Paradise Lost (Modern Library Classics) (25 page)

570.
gross
: dense, closely packed.

575–81.
The account of each river is a translation of its Greek name; e.g.,
Cocytus
derives from
kokutos
, Greek for “wailing” or
lamentation loud
.

591.
pile
: vast building.

592–94.
A gulf … sunk:
Surrounded by hills of sand, Lake Serbonis lay between
Mount Casius
and
Damiata
, at the center of a notorious morass on the lower Egyptian coast. Diodorus Siculus (1.30) and Sandys (1637, 137) describe the fatally deceptive locale and report it swallowing
whole armies
. Apollonius makes it, not Etna, Zeus’s prison for Typhon (2.1210–15). Related similes appear at 939–40 and 9.634–42.

595.
frore
: frosty. “When the cold north wind bloweth, and the water is congealed into ice, it … clotheth the water as with a breastplate. It … burneth the wilderness and consumeth the grass as fire” (Ec. 43.20–21). That Hell’s torments include ice as well as fire was a commonplace; see Dante,
Inf
. 3.86–87, and Shakespeare,
MM
3.1.121–22.

596.
harpy-footed
: with hooked claws, like a raptor. In Greek culture, Harpies were wind spirits thought to snatch people from this world and deliver them to the Furies (with whom they were sometimes confounded). They are particularly identified with sweeping storm winds (hence the power to carry away). 1667 and 1674 have “hailed,” not “haled.” The spellings were interchangeable in Milton’s time, and the superimposed senses of wind-driven precipitation, of being summoned, and of being dragged are likely intended.

600.
starve
: die a lingering death from the cold.

604.
Lethean sound
: the river of forgetfulness, Lethe (see l. 583).

611.
Medusa
: “snaky-headed Gorgon” (
Masque
447), the most notorious of three terrifying sisters. All who beheld Medusa were literally petrified.

613.
wight
: creature.

614.
Tantalus
: Homer depicts him in Tartarus, where he suffers perpetual thirst and appetite while standing chin deep in a lake that flees his lips, under boughs of fugitive fruit (
Od
. 11.582–92; see also Horace,
Satires
1.68). Cp. 4.325–36, 10.556–70.

621.
The variation of iambic rhythm in the first six monosyllables is shocking, maybe unique. It describes the unrelenting variety of a uniformly deathly landscape.

628.
Hydra
: a venomous serpent with multiple, regenerative heads;
Chimera:
a fire-breathing mix of lion, goat, and serpent (Il. 6.180–82).
Prolusion 1
presents these monsters as the horrors of a guilty conscience (
MLM
792). On
Gorgons
, see 611n. Cp. 10.524: “Scorpion and asp, and amphisbaena dire.”

629.
Adversary
: See 1.82n.

632.
Explores
: makes trial of, reconnoiters.

633–34.
scours … shaves:
“moves quickly over … skims the surface of.” As suggested by
explores
, Satan both makes a test flight and inspects the bounds of his new realm. The contact and coverage implied by
scours
and
shaves
is characteristic of the way Satan marks territory; cp. 9.63–66.

636–37.
As … clouds:
Sailing ships seen from afar (
descried
) appear suspended in air; Greek authors termed them
meteorous
, “hanging” or “aloft” (see Thucydides 1.48.3).

637.
equinoctial
: usually and incorrectly glossed as “at the equator” on the authority of the
OED
. The rest of the simile indicates that the
winds
in question are not the light and shifting breezes at the equator but monsoons. They dominate the climate of the Indian Ocean (
the wide Ethiopian
), reversing direction at the equinoxes (hence
equinoctial
), thus determining the schedule for shipping spices to Europe along the established commercial course (
trading flood
). During the southern winter (April to October), the monsoon blows to the northeast, out of Southern Africa. A fleet bent on sailing toward the
Cape
(of Good Hope) against that prevailing wind would set a course southwest, as
close
to the eye of the wind as possible, and tack repeatedly (
ply
).

637–42.
by … pole:
The comparison is to merchant ships, sailing either from Bengal (
Bengala
) in northeastern India or from
Ternate
and
Tidore
, “spice islands” in the East Indies. For the association of Satan’s regime with the region, see 2n, 4n.

642.
stemming … pole
: Ships bound for the Cape would alter course
nightly
, making headway (
stemming
) directly to the south (
toward the pole
), to avoid shallow coastal waters. In the southern winter, the higher the latitude, the longer the night.

647.
impaled
: surrounded, enclosed.

650–59.
The one … unseen:
Milton’s allegory of Sin comes out of the Spenserian tradition: cp. Spenser’s Error (
FQ
1.1.14–15), Phineas Fletcher’s Hamartia (
Purple Island
12.27–31) and Sin (
Apollyonists
1.10–12). Classical sources include Hesiod’s Echidna (half woman, half snake) (
Theog
. 300–25). See also Vergil’s Scylla (
Aen
. 3.426–32) and Ovid’s story of her origin (
Met
. 14.50–67), to which Milton alludes at 659–61 (see note); cp.
Masque
257–58.

652.
Voluminous
: winding or coiling, like a serpent.

653.
mortal sting
: “The sting of death is sin” (1 Cor. 15.56).

654.
cry
: pack; group noun for hounds.

655.
Cerberean
: In Greek myth, Cerberus is a many-headed guard dog at the entrance to Hades.

658.
Cp. the complaint of Shakespeare’s Margaret to the Duchess of York: “From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept / A hell-hound that doth hunt us all to death” (
R3
4.4.47–48).

659–61.
Circe poisons the sheltered coastal pool in which Scylla bathes. According to Ovid, she wades in up to her waist and “sees her loins disfigured with barking monster shapes … gaping dogs’ heads, such as a Cerberus might have” (
Met
. 14.60–65). She then preys on sailors from a cave on the Sicilian (
Trinacrian
) coast near Messina, opposite the southern tip of the Italian mainland (
Calabria
). Milton may deem the shore along the Strait of Messina
hoarse
because of nearby Etna’s frequent roaring.

662.
night-hag
: probably Hecate, the only Titan left at large by Zeus. The Greeks associated her with, among other things, infernal powers, the moon, and witchcraft. Howling dogs signaled her approach. See
Masque
535,
MAC
3.5.

664–66.
Lured … charms:
Witches were thought to use infant blood in their rites. Hence seventeenth-century authorities suspected midwives of practicing witchcraft and serving Satan by infanticide (Baillie 63, Ehrenreich and English).
Laboring
evokes the process of childbirth.

665.
Lapland
: northernmost portion of the Scandinavian peninsula. Hume records the common reputation of the inhabitants: “their diabolical superstitions, and vindictive natures, added to their gross stupidity, and the malicious imaginations of melancholy, have made them infamous for witchcraft and conjuration.”
laboring:
That magic could afflict the moon, causing it to labor in its movement, was an old and widespread belief. One meaning of the Latin
laborare
is “to undergo eclipse.”

673.
Milton’s representation of Death with a
kingly crown
may reflect his antimonarchical views. Cp. Shakespeare’s R
2:
“Within the hollow crown/That rounds the mortal temples of a king/Keeps Death his court” (3.2.160–62).

677.
admired
: wondered.

678–79.
God … shunned:
“When God was
except
(past participle,
OED
3b: ‘excluded’), no basis for value remained” (Fowler). Although this gloss may seem strained, the more common reading—“of all creation Satan values or shuns only God and the Son”—has a nodding Milton imply that God is created.

681.
In asking his opponent’s origin, Satan speaks in the manner of Achilles, though to ironically comic effect (cp.
Il
. 21.150).

683.
miscreated front
: ugly face.

686.
taste
: learn by experience or
proof;
a figurative usage crucial to the epic action.

692.
“[The dragon’s] tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth” (Rev. 12.4). Satan tends to overstate his faction as “well nigh half” (9.141). The precise ratio had long been a point of scholastic controversy.

693.
Conjured
: sworn together (stress on the second syllable).

697.
Hell-doomed
: retort to Satan’s scornful
Hell-born
(l. 687). Raphael’s narrative of the rebellion (5.563ff) confirms Death’s summary, which is oddly well informed and free from the infernal bias prevalent for most of the first two books.

701.
Cp. Solomon’s son Rehoboam to the Israelites: “My father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions” (1 Kings 12.11). The allusion suggests that God (Satan’s punisher) is also Death’s father, though we are about to learn otherwise.

705–11.
So speaking … war:
Cp. Satan’s confrontation with Gabriel (4.985ff).

708–11.
Unterrified … war:
Vergil and Tasso, among others, precede Milton in comparing warriors to comets (
Aen
. 10.272–73;
GL
7.52). They were since ancient times believed to presage pestilence, war, and change of kingdoms.

709.
Ophiucus
: serpent bearer; a large constellation that Milton associates with Satan, located in the Northern (hence
Arctic
) Hemisphere.

710.
horrid hair
: Another example of Milton’s etymologically instructive wordplay.
Comet
derives from the Greek
kometes
, “long-haired.”
Horrid
means “bristling” and derives from the same root as
hirsute
(“hairy”).

714–18.
Boiardo’s Orlando and Agricane are similarly opposed like
two black clouds
(
Orlando Innamorato
1.16.10). Satan, whose realm will be “mid air” (
PR
1.44–46), is persistently linked to meteorological phenomena.

716.
Caspian
: region commonly associated with storms (see, e.g., Horace,
Odes
2.9.2–3).

722.
foe
: the Son of God. See 1 Cor. 15.25–26 and Heb. 2.14.

746.
portress
: “The
Porter
to th’ infernal gate is
Sin”
(P. Fletcher,
Apollyonists
1.10.1).

748.
“This is a very just and instructive part of the allegory.… Sin, pleasant in contemplation and enjoyment, is foul in retrospect” (Cowper).

752–53.
All … thee:
Sin’s narrative and Raphael’s later narrative offer distinct explanations of Satan’s first experience of pain; cp. 6.327ff, 432ff.

754–58.
while … sprung:
The general
amazement
at the cephalic delivery of Sin full-blown, as
a goddess armed
, recalls the account of Athena’s birth in
Homeric Hymn
28.

760.
Critics preoccupied with postmodern semiotics belabor the proximity of
Sin
and
sign
, near homophones.

768.
fields
: battles; cp. 1.105.

771.
empyrean
: highest part of Heaven, where pure fire or light subsists.

772.
pitch
: pinnacle, height.

774–77.
at which time … op’ning:
Citing these lines, Fowler (746n) dismisses Empson’s concern over God’s choice of Sin and Death as guards. An allegory in which a personification of sin is expected to obey God’s command is nonetheless perplexing.

778–87.
till … destroy:
“Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1.15). Cp. Shakespeare,
Sonnet 129
. As with the birth of Sin (754–58n), the delivery of Death echoes the discharge of Satan’s artillery (6.586–90).

789.
Vergil similarly describes the sound produced by a spear thrown into the side of the Trojan horse: “With the womb’s reverberation the vaults rang hollow, sending forth a moan” (
Aen
. 2.52–53).

795–802.
The description of this hourly cycle suggests a nightmarish clock mechanism. Postlapsarian time consciousness is also consciousness of death; cp. 4.266–68;
On Time
.

809.
so fate pronounced
: Leonard cites Milton’s theological treatise: “fate or
fatum
is only what is
fatum
, spoken, by some almighty power” (
MLM
1146).