Skeat). There occur the forms agased and agazed, evidently the results of a false derivation. (See Wedgwood.) See 1 Henry VI. I. i. 126, and Chester Plays (apud Halliwell): "The [they] were so sore agased." And Bishop Percy's Folio MS. iii. 154 (ed. Hales and Furnivall): "Whereatt this dreadfull conquerour Theratt was sore agazed." An adjective gastful occurs in the Shep. Cal., and elsewhere. 11. 161. terrour. This spelling is better than our modern way, as more significant of the channel through which the word came to us. So honour below. 162. the center. So Com. 382. Hamlet, II. ii. 159: "If circumstances lead me I will find Where truth is hid. though it were hid indeed So Troilus and Cressida, III. ii. 186. " In "the surface" and "the centre "the necessity of using either "his' or "its" is avoided. Comp. Fardle of Facions, 1555: "A certaine sede which groweth there of the owne accorde." (Apud Marsh.) 163. session. Though in appearance so different, "assize" and "session" are etymologically connected. Comp. royal, regal; French, serment, sacrement; acheter, accepter; naïf, native; chose, cause; etroit, strict, &c. &c. We have also the word “ sitting" in a cognate sense with session. 164. spread his throne. If we compare the Latin, lectum sternere, then the original notion would be the same as in our phrase "to spread a table;" that is, it would be to deck the throne with fit coverings: hence, to prepare, to set his throne. We may compare Faerie Queene, I. xii. 13: "And all the floore was underneath their feet Bespredd with costly scarlott of great name, On which they lowly sitt." Comp. "his [Chaos'] dark pavilion spread" (Paradise Lost, ii. 960). 168. Th' old Dragon. See Rev. xii. 9. 170. casts his usurped sway—as if it were a net; as in 1 Cor. vii. 35, &c. so that a modern writer would hardly use it in a grave passage. It has now become vulgar, Comp. "nor nothing near," 171. wroth. Wrath in 1645 Ed. The form "wroth" is the substantive in Shakspere's Merchant of Venice, II. ix. 78: = "I'l keep my oath Patiently to bear my wroth." swings about, agitates violently. Comp. Faerie Queene, I. xi. 23: "His hideous tayle then hurled he about." 172. Swindges Comp. also Ib. 26: "The scorching flame sore swinged all his face." Our verb swing is cognate with the German schwingen, &c. Swinge in the sense of to beat, to strike ("an act that is done with a swinging movement "-Wedgwood), occurs frequently in Old English (as in Measure for Measure, V. i. 130), and still survives in the North English dialects. It is associated by Cotgrave with "beat, lamme, bethwacke." See Havelok (re-ed. Skeat), and the Mariage of Witt and Wisdome, 1579 (apud Halliwell): "O the passion of God! so I shalbe swinged; So my bones shalbe bang'd! The poredge pot is stolne; what, Lob, I say, Come away and be hang'd." For the word in our text comp. Waller's "Her tail's impetuous swinge." 11. 172. horrour. So "sorrow " in Lycid. 166; and "vires" and "potentia," Virg. Æn. i. 664. = foulded consisting of folds, spiral. So mirrored in Adonais. 173. Comp. Paradise Regained, i. 454-64. That the oracles ceased at and from the birth of Christ was a very general belief; but it was baseless. "Tacitus, Philostratus, Lucian, Strabo, Juvenal, Suetonius, Martial, Statius, Pliny the Younger, &c. &c., have incidentally mentioned oracular responses as existing in their own days." "Macrobius, in the reigns of Arcadius and Honorius, speaks of the 'Sortes Antiane' in words which distinctly prove that they were consulted as oracles in his time." (See Occult Sciences, a volume of the Encycl. Metrop.) 174. See the scene described in the beginning of the sixth book of the Æneid. φελλοὶ δ ̓ ὡς ἄγουσι δίκτυον, τὸν ἐκ βυθοῦ κλωστῆρα σώζοντες λίνου. Theoc. vi. 18: καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ γραμμᾶς κινεῖ λίθον. So, as Paley notes, the Greeks said, "The men out of the city fled," meaning, "The men who were in the city fled out of it." See Jelf's Greek Gr. § 647. 178. hollow shreik, i.e. unsubstantial, unreal, ghost-like, evanescent shriek; the shriek of one who is so. Comp. "hollow fiend," Twelfth Night, III. iv. 101; "He will look as hollow as a ghost," King John, III. iv. 84; and the phrase " hollow laugh." Or the word may refer to "the dull sound of hollow things" (Wedgwood). Kilian, in his Etymol. Teut. Ling. glosses holle stemme as vox fusca, non clara,"-a husky (as we should say), not clear voice. Comp. "his hollow whistling in the leaves" of "the southern wind," 1 Henry IV. V. i. 5. The former sense seems preferable. Delphos. Milton prefers this form to the more usual Delphi. See Paradise Regained, i. 458. Shakspere, too, uses Delphos. (See Winter's Tale.) It was the mediaval form. steep of Delphos. Comp. "Delphian cliff," Paradise Lost, i. 517. Gray has adopted this phrase, as so many others of Milton's. See his Progress of Poesy, 1. 66. Delphi lay at the foot of the southern uplands of Parnassus, which end "in a precipitous cliff, 2,000 feet high, rising to a double peak, named the Phædriades, from their 'glittering' appearance as they faced the rays of the sun." (See Smith's Ancient Geography.) "The oracle was consulted by Julian, but was finally suppressed by Theodosius." (Dr. Smith's Dict. Geog.) So generally in 179. nightly nocturnal. Comp. Il Penseroso, 84; Arcad. 48, &c. Shakspere. In modern English the word generally means "night by night," as in Cowper's Lines on the Receipt of my Mother's Picture, &c. = 180. pale-ey'd. Comp. Romeo and Juliet, III. v. 19, 20: "I'll say yon grey is not the morning's eye, 'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow." Shakspere uses "pale-faced," "pale-visaged." Or, better, eye may be used in its precise sense. Comp. Henry V. IV. ii. 47, where Grandpré, in his description of the English "jades,” speaks of "The gum down-roping from their pale-dead eyes." 11. 180. [How would you explain the from?] 12. 181. [To what part of speech does o're here belong?] See Spenser's Shep Cal. for May, note, where a quotation is made from Lavaterus' treatise, de Lemuribus, then newly translated into English (Warton). Lavaterus derived the story there quoted from him from Plutarch's "booke of the ceasing of Oracles." 183. For the language comp. Matt. ii. 18. 185. poplar pale. Comp. Horace's "pinus ingens albaque populus." 186. parting. Comp. "part.ng day" and ". 'parting soul" in Gray's Elegy. In Old English, part occurs very commonly in the sense of our depart. Genius. See Il Penseroso, 154. sent dismissed. 188. twilight. Comp. "twilight groves" (Il Penseroso, 133). the nimphs. See Il Penseroso, 137-8. 189. The words in consecrated earth refer to the Lemures; on the holy hearth, to the Lars. consecrated = made "sacer." See Horace's Sat. I. viii. 13; Orelli quotes in his note the inscription "Dis Manibus locus consecratus," &c. 191. Lemures frequently denotes spectres, goblins; but in Ovid-who, as has been already said, was a favourite writer with Milton-it is used convertibly with Manes. See Class. Dict. 192. [How would you parse round here?] 194. quaint = nice, exact, &c. Much Ado about Nothing, III. iv. 22: "But for a fine, quaint, graceful, and excellent fashion, yours is worth ten on't." 195. See Virg. Georg. i. 480. 196. forgoes. The "for" here forsake, forswear. Comp. German ver. 197. Comp. Virg. Æneid, ii. 351. With the catalogue of deities which here follows comp. Paradise Lost, i. 376-521. Peor. See Numb. xxv. 18, xxxi. 16; Josh. xxii. 17. It was one of the titles of Baal, "the supreme male divinity of the Phoenician and Canaanitish nations, as Ashtoreth was their supreme female divinity" (see Smith's Smaller Bibl. Dict.)—that is, it expressed one of the modifications of Baal's deity. Comp. Baal-berith (Judges viii. 33), Baal-zebub (2 Kings i. 2). But in Paradise Lost, i. 412, Peor is said to be the "other name" of Chemos. Baälim. That is, Baal in all his various modifications. See preceding note. Comp. the various titles that were given to Jupiter by the Latins, to Zeus by the Greeks. 198. temples dim. He uses "dim" here in a less favourable sense than in Il Penseroso, 160. See Paradise Lost, i. 457-66, and Samson Agonistes, passim. 199. Dagon was the national god of the Philistines. See Dictionary of the Bible; a'so 1 Sam. v. 200. Mooned Ashtaroth. See Dictionary of the Bible. It would seem more correct to identify this goddess with the planet Venus rather than the Moon. She was the Assyrian Ishtar, Greek and Roman Astarte. Certainly her worship was eventually identified with that of Venus. 201. both. Comp. the position of this word in Twelfth Night, V. i. 256: "If nothing lets to make us happy both, But this my masculine-usurp'd attire," &c. Selden says she was called "regina cœli," and "mater deum" (De Diis Syriis). 203. Hammon. See Class. Dict. s. v. Ammon. He was "originally an Æthiopian or Lybian, afterwards an Egyptian, deity." His primitive function seems to have been to protect the flocks. He was variously represented as a ram, as a man with a ram's head, as a man with a ram's horns. The great seats of his worship were Meroë, Thebes, Ammonium. 12. 203. shrinks. See Lycid. 133. 204. Thamuz = Tammuz; properly "the Tammuz." See Ezek. viii. 14; Paradise Lost, i. 446-57. Tammuz has been identified with Adonis : "The worship of Adonis, which in later times was spread over nearly all the countries round the Mediterranean, was, as the story itself sufficiently indicates, of Asiatic or, more especially, of Phoenician origin. Thence it was transferred to Assyria, Egypt, Greece, and even to Italy, though of course with various modifications." See Class. Dict. The death of Adonis, and Aphrodite's grief over it, are frequently mentioned by the poets, both ancient and modern. Bion wrote a dirge on the subject. Ovid tells the story in the tenth book of his Metam. &c. &c. Shelley, weeping over the untimely fate of a young poet, killed, as he believed, by the stroke of a ruffian writer, thought of Adonis, and called his in memoriam poem Adonais. See Introd. to Adonais. Tyrian maids. In Paradise Lost, 1.c. "Syrian damsels." 205. Moloch = Molech. See Bible Dict. Moloch is represented as flying from his worshippers in the very midst of one of the services in his honour. "In Sandys' Travels, p. 186, ed. 1615, fol. a popular book in Milton's time, is a description of the sacrifices and image of Moloch, exactly corresponding with this passage and Paradise Lost, i. 392-6." (Warton.) 206. In shadows dred. Comp. Paradise Lost, i. 403-5: "And made his grove The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence 207. "According to Jewish tradition, the image of Molech was of brass, hollow within, and was situated without Jerusalem." burning is here what would be in Greek a present participle passive-so in such phrases as the house is burning," "I saw it burning." Etymologically, the word is not a participle at all, though it looks like an imperfect participle. It is, in fact, an old verbal substantive, the preposition which once governed it having dropped out. In our older English writers, as still in the various dialects of the country, this preposition is frequently found. See 1 Pet. iii. 66 20, while the ark was a preparing," &c. &c. This a is a corruption of on. See Chaucer : "On hontyng be they riden." (Comp. alive on live, &c.) For the -ing, a very common A. S. substantival termination was -ung or -ing, as huntung, wonung, halgung, leorning, bærning, &c. &c. The -ung was subsequently corrupted into -ing. The -ing is often added to words that are themselves of NormanFrench or Latin origin; e.g. preparing, &c. The identity of termination with that of our imperfect participle (itself a corruption from -ande or -ende), added to the loss of the preposition, and consequent danger of confusion, has led to the introduction of a cumbrous phrase, consisting of "being" followed by the perfect participle, as "the house was being built." But in many writers, and in many particular usages, the old form of expression still lingers. all may be parsed as an adverb qualifying the adjectival phrase of blackest hue. See Prothal. 613. 208. Comp. Paradise Lost, i. 394. =3 209 grisly is cognate with the German grässlich frightful. The word is used by Chaucer, often by Spenser, &c. See Paradise Lost, i. 670; ii. 704: "the grisly terrour," where either the original force of the word is unknown or forgotten, or the phrase is tautological. In iv. 821, occurs again "the grisly King." 211. brutish here of form and shape rather than, or as well as, of kind and nature. 12. 211. On the gods of Egypt, see Juvenal's fifteenth Satire, beg., on which passage Mayor quotes Cic. Tusc. v. 78; Herod. ii. 69; Lucian de Sacr. 14. "The basis of the religion was Nigritian Fetishism, the lowest kind of nature worship." (Dict. Bib.) as fast. The correlative phrase is omitted, as in Il Penseroso, 44. 212. Isis. See Class. Dict. She was originally the Egyptian Earth goddess, the wife of Osiris, and mother of Horus; subsequently she was worshipped as the goddess of the moon, and identified with Io (Juv. vi. 526); also, she was identified with Demeter, as Osiris with Dionysus. Those initiated in her mysteries wore in the public processions masks representing the heads of dogs. Orus, or Horus, the Egyptian god of the sun. the dog Anubis. Comp. Virg. Æneid, viii. 698: "Omnigenûmque deûm monstra, et latrator Anubis, Contra Neptunum et Venerem contraque Minervam ,, Minucius Felix (21) calls him "Cynocephalus." Juv. xv. 8: "Whole towns worship the dog." "Hence the oath of Socrates: μȧ Tòv Kúva Tòv AlyvπTiwv Veóv, Plat. Gorg. p. 482, B." (Mayor.) 13. 213. Osiris here, as in Juv. viii. 29, stands for Apis, inasmuch as their godheads were in course of time identified. Apis was represented by a bull, which was kept with the utmost care at Memphis. When one bull died, or having been worshipped for a certain period was put to death, another was searched for which should fulfil the necessary conditions of colour and marks. When he was found, there was great joy. See Juv. 1. c., and Mayor's quotations from Athenagoras and Minucius Felix. In iii. 27-29, Herodotus relates how Cambyses mocked and slew this deity, and in the following chapters what came of that ferocious act of impiety. 217. his sacred chest = worshipt ark. There is a sketch of an Egyptian ark in Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians. Chaucer uses chest for coffin. 218. shroud. Etymologically "what is cut up" (Bosworth), and so a garment. So generally a covering, and then a shelter, a hiding-place. See Paradise Lost, X. 1068: Blow moist and keen "The winds which bids us seek Some better shroud." So Tempest, II. ii. 243; 3 Henry VI. III. i. 1; Love's Labour Lost, IV. iii. 479. "My sable shroud," in Lyc. 22 = my coffin. 220. sable-stoled. KvavóσTOλOS. See note on stole in Il Penseroso, 35. 223. eyn. So Shakspere, Antony and Cleopatra, II. vii. 121 : “ Plumpy Bacchus, with pink eyne." Then represents an old plural inflexion. In Chaucer we have eyen and eyghen; elsewhere been, fon, shoon, lambren, sustren (Piers Ploughman), &c. This inflexion still survives, or is traceable, in oxen, children, brethren, kine, swine; also in welkin, chicken (see Trench's English Past and Present), which, though now used as singulars, are really plural. So we say sometimes 224. beside. In modern English we prefer the form besides. for "occasionally," in which sense "sometime" was once frequently used. all the gods beside all the other gods. Beside here holds an adjectival relation to the gods. 227. Comp. Hercules' feat while yet in his cradle, described by Theocritus in his Herakliskus. 231. Comp. Midsummer Night's Dream, III. ii. 379-87; Paradise Regained, iv. 426-38. orient. Mr. Keightley refers to Paradise Lost, i. 546. |