108. ~Advice ... scrupulous head~. 'Advice,' now used chiefly to signify
counsel given by another, was formerly used also of self-counsel or
deliberation. See Chaucer, _Prologue_, 786, "granted him without more
_advice_"; and comp. Shakespeare, _M. of V._ iv. 2. 6, "Bassanio upon
more _advice_, Hath sent you here this ring"; also _Par. Lost_, ii. 376,
"_Advise_, if this be worth Attempting," where 'advise' = consider. See
also l. 755, note. _Scrupulous_ = full of scruples, conscientious.
110. ~saws~, sayings, maxims. _Saw_, _say_, and _saga_ (a Norwegian
legend) are cognate.
111. ~of purer fire~, _i.e._ having a higher or diviner nature. (Or, as
there is really no question of degree, we may render the phrase as =
divine.) Compare the Platonic doctrine that each element had living
creatures belonging to it, those of fire being the gods; similarly the
Stoics held that whatever consisted of _pure fire_ was divine, _e.g._
the stars: hence the additional significance of line 112.
112. ~the starry quire~: an allusion to the music of the spheres; see
lines 3, 1021. Pythagoras supposed that the planets emitted sounds
proportional to their distances from the earth and formed a celestial
concert too melodious to affect the "gross unpurgèd ear" of mankind:
comp. l. 458 and _Arc._ 63-73. Shakespeare (_M. of V._ v. 1. 61) alludes
to the music of the spheres:
"There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins," etc.
_Quire_ is a form of _choir_ (Lat. _chorus_, a band of singers); in
Greek tragedy the chorus was supposed to represent the sentiments of the
audience. _Quire_ (of paper) is a totally different word, probably
derived from Lat. _quatuor_, four.
113. ~nightly watchful spheres~. Milton elsewhere alludes to the stars
keeping watch: "And all the spangled host keep watch in order bright,"
_Hymn Nat._ 21. 'Nightly,' used as an adjective in the sense of
'nocturnal': comp. _Il Pens._ 84, "To bless the doors from _nightly_
harm"; _Arc._ 48, "_nightly_ ill"; and Wordsworth's line: "The _nightly_
hunter lifting up his eyes." Its ordinary sense is "night by night."
114. ~Lead in swift round~. Comp. _Arc._ 71: "And the low world in
measured motion draw, After the heavenly tune."
115. ~sounds~, straits: A.S. _sund_, a strait of the sea, so called
because it could be _swum_ across. See Skeat, _Etym. Dict._ _s.v._
116. ~to the moon~, _i.e._ as affected by the moon. For similar uses of
'to,' comp. _Lyc._ 33, "tempered _to_ the oaten flute"; _Lyc._ 44,
"fanning their joyous leaves _to_ thy soft lays." ~morrice~. The waters
quiver in the moonlight as if dancing. The morrice = a morris or Moorish
dance, brought into Spain by the Moors, and thence introduced into
England by John of Gaunt. We read also of a "morris-pike"--a weapon used
by the Moors in Spain.