1. 482. According to the Ptolemaic system, the planets seven are our solar system. Beyond this is the fix'd,' the firmament or sphere of the fixed stars. Above this, again, is the sphere clear as crystal, to which was attributed a certain libration or shaking (the 'trepidation' so much talked of) to account for observed irregularities in the motion of the stars. Beyond this was the 'primum mobile,' that first moved, the sphere which was both the first moved and the first mover, communicating its movement to all the lower spheres. Beyond the 'primum mobile' was the empyrean, in Milton's poem the seat of God and the angels. Tasso, describing the descent of Michael, mentions these spheres in the reverse order. Keightley quotes from Rabelais (iv. 65) 'trepidation tant controvers et débatu entre les fols astrologues.'

1. 492. Indulgences;-These remissions of the temporal punishment due to sin were first awarded as a recompense for zeal in the crusades, or held out as a stimulus thereto. Boniface IX, in 1300, attached the same advantages at first to a visit to Rome, then to the payment of certain sums to his commissioners. The consequences of this abuse two centuries later are well known.

bulls;-from bulla, the leaden seal attached to these documents.

1. 493. sport of winds;-cf. ' ludibria ventis' (Aeneid vi. 75).

1. 495. Limbo;-Limbus patrum (Lat. limbus, hem of a garment) was a region supposed to exist on the border of hell, of which Dante makes it the outermost circle. Therein the souls of the patriarchs and of good men who died before the coming of Christ were detained till the Resurrection. Dante places in it the souls who lived well according to the light of Nature, but who were not baptized.

1. 507. Cf. Jerusalem shall be built up with sapphires, and emeralds, and precious stones; thy walls, and towers, and battlements, with pure gold.' (Tobit xiii. 16.) See also Revelation xxi. 12, and Bk. ii. 1049.

1. 510. Genesis xxviii. 12.

1. 513. Newton punctuates thus (differing from the early editions inadvertently followed in the text):

'From Esau fled

To Padan aram, in the field of Luz
Dreaming,' &c.

1. 518. This was the water above the firmament. Cf. vii. 619.

1. 521. wafted;-as Lazarus was 'carried' by angels (Luke xvi. 22), or as the souls are brought into Dante's Purgatory, in a ship wafted by the wings of an angel (Purgatorio, ii. 33).

1. 522. 2 Kings i. II; and Paradise Regained, ii. 16; Il Penseroso 40. 1. 525. doors of bliss ;-Revelation iv. I.

1. 533. Cf. Faery Queene, I. x. 56.

1. 534. with choice regard ;-cf. Deuteronomy xi. 12.

1. 529. Before the Fall all the earth was favoured by Divine regard.

1. 535. Paneas (at the foot of Mount Hermon, just below the source of the Jordan) is the same city as Caesarea Philippi, mentioned in Matthew xvi. 13.

1. 538. where bounds, &c.;-Job xxviii. 3.

1. 546. Landor observes: No critic has noticed that the hill is instinct with life and activity.' Cf. 'heaven-kissing hill' (Hamlet).

1. 555. The verse in this exquisitely modulated passage seems to float up and down as if it had taken wings.' (Hazlitt.)

1. 557. from eastern point, &c.;-i.e he sees an entire hemisphere extending through six signs of the zodiac, viz. from Libra westward to Aries, the fleecy star. It bears Andromeda (an allusion to Helle is here conveyed) off the Atlantic seas, because Andromeda lies above Aries in the sky, though not immediately over it, being more to the west. (Keightley.)

1. 564. marble;—for its clear brilliancy. Shakespeare has marble heaven' (Othello, iii. 3), and Sophocles (Antigone 610, speaks of the 'marble radiance of Olympus.'

bis óblique way. Drayton similarly accentuates oblique' (Polyolbion xvi.):

'Then in his oblique course the lusty straggling street.'

1. 565. Here Milton seems to quit the Ptolemaic for the Copernican system. By the former the stars were fixed in the face of one sphere, so that Satan could not have flown among them. (Keightley.)

1. 569. Cf. Virgil's Elysian Fields (Aeneid, vi. 638, 639). The Islands of the Blest were placed far in the Western Ocean, and are wrongly identified by some writers with the Hesperidum Insulae, off the west coast of Africa. 1. 572. The golden sun ;—cf. Georgics, i. 232.

1. 574. In ix. 78, and x. 675, 'up and down' = north and south.

1. 575. By centre, &c. It is hard to tell whether Satan's course were toward, or away from, the centre (it not being determined whether the sun be the centre of the world or not), or 'by longitude,' i. e. in length east and west (iv. 539; vii. 373).

1. 577. aloof;- apart from (all, off). (Keightley.)

1. 593. inform'd ;-penetrated.

1. 596. The red stone rendered 'sardius' in the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and our Bible, Milton takes to be the ruby: that rendered emerald' he translates carbuncle,' and that rendered 'beryl' he translates 'chrysolite.' (Keightley.)

1. 602. bind volatile Hermes;-solidify Mercury, or quicksilver,

1. 603. For the metamorphoses of old Proteus, see Georgics, iv. 444, &c. 1. 604. drain'd, &c.;-i. e. water purified by distilling it over and over again in an alembic (limbec). Keightley remarks that the Greek waterdeities have alone the power of assuming many forms, because water alone of the elements can be changed into snow, ice, vapour, &c.

1. 607. elixir. The wondrous powers of this great medicine are thus set forth by Sir Epicure Mammon, in Ben Jonson's Alchemist (ii. 1).

He that has once the flower of the sun,

The perfect ruby, which we call elixir,
Can confer honour, love, respect, long life;
Give safety, valour, yea, and victory,

To whom he will.'

1. 609. The sun 'plays the alchemist' in King John, iii. 1.

1. 616. The as in this line='like as ;' that in the next = 'forasmuch as.' At the equator the sun is directly vertical at noon, and bodies cast no shadow.

1. 623. Revelation xix. 77.

Y

1. 625. Cf. the description of Phoebus in Ovid, Metamorphoses, ii. 40. 1. 627. Illustrious. Cf. Tennyson's mention of the light and lustrous curls' of Arthur,

That made his forehead like a rising sun.'

(Morte D'Arthur.)

fledge for fledged' occurs in the old translation of Pliny by Holland, in Milton's Colasterion, in Browne's Britannia's Pastoral, and again in this poem (vii. 420).

1.636. not of the prime ;-i.e. not full grown. Cf. Spenser's description of an angel (Faery Queene, II. viii. 5). Paradise Lost, xi. 245; Comus 289; Lycidas 8.

643. succinct;-girt like the Roman tunic, with a belt round the waist. (Horace, Satires, ii. 6. 107.)

1. 644. decent;-in its classical sense of 'comely.' (Horace, Odes, iii. 27. 53.) 1. 650. and are his eyes;-Zechariah iv. 10; Revelation i. 4, v. 6, viii. 2. 1. 652. overmoist and dry;-cf. Iliad, xiv. 308.

1. 654. Uriel means 'God is my Light' (Newton); or 'Light of God' (Keightley). Uriel' is not named in Scripture, but in Esdras x. 28 and

the rabbinical writings.

1. 664. delight and favour;—abstract for concrete. 1 693. In his uprightness;—Cf. Job xxxiii. 3.

1. 764. Psalm cxi. 4 (Prayer-book version).

Cf. Aeneid, v. 541.

1. 713. So Cicero, translating Plato (whose Timaeus furnished Milton with several hints), 'Id ex ordinato in ordinem adduxit.'

1. 715. cumbrous. Even air and fire were so, compared with the quint

essence.

1. 716. Aristotle supposed, besides the four elements, a fifth essence, out of which the ethereal bodies were formed, and of which the motion was orbicular.

1. 721. The rest of the quintessence (not used for the stars) was employed to form the interior of the outer coat of the world. Lucretius says of it (v. 470),

6

Et late diffusus in omnes undique partes
Omnia sic avido complexu caetera sepsit,'

and elsewhere (v. 455) mentions the 'magni moenia mundi.'

1. 730. The diva triformis' of Horace (Odes, iii. 22. 4). The allusion here is to the phases of the moon, increasing with horns turned east, decreasing with horns turned west and at the full.

1. 741. Ariosto (Orlando Furioso, iv. 24) makes his magician, mounted on a hippogriff, descend 'in large wheels.'

1. 742. Niphates;-an Armenian mountain bordering on Mesopotamia. Milton followed the precedents of Virgil (Aeneid, iv. 252, &c.) and Tasso, who makes Gabriel alight on Mount Libanus (Gierusalemme Liberata, i. 14. 15).

Book IV.

1. 1. Cf. Prologue to Henry V, 'O for a muse of fire !'

1. 3. second rout ;-The first was that recorded in Bk. i. Revelation xii. 12. 1. 10. Revelation v. IO.

1. 11. To wreak is to avenge (A.S. wræccan). Keightley remarks that to wreak vengeance' (an expression used by Dryden) is therefore incorrect. 'Wreak' is used for vengeance' in Shakespeare (Titus Andronicus, iv. 3). Cf. For 'tis the sport, to have the enginer

1. 17.

6

Hoist with his own petar."

6

(Hamlet, iv. 2.)

1. 20. Bede says of the devils, suarum secum ferent tormenta flammarum.' Cf. note to i. 255.

1. 25. Cf. Ovid, Tristia, iv. 9; i. 99:

'Dum vice mutatâ qui sim fuerimque recordor.'

1. 27. Cf. the grief of Ulysses (Odyssey, xiii. 197).

1. 30. This metaphor is used by Virgil in his Culex (41), and is exactly translated by Spenser:

The fiery sun was mounted now on hight

Up to the heavenly towers.'

1. 32. This speech (which Milton once intended should open Lucifer's part in the tragedy of Adam Unparadised) has a general resemblance to the first speech of Prometheus, who also appeals to the all-seeing orb of the sun.' 1. 37. Cf. Phaedra's hatred of day (Euripides, Hippolytus, 355), and Macbeth's weariness of the sun (v. 5).

1. 44. James i. 5.

1. 50. sdein'd:-from Ital. sdegnare.

Faery Queene, V. v. 44).

Spenser uses the word often (e. g.

1. 55. Cf. gratiam autem et qui retulerit, habere, et qui habeat, retulisse.' (Cicero, De Officiis, ii. 20.)

1. 79. This has been taken as addressed by Satan to himself. Keightley regards it as addressed to God, and thinks that line 81 is the correction and recall of the aspiration. Cf. Hebrews xii. 17.

1. 82. my dread of shame, &c.;-cf. Hector's speech, Iliad, xxii.

1. III. So in the distich usually attributed to Virgil,

'Divisum imperium cum Jove Caesar habet.'

99-108.

1. 112. By reigning in hell and the world, leaving to God only heaven. 1. 114. Cf. Faery Queene, I. x. 16.

1. 126. Niphates divides Armenia from Assyria.

1. 133. Ezekiel xxviii. 14 appears to have originated the idea of placing the garden on the summit of a hill, followed by Dante and Ariosto.

1. 141. Sidney, in his Arcadia, says: About it (as if it had been to enclose a theatre) grew such sort of trees as either excellency of fruit, stateliness of growth, continual greenness, &c., have at any time made famous.' Cf. Aeneid, v. 288.

1. 147. Milton, speaking of what hangs on the tree, calls it fruit; but when plucked, fruits. See il. 249, 422, Bks. v. 341, 390, viii. 307, and Comus 396.

1. 149. enamell'd ;-(from Fr. esmailler) as in the process of enamelling or fixing colours by the action of fire. Cf. A.S. meltan, Germ. schmelzen.

1. 151. On fair evening cloud.' Bentley's emendation for 'in' of the early editions.

1. 153. Dr. Major observes that 'of' here implies succession or change of circumstance, in accordance with the Greek usage. (Sophocles, Antigone 1092.)

1. 158. A common image with the Italian poets. Ariosto (Orlando Furioso, xxxiv. 51) describes the theft of the perfume by the gale, and the vernal delight thereby given. Shakespeare has the same idea in the opening of Twelfth Night.

1. 159. As when to them, &c. This is taken from Diodorus Siculus (iii. 46). The fragrance of spice is wafted out to sea for a distance of twenty miles, as is well known to every sailor in the West Indies or in the Indian Archipelago. But it is impossible that north-east winds could waft scent from the Arabian coast to a ship that had doubled the Cape and passed Mozambique. (Keightley.)

1. 165. smiles The metaphor is from the ȧvýp:0μov yéλaoμa, the manytwinkling smile of the waves. (Prometheus Vinctus 90.)

1. 168. Than Asmodeus. The commentators unanimously condemn this semi-burlesque ending of a beautiful passage.

1. 177. that past;-that would have passed, an expression founded on classic precedent, e. g. in the Ion of Euripides (1326): 'Have you heard how she killed me?' i. e. would have killed me.

1. 181. A similar play on words occurs in lines 286 and 530, and Bks. ix. 11 and xi. 627. The same words are thus dealt with by Romeo in his fantastic mood (Romeo and Juliet, i. 4).

1. 183. As when, &c. In this and the subsequent lines there is an allusion to John x. 1-16.

1. 193. The lewd were originally merely the lay people, the ignorant, as contrasted with the clergy. The idea of depravity was associated with that of ignorance (John vii. 49), and at last became the meaning of 'lewd.' In Shakespeare and in the Authorised Version (e. g. Acts xvii. 5) the latter sense only occurs; in Chaucer, both senses. Cf. Germ. leute, Lat. laeti, the military retainers who may have given their name to the divisions of Kent, lathes. (Latham)

1. 195. The middle tree The Hebrew expression in the midst' denotes not merely locality but excellence.

1. 196. Keightley remarks that this placing a sea-bird on a tree was probably suggested by Isaiah xxxiv. II.

What use could Satan

The suggestion that the difficulty. Well Besides, what ill use

1. 200. This passage has puzzled all commentators. have made of the tree? He was immortal already. well us'd applies to our first parents will not solve used' and only us'd must apply to the same person. did they make of the tree of Life? Certainly not before the Fall, and after the Fall they were not permitted to use or eat of it at all. 1. 202. Cf. Juvenal, x. 2:

'Pauci dignoscere possunt Vera bona.'

1. 209. The province in which Paradise was situated extended from Auran, a city of Mesopotamia near Euphrates, eastward to Seleucia, a city built by Seleucus, one of the successors of Alexander, upon the Tigris. Telassar (Isaiah xxxvii. 12) is placed by Ptolemy in Babylonia, on the common streams of Tigris and Euphrates.

1. 214. Eden (says Sir William Jones) is the same word as Aden, and means 'softness,' 'delight,' 'tranquillity,' as well as 'a settled abode.'