with the abode of the blessed, l. 257. _Drench_ is the causative of _drink_: here the nominative of the verb is 'Iris' and the object 'beds.'

997. ~if your ears be true~, _i.e._ if your ears be pure: the poet is about to speak of that which cannot be understood by those with "gross unpurgèd ear" (_Arc._ 73, and _Com._ l. 458). He alludes to that pure Love which "leads up to Heaven," _Par. Lost_, viii. 612.

998. ~hyacinth~. This is the "sanguine flower inscribed with woe" of _Lycidas_, 106: it sprang from the blood of Hyacinthus, a youth beloved by Apollo.

999. ~Adonis~, the beloved of Venus, died of a wound which he received from a boar during the chase. The grief of Venus was so great that the gods of the lower world allowed him to spend six months of every year on earth. The story is of Asiatic origin, and is supposed to be symbolic of the revival of nature in spring and its death in winter. Comp. _Par. Lost_, ix. 439, "those gardens feigned Or of revived Adonis," etc.

1000. ~waxing well of~, _i.e._ recovering from. The A.S. _weaxan_ = to grow or increase: Shakespeare has 'man of wax' = adult, _Rom. and Jul._ i. 3. 76; see also Index to Globe _Shakespeare_.

1002. ~Assyrian queen~, _i.e._ Venus, whose worship came from the East, probably from Assyria. She was originally identical with Astarte, called by the Hebrews Ashteroth: see _Par. Lost_, i. 438-452, where Adonis appears as Thammuz.

1003, 4. ~far above ... advanced~. These words are to be read together: 'advanced' is an attribute to 'Cupid,' and is modified by 'far above.'

1003. ~spangled sheen~, glittering brightness. 'Spangled': _spangle_ is a diminutive of _spang_ = a metal clasp, and hence 'a shining ornament.' In poetry it is common to speak of the stars as 'spangles' and of the heavens as 'spangled': comp. Addison's well-known lines:

"The spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And _spangled_ heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim."

Comp. also _Lyc._ 170, "with _new-spangled_ ore." 'Sheen' is here used as a noun, as in line 893; also in _Hymn Nat._ 145, "throned in celestial _sheen_": _Epitaph on M. of W._ 73, "clad in radiant _sheen_." The word occurs in Spenser as an adjective also: comp. "her dainty corse so fair and _sheen_," _F. Q._ ii. 1. 10. In the line "By fountain clear or spangled starlight _sheen_" (_M. N. D._ ii. l. 29) it is doubtful whether the word is a noun or an adjective. Milton uses the adjective _sheeny_ (_Death of Fair Infant_, 48).

1004. ~Celestial Cupid~. The ordinary view of Cupid is given in the note to line 445; here he is the lover of Psyche (the human soul) to whom he is united after she has been purified by a life of trial and misfortune. The myth of Cupid and Psyche is as follows: Cupid was in love with Psyche, but warned her that she must not seek to know who he was. Yielding to curiosity, however, she drew near to him with a lamp while he was asleep. A drop of the hot oil falling on him, he awoke, and fled from her. She now wandered from place to place, persecuted by Venus; but after great sorrow, during which she was secretly supported by Cupid, she became immortal and was united to him for ever. In this story Psyche represents the human soul (Gk. +psychê+), which is disciplined and purified by earthly misfortune and so fitted for the enjoyment of true happiness in heaven. Further, in Milton's Allegory it is only the soul so purified that is capable of knowing true love: in his _Apology for Smectymnuus_ he calls it that Love "whose charming cup is only virtue," and whose "first and chiefest office ... begins and ends in the soul, producing those happy twins of her divine generation, Knowledge and Virtue." To this high and mystical love Milton again alludes in _Epitaphium Damonis_:

"In other part, the expansive vault above,
And there too, even there the god of love;
With quiver armed he mounts, his torch displays
A vivid light, his gem-tipt arrows blaze,
Around his bright and fiery eyes he rolls,
Nor aims at vulgar minds or little souls,
Nor deigns one look below, but aiming high
Sends every arrow to the lofty sky;
Hence forms divine, and minds immortal, learn
The power of Cupid, and enamoured burn."

_Cowper's translation._

1007. ~among~: preposition governing 'gods.'

1008. ~make~: subjunctive after 'till.' Its nominative is 'consent.'

1010. ~blissful~, blest. _Bliss_ is cognate with _bless_ and _blithe_. Comp. "the _blest_ kingdoms meek of joy and love," _Lyc._ 177. ~are to be born~. There seems to be here a confusion of constructions between the subjunctive co-ordinate with _make_ and the indicative dependent in meaning on "Jove hath sworn" in the following line.

1011. ~Youth and Joy~. Everlasting youth and joy are found only after the trials of earth are past. So Spenser makes Pleasure the daughter of Cupid and Psyche, but she is "the daughter late," _i.e._ she is possible only to the purified soul. See also note on l. 1004.

1012. ~my task~, _i.e._ the task alluded to in line 18. This line is an adverbial clause = Now that (or _because_) my task is smoothly done.

1013. The Spirit's task being finished he is free to soar where he pleases. There seems to be implied the injunction that mankind can by virtue alone attain to the same spiritual freedom.

1014. ~green earth's end~. The world as known to the ancients did not extend much beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. The Cape Verd Islands, which lie outside these straits, may be here referred to: comp. _Par. Lost_, viii. 630:

"But I can now no more; the parting sun
Beyond the earth's green Cape and Verdant Isles
Hesperean sets, my signal to depart."

1015. ~bowed welkin~: the meaning of the line is, "Where the arched sky curves slowly towards the horizon." _Welkin_ is, radically, "the region of clouds," A.S. _wolcnu_, clouds.

1017. ~corners of the moon~, _i.e._ its horns. The crescent moon is said to be 'horned' (Lat. _cornu_, a horn). Comp. the lines in _Macbeth_, iii. 5. 23, 24: "Upon the corners of the moon There hangs a vaporous drop profound."

1020. ~She can teach ye how to climb~, etc. Compare Jonson's song to Virtue: