Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/437

 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS

��395

��Vindicate. The first edition inserts "th'" before Eternal.

Page 102, line 29. Grand.

First, original ; compare grandfather.

Page 102, lines 31, 32. The punctuation here given, that of all the early editions, compels us to take "for" in the sense "because of;" modern editions often insert the comma after "will" instead of after "restraint," in which case " for " means " except for."

Page 103, line 57. Witnessed.

Gave evidence of.

Page 103, line 58. Obdurate.

Milton invariably places the emphasis on the penult in this word.

Page 103, line 59. Some late editions wongly print " Angel's ken ; " ken is not a noun, out a verb.

Page 103, line 68. Urges.

Here again Milton clings to the original sig- nification ; Latin urgere, to afflict, to ply.

Page 103, line 72. Utter.

That is, outer, the usual meaning in the seven- teenth century.

Page 103, line 73. The utmost pole.

That is, the terrestrial poles projected out- ward through the intervening spheres to the Prim urn Mobile. See on the Cosmology of Para- dise Lost, p. 96.

Page 103, line 81. The Arch-Enemy.

Satan, in Hebrew, means " adversary."

Page 104, line 109. The meaning is, " In what, if not in the determination never to yield to the conqueror, lies the test of not being conquered ? ' ' That glory means the glory which would re- dound to God from Satan's submission.

Page 104, line 144. Of force.

Perforce.

Page 104, line 148. Suffice.

Satisfy, slake.

Page 104, line 152. Gloomy deep.

Chaos.

Page 104, line 157. Cherub.

This word did not have in Milton's day its present diminutive force.

Page 104. line 167. Fail.

Latin, fallor : " If I mistake not."

Page 105, line 198. Briareos, Typhon.

Briareos was one of the Titans, Typhon one of the giants ; the latter are here called " earth- born," because they were the offspring of Ura- nus and Ge (Earth). It was the giants only who " warred on Jove."

Page 105, line 199. Den by ancient Tarsus.

An elaboration of a line of ^Esehylus. in which Typhon is described as living in a " Cili- cian den. Tarsus was the capital of Cilicia.

Page 105, line 204. Night-foundered.

Benighted, brought to a stand by the com- ing on of night.

Page 105, line 235. Sublimed.

Changed from a solid to a vapor by the action of heat.

Page 105, line 257. All but less than.

This is slightly illogical, the meaning being
 * only less than," or " all but equal to."

Page 106, line 266. Astonished.

��Latin extonare. to thunder. Astonished ap- proaches the meaning " thunder-struck."

Oblivious. Used in the now unusual causa- tive sense of " inducing forgetfulness."

Page 106, line 289. Fesole.

Now Fiesole, a hill on the outskirts of Flor- ence.

Page 106, line 290. Void arno.

The valley of the river Arno, in which Flor- ence lies.

Page 106, line 294. Ammiral.

Admiral, here transferred to the ship in which he sails, the flag-ship.

Page 106, line 299. Nathless.

Nevertheless.

Page 106, line 304. Scattered sedge.

The Hebrew name for the Red Sea signifies Sea of Sedge.

Page 106, line 305. Orion.

Orion, in classic myth, was a great hunter, and when placed among the stars, was given a girdle, sword, and club ; hence the epithet "armed."

Page 106, line 307. Busiris.

Busiris, really an earlier king than Pharaoh, is here made to stand for him.

Page 107, line 353. Shene.

Rhine: the older form has survived in the adjective Rhenish.

Page 107, line 353. Danaw.

Danube. The allusion is to the invasion of the Roman Empire by the Goths and Vandals.

Page 107, lines 364-373. These lines are a pre- lude for the remarkable passage which follows, in which Milton, by a bold invention, links the Biblical narrative with pagan myth and legend.

Page 107, line 392. Moloch.

Called in Scripture the "abomination of the children of Ammon;" he was a nature-god, typifying the destructive power of the sun.

Page 107, lines 397-399.

Babba was the capital of the Ammonites ; Argob a district of the mountain range of Ba- shan, here called Basan, and Arnon a boundary river to the east of Jordan. Here, as through- out the following two hundred lines, Milton uses proper names for their grandiloquent sound and vague but rich suggestion, rather than for any definite purpose of conveying information.

Page 107, lines 407-411.

The towns and mountains mentioned here all lie on or near the Dead Sea, called the " asphal- tick pool " from the bitumen or asphaltus which it contains. Seon was king of the Amorites.

Page 107, line 413. Israel in Sittim.

See Numbers xxv.

Page 108, line 415. Orgies.

Used in the classic sense of rites, observances.

Page 108, line 446. Thammuz. ^

An important figure in Phoanician mythology. He was slain by a boar in Lebanon, but came to life again each spring, his death and resusci- tation symbolizing the destructive forces of winter and the quickening forces of spring. When the river Adonis became reddened by the mud brought down from Lebanon by the spring torrents, it was believed to be the flow-

�� �