Read Paradise Lost (Modern Library Classics) Online
Authors: John Milton,William Kerrigan,John Rumrich,Stephen M. Fallon
Paradise Lost (Modern Library Classics) (39 page)
930–33.
But … Leader:
Gabriel’s remarks, says Satan, reveal his ignorance about how a dedicated leader ought to proceed after arduous undertakings and failures.
930.
at random
: without discrimination.
939.
afflicted
: struck down (cp. 1.186).
940.
mid-air
: After the Fall, Satan rules the middle region of the air, which extends as high as the mountaintops (1.516–17). See
PR
1.39–47, 2.117; Eph. 2.2, 6.12.
942.
gay
: ebullient, showy, self-indulgent; a pointed retort to Zephon (ll. 838–40).
945.
practiced distances
: applies both to courtly protocol (
cringe
) and martial training, especially swordplay (
fight
).
949.
Replying to Satan at lines 930–34.
958–60.
Gabriel’s reply allows that Heaven is a realm of groveling toadies (Empson 1965, 111). Fowler counters that the response simply conforms to Satan’s insulting tenor (ll. 942–45). Cp. Prometheus’ scornful words to Zeus’s followers: “Worship, adore, and fawn upon … thy lord” (Aeschylus,
Prom
. 937).
962.
aread
: advise, order;
avaunt:
begone; diction used especially for expulsion of evil spirits.
965–67.
With Gabriel’s threat to
drag
a
chained
Satan to the pit and
seal
him there (note the emphatic present tense), Milton returns to the apocalyptic context evoked at lines 1–12 (Rev. 20.1–3).
967.
facile
: easily negotiated; the diction implies negligence, as does
too slightly barred
, though again Gabriel may only be responding in Satan’s scornful terms (ll. 898–99).
971.
limitary
: stationed at a border or boundary; of limited authority (in reply to l. 964).
974.
Ride on thy wings
: “He rode upon a Cherub and did fly” (Ps. 18.10).
975–76.
Satan refers to God’s chariot (6.750ff); cp. Ezek. 1, 10, 11.22.
976.
progress
: royal tour.
980–83.
With … them:
The comparison of a group of warriors to a windswept field of grain is common in epic, beginning with Homer (
Il
. 2.147–50). Leonard argues that the simile, commonly used of demoralized troops (like a field of grain flattened by wind), implies the good angels’ weakness. Milton’s simile departs from its precedents, however. Gabriel’s troops, spears ported, form a thick semicircle around Satan. Viewed together, the shafts of their spears would appear to slant in several directions, like stalks in a field of grain
waving
in the uncertain wind that precedes a storm.
978–80.
sharp’ning … spears:
Taken in their most specific military senses,
phalanx
and
ported
are inconsistent. Troops in a classical Greek
phalanx
interlock shields in a square formation and carry their spears projecting forward.
Ported spears
are held diagonally, across the body, spearhead at the left shoulder. The movement into a crescent shape (
sharp’ning in moonèd horns
) suggests that
phalanx
here is used in its more general sense of a group moving closely together.
981.
Ceres
: goddess of grain, mother of Proserpine (cp. 268–72n).
983–85.
the careful plowman … chaff:
The subject conveyed by
the careful plowman
is not clear. Satan seems an unlikely candidate in light of line 985. The identification of God as the plowman is more likely in light of literary precedent, the designation of God in this book as the planter of the Garden, and the scriptural imagery of sheaves and chaff, which fits the apocalyptic role of God. The choice attributed to the plowman is also consistent with subsequent imagery of God’s scales.
986.
dilated
: enlarged, owing to spirits’ ability to shrink or swell at will (cp. 1.428–29).
987.
Teneriffe or Atlas unremoved
: The summit of Mount
Teneriffe
(two miles high, in the Canary Islands) was in Milton’s century estimated at “fifteen miles” (Hume).
Atlas:
cloud-capped mountain in Libya on which the sky was imagined to rest, per the myth of Atlas.
unremoved:
Latinate past participle meaning immovable (cp. l. 493). The usage is likely ironic. Faith can move mountains (1 Cor. 13.2), as angels provoked by Satan amply demonstrate (6.645–49).
988.
His stature reached the sky
: Homer’s description of Discord and Vergil’s of Rumor are usually adduced (
Il
. 4.443;
Aen
. 4.177), but the rendition of Passover night in the apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon is a more apt precedent for the configuration of the scene: “Night in her swift course was half spent, when thy almighty Word leapt from thy royal throne in heaven into the midst of that doomed land like a relentless warrior … and stood and filled it all with death, his head touching the heavens, his feet on earth” (14–16).
992.
cope
: vault; see 776–77n. The threat seems overstated given God’s authority over creatures: he curbs angelic muscle to preserve the landscape during the War in Heaven (6.225–29), and Gabriel will soon claim that his strength has been doubled (ll. 1006–10).
997.
golden scales
: translates Homer’s phrase for the balance in which Zeus weighs destinies of opposed armies or warriors (
Il
. 8.69, 22.209). Here it refers to the constellation Libra (the
scales
) between
Astrea and the Scorpion sign
.
998.
Astrea
: the constellation of Virgo (the Virgin).
Astrea
, goddess of justice, resided on earth during the Golden Age, but human iniquity drove her up to heaven, where she became this constellation (Ovid,
Met
. 1.149ff
)
.
999–1001.
Wherein … counterpoise:
Weight is a crucial quality in Scripture, where God as creator and judge is repeatedly depicted as using a scale (Job 28.24ff, Isa. 40.12, 1 Sam. 2.3).
1001.
ponders
: weighs, deliberates.
1012.
In Homer and Vergil, the loser’s balance sinks; the victor’s ascends. But Milton follows scriptural precedent: “Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting” (Dan. 5.27). Gabriel’s reading seems inconsistent with the claim that God weighs
the sequel each of parting and of fight
(l. 1003). The outcome is nevertheless consistent with Gabriel’s threat to apprehend Satan only if he refused to depart (ll. 965–67).
1014.
nor more
: nor (said) more.
1015.
Cp. the final lines of Vergil’s
Aen
.
OOK
V
T
HE
A
RGUMENT
Morning approached, Eve relates to Adam her troublesome dream; he likes it not, yet comforts her. They come forth to their day labors. Their morning hymn at the door of their bower. God to render man inexcusable sends Raphael to admonish him of his obedience, of his free estate, of his enemy near at hand; who he is, and why his enemy, and whatever else may avail Adam to know. Raphael comes down to Paradise, his appearance described, his coming discerned by Adam afar off sitting at the door of his bower. He goes out to meet him, brings him to his lodge, entertains him with the choicest fruits of Paradise got together by Eve; their discourse at table. Raphael performs his message, minds Adam of his state and of his enemy; relates at Adam’s request who that enemy is, and how he came to be so, beginning from his first revolt in Heaven, and the occasion thereof; how he drew his legions after him to the parts of the north, and there incited them to rebel with him, persuading all but only Abdiel, a Seraph, who in argument dissuades and opposes him, then forsakes him.
Now Morn her rosy steps in th’ eastern clime
Advancing, sowed the earth with orient pearl,
When Adam waked, so customed, for his sleep
Was airy light, from pure digestion bred,
And temperate vapors bland
5
, which th’ only sound
Of leaves and fuming rills
6
, Aurora’s fan,
Lightly dispersed, and the shrill matin song
Of birds on every bough; so much the more
His wonder was to find unwakened Eve
With tresses discomposed, and glowing cheek,
As through unquiet rest: he on his side
Leaning half-raised, with looks of cordial love
Hung over her enamored, and beheld
Beauty, which whether waking or asleep,
Shot forth peculiar
15
graces; then with voice
Mild, as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes
16
,
Her hand soft touching, whispered thus. “Awake
17
My fairest, my espoused, my latest found,
Heav’n’s last best gift, my ever new delight,
Awake, the morning shines, and the fresh field
Calls us; we lose the prime
21
, to mark how spring
Our tended plants, how blows
22
the citron grove,
What drops the myrrh, and what the balmy reed
23
,
How nature paints her colors, how the bee
Sits on the bloom extracting liquid sweet.”
Such whispering waked her, but with startled eye
On Adam, whom embracing, thus she spoke.
“O sole in whom my thoughts find all repose,
My glory, my perfection, glad I see
Thy face, and morn returned, for I this night,
Such night till this I never passed, have dreamed,
If dreamed, not as I oft am wont, of thee,
Works of day past, or morrow’s next design,
But of offense and trouble, which my mind
Knew never till this irksome night; methought
Close at mine ear one called me forth to walk
With gentle voice, I thought it thine; it said,
‘Why sleep’st thou Eve?
38
Now is the pleasant time,
The cool, the silent, save where silence yields
To the night-warbling bird, that now awake
Tunes sweetest his love-labored song; now reigns
Full orbed the moon, and with more pleasing light
Shadowy sets off the face of things; in vain,
If none regard; heav’n wakes with all his eyes
44
,
Whom to behold but thee, nature’s desire,
In whose sight all things joy, with ravishment
Attracted by thy beauty still
47
to gaze.’
I rose as at thy call, but found thee not;
To find thee I directed then my walk;
And on, methought, alone I passed through ways
That brought me on a sudden to the tree
Of interdicted knowledge: fair it seemed,
Much fairer to my fancy than by day:
And as I wond’ring looked, beside it stood
One shaped and winged like one of those from Heav’n
By us oft seen; his dewy locks distilled
Ambrosia; on that tree he also gazed;
And ‘O fair plant,’ said he, ‘with fruit surcharged,
Deigns none to ease thy load and taste thy sweet,
Nor god
60
, nor man; is knowledge so despised?
Or envy, or what reserve
61
forbids to taste?
Forbid who will, none shall from me withhold
Longer thy offered good, why else set here?’
This said he paused not, but with vent’rous arm
He plucked, he tasted; me damp horror chilled
65
At such bold words vouched with
66
a deed so bold:
But he thus overjoyed, ‘O fruit divine,
Sweet of thyself, but much more sweet thus cropped,
Forbidden here, it seems, as only fit
For gods, yet able to make gods of men:
And why not gods of men, since good, the more
Communicated, more abundant grows,
The author not impaired, but honored more?
Here, happy creature, fair angelic Eve,
Partake thou also; happy though thou art,
Happier thou may’st be, worthier canst not be:
Taste this, and be henceforth among the gods
Thyself a goddess, not to Earth confined,
But sometimes
79
in the air, as we, sometimes
Ascend to Heav’n, by merit thine, and see
What life the gods live there, and such live thou.’
So saying, he drew nigh, and to me held,
Even to my mouth of that same fruit held part
Which he had plucked; the pleasant savory smell
So quickened appetite, that I, methought,
Could not but taste. Forthwith up to the clouds
With him I flew, and underneath beheld
The Earth outstretched immense, a prospect wide
And various: wond’ring at my flight and change
To this high exaltation; suddenly
My guide was gone, and I, methought, sunk down,
And fell asleep; but O how glad I waked
To find this but a dream!” Thus Eve her night
Related, and thus Adam answered sad
94
.
“Best image of myself and dearer half,
The trouble of thy thoughts this night in sleep
Affects me equally; nor can I like
This uncouth
98
dream, of evil sprung I fear;
Yet evil whence? In thee can harbor none,
Created pure. But
100
know that in the soul
Are many lesser faculties that serve
Reason as chief; among these Fancy next
Her office holds; of all external things,
Which the five watchful senses represent,
She forms imaginations, airy shapes,
Which reason joining or disjoining, frames
All what we affirm or what deny, and call
Our knowledge or opinion; then retires
Into her private cell
109
when nature rests,
Oft in her absence mimic Fancy wakes
To imitate her; but misjoining shapes,
Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams,
Ill matching words and deeds long past or late.
Some such resemblances methinks I find
Of our last evening’s talk
115
, in this thy dream,
But with addition strange; yet be not sad.
Evil into the mind of god or man
May come
118
or go, so unapproved, and leave
No spot or blame behind: Which gives me hope
That what in sleep thou didst abhor to dream,
Waking thou never wilt consent to do.
Be not disheartened then, nor cloud those looks
That wont to be
123
more cheerful and serene
Than when fair morning first smiles on the world,
And let us to our fresh employments rise
Among the groves, the fountains, and the flow’rs
That open now their choicest bosomed smells
Reserved from night, and kept for thee in store.”
So cheered he his fair spouse, and she was cheered,
But silently a gentle tear let fall
From either eye, and wiped them with her hair;
Two other precious drops that ready stood,
Each in their crystal sluice, he ere they fell
133
Kissed as the gracious signs of sweet remorse
And pious awe, that feared to have offended.
So all was cleared, and to the field they haste.
But first from under shady arborous roof,
Soon as they forth were come to open sight
Of day-spring, and the sun, who scarce up risen
With wheels yet hov’ring o’er the ocean brim,
Shot parallel to the Earth his dewy ray,
Discovering in wide landscape all the east
Of Paradise and Eden’s happy plains,
Lowly they bowed adoring, and began
Their orisons, each morning duly paid
In various
146
style, for neither various style
Nor holy rapture wanted
147
they to praise
Their Maker, in fit strains pronounced or sung
Unmeditated, such prompt eloquence
Flowed from their lips, in prose or numerous
150
verse,
More tuneable than needed lute or harp
To add more sweetness, and they thus began.
“These are
153
thy glorious works, parent of good,
Almighty, thine this universal frame,
Thus wondrous fair; thyself how wondrous then!
Unspeakable, who sit’st above these heavens
To us invisible or dimly seen
In these thy lowest works, yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine:
Speak ye who best can tell, ye sons of light,
Angels, for ye behold him, and with songs
And choral symphonies, day without night,
Circle his throne rejoicing, ye in Heav’n,
On Earth join all ye creatures to extol
Him first,
165
him last, him midst, and without end.
Fairest of stars
166
, last in the train of night,
If better thou belong not to the dawn,
Sure pledge of day, that crown’st the smiling morn
With thy bright circlet, praise him in thy sphere
While day arises, that sweet hour of prime.
Thou sun, of this great world both eye and soul,
Acknowledge him thy greater, sound his praise
In thy eternal course, both when thou climb’st,
And when high noon hast gained, and when thou fall’st.
Moon, that now meet’st the orient sun, now fli’st
With the fixed stars, fixed in their orb that flies,
And ye five other wand’ring fires that move
In mystic dance not without song
178
, resound
His praise, who out of darkness called up light.
Air, and ye elements the eldest birth
Of nature’s womb, that in quaternion
181
run
Perpetual circle, multiform, and mix
And nourish all things, let your ceaseless change
Vary to our great Maker still new praise.
Ye mists and exhalations that now rise
From hill or steaming lake, dusky or gray,
Till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold,
In honor to the world’s great author rise;
Whether to deck with clouds the uncolored sky,
Or wet the thirsty earth with falling showers,
Rising or falling still advance his praise.
His praise ye winds, that from four quarters blow,
Breathe soft or loud; and wave your tops, ye pines,
With every plant, in sign of worship wave.
Fountains and ye that warble as ye flow
Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise.
Join voices all ye living souls, ye birds,
That singing up to heaven gate ascend,
Bear on your wings and in your notes his praise;
Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk
The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep;
Witness if I be silent, morn or even,
To hill, or valley, fountain, or fresh shade
Made vocal by my song, and taught his praise.
Hail universal Lord, be bounteous still
205
To give us only good; and if the night
Have gathered aught of evil or concealed,
Disperse it, as now light dispels the dark.”
So prayed they innocent, and to their thoughts
Firm peace recovered soon and wonted calm.
On to their morning’s rural work they haste
Among sweet dews and flow’rs; where any row
Of fruit trees over-woody reached too far
Their pampered
214
boughs, and needed hands to check
Fruitless embraces
215
: or they led the vine
To wed her elm; she spoused about him twines
Her marriageable arms, and with her brings
Her dow’r th’ adopted clusters, to adorn
His barren leaves. Them thus employed beheld
With pity Heav’n’s high King, and to him called
Raphael
221
, the sociable spirit, that deigned
To travel with Tobias, and secured
His marriage with the seven-times-wedded maid.
“Raphael,” said he, “thou hear’st what stir on Earth
Satan from Hell scaped through the darksome gulf
Hath raised in Paradise, and how disturbed
This night the human pair, how he designs
In them at once to ruin all mankind.
Go therefore, half this day as friend with friend
Converse with Adam, in what bow’r or shade
Thou find’st him from the heat of noon retired,
To respite his day-labor with repast,
Or with repose; and such discourse bring on,
As may advise him of his happy state,
Happiness in his power left free to will,
Left to his own free will, his will though free,
Yet mutable; whence warn him to beware
He swerve
238
not too secure: tell him withal
His danger, and from whom, what enemy
Late fall’n himself from Heav’n is plotting now
The fall of others from like state of bliss;
By violence, no, for that shall be withstood,
But by deceit and lies; this let him know,
Lest willfully transgressing he pretend
Surprisal, unadmonished, unforewarned.”
So spake th’ eternal Father, and fulfilled
All justice: nor delayed the wingèd saint
After his charge received, but from among
Thousand celestial ardors
249
, where he stood
Veiled
250
with his gorgeous wings, up springing light
Flew through the midst of Heav’n; th’ angelic choirs
On each hand parting, to his speed gave way
Through all th’ empyreal
253
road; till at the gate