1. 965. I drag-present for future, a Latinism, used for emphasis. (Aeneid, iii. 367.)

1. 966. And seal;-Cf. Revelation xx. 3.

1. 971. limitary;-set to guard the frontiers. Lat. limitaneus.

1. 974. Psalm xviii. 10.

1. 980. ported spears;—spears borne pointed towards him. Nares gives the meaning of 'ported' as borne in solemn manner, and quotes from Ben Jonson's Epithalamium the expression 'porting the ensigns.'

1. 987. unremov'd;-for unremovable.' So unreproved' at l. 493.

1. 989. Cf. Victory sits on our helms' (Richard III. v. 3). Cleopatra uses a similar expression (Antony and Cleopatra, i. 3).

1. 990. what seem'd;-a hesitating touch that spoils the picture is here given by Milton, apparently struck with the material nature he had assigned to these spiritual beings.

1. 997. These scales differ from those in Iliad xxii, and Aeneid xii. 725, by being identified with the constellation Libra.

1. 999. Isaiah xl. 12; Job xxxvii. 16, and xxviii. 25; Prov. xvi. 2; Dan. v. 27.

1. 1003. The sense of sequel here, as an indication of the consequence and not the consequence itself, is very unusual, as Keightley remarks. The weights were not emblematic (as in Homer and Virgil) of each combatant, but merely showed to Satan what would be the result to him of parting and of fight. The weightier, more prudent course is 'parting,' the ascending scales typifying (not victory, as in the classical examples, but) weakness as in the case of Belshazzar.

1. 1011. To trample thee as mire ;—cf. Isaiah x. 6.

1. 1015. murmuring;-Tasso describes the evil spirits driven back to Hell by Michael as groaning (gemendo). (Gierusalemme Liberata ix.)

Book V.

1. 1. Morn is given rosy fingers' in Homer, rosy steps' here, and a 'rosy hand' in Bk. vi. 3. Lucretius says of the sun that he sows the fields with light (ii. 211), but Milton improves this by a reference to the 'pearly dew.' (Faery Queene, IV. v. 45.)

1. 5. which refers to sleep. The only sound="the sound alone,' a Spenserian phrase (Faery Queene, V. xi. 30).

1. 6. fan. Not the sound is meant, but the wind which moves the leaves, whose effect on the sleepers was similar to the coolness produced by a fan. (Keightley.)

1. 7. Cf. Herrick (Hesperides 1648):

When all the birds have mattens seyd

And sung their thankful hymnes ;'

and Aeneid, viii. 456.

1. 17. awake, &c. ;-Canticles ii. 10.

1. 21. prime;-early day. 'Prime' was the early morning service of the Church. Cf. line 170, and Spenser, Faery Queene, I. vi. 13. See Glossary to that book.

1. 32. If dream'd;-cf. Horace, Odes, iv. 3. 24, for a similar hesitating expression.

1. 38. Iliad, ii. 23. Satan begins his temptation in 1. 673 in similar terms. 1. 41. The singing nightingale is here (correctly) spoken of as masculine, but in the Invocation to Echo (Comus 235) as feminine.

love-labour'd song resembles Spenser's 'love-learned song' (Epithalamium 88) sung by the birds to his bride.

1. 43. sets off the face of things;- an expression worthier of Addison than of Milton.' (Landor.)

1. 44. Cf. Giles Fletcher, Christ's Victory, i. 78:

'Heaven awaken'd all his eyes,

To see another sun at midnight rise.'

1. 49. Compare the dream of Dido. Aeneid, iv. 466.

1. 56. Spenser translates the Homeric ambrosial locks' of Zeus by 'nectardewed locks' (Faery Queene, VII. vi. 30), and Virgil has a similar expression applied to Venus (Aeneid, i. 403).

1. 74. Cf. the Sirens' address to Ulysses (Odyssey, xii. 184, &c.).

1. 79. Cf. note on Lycidas 165

1. 93. night; for what had happened in it—her dream. Cf. Silius Italicus, iii. 216:

'Promissa evolvunt somni, noctemque retractat.'

1. 102. Cf. note to L'Allegro 134.

1. 117. God here (though so printed in the early editions) may mean angel, as in l. 70. In 1. 60 the word more probably refers to the Almighty, whom Satan accuses of contempt in not using the fruit, and of envy in forbidding it to man. We have here the knowledge of evil before the Fall. See also 11. 205-208.

1. 122. nor cloud those looks;-cf. Horace, Epistles, i. 18. 94.

1. 124. Cf. The grey-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night.' (Romeo and Juliet, ii. 3.)

See also 1. 168, and xi. 173.

1. 132. So in Spenser (Faery Queene, III. vii. 9) Florimel is reviled by the witch, and

With that adowne out of her christall eyne

Few trickling tears she softly forth let fall,
That like two orient perles did purely shyne.'

1. 137. The early editions have a comma at 'roof,' but Pearce and Todd punctuate as in the text.

1. 150. numerous;—consisting of 'numeri,' poetic feet—' numbers,' as in iii. 38.

1. 153. Cf. Psalm cxlviii. and the Song of the Three Children.

1. 162. As to Milton's idea of night in heaven, cf. line 645 and vi. 8. Cf. Revelation vii. 16, xxi. 25.

1. 171. The sun is called 'mundi oculus' by Ovid (Metamorphoses, iv. 228), and mundi animus' by Pliny (i. 6).

1. 173. eternal here continual, as in Virgil (Aeneid, ii. 154, 297).

=

1. 177. five-either including Venus, although it was previously mentioned, or referring to the earth (viii. 129).

wandring;-the primary meaning of 'planet.'

1. 178. Alluding to the Pythagorean music of the spheres.

1. 181. quaternion;—from quaternio, later Latin for 'four.' (Acts xii. 4.) 1. 182. Perpetual circle; Et cum quatuor sint genera corporum, vicissitudine eorum mundi continuata natura est. Nam ex terrâ, aqua; ex aquâ, oritur aer; ex aere, aether; deinde retrorsum vicissim ex aethere, aer; inde aqua; ex aquâ, terra infima.' (Cicero, De Naturâ Deorum, ii. 33.)

1. 195. Cf. iii. 31.

1. 197. Souls. 'Soul' is used for other creatures besides man (Genesis i. 20, 30).

1. 198. up to Heaven-gate;-cf. song in Cymbeline, ii. 3, and Shakespeare's 29th Sonnet.

1. 200. Witness if, &c.;-Bishop Pearce remarks that plural and singular are often thus interchanged in the ancient tragic choruses, and in those of Samson Agonistes.

1. 210. Bentley proposed to substitute a comma for the period at the end of this line: peace recover'd.... . calm would then be ablative absolute.

1. 214. pamper'd. The Fr. pampre, from Lat. pampinus, is a vine-branch full of leaves.

1. 216. To wed ber elm, &c. ;-cf. Horace, Epodes, ii. 9; Virgil, Georgics, ii. 367; Ovid, Metamorphoses, xiv. 661.

1. 221. So Zeus selects Hermes to guard Priam (Iliad, xxiv. 334).

1. 224. Imitated from the passage of Tasso (Gierusalemme Liberata, ix. 60-2), where God sends Michael to assist the Christians.

1. 229. as friend with friend;-cf. Exod. xxxiii. 11.

1. 249. ardors;-seraphim: for Hebrew sâraf Lat. ardeo. (Keightley ) 1. 255. On golden hinges turning;—cf. vii. 207.

1. 257. From no cloud to interposed is ablative absolute. However small refers to Earth. Satan sees it, though much diminished by distance, and can even distinguish the garden of God. The following comparison illustrates the meaning. (Keightley.)

1. 265. Samos is not one of the Cyclades. It is farther east, off the coast of Ionia. Delos is the sinallest of the Cyclades. The punctuation here is that of the original editions.

1. 266. Cf. the flight of Mercury (Aeneid, iv. 253).

1. 272. sole bird. There was but one phoenix at a time. Herodotus relates that every five hundred years the new phoenix rose out of the nest in which the former one had died in Arabia, and carried its predecessor's body to Heliopolis in Lower Egypt. Milton here places the sun's temple in Thebes, the capital of Upper Egypt.

1. 274. Egyptian;-to distinguish this city from Thebes in Boeotia.

1. 284. feather'd mail;-as feathers lie over each other like the plates composing mail.

1. 285. grain;-see note on Il Penseroso 33. The comparison with Hermes may have been suggested by Iliad, xxiv. 339, or Aeneid, iv. 253, or by Shakespeare's

'Station like the herald Mercury.' (Hamlet, iii. 4.)

1. 289. Gallus in Virgil (Eclogue vi. 66), and Iris in Homer (Iliad, xxiii. 203), are received with the like honour.

1. 297. enormous ;—unmeasured ('out of rule,' Lat. enormâ). The original

ditions have a semicolon at art. A comma was substituted in ed. 1727, and the change was followed by Newton and Todd.

1 299. Genesis xviii. I.

1. 300. mounted;-Cf. 1. 370, and Georgics, iii. 358.

1. 311. Ris'n on mid-noon;—a somewhat similar thought occurs in Nativity Ode 83.

1. 321. Adam means earth' or 'mould.'

1. 333. What choice to choose. This assimilation of verb and noun is a classic usage (e. g. Aeneid, xii. 680), and is frequent in Milton (Paradise Lost, viii. 130, ix. 289, xi. 427).

338. all-bearing; - a literal translation of the Greek and Latin epithets of the earth.

1. 339. middle shore;-shore of the Mediterranean. 'Pontus' (though not on that se) and the Punic coast' are representatives, as it were, of Asia and Africa.

where Alcinous rɛign'd;—i. e. the Isle of Scleria (by some identified with Corcyra, now Corfu), where Ulysses was entertained. Its gardens are celebrated in Odyssey vii.

1. 342. Keightley retains the rin'd of the original editions. It should berinded.' Spenser (Shepherd's Calendar, Feb. III) uses 'rine' (subst.). But as I can nowhere find 'rine' as a verb, I have printed rind as a substantive. in rough coat or (in) smooth rind.' Cf. fruits of golden rind' (Various Readings, Comus, first speech).

1. 345. inoffensive;-with implied reference to the wine after the Flood. must;-new wine (mustum). Meath or 'mead,' is a drink made of honey. Cf. Chaucer, Knightes Tale:

The hornes full of meth, as is the gyse.'

The word is perha; s akin to μéov.

=

1. 348. wants;-is wanting (cf. Latin use of caret); and at l. 365 = dispense with,' 'forego.' (Keightley.)

349. unfum'd;-not burnt to produce scent.

Paradise (ix. 392), at least till after the Fall (x. 1073).

Fire was unknown in

1. 351. Bentley would read with no more train than with.' He censures the received reading as a solecism.

1. 356. besmear'd with gold resembles Horace's 'aurum vestibus illitum' (Odes, iv. 9. 14).

1. 357. all agape;—cf. Georgics, ii 463.

1. 361. native of Heav'n, &c.;-cf. the address of Æneas to Venus (Aeneid, i. 327).

1. 371. the angelic Virtue;—the angel. So Homer uses the strength of Priam' for Priam himself (Iliad, iii. 105), and Virgil has imitated him (Aeneid, xii. 149) Keightley refers Virtue to the classification of the celestial hierarchy (II. 772, 840). It is doubtless so intended here by Milton, but he has elsewhere (viii. 249) called Raphael a Power.

1. 380. Undeck't, save with herself is beyond the 'simplex munditiis' of Horace (Odes, i. 5. 5), and contrasts with Ovid's 'pars minima est ipsa puella sui.'

1. 394. Autumn pil'd;-the fruits of autumn, as in Georgics, ii. 5. 1. 399. unmeasured out;—cf. xii. 46); James i. 17.

1. 407. Psalm lxxviii. 25 gave the idea of this line.

1. 415. Pliny gives a similar account of the spots in the moon (ii. 9). 1. 421. This double negative (like that in line 548 and in i. 335) is a Latinism. (Georgics, i. 83.)

1. 425. Cum sol igneus sit, Oceanique alatur humoribus.' (Cicero, de Naturâ Deorum ii. 15.) Keightley refers to Faery Queene, I. i. 32, and calls this passage a purely poetic expression, belonging to the cosmology of the early days of Hellas and the Ptolemaic system.'

1. 426. These trees and vines are derived from Matthew xxvi. 29, Revelation xxii. 2.

1. 430. pearly grain ;—perhaps manna is meant. Psalm cv. 40; Exodus xvi. 14. 31.

1. 435. This gloss is founded on Raphael's speech in Tobit xii. 9: 'All these days did I appear unto you, but I did neither eat nor drink, but you did see a vision.' Milton follows the literal meaning of Genesis xviii. 8, and

xix. 3.

1. 445. crown'd;—filled to the brim, a classic phrase. (Iliad, i. 470; Georgics, ii. 528.)

1. 447. The allusion is to Genesis vi. 2. The sons of God here = angels. 1. 451. Iliad, i. 469; Aeneid, i. 216; Faery Queene, I. xii. 15.

1. 482. odorous has its second syllable long here, but short in iv. 166. spirits is here of two syllables, though in 1. 484 of only one. This line (like

1. 413) begins with two trochees.

1. 488. discursive;-i. e. by argument; discourse of reason,' as Shakespeare has it (Troilus and Cressida, ii. 2; Hamlet, i. 2).

intuitive; i. e. by instinctive apprehension.

1. 498. Milton here borrows the notions of those theologians who have speculated on what Adam might have attained to had he not fallen. 1. 503. Whose progeny ye are ;-cf. Acts xvii. 28.

1. 504. i. e. 'your fill of what happiness,' or 'to your fill what happiness.' 1. 509. scale; ladder (Lat. scala). Matter is here made the centre of a circle, of which the circumference is the limit of human knowledge. In 1. 511 there is an allusion to Jacob's ladder.

1. 520. The precepts are short, in accordance with the Horatian rule (De Arte Poetica 335).

1. 557. Cf. sacro digna silentio' (Horace, Odes, ii. 13. 29).

1. 564. Sad task and hard;-cf. Aeneid, ii. 3.

1. 570. not lawful to reveal;-i. e. not the 'fas audita' of Aeneid, vi. 266. 1. 574. Cf. vii. 329 and ix. 99. Drummond of Hawthornden has beautifully drawn out this idea in the concluding song of his poems. (Keightley.) 1. 579. Upon her centre pois'd;—cf. vii. 242.

1. 583. Plato's great year is the revolution of all the spheres to the point whence their motion began. (Virgil, Eclogues, iv. 5. 12.) Cf. 1. 861. The assembly of angels was such as in Job i. 6; 1 Kings xxii. 19; Daniel vii. 10. standards. 1. 589. gonfalons ; — Gonfalon' is especially the Pope's standard. Milton here seems to refer (in boly memorials) to the banners carried in religious processions, a reminiscence of his Italian journey.

1. 598. As from a flaming mount;-Exodus xix. 18; Daniel vii. 9. 1. 599. Cf. iii. 380.