The Complete Poetry of John Milton (126 page)
Read The Complete Poetry of John Milton Online
Authors: John Milton
Tags: #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #Poetry, #European
900
Shall hold thir course, till fire purge all things new,
Both Heav’n and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell.
67
1
a plate on which was sprinkled the blood of sacrificed animals; thus, the throne of God.
2
grace which precedes (repentance).
3
Ezek. xi. 19: “and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh.”
4
goddess of justice. Deucalion and Pyrrha, surviving from the flood, cast stones to earth (compare l. 4) from which humans then sprang up.
5
cultivating.
6
Horeb or Mt. Sinai when Moses was given the Ten Commandments.
7
Judgment Day.
8
symbol of immortality.
9
forbidden.
10
left to itself.
11
in regard to.
12
pity.
13
The four faces of the cherubim, “full of eyes” (Ezek. i. 15, 18), command the four quarters of the earth. Janus was the two-faced god of gates; Argus was a monster with a hundred eyes, who guarded Io and who was put to sleep by Hermes’ reed and his caduceus.
14
goddess of the dawn.
15
Gen. iii. 20: “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.”
16
grave.
17
darkened.
18
the eagle, which swooped down (“stoopt”) from its high nest.
19
the lion.
20
halt.
21
referring to Gen. xxxii. 1–2.
22
The servant of Elisha saw a mountain full of horses and chariots, which had been sent by the king of Syria to seize Elisha, besieged by fire (2 Kings vi. 13–17).
23
of a town in Thessaly. Sarra is Tyre, famous for dyes.
24
belt.
25
revealed.
26
put your plants into rows.
27
bathed (with warmth).
28
efficacious.
29
Christ.
30
the Khan of China (Mongolia).
31
the Mongolian conqueror Tamerlane’s throne on the river Oxus.
32
Peking of Chinese Kings.
33
the Malay peninsula. The following geographic references include Persian cities (Ecbatan, Hispahan), Turkish Byzantium (Bizance), Abyssinia (the empire of the negus or king), coastal towns in eastern Africa (Ercoco, Mombaza, Quiloa, Melind, Sofala), and areas of northwestern Africa (ll. 403–4). For rich Ophir, see 1 Kings ix. 28; Sofala trafficked in gold.
34
Atahualpa, the Inca king conquered by Pizarro.
35
the Spaniards. El Dorado (the Gilded One) was a legendary king of South America, but here, a city of fabulous richness.
36
herbs beneficial to eyesight.
37
sward, turf.
38
Cain, who envied his meek brother Abel (l. 436).
39
unselected (to choose only the best).
40
consumption.
41
Appetite (the image of Satan as Covetousness, Lust, and Gluttony); compare Phil. iii. 19: “whose God is their belly.”
42
See II, n. 44.
43
await.
44
See Gen. iv. 16 ff. for Cain’s descendants.
45
imbued (by the music of the spheres).
46
fused or cast.
47
See Gen. vi. 1–4 for Seth’s descendants (“Sons of God,” l. 622).
48
Venus.
49
wag.
50
tricks.
51
What he sees owes much to the description of Achilles’ shield in
Iliad
, XVIII, 478 ff.
52
rapidly diverges into.
53
Enoch.
54
assailed with contempt.
55
As John M. Steadman has pointed out (
PQ, XL
, 1961, 580–86), Milton’s characterization of giants and the terminology of heroic virtue derives from the giants of Genesis; “might” is equated with “heroism.”
56
Enoch.
57
Noah.
58
processions.
59
Gen. vii. 2: “Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.”
60
given.
61
divided into branches.
62
the Euphrates, which flows into the Persian Gulf.
63
whales.
64
noise of gulls.
65
a verb, “loom up” and “float.”
66
striped.
67
2 Peter iii. 12–13: “Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Compare also
Naturam non pati senium.
THE ARGUMENT
The Angel
Michael
continues from the Flood to relate what shall succeed; then, in the mention of
Abraham
, comes by degrees to explain, who that Seed of the Woman shall be, which was promised
Adam
and
Eve
in the Fall; his Incarnation, Death, Resurrection, and Ascention; the state of the Church till his second Coming.
Adam
greatly satisfied and recomforted by these Relations and Promises descends the Hill with
Michael;
wakens
Eve
, who all this while had slept, but with gentle dreams compos’d to quietness of mind and submission.
Michael
in either hand leads them out of Paradise, the fiery Sword waving behind them, and the Cherubim taking thir Stations to guard the Place.
As one who in his journey bates
1
at Noon,
Though bent on speed, so heer th’ Archangel paus’d
Betwixt the world destroy’d and world restor’d,
If
Adam
aught perhaps might interpose;
5
Then with transition sweet new Speech resumes.
Thus thou hast seen one World begin and end;
And Man as from a second stock proceed.
Much thou hast yet to see, but I perceave
Thy mortal sight to fail; objects divine
10
Must needs impair and wearie human sense:
Henceforth what is to com I will relate,
Thou therefore give due audience, and attend.
This second sours of Men, while yet but few;
And while the dread of judgement past remains
15
Fresh in thir minds, fearing the Deitie,
With some regard to what is just and right
Shall lead thir lives, and multiplie apace,
Labouring the soil, and reaping plenteous crop,
Corn wine and oyl; and from the herd or flock,
20
Oft sacrificing Bullock, Lamb, or Kid,
With large Wine-offerings pour’d, and sacred Feast,
Shall spend thir dayes in joy unblam’d, and dwell
Long time in peace by Families and Tribes
Under paternal rule; till one
2
shall rise
25
Of proud ambitious heart, who not content
With fair equalitie, fraternal state,
Will arrogate Dominion undeserv’d
Over his brethren, and quite dispossess
Concord and law of Nature from the Earth,
30
Hunting (and Men not Beasts shall be his game)
With Warr and hostile snare such as refuse
Subjection to his Empire tyrannous:
A mightie Hunter thence he shall be styl’d
Before the Lord, as in despite of Heav’n,
35
Or from Heav’n claming second Sovrantie;
And from Rebellion shall derive his name,
Though of Rebellion others he accuse.
Hee with a crew, whom like Ambition joyns
With him or under him to tyrannize,
40
Marching from
Eden
towards the West, shall find
The Plain,
3
wherein a black bituminous gurge
Boils out from under ground, the mouth of Hell;
Of Brick, and of that stuff they cast to build
A Citie and Towr, whose top may reach to Heav’n;
45
And get themselves a name, least far disperst
In foraign Lands thir memorie be lost,
Regardless whether good or evil fame.
But God who oft descends to visit men
Unseen, and through thir habitations walks
50
To mark thir doings, them beholding soon,
Comes down to see thir Citie, ere the Tower
Obstruct Heav’n Towrs, and in derision sets
Upon thir Tongues a various
4
Spirit to rase
Quite out thir Native Language, and instead
55
To sow a jangling noise of words unknown:
Forthwith a hideous gabble rises loud
Among the Builders; each to other calls
Not understood, till hoarse, and all in rage,
As mockt they storm; great laughter was in Heav’n
60
And looking down, to see the hubbub strange
And hear the din; thus was the building left
Ridiculous, and the work Confusion nam’d.
5
Whereto thus
Adam
fatherly displeas’d.
O execrable Son so to aspire
65
Above his Brethren, to himself assuming
Authoritie usurpt, from God not giv’n:
He gave us onely over Beast, Fish, Fowl
Dominion absolute; that right we hold
By his donation; but Man over men
70
He made not Lord; such title to himself
Reserving, human left from human free.
But this Usurper his encroachment proud
Stayes not on Man; to God his Tower intends
Siege and defiance: Wretched man! what food
75
Will he convey up thither to sustain
Himself and his rash Armie, where thin Air
Above the Clouds will pine his entrails gross,
And famish him of Breath, if not of Bread?
To whom thus
Michael.
Justly thou abhorr’st
80
That Son, who on the quiet state of men
Such trouble brought, affecting to subdue
Rational Libertie; yet know withall,
Since thy original lapse, true Libertie
Is lost, which alwayes with right Reason dwells
85
Twinn’d, and from her hath no dividual being:
Reason in man obscur’d, or not obeyd,
Immediately inordinate desires
And upstart Passions catch the Government
From Reason, and to servitude reduce