The Poetical Works of John Milton

Ibis honestus,
Postquam egregiam tu quoque sortem
Nactus abis, dextri prece sollicitatus amici.
Illic legeris inter alta nomina
Authorum, Graiæ simul et Latinæ
Antiqua gentis lumina et verum decus.

EPODOS.

Vos tandem haud vacui mei labores,
Quicquid hcc sterile fudit ingenium,
Jam serò placidam sperare jubeo
Perfunctam invidiâ requiem, sedesque beatas
Quas bonus Hermes
Et tutela dabit solers Roüsî,
Quò neque lingua procax vulgi penetrabit, atque longè
Turba legentûm prava facesset ;

80
At ultimi nepotes
Et cordatior ætas
Judicia rebus æquiora forsitan
Adhibebit integro sinu.
Tum, livore sepulto,
Si quid meremur sana posteritas sciet,
Roüsio favente.

588

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NOTES
IL PENSEROSO.

21. Cybele, one of the deities of Asia, 3. bestead, advantaged; assisted.

She was represented as wearing a 18. Milton's knowledge of Classic literature crown designed like a battlement. is everywhere apparent.

Memnon's 51. Thunder, here used for “ lightning.” sister was named Hemera, and her 65. i.e., The Muses sing to the Fates. beauty might be reasonably argued The symbolism here is gathered from the fact that Memnon himself

from the final passages of Plato's was famous as the most handsome

Republic. soldier of his time.

97. Ladon, like Alpheus, was a river in 19. The allusion is to Cassiope.

Arcadia, and Lycaeus was a moun. 33. grain, colour, from the grain that

tain in the same region. Cyllene provided the dye.

was another mountain on the limit 78. removed, distant.

of Arcadia. It was supposed that 88. Hermes, i.e., Hermes Trismegistus, Pan was born on Lycaeus, and

King of Egypt, who was supposed Hermes on Cyllene. Erymanth to have been an authority on

and Maenalus are also Arcadiar. chemistry and physics.

mountains. unsphere, bring back to earth from 106. Syrinx was a nymph whom Pan pur. the sphere he now inhabits.

sued. She was changed into a reed, 99. Alluding to the Oresteian Trilogy of and Pan, plucking the reed, formed Æschylus.

it into a fute. 110. Cambuscan, in Chaucer's Squire's Tale.

SONNETS. 123. Not elaborately adorned and with the hair dressed.

460. This sonnet was written after the 125. The Attic boy, i.e., Cephalus.

Battle of Edgehill, when Charles 156. pale, a secluded spot fenced off from was marching upon London. the outside world.

II. Alexander, when he was about to deL'ALLEGRO.

stroy Thebes, ordered that the house

of Pindar should be left untouched, 3. Stygian cave, i.e., a cave on the Styx,

to show his reverence for the poet. one of the rivers of Hell.

Emathion=Macedonian. 10. Cimmerian desert, the country of perpetual darkness.

LINE

461. Lady Margaret Ley was daughter of 40. unreproved pleasures, for “ pleasures

Sir James Ley, afterwards Earl of that ought not to be reproved.”

Marlborough. 62. dighı, decorated. 80. Cynosura was the constellation of the

5. The parliament was dissolved by

Charles on March 10, 1629.
Lesser Bear, into which Arcas, the

8. The old man eloquent was Isocrates, son of Calisto, was changed. The

who starved himself to death for seamen steered their course by this

shame after the defeat of Chaeronea. constellation, hence its metaphorical use for anything upon which the eyes 461. Sonnet VI. Milton's Tetrachordon

and the attention were eagerly fixed. was a treatise dealing with divorce, 91. secure, free of care ; light-hearted.

expounding the scriptural passages 94. rebeck, a form of violin.

treating of marriage. He wrote it 136. The Lydian measure was the measure at the time when he was thinking of of romance and tender passion.

separating from his first wife, who

had left him. ARCADES.

462. Sonnet VIII. Henry Lawes of Salis. 20. Latona, wife to Jupiter, was banished bury set music to many of the poems

to the floating island of Ortygia, of Waller and Carew, and composed where she became the mother of

royal masques and the coronation Artemis and Apollo

anthem of Charles II.

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PADS 463. To the Lord General Fairfax. Son.

net 1. This was written when Fairfax

was besieging Colchester. 464. Sonnet XI., line 6. The Darwen is a

stream near Preston. 464. Sonnet XII., line 4, i.e., Pyrrhus and

Hannibal. 465. Sonnet XIII. The Duke of Savoy,

in 1655, ordered his Protestant subjects in Piedmont to conform to the Roman Catholic faith and attend mass, or else leave the country. To carry this out, he sent soldiers into the country, who massacred many

of the people. 467. Sonnet XVIII., line 3. Hercules, who

restored Alcestis to Admetus. PARAPHRASE OF Ps. CXXXVI.,

page 494. 26. Erythraean main, i.c., the Red Sea. ON THE DEATH OF A FAIR INFANT,

page 498. 2. timeless, untimely. 8. Aquilo, the North Wind.

Athenian damsel, Orithyia, daughter of Erechtheus. 23. unweeting, unwitting. 50. The reference is to Astræa, who was

supposed to have left the Earth at the conclusion of the Golden Age.

VACATION EXERCISE, page 501.
42. thunder, for “thunderbolts.”
46. beldam, grandmother.
48. Demodocus.

See Odyssey viii. 522.
ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S

NATIVITY, page 504. 23. wisards, here used simply for “wise

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9. the

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>> men.

33. gaudy, holiday. 59. awful, full of awe; affrighted. 123. weltring, rolling. 186. parting, for departing." 200. Ashtaroth, the Syrian equivalent of

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213. Osiris, deity of the Nile.
244. harnest, in armour.

UPON THE CIRCUMCISION, page 512
10. heraldry is here used, not for the

pictorial art, but for the trumpets
and proclamations of the angelic

heralds. 21. still transgress, continue frequently to

transgress.

THE PASSION, page 513.
14. wight, creature; person.
26. Referring to Vida, who published at

Cremona, in 1535, his poem called
The Christiad.

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PAGL

ON THE MARCHIONESS OF WINCHESTER.
516. This was the wife of the fifth Lord

Winchester, herself the daughter of
Lord Savage. She died in 1631,

under an operation.

ON THE UNIVERSITY CARRIER. 519. This was Thomas Hobson, who used

to ply weekly between Cambridge and London. He was the origin of the expression “Hobson's choice,” as he compelled every customer to take the steed which stood nearest to the stable door. He died on New-Year's Day, 1631, leaving a

fortune behind him. ON THE NEW FORCERS OF CONSCIENCE,

page 521. 8. A.S. stands for "Adam Stewart," who

wrote against the Independents. 12. Edwards wrote a tract called “Reason

against Independence and Toleration."

COMUS. This mask was written in 1634, as part of the ceremonies designed to celebrate the appointment of the Earl of Bridgwater as President of Wales. It was performed at Ludlow, at Michaelmas, 1634, and was first printed three years later.

7. pin-fold, sheep-fold. 116. À morrice dance was originally a

Moorish dance. 129. Cotytto, the Thracian goddess, whose

rites were of a wild and libidinous nature.

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Venus.
203. Hammon, or Ammon, was the Egyp-

tian deity, represented with ram's
horns, who was supposed to preside
over the fortunes of the flocks and

herds.
212. Isis and Orus, Egyptian deities. Anu.

bis, a god with the face of a dog.

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son

139. nice, here used in its original sense of

“ fastidious.” 262. home-felt, i.e., felt very closely; felt at

15. the sacred well, i.e., the Pierian

spring. 36. Masson identifies Damoetas with

Chappell, the tutor of Christ's. 40. gadding, straying ; wandering. 66. meditate, practise. 96. Hippotades, i.e., Eolus, of

14. middle.

heart.
293. swinkt, weary.
301. plighted, plaited; folded.
327. warranted, protected.
341. The allusion is to the legend that

Calisto, daughter of the King of
Arcadia, was changed into the con-
stellation of the Greater Bear, and
Arcas, her son, into that of the

Lesser Bear.
367. unprincipld, uninstructed.
380. All to, i.e., altogether; completely.
393. The Hesperian apples, guarded by the

maidens called the Hesperides,
were presented to Hera on her
marriage by Ge, or the Earth.
Hercules was given the task of

securing them as one of his labours. 430. unbleach't, “fearless,” because with

out any touch of pallor. 531. croft, an enclosed field adjoining a

farm-house. 607. purchase, the thing he has stolen. 675. Nepenthes, a drug which banishes

Helen poured it into the cup of her husband Menelaus.

The wife of Thone, Polydamna. 707. budge, lambskin wool. 708. The allusion is to the tub of Diogenes. 719. hutcht, stored up. 760. bolt, sift. 791. i.e., sophistries which dazzle the

eye. 797. brute, insensate. 845. i.e., remedying the mischief done by

urchins. 984. crisped, curled. 995. purfl’d, fringed. 1017. corners, horns, from the Latin cornu.

care.

Hippotes.
99. Panope, one of the Nereids.
103. i.e., of course, the river Cam.
124. scrannel, meagre; thin.
142. rathe, early.
158. monstrous world, i.e., world of mon.

sters.
186. uncouth, unknown.

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK I.

The word here means of middle class; mean." 15. Aonia in Boeotia, the region frequented

by the Muses. 56. bale, sorrow; grief. 107. study, toil; endeavour. 117. empyreal, fiery. 186. afflicted, defeated. 232. Pelorus, the northern point of Sicily. 266. oblivious, that causes forgetfulness. 305. Orion. The constellation of Orion is

supposed, at its autumnal setting, to

cause stormy weather. 353. Rhene, i.e., the Rhine. 391. affrail, is here used in its proper sense

of “ confront." 460. grunsel, threshold. 548. serried, set close together. 580. Uther's son, i.e., King Arthur of

Britain. 585. Biserta, a Tunisian town. 609. amerc't, punished by the infliction of a

fine. 690. admire, wonder at. 694. Babel is here explained as referring to

the Temple of Belus in Babylon. 717. Fretted, is here used in the sense of

“adorned.” 797. frequent, many in number; crowded.

BOOK II. 2. Ormus was one of the islands in the

Persian Gulf. 73. drench, a draught drunk. 306. Atlas was the giant who was supposed

to carry the earth on his shoulders. 330. deiermin'd, i.e., "brought to a deter

mination;" "ended."

LYCIDAS.

This exquisite poem, “the high-water mark of English poetry and of Milton's own production,” as Mark Pattison called it, was dedicated to the memory of Edward King, Milton's contemporary, who was drowned on the way to Ireland on August 10, 1637. King was a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, and Lycidas was Milton's contribution to a volume of poems in memory of him, which his Cambridge friends collected and published in 1638. It was written in November, 1637.

193. lewd, here used in its original sense of

' ignorant laymen.” 250. amiable, lovable. 280. Abassin, Abyssinian. 478. platan, from platanus, the plane-tree. 493. unreprov'd, blameless. 703. emblem, is here used in its original

sense of “inlaid floor." 753. propriety, property. 962. areed, advise. 971. i.e., proud cherub, entrusted with the

protection of the frontier.

439. unessential, having no essence ; in

substantial. 513. horrent, used in its original Latin

sense of “ bristling.” 568. obdured, like obdurate, means “har

dened.” 595. frore, frozen. 693. conjur'd, joined together in conspiracy. 715. fraught, laden, 813. dint, blow. 842. buxom, is here used in its original

BOOK V. 150. numerous verse, verse marked off into

feet. 214. pampered, full of leaves. 24.9. ardors, cherubim and seraphim. 349. The meaning is, that the shrub was

not set fire to so as to produce a

scent. 589. gonfalons, banners. 739. illustrate, here used for

"render famous.” 906. retorted, hurled back in reply.

BOOK VI. 19. in procinct, i.e., girded for battle,

after the fashion of the Roman soi

diery. 58. reluctant, here used in its Latin sense

of“ struggling. 93. hosting, gathering together into a host. 101. idol, counterfeit presentment; image. 115. realty, royalty. 216. battle, here used for that which wages

sense of “pliant,” “ yielding.' 939. Syrtis, quicksands on the north of

Africa.
964. Demogorgon, the first-born of the

gods, whose name was supposed in
itself to be a thing of menace and
terror.

BOOK III.
16. middle-darkness, the intervening dark

that separates heaven from hell. 25. The allusion is to the so-called gutta

serena, a disease of the optic nerve. 30. flow'ry brooks, Kedron and Siloam. 35. Thamyris, a Thracian bard. Maeon.

ides, Homer. 90. assay, attempt. 93. glozing, deceitful. 129. suggestion, temptation. 255. maugre, in spite of. French malgre. 328. doom, judgment. 438. Sericana, the country between Imaus

and China.
456. unkindly, contrary to nature.
470. Empedocles, desiring an immortality

of fame, threw himself into Ætna,
in the hope that he would be sup-
posed to have been translated into
godhead. But the volcano threw up
his sandals, and thus revealed his

suicide.
495. Limbo, the region on the border of

Hell, where the spirits of the right-
eous who died before the coming of
Christ were to await their resurrec-

tion.
535. Paneas, Cæsarea Philippi.
602. i.e., make quicksilver solid and in-

active. 643. succinct, belted.

BOOK IV. 11. wreak, avenge. 50. sdein'd, disdained. 123. coucht, coupled with. 126. Assyrian mount, i.e., Niphates.

battle, i.e., the army. 329. griding, cutting. 362. uncouth, unknown. 382. illaudable, not to be praised. 446. Nisroch, a deity of the people of

Nineveh. 496. cheer, face; countenance. 520. pernicious, here used in its classic

sense of "quick," " hasty.” 619. result, again

a classic use for "re. bound. 766. bickering, skirmishing.

BOOK VII.
94. absolv'd, here means brought to a

conclusion.
162. inhabit lax, live about at large.
321. corny, i.e., laden with corn.
323. hair, for "foliage."
402. Scull, shoal.

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