The metaphor is frequent with the poets. Thus Hesiod (Theog. v. 40) :— γελα δε τε δωματα πατρος Ζηνος ἐριγδουποιο, θεᾶν ἐπι λειριοεσσῃ Σκιδναμένη.” (Ridet verò domus patris Jovis tonantis, deorum suavi voce dispersa.) And Theognis (Gnom. init.) :: 66 γελασσε δε γαια πελώρη, Γηθησεν δε βαθυς ποντος ἁλος πολιης.” (Risit terra magna, lætatus etiam est profundus pontus cani maris.) Callimachus (Hymn. in Dian. v. 43) :— 66 • Χαιρε δε Καίρατος ποταμος μεγα, χαιρε δε Τηθύς.” (Lætabatur Cæratus fluvius maxime, lætabatur et Tethys.) (Arg. L. II. v. 162):: And Apollonius περι δε σφιν ἰαινετο νηνεμος ἀκτη Μελπομενοις.” (Ipsis vero canentibus littus tranquillum lætabatur.) They also express the curling of the top of the wave, especially where it falls upon the beach, by the word yeλws. And thus Oppian :- μαλα παντες ἀολλεες έγγυς ἑπονται κυματος ἀκροτατοιο γελως όθι χερσον ἀμείβει.” (Omnes admodum densi pone sequuntur fluctus extremi risus ubi terram attingit.) In the same sense Eschylus (Prometh. v. 89) :— 66 ποντιών τε κυματων Ανηριθμον γελασμα.” (Marinorum fluctum crispatio innumerabilis.) This serves to explain a passage in Strabo which is generally misunderstood by the translators. That geographer, speaking of the outlets of the river Cyrus, in Albania [says] (Lib. XI. p. 501): “ εἰς στοματα δωδεκα φασι μεμερισθαι τας ἐκβολας, τα μεν τυφλα, τα δε παντελως Èπɩyeλwvтa" (Ferunt hunc duodecim ostiis exire, partim cæcis, partim late fluctibus patentibus). This seems to be the proper meaning of the Greek, and not "fluctum refringentibus," as it is commonly translated, which carries no meaning at all. It is in this sense too that Apollonius expresses the breaking of the waves upon the shore (Arg. Lib. II. v. 572) :— “ Λευκη καγχαζοντος ἀνεπτυε κυματος άχνη.” (Albam ferventis expuit undæ spumam.) By a similar licence as those above mentioned we find Theocritus saying (Idyll. ii. 38): σiyâ μev tovтos, and Callimachus (in Αpollin. v. 18) εύφημεί και ποντος. (Bona verba dicit pontus, seu silet.) 66 IV. 785. Half wheeling to the shield, half to the spear." The ancients generally used these words of command to soldiers, instead of what we now call right and left. Thus the author of the little dictionary of military terms generally printed at the end of Suidas Lexicon : κλισις ἐπι δορυ ἐστι ἡ ἐπι τα δεξια· κλισις ἐπ' ἀσπιδα ἐστι ἡ ἐπ ̓ ἀριστερα κλισις (Aciei in hastam inclinatio est ea quæ fit in dextrum latus; in clypeum inclinatio est ea quæ fit in sinistrum latus). Thus, too, Ælian (Tact. p. m. 326): "Declinatio est motio militum singulorum cum vel in hastam, hoc est dextrorsum, sese convertunt, vel in scutum, hoc est sinistrorsum." And below : "Duplicata declinatio partem versus eandem ora militis in hostilem a tergo conatum transfert; quæ res immutatio dicitur, et vel in hastam vel in scutum fieri solita est." XI. 713. "The brazen throat of war had ceased to roar." Homer, Il. X. v. 8, has an expression of the same kind :— “ πτολεμοιο μεγα στομα πευκεδανοιο.” Mr. Pope has translated this verse in our poet's phrase : "Or bids the brazen throat of war to roar." Eustathius observes that the vast jaws of war, as it is in the original, is very proper to give us the idea of the mischiefs of war under the emblem of an insatiable monster. Cic. pro Archia E totius belli ore et faucibus. XII. 646-649.— "The world was all before them, where to choose Mr. Addison thinks these two last verses supernumerary and useless here, as beginning a new subject and therefore extraneous. Bentley, who saw the error, has emended it in such a manner that it had better remained as it was than to be changed in the manner he has done it. I imagine the last four verses would read more connectedly if one might be allowed to transpose them in this manner :— "They hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way: The world was all before them, where to choose This manner of reading the verses (though not warranted by any edition) is at least preferable either to Addison's scheme, who is for rejecting them altogether, or to that of Dr. Bentley, who mangles them by his horrid alterations so that they are no longer discernible to be the production of our great poet. We still retain all the words of the text, and only place them so as to close the subject with propriety and grace. Neither would I have adventured to offer the alteration, but that I have the example of that learned critick Grævius before me, who has taken the same liberty with a passage of Hesiod. It is in Epy. v. 207. All the editions read it thus : “ Δειπνον δ', αἰκ' ἐθελω, ποιησομαι, ήε μεθησω. Aristarchus rejected the two last verses, because (said he) it is absurd to introduce beasts repeating moral sentences. Grævius has evaded the difficulty by changing the order of the verses as follows: : σε Δειπνον δ', αἰκ ̓ ἐθελω, ποιησομαι, ήε μεθησω. Ὡς ἐφατ ̓ ὠκυπετης ίρηξ, τανυσιπτερος όρνις. Heinsius has explained another passage of the same poet very successfully by a similar transposition: Epy. v. 374. Thus it is commonly read :— “ Μουνογένης δε παις σωζοι πατρωιον οἶκον which is scarce to be made sense of. Heinsius inverts it as follows: : “ Μουνογενης δε παις σωζοι πατρωιον οἰκον· He rightly interprets pepßeμev "growing up," not "feeding," as the common versions have it.—Since writing the above I observe that Peck (Mem. 201) mentions this transposition, which he approves of. I am glad to find him of my opinion. These are not uninteresting; and, though they have been selected precisely on that account, others as interesting may be found. On the whole, though Callander's Commentary is past date, and its publication now is utterly out of the question, one would not regret if some literary antiquarian, investigating the state of scholarship in Scotland in the last century, and thinking it worth while to pay some little attention to Callander, should include his Milton commentary rather specially in a survey of his writings. He did his best, and worse men have had more credit. During his last years, it is said, he lived in complete retirement, the victim of a deep religious melancholy. NOTES TO PARADISE REGAINED 1-7. “I, who," etc. BOOK I. In this manner of referring, at the opening of a new poem, to his previous poem of Paradise Lost, Milton, as Newton noted, follows precedent. Prefixed to the Eneid are the lines, attributed by some to Virgil himself— "Ille ego qui quondam gracili modulatus avenâ Carmen," etc. Spenser also opens his Faery Queene with the following reference to his smaller pastoral poems which had preceded it :— "Lo! I, the man whose Muse whilom did mask, As time her taught, in lowly shepherd's weeds, For trumpets stern to change mine oaten reeds." But there is a far closer relation between the Paradise Regained and Paradise Lost than between either the Eneid and Virgil's preceding poems, or the Faery Queene and the preceding pastoral poems of Spenser. As these first seven lines indicate, the one is a sequel and retrievement of the other. On this passage, as 4-7. "By one man's firm obedience," etc. announcing the theme of the entire poem, see the Introduction. It may be added that Milton in this poem resumes the history of his former hero, Satan, in order to show the fulfilment of the prophecy with which his former poem ended, that the seed of the Woman should bruise the head of the Serpent. It is to be recollected that the passages of Scripture on which the poem is mainly founded are these: Matthew iii. and iv. 1—11; Mark i. 1—15; Luke iii. 2—23 and iv. 1—14; and John, chap. i. In line 4, as Newton noted, there is a reference to Rom. v. 19, and in line 7, as Dunster noted, to Isaiah li. 3. 8-17. Thou Spirit," etc. With this compare the similar invocations, Par. Lost, I. 1—26, and VII. 1—39; also IX. 13—47. See notes on those passages. 8. " Eremite," the old and more correct form of hermit, from the Greek pηuíτns, a dweller in the desert. Todd notes that the spelling hermit is older than Milton's time; indeed hermite and heremite alternate with ermite and eremite in the oldest English writings. 14. "full summed." See Par. Lost, VII. 421, and note there. 16. "unrecorded left": i.e., as Mr. Jerram explains, “not related by the Evangelists in detail." It almost looks as if Milton assumed that what he was about to imagine, by way of filling up the story as left by the Evangelists, might be taken as what actually did happen. 18-32. "Now had," etc. Matt. iii. 13-17; Luke iii. 23; and John i. 33. Dunster quotes also Isaiah lxviii. 1. 66 Dunster 33-35. "That heard the Adversary," etc. Satan means Adversary." See Par. Lost, I. 81, 82, and note. quotes Job i. 7. 39-42. "Flies to his place," etc. Compare In Quintum Novembris, 7 et seq. 66 42. consistory." It is not unlikely, as Thyer noted, that Milton chose this word as being the name more particularly of ecclesiastical courts, Papal or English. In Par. Lost, X. 457, the council of evil Spirits is called "their dark divan." (Dunster.) 43. "aghast" in the original agast; and it is the proper spelling, the word being, as Skeat points out, a contraction of agasted, terrified, pp. of the old English verb agasten, to terrify. 44, 45. "O ancient Powers of Air," etc. It is to be remembered that, at the loss of Paradise, such a road or bridge was established over Chaos between Hell and the Universe of Man that the Fallen Angels were able thenceforth to go and come at their pleasure between the two, and in fact to consider the Universe an extension of their infernal empire. They are here supposed, accordingly, to have since then resided more in the Universe of Man, "this wide World,"-than in Hell; and chiefly they are supposed to have made the Air their residence. See Ephes. ii. 2, and vi. 12 (Dunster), and refer to Par. Lost, X. 188-190, 260, 261, 320-324, 375-381, 399, 400, 463—467. 62. "infringed" in its primary sense, "broken in upon, "shattered." 74. "Purified to receive him pure." 1 John iii. 3. (Newton.) |