Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/438

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��ing afresh of Tkammuz's wounds which caused the change of color.

Page 108, line 462. Dagon.

A sea-god, the national deity of the Philis- tines, who dwelt along the seashore. See 1 Sam- uel v.

Page 108, line 484. Rebel king.

Jeroboam, who rebelled against Rehoboam ; he made two calves of gold, setting one in Bethel and the other in Dan.

Page 108, line 487. When he passed.

That is, when Israel passed out from bondage in Egypt.

Page 108, line 488. Equalled.

Used in the sense of levelled, struck down. The reference is to the tenth plague, the smit- ing of " all the first-born in the land of Egypt. . . . and all the first-born of cattle."

Page 109, line 495. Eli's sons.

See 1 Samuel ii. 12-17.

Page 109, line 502. Flown.

Flushed.

Page 109, lines 503-505.

For the allusion, see Genesis xix., Judges xix.

Page 109, line 509. Gods.

Uranus (Heaven) and Ge (Earth) had as off- spring the Titans. One of these, Cronos (Saturn in Roman mythology), dethroned his father, and was in turn dethroned by his son Zeus (Jove), whose mother was Rhea. Milton's scholarship seems at fault here in supposing that there was an individual giant named Titan, who, instead of Uranus, was father of the twelve Titans.

Page 109, line 516. Middle air.

Mr. Verity has recently pointed out that this phrase was not loosely used by Milton to mean all the air between Heaven and Earth, but that it signifies merely the middle one of the three belts of air which were believed to be super- imposed one upon the other. The middle belt, known to scientists of the seventeenth century as "media regio," reached from the point where the reflected rays of the sun lose their force upward to the tops of the highest moun- tains.

Page 109, line 517. Delphian cliff".

A part of Mt. Parnassus, and seat of the fa- mous oracle of Apollo.

Page 109, line 518. Dodona.

At Dodona, in Epirus, there was an oracle of Zens.

Page 109, line 521. The Celtic.

The Celtic land a Greek idiom.

Page 109, line 523. Damp.

Depressed.

Page 109, line 528. Eecollecting.

Re-collecting.

Page 109, line 546. Orient.

Bright, lustrous. The word seems to have been a technical jeweller's term.

Page 109, line 550. The Dorian mood.

Grave and stern, in contrast with the softer Lydian mode.

Page 109, line 551. Recorder.

A kind of flageolet.

��Page 110, line 568. Traverse.

Across.

Page 110, line 581. Armoric knights.

Knights of Brittany. Aspramont in Pro- vence, Montalban in Languedoc, and Trebisond in Cappadocia, were all famous in the annals of chivalry ; Damasco (Damascus) was the scene of many heroic combats during the Crusades. In mentioning Marocco Milton had in mind the struggles between the Spaniards and the Moors. It is indicative of his subtle feeling for names that he should use the form Damasco when speaking of the mediaeval, and Damascus when speaking of the Biblical city.

Page 110, line 603. Considerate.

Thoughtful.

Page 110, line 605. Remorse and passion.

Remorse approaches the meaning of pity ; passion here means strong emotion, not anger.

Page 110, line 611. Faithful how they stood.

Supply the verb from line 605. His eye cast, etc., to behold how faithful they stood in spite of all.

Page 111, line 674. Sulphur.

In the seventeenth century and earlier, sul- phur was believed to be the formative element of metals.

Page 111, line 686. Centre.

Here, as elsewhere, "centre" means the Earth, the centre of the terrestrial universe, according to the Ptolemaic system of astron- omy.

Page 111, line 694. Works of Memphian kings.

The Pyramids.

Page 112, line 737. Hierarchy, orders.

Milton accepted the mediaeval division of all celestial beings into three Hierarchies, each comprising three Orders or Choirs. The lowest Hierarchy comprised the Angels, Archangels, and Principalities ; the next higher the Powers, Virtues, and Dominations; the highest the Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim.

Page 112, line 738. His name.

In Greece it was Hephaestus; in Italy (the Ausonian land) he was called Mulciber, i. e. the welder, from mulcere, to soften. He was thrown from Olympus for taking the part of Juno in a dispute with Jove.

Page 113, line 795. Recess.

Retirement.

Page 113, line 797. Frequent.

Crowded, numerous.

Page 113. BOOK II.

Page 113, line 2. Ormus.

Now Hormuz, an island in the Persian Gulf ; in the seventeenth century a rich emporium or the East India trade.

Page 113, line 9. Success.

Issue, outcome.

Page 114, lines 76-77. Descent and fall to us is adverse.

It was one of the tenets of the scholastic phi- losophers that angels are not subject to the or- dinary natural laws, such as that of gravitation. Their tendency is upward, not downward.

Page 114, line 106. Denounced.

Indicated, threatened.

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