Paradise Lost (Modern Library Classics) (38 page)

667–75.
Neoplatonic astrology classified animals, vegetables, and minerals according to the predominant
stellar virtue
, or astral power, that
tempers
(strengthens, attunes) them. Such
influence
was supposedly mediated by streaming ether. After the Fall, the cosmos is adjusted so that the stars’ influence is not always
kindly
, or naturally favorable (cp. 10.651ff). Their postlapsarian fire can be
soft
(gentle) as here, or severe (cp. 2.276).

685.
rounding
: making the rounds (literally, since the Garden is circular).

688.
Divide the night
: into watches. Roman armies sounded a trumpet when changing the watch; angelic guards do it to multipart music (
full harmonic number
).

690.
blissfull bower
: Cp. Spenser’s account of the bower within the Garden of Adonis where Venus sequesters the mortally wounded Adonis from “stygian gods” (
FQ
3.6.43–49).

694.
Laurel and myrtle
: plants sacred to Apollo and Venus, respectively. Cp. Vergil,
Ec
. 2.54–55.

701.
Crocus, and hyacinth
: Atop Mount Ida, the hoodwinked Zeus beds the scheming Hera on these freshly risen flowers (
Il
. 14.348).

703.
emblem
: in the classical sense of a surface with inlaid ornamentation, a mosaic.

705.
shady
: The first edition has “shadier,” preferred by some editors.

707–8.
Pan or Silvanus … Faunus:
pastoral hybrids, half man and half goat, associated with secret retreats and fecundity. For Pan as a nature god, see 266n.

708.
close
: secluded, exclusive.

709.
flowers
: a rare instance where the two-syllable pronunciation is intended.

711.
hymenaean
: wedding song (after the classical marriage god, Hymen). Cp.
L’All
125–28;
Elegy 5
105–8.

712.
genial
: of or relating to marriage; nuptial. In Adam’s version, the voice of Eve’s “Heav’nly Maker” guides her to Adam (8.484–86).

714–19.
Pandora:
“all gifts” (Gk.); her story was frequently deemed an analogue of the Fall. After Prometheus (“Forethinker”) steals heaven’s fire for humanity’s sake, Pandora is divinely contrived to bring misery upon the world. Bearing a sealed jar containing the world’s ills, she is conducted by Hermes to Prometheus’ brother, Epimetheus (“Afterthought”)—”the unwiser son.” After Epimetheus marries her, the evils are released from her jar (
Theog
. 570–612;
Works and Days
54–105).

717.
Japhet
: Christian mythographers identified Iapetus, the Titan father of Prometheus and Epimetheus, as Noah’s son Iaphet (Gen. 9.18–10.2).

719.
authentic
: possessing in itself the basis of its existence; genuine, original. Cp. 3.656.

724.
pole
: sky.

724–35.
Thou … sleep:
Cp. Ps. 74.16–17. Milton shifts seamlessly from describing the prayer to quoting it.

733.
fill the Earth
: Cp. Gen. 1.28.

735.
gift of sleep
: Cp. Homer,
Il
. 9.713; Vergil,
Aen
. 2.269; Ps. 127.2.

736–38.
This … best:
For early readers, the Puritan edge of this prescription for piety would have been keen; cp. 12.534–35.

736.
unanimous
: literally, one-souled.

739.
Handed
: hand in hand, as at line 689.

741–43.
nor … refused:
The use of
rites
to mean marital sex was a commonplace warranted by St. Paul’s account (Eph. 5.32) of the bodily union of husband and wife as a “mystery” symbolizing Christ’s union with the Church (cp. 8.487; Shakespeare,
ADO
2.1.373,
OTH
1.3.258; Jonson,
Hymenaei
137). The reverence expressed here for conjugal coition is ordinarily reserved for sacraments. In related passages, it extends to human genitalia (“mysterious parts”) and the “genial bed” (l. 312, 8.598). Insistence that Adam and Eve participate mutually, neither turning away nor refusing, suggests another scriptural source for this passage.
Rite
was often spelled
right
(cp.
CMS, Masque
125) and included a strong sense of moral obligation. St. Paul deemed refusal of spousal “due benevolence” fraudulent (1 Cor. 7.3–5). Cp. “the starved lover … best quitted with disdain” (ll. 769–70).

741.
I ween
: I believe; “used parenthetically rather than as governing the sentence; in verse often a mere tag” (
OED
1.h). Seventeenth-century retellings of Book 4 suggest that Milton’s conviction found a sympathetic audience. Dryden’s Satan thus imagines Eve as Semele to his Jove: “Have not I, like these, a body too, / Form’d for the same delights which they pursue? / I could (so variously my passions move) / Enjoy, and blast her in the act of Love” (
State of Innocence
3.1; cp. Hopkins,
Primitive Loves
135–235).

744–49.
hypocrites … man:
These lines concentrate allusions to various scriptural passages on marriage: 1 Tim. 4.1–3 (
hypocrites
), 1 Cor. 7.1 (
commands to some
), Gen. 1.28 (
Our Maker bids increase
).

751.
propriety
: exclusive possession or right of use; ownership. Wedlock is a prelapsarian institution, unlike private property (with the exception of the nuptial bower).

756.
all the charities
: affections; “comprehends all the relations, all the endearments of consanguinity and affinity” (Newton).

760–65.
Perpetual fountain … revels:
The references and diction
—fountain, golden shafts, lamp, purple wings
—are erotically charged and culturally diffuse; cp. 8.511–20.
Reigns here and revels
translates a description of love by Marino (
L’Adone
2.114), a sensuous Italian poet noteworthy to Milton on account of his patron, Manso, whose acquaintance Milton prized. See
Manso, Damon
181–97.

761.
bed is undefiled
: Cp. Heb. 13.4.

763.
love
: Cupid, whose golden arrows (
shafts
) infuse love.

768.
Mixed dance
: men and women dancing together, a practice frowned upon by Puritans, including Milton; cp.
Of Ref
(Yale 1:589).
masque:
masquerade ball.

769.
starved
: deprived of love, but also of warmth; cp. 2.600.

770.
quitted:
repaid; cp. line 51.

773.
repaired
: restored.

774.
Blest pair
: translates Vergil’s celebration of Nisus and Euryalus (
Fortunati ambo!
), intimate friends slain by the enemy at rest in each other’s arms (
Aen
. 9.446).

775.
Note the repetition of
no
and
know
.

776–77.
shadowy … vault:
The earth’s globe casts a conical shadow into the night sky, which, reaching from horizon to horizon, is portrayed as an arch (
vault
). At this moment, the
shadowy cone
, moving in diametrical opposition to the sun, has ascended halfway from the eastern horizon toward its midnight zenith. It is therefore nine o’clock, equinoctial time, the start of the second watch (ll. 779–80). Line 777 occurs halfway between line 539, where “the sun
in utmost longitude
begins its descent beneath the horizon, and 1015, the last line of Book 4,” which occurs at midnight (Fowler).

778.
ivory port
: Recent editors identify this phrase as an allusion to the ivory gate of the realm of sleep, from which false dreams proceed according to Homer and Vergil (
Od
. 19.562–67;
Aen
. 6.893–96). A significant connection with the guards’ imminent interruption of Eve’s dream is then proposed. Such a connection is strained. Guards, not personified dreams, issue from this ivory port, which is the gate not of sleep but of Paradise (made of the white stone
alabaster
[l. 544] and thus like ivory in color).

782–85.
Uzziel:
“power of God” (Hebr.). Standing at the eastern gate, Gabriel splits the guard to check the northern and southern perimeters of the Garden until they meet again
full west. Shield
and
spear
translate a Greek idiom designating left and right.

788.
Ithuriel and Zephon
: “Discovery of God” and “Lookout” (Hebr.). Their names denote their roles as they search the interior of the Garden.

791.
secure
: unsuspecting.

793.
Who
: one who; that is, Uriel (see l. 555).

798.
these
: Ithuriel and Zephon.

802.
organs of her fancy
: Satan delves into Eve’s psyche to manipulate her
fancy
or imagination, the faculty that produces mental images (
phantasms
). Cp. “raise up the organs of her fantasy” in
WIV
5.5.55.
Organs
retains its Greek sense of “instruments”; it may also include the specific sense of “musical instrument.” In Milton’s time, the plural
organs
could mean “pipe organ.” In effect, Satan plays upon Eve’s mental apparatus as if it were a set of pipes, attempting to forge illusions in a manner reminiscent of the erection of Pandaemonium (1.708ff). Cp.
PR
4.407–9.

804–9.
inspiring … pride:
If unable to play directly on Eve’s imagination, Satan hopes to unsettle the perfect humoral balance (
temper
) of her
animal spirits
. These spirits were thought to originate from the blood and carry sensory data to the brain. Breathing venom into (
inspiring
) her ear, he aims to provoke
distempered
impulses and grandiose designs (
high conceits
).

812.
celestial temper
: The spear, like incisive Ithuriel, was produced (
tempered
) in Heaven.

815.
Lights
: lands on and ignites;
nitrous powder:
gunpowder.

816–17.
ready for a barrel (
tun
) and storage in an arsenal (
magazine
) as preparation for (
against
) war;
smutty grain:
cereal grain blackened by a parasitic fungus.

821.
grisly
: gruesomely horrible; applied to Death (2.704) and Moloch (
Nat Ode
209), both of whom are also described as kingly.

830.
argues
: is reason to think.

835–43.
Zephon’s retorted scorn makes pointed and repeated use of the second person singular (form of address used with inferiors).

836.
Bentley would transpose
undiminished brightness
, for reasons grammatical.

845–47.
Severe … is:
Satan reacts similarly to the sight of Eve (9.459–62). Cp. Vergil’s description of the grave rebuke delivered by the youthful and beautiful Euryalus (
Aen
. 5.344) and Dryden’s distillation in
Hind and Panther:
“For vice, though frontless and of hardened face / Is daunted at the sight of awful grace” (3.1040–41).

848.
Virtue … lovely
: It is a commonplace of Platonically inspired philosophy and poetry that beauty is the aesthetic expression of virtue or goodness.
pined:
grieved; see 466n.

858–59.
like … curb:
The simile echoes Hermes’ account of Prometheus (Aeschylus,
Prom
. 1008).

862.
half-rounding
: See 782–85n.

868.
shade
: trees.

870–71.
Verity and Fowler take Gabriel’s easy recognition of Satan as validation of his aristocratic slap at Zephon (l. 830), but Gabriel goes by gait, bearing (
port
), and demeanor, which Zephon had little chance to observe before Satan identified himself.

879.
transgressions
: both “sins” (as in l. 880) and “boundary crossings”; though sentenced to Hell for his crimes, Satan now trespasses in Paradise (see l. 909).
charge:
responsibility; child or member of a minister’s congregation under protection.

880.
approve
: agree; try or test (see Satan’s rejoinder, l. 896).

886.
esteem of wise
: reputation for good sense.

893–94.
recompense … delight:
exchange pain for pleasure.

896.
object
: raise as an objection.

899.
durance
: forced confinement;
thus much what:
so much (in reply to) what.

904.
Gabriel ironically laments the loss of Satan as an arbiter of wisdom; see line 886.

906.
returns
: can take either
Satan
(archaic usage, reflexive) or
folly
as its subject.

911.
However
: by any means.

926.
stood
: withstood.

928.
The
: per first edition; second edition has “Thy.”