~discovers~, exhibits, displays. The usual sense of 'discover' is to find
out or make known, but in Milton and Shakespeare the prefix _dis-_ has
often the more purely negative force of _un-_: hence discover = uncover,
reveal. Comp.--
"Some high-climbing hill
Which to his eye _discovers_ unaware
The goodly prospect of some foreign land."
_Par. Lost_, iii. 546.
~Attendant Spirit descends~. The part of the attendant spirit was taken by
Lawes (see Introduction), who, in his prologue or opening speech,
explains who he is and on what errand he has been sent, hints at the
plot of the whole masque, and at the same time compliments the Earl in
whose honour the masque is being given (lines 30-36). In the ancient
classical drama the prologue was sometimes an outline of the plot,
sometimes an address to the audience, and sometimes introductory to the
plot. The opening of _Comus_ prepares the audience and also directly
addresses it (line 43). For the form of the epilogue in the actual
performance of the masque see note, l. 975-6.
1. ~starry threshold~, etc. Comp. Virgil: "The sire of gods and monarch of
men summons a council to the starry chamber" (_sideream in sedem_),
_Aen._ x. 2.
2. ~mansion~, abode. Trench points out that this word denotes strictly "a
place of tarrying," which might be for a longer or a shorter time: hence
'a resting-place.' Comp. _John_, xiv. 2, "In my Father's house are many
_mansions_"; and _Il Pens._ 93, "Her _mansion_ in this fleshly nook."
The word has now lost the notion of tarrying, and is applied to a large
and important dwelling-house. ~where~, in which: the antecedent is
separated from the relative, a frequent construction in Milton (comp.
lines 66, 821, etc.). So in Latin, where the grammatical connection
would generally be sufficiently indicated by the inflection. ~shapes ...
spirits~. An instance of the manner in which Milton endows spiritual
beings with personality without making them too distinct. "Of all the
poets who have introduced into their works the agency of supernatural
beings Milton has succeeded best" (Macaulay). We see this in _Par. Lost_
(_e.g._ ii. 666). Compare the use of the word 'shape' (Lat. _umbra_) in
l. 207: also _L'Alleg._ 4, "horrid _shapes_ and shrieks"; and _Il Pens._
6, "fancies fond with gaudy _shapes_ possess." Milton's use of the
demonstrative ~those~ in this line is noteworthy; comp. "_that_ last
infirmity of noble mind," _Lyc._ 71: it implies that the reference is to
something well known, and that further particularisation is needless.
3. ~insphered~. 'Sphere,' with its derivatives 'sphery,' 'insphere,' and
'unsphere' (_Il Pens._ 88), is used by Milton with a literal reference
to the cosmical framework as a whole (see _Hymn Nat._ 48) or to some
portion of it. In Shakespeare 'sphere' occurs in the wider sense of 'the
path in which anything moves,' and it is to this metaphorical use of the
word that we owe such phrases as 'a person's sphere of life,' 'sphere of
action,' etc. See also _Comus_, 112-4, 241-3, 1021; _Arc._ 62-7; _Par.
Lost_, v. 618; where there are references to the music of the spheres.
4. ~mild~: an attributive of the whole clause, 'regions of calm and serene
air.' ~calm and serene~. These are not mere synonyms: the Lat. _serenus_ =
bright or unclouded, so that the two epithets are to be respectively
contrasted with 'smoke' and 'stir' (line 5); 'calm' being opposed to
'stir' and 'serene' to 'smoke.' Compare Homer's description of the seat
of the gods: "Not by wind is it shaken, nor ever wet with rain, nor doth
the snow come nigh thereto, but _most clear_ air is spread about it
_cloudless_, and the white light floats over it," _Odyssey_, vi.: comp.
note, l. 977.
5. ~this dim spot~. The Spirit describes the Earth as it appears to those
immortal shapes whose presence he has just quitted.
6. There are here two attributive clauses: "which men call Earth" and
"(in which) men strive," etc. ~low-thoughted care~; narrow-minded anxiety,
care about earthly things. Comp. the form of the adjective 'low-browed,'
_L'Alleg._ 8: both epithets are borrowed by Pope in his _Eloisa_.
7. This line is attributive to 'men.' ~pestered ... pinfold~, crowded
together in this cramped space, the Earth. _Pester_, which has no
connection with _pest_, is a shortened form of _impester_, Fr.
_empêtrer_, to shackle a horse by the foot when it is at pasture. The
radical sense is that of clogging (comp. _Son._ xii. 1); hence of
crowding; and finally of annoyance or encumbrance of any kind. 'Pinfold'
is strictly an enclosure in which stray cattle are _pounded_ or shut up:
etymologically, the word = _pind-fold_, a corruption of _pound-fold_.
Comp. _impound_, sheep-_fold_, etc.
8. ~frail and feverish~. Comp. "life's fitful fever" (_Macbeth_, iii. 2.
23). This line, like several of the adjacent ones, is alliterative.
9. ~crown that Virtue gives~. This is Scriptural language: comp. _Rev._
iv. 4; 2 _Tim._ iv. 8, "Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of
righteousness."
10. ~this mortal change~. In Milton's MS. line 7 was followed by the
words, 'beyond the written date of mortal change,' _i.e._ beyond, or
after, man's appointed time to die. These words were struck out, but we
may suppose that the words 'mortal change' in line 10 have a similar
meaning. Milton frequently uses 'mortal' in the sense of 'liable to
death,' and hence 'human' as opposed to 'divine': the mortal change is
therefore 'the change which occurs to all human beings.' Comp. _Job_,
xiv. 14: "all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my
_change_ come": see also line 841. Prof. Masson takes it to mean 'this
mortal state of life,' as distinguished from a future state of
immortality. The Spirit uses 'this' as in line 8, in contrast with
'those,' line 2.
11. ~enthroned gods~, etc. In allusion to _Rev._ iv. 4, "And upon the
thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments;
and on their heads crowns of gold." Milton frequently speaks of the
inhabitants of heaven as _enthroned_. The accent here falls on the first
syllable of the word.
12. ~Yet some there be~, etc.: 'Although men are generally so exclusively
occupied with the cares of this life, there are nevertheless a few who
aspire,' etc. _Be_ is here purely indicative. This usage is frequent in
Elizabethan English, and still survives in parts of England. Comp.
_Lines on Univ. Carrier_, ii. 25, where it occurs in a similar phrase,
"there be that say 't": also lines 519, 668. It is employed to refer to
a number of persons or things, regarded as a class. ~by due steps~,
_i.e._ by the steps that are due or appointed: comp. '_due_ feet,' _Il
Pens._ 155. _Due_, _duty_, and _debt_ are all from Lat. _debitus_, owed.
13. ~their just hands~. 'Just' belongs to the predicate: 'to lay their
just hands' = to lay their hands with justice. ~golden key~. Comp. _Matt._
xvi. 19, "I will give unto thee the _keys_ of the kingdom of heaven";
also _Lyc._ 111:
"Two massy keys he bore of metals twain
(The _golden_ opes, the iron shuts amain)."
15. ~errand~: comp. _Par. Lost_, iii. 652, "One of the seven Who in God's
presence, nearest to his throne, Stand ready at command, and are his
eyes That run through all the Heavens, or down to the Earth Bear his
swift _errands_": also vii. 579. ~but for such~, _i.e._ unless it were for
such.
16. 'I would not sully the purity of my heavenly garments with the
noisome vapour of this sin-corrupted earth.' ~ambrosial~, heavenly; also
used by Milton in the sense of 'conferring immortality': comp. l. 840;
_Par. Lost_, ii. 245; iv. 219, "blooming _ambrosial_ fruit."
'Ambrosial,' like 'amaranthus' (_Lyc._ 149), is cognate with the
Sanskrit _amríta_, undying; and is applied by Homer to the hair of the
gods: similarly in Tennyson's _Oenone_, 174: see also _In Memoriam_,
lxxxvi. Ben Jonson (_Neptune's Triumph_) has 'ambrosian hands,' _i.e._
hands fit for a deity. Ambrosia was the food of the gods. ~weeds~: now
used chiefly in the phrase "widow's weeds," _i.e._ mourning garment.
Milton and Shakespeare use it in the general sense of garment or
covering: in the lines _On the Death of a Fair Infant_, it is applied to
the human body itself; comp. also _M. N. D._ ii. 1. 255, "_Weed_ wide
enough to wrap a fairy in." See also _Comus_, 189, 390.