the front of an army, conceived of as the edge of a sword. Murray, New Eng. Dict., assigns to it a different sense.

280. Groveling and prostrate. See prone, v. 195.

282. Such a pernicious highth. An accusative of extent of time, like 'spaces incomprehensible,' P. L. 8:20; many a dark league,' P. L. 10: 438. Pernicious. Ruinous, fatal; see P. L. 6: 849.

284-285. It has been said of Milton's epithets that they are 'preeminent for perfect music, beauty, and grandeur.' Do these lines furnish any illustration of the statement?

284-291. Garnett says (Milton pp. 164, 165): —

'His diction, the delight of the educated, is the despair of the ignorant man. Not that this diction is in any respect affected or pedantic. Milton was the darling poet of our greatest modern master of unadorned Saxon speech, John Bright. But it is freighted with classic allusion-not alone from the ancient classics-and comes to us rich with gathered sweets, like a wind laden with the scent of many flowers. "It is," says Pattison, "the elaborated outcome of all the best words of all antecedent poetry - the language of one who lives in the companionship of the great and the wise of past time." "Words," the same writer reminds us, "over and above their dictionary signification, connote all the feeling which has gathered round them by reason of their employment through a hundred generations of song." So it is, every word seems instinct with its own peculiar beauty, and fraught with its own peculiar association, and yet each detail is strictly subordinate to the general effect. No poet of Milton's rank, probably, has been equally indebted to his predecessors, not only for his vocabulary, but for his thoughts. Reminiscences throng upon him, and he takes all that comes, knowing that he can make it lawfully his own. The comparison of Satan's shield to the moon, for instance, is borrowed from the similar comparison of the shield of Achilles in the Iliad, but what goes in Homer comes out Milton. Homer merely says that the huge and massy shield emitted a lustre like that of the moon in heaven. Milton heightens the resemblance by giving the shield shape, calls in the telescope to endow it with what would seem preternatural dimensions to the naked eye, and enlarges even these by the suggestion of more than the telescope can disclose.'

Cf. Introduction, pp. 27, 28.

285. Ethereal temper. This looks like a sort of accusative of characteristic, though perhaps we may conceive of the preposition's being omitted, as in Abbott, Shak. Gram. § 202. Massy. Milton

does not use 'massive;' massy usually of metals, as in P. L. 1: 703; 2: 878.

286. Cast. Parse. Circumference. By what figure of speech? 287. Like the moon. So Il. 19: 373-374: Then lastly he [Achilles] took the great and strong shield, and its brightness shone afar off as the moon's.'

288. Tuscan artist. His name in P. L. 5: 262; cf. 3: 590. In his Areopagitica Milton says: "There I found and visited the famous Galileo, grown old, a prisoner to the Inquisition.'

289. Fesole. A town on the crest of a hill, 3 miles N. E. of Florence.

290. Valdarno. Valley of the Arno.

292. To equal. In comparison with. Pine. Hints for this, and the mast of the next line, may be found in Odys. 9: 322; Æn. 3: 659; Ovid, Met. 13: 782; Tasso, Jer. Del. 6: 40; Spenser, F. Q. III. vii. 40, etc. Cowley (flourished when ?) says of Goliath :

His spear the trunk was of a lofty tree,

Which Nature meant some tall ship's mast should be.

292-296. His spear. . . marl. Memorize.

294. Ammiral. Flag-ship, admiral's ship. From Ital. ammiraglia.

296. Marl. Cf. v. 562. Steps. Cf. P. L. 6: 71-73.

297. Clime. Is it easy to determine just what the word here means?

298. Sore. OE. sare, grievously; cf. Ger. sehr. Vaulted with fire. See P. L. 6 : 214 ; P. R. 1 : 116.

299. Nathless, OE. na thỹ læs; older word for nevertheless. 302. Leaves. The simile is a very old one, and was used by several poets before Milton. Can you mention any? Merrill, on Catullus 7 3, remarks: 'The sands of the seashore, the leaves of the forest, and the stars of the heavens, are the first types of infinite number that occurred to early man.' Cf. Gen. 22: 17; P. L. 2: 903; 5: 745.

302-304. Thick . . . embower. Memorize.

303. Vallombrosa. Ital. Valle ombrosa, shady valley. It is about eighteen miles from Florence, and nearly 3000 feet above the sea. The monastery was founded about 1050, and suppressed in 1869; the present buildings were quite new when Milton visited the spot in

Sept., 1638. The poet Wordsworth says: 'The trees planted near the convent are mostly pines, but the natural woods are deciduous, and spread to a great extent.'

304. Sedge. The Hebrew name of the Red Sea is Reed Sea, or Sea of Rushes. Our term is derived from the Greek and Latin.

305. Fierce winds. Orion's rising and setting are accompanied by storms, according to the ancients; see Æn. 1: 535–537; 7: 719; Hor., Od. I. xxviii. 21; III. xxvii. 17; Epod. 15: 7. Orion. See Longfellow, Occultation of Orion.

306. Waves o'erthrew. See Exod. 14: 23-28.

307. Busiris. The name of an Egyptian king, according to Greek legend. Pharaoh being an official title, Milton, following Raleigh, here appropriates an individual name for his poetical purpose. Memphian. Memphis was the ancient capital of Egypt, the Noph and Memphis of the Bible. The Sphinx and the great pyramids are near Memphis. Chivalry. There were horsemen in Pharaoh's host (Exod. 14: 28), but Milton extends the word chivalry to cover the whole army, and thus gives a mediæval tone to the passage.

309. Sojourners. See Exod. 12: 40. Goshen. See Gen. 45: 10; 47: 27; Exod. 9: 26.

310. Safe. Transferred epithet.

311. Chariot-wheels. Exod. 14: 25. So thick. How thick ? Is the reference to remote or near objects ?

314. Cf. note on P. L. 2: 406.

314-315. See Lowell's comment, Introduction, p. 32.

315.

Resounded. Cf. P. L. 6: 218.

316. Flower. So Lat. flos, Gr. äv0os.

317. If. That is, 'Heaven is now lost, if,' etc.

318 ff. Sarcasm.

320. Virtue. Cf. P. L. 11: 690. What is the meaning of Lat. virtus?

328. Linked. See P. L. 6: 589. Thunderbolts. See P. L. 6: 836.

329. Trans fix. Perhaps a reminiscence of En. 1:44, transfixo pectore.

332. As when. Not strictly logical, but imitated from Homer and Virgil, as in Il. 2: 147; En. 1: 148.

335. Not. Fail to.

336. Landor criticises In which they were as prosaic.

337. To. Milton, save here, always employs the direct object with obey; so Shakespeare, with but two exceptions; the Bible has to in one place, Rom. 6: 16. This construction is like that with Lat. obedire. General's. As frequently in Shakespeare; not elsewhere in Milton.

338. Potent rod. See Exod. 4: 2, 17; 8: 5, etc.

339. 340.

Amram's son. Exod. 6 20.
:

Coast. See Exod. 10: 4. Does it mean 'sea-shore' ? 340-343. Exod. 10: 12-15; cf. Rev. 9: 3–10.

341. Warping. Define.

345. Cope. See P. L. 4: 992; 6: 215. 'Cope of heaven' is used as early as by Chaucer and Wyclif. What is the figure?

347. Uplifted spear. Cf. Josh. 8: 18, 19, 26.

348. Sultan. What other titles does Milton employ for Satan? 351. A multitude. What triple comparison is introduced by thick, v. 302 ? What one gives the measure of numberless, v. 344 ? In what three different situations and postures were the evil spirits? Populous North. Scandinavia was anciently known as 'officina gentium.'

353. Rhene. Rhine; from Lat. Rhenus. Danaw. Danube; from Lat. Danuvius, through the German Danau, Donau. When. When did this migration of the peoples (Ger. Völkerwanderung) take place? Who were the Goths, the Vandals, and the Lombards? Who were their chief leaders, and what countries did they overrun ? 354. Deluge. Cf. Isa. 59: 19; Spenser, F. Q. II. x. 15. 355. Libyan sands. Catullus 7: 3, Libyssæ harenæ.

357. Heads and leaders. Have there been any previous instances of synonymous terms used in couples? Can you suggest any reason for it?

359. Dignities. The abstract for the concrete; so 2 Pet. 2: 10; Jude 8; cf. Lat. dignitates, Liv. XXII. xl. 4.

360. Thrones. See v. 128.

361-363. Ps. 9: 5, 6; 69: 28; Rev. 3:5; P. L. 5: 658–659.

365.

366.

Got them. Reflexive.

Sufferance. See v. 241.

369-371. Ps. 106: 20; Rom. 1 : 23.

372. Religions. Ceremonies, rites, like Lat. religiones.

373. Devils. Deut. 32: 17; Ps. 106: 37; 1 Cor. 10: 20; Rev. 9:20. To adore. Dependent on what verb ?

375. Idols. In its etymological or primitive sense.

376. Say, Muse. So Homer, Il. 2: 484, 487: Tell me now, ye Muses. . who were the captains of the Danaans and their lords.' Cf. En. 7: 641.

Who first, who last. Il. 5: 703: 'And now who first was slaughtered, and who last.' So 16: 692, and En. 11: 664.

378. Wherein did the Emperor, in Milton's time, differ from a king, as of France or England?

391. Affront. Confront? or insult?

392. Moloch. Properly Molech. 1 Kings 11 : 7; 2 Kings 23: 10. Cf. P. L. 2: 43-108; Od. Nat. 205-210. The word Molech means 'king.' Besmeared with blood . . . and . . . tears. Zeugma.

...

394. Drums. Kimchi, the Jewish commentator, says: "They used to make a noise with drums, that the father might not hear the cry of his child and have pity on him.'

395. Passed through fire. Lev. 18:21; Ps. 106: 37, 38; Jer. 32:35.

397. Rabba. 2 Sam. 12: 26, 27.

398. Argob, Basan. Deut. 3: 13.

399. Arnon. Deut. 3: 12, 16. The Arnon was the boundary between Moab and Israel.

400. Wisest heart. Transferred epithet?

401. Build. 1 Kings 11: 7; 2 Kings 23: 13.

403. Grove. Deut 16: 21; 1 Kings 15: 13; Exod. 34: 13, 14.

404. Hinnom, Tophet. Jer. 7: 31; 2 Chr. 28: 31.

405. Gehenna. A Greek word derived from Hinnom, and in the New Testament translated 'hell;' so in Matt. 5: 29, etc.

406.

Chemos. 2 Kings 23: 13.

407. Aroar. 1 Chr. 5: 8. Nebo. Deut. 34: 1.

408. Abarim. Num. 33: 47; Deut. 32: 49. Hesebon. Milton frequently uses the Vulgate forms in s, instead of sh. Num. 21: 26.