372. ~misbecoming~: see note on 'misused,' l. 47. ~plight~, condition.
Skeat derives this word from A.S. _pliht_, danger; others connect it
with _pledge_. It is distinct from _plight_, l. 301.
373. ~Virtue could see~, etc. The best commentary on this line is in lines
381-5: comp. Spenser: "Virtue gives herself light through darkness for
to wade," _F. Q._ i. 1. 12.
375. ~flat sea~: comp. _Lyc._ 98, "level brine": Lat. _aequor_, a flat
surface, used of the sea.
376. ~seeks to~, applies herself to. This use of seek is common in the
English Bible: see _Deut._ xii. 5, "_unto_ his habitation shall ye
_seek_"; _Isaiah_, viii. 19, xi. 10, xix. 3; i. _Kings_, x. 24.
377. ~her best nurse, Contemplation~. The wise man loves contemplation and
solitude: comp. _Il Penseroso_, 51, where "the Cherub Contemplation" is
the "first and chiefest" of Melancholy's companions. In Sidney's
_Arcadia_, "Solitariness" is "the nurse of these contemplations."
378. ~plumes~. Some would read _prunes_, both words being used of a bird's
smoothing or trimming its feathers--or (more strictly) picking out
damaged feathers. See Skeat's _Dictionary_, and compare Pope's line,
"Where Contemplation _prunes_ her ruffled wings."
379. ~various~, varied: comp. l. 22. The 'bustle of resort' is in
_L'Allegro_ the 'busy hum of men.'
380. ~all to-ruffled~. Milton wrote "all to ruffled," which may be
interpreted in various ways: (1) all to-ruffled, (2) all too ruffled,
(3) all-to ruffled. The first of these is given in the text as it is
etymologically correct: _to_ is an intensive prefix as in 'to-break' =
to break in pieces; 'to-tear' = to tear asunder, etc.; while _all_ (=
quite) is simply an adverb modifying _to-ruffled_. But about 1500 A.D.
this idiom was misunderstood, and the prefix _to_ was detached from the
verb and either read along with _all_ (thus all-to = altogether), or
confused with _too_ (thus all-to = too too, decidedly too). It is
doubtful in which sense Milton used the phrase; like Shakespeare, he may
have disregarded its origin. See Morris, § 324; Abbott, §§ 28, 436.
381. ~He that has light~, etc. Comp. _Par. Lost_, i. 254: 'The mind is
its own place,' etc.
382. ~centre~, _i.e._ centre of the earth: comp. _Par. Lost_ i. 686, "Men
also ... Ransacked the _centre_"; and _Hymn Nat._ 162, "The aged Earth
... Shall from the surface to the _centre_ shake." Sometimes the word
'centre' was used of the Earth itself, the _fixed_ centre of the whole
universe according to the Ptolemaic system. The idea here conveyed,
however, is not that of immovability (as in _Par. Reg._ iv. 534, "as a
_centre_ firm") but of utter darkness.
385. ~his own dungeon~: comp. _Sams. Agon._ 156, "Thou art become (O worst
imprisonment!) The _dungeon_ of thyself."
386. ~most affects~: has the greatest liking for. It now generally denotes
rather a feigned than a real liking: comp. _pretend_. Lines 386-392 may
be compared with _Il Pens._ 167-174.
393. ~Hesperian tree~. An allusion to the tree on which grew the golden
apples of Juno, which were guarded by the Hesperides and the sleepless
dragon Ladon. Hence the reference to the 'dragon watch': comp.
Tennyson's _Dream of Fair Women_, 255, "Those dragon eyes of anger'd
Eleanor Do hunt me, day and night." See also ll. 981-983.
395. ~unenchanted~, superior to all the powers of enchantment, not to be
enchanted. Similarly Milton has 'unreproved' for 'not reprovable,'
'unvalued' for 'invaluable,' etc.; and Shakespeare has 'unavoided' for
'inevitable,' 'imagined' for 'imaginable,' etc. Abbott (§ 375) says: The
passive participle is often used to signify, not that which _was_ and
_is_, but that which _was_ and therefore _can be hereafter_; in other
words _-ed_ is used for _-able_.
396. Compare Chaucer, _Doctor's Tale_, 44, "She flowered in virginity,
With all humility and abstinence."
398. ~unsunned~, hidden. Comp. _Cym._ ii. 5. 13, "As chaste as _unsunned_
snow"; _F. Q._ ii. 7, "Mammon ... _Sunning_ his treasure hoar."
400. ~as bid me hope~, etc. The construction is, 'as (you may) bid me (to)
hope (that) Danger will wink on Opportunity and (that Danger will) let a
single helpless maiden pass uninjured.'
401. ~Danger will wink on~, etc., _i.e._ danger will shut its eyes to an
opportunity. To _wink on_ or _wink at_ is to connive, to refuse to see
something: comp. _Macbeth_, i. 4. 52, "The eye _wink_ at the hand";
_Acts_, xvii. 30. Warton notes a similar argument by Rosalind in _As You
Like It_, i. 3. 113: "Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold."
403. ~surrounding~. Milton is said to be the first author of any note who
uses this word in its current sense of 'encompassing,' which it has
acquired through a supposed connection with _round_. Shakespeare does
not use it. Its original sense is 'to overflow' (Lat. _superundare_).
404. ~it recks me not~, _i.e._ I do not heed: an impersonal use of the old
verb _reck_ (A.S. _récan_, to care). Comp. _Lyc._ 122, "What _recks_ it
them."
405. ~dog them both~, _i.e._ follow closely upon night and loneliness.
Comp. _All's Well_, iii. 4. 15, "death and danger _dogs_ the heels of
worth."
407. ~unownèd~, _i.e._ 'thinking her to be unowned,' or 'as if unowned.'
Milton thus, as in Latin, frequently condenses a clause into a
participle.
408. ~infer~, reason, argue. This use of the word is obsolete. See
Shakespeare, iii. _Hen. VI._ ii. 2. 44, "_Inferring_ arguments of mighty
force"; _K. John_, iii. 1. 213, "Need must needs _infer_ this
principle": also _Par. Lost_, viii. 91, "great or bright _infers_ not
excellence."
409. ~without all doubt~, _i.e._ beyond all doubt: a Latinism = _sine omni
dubitatione_.
411. ~arbitrate the event~, judge of the result. The meaning is 'Where the
result depends equally upon circumstances to be hoped and to be dreaded
I incline to hope.'
413. ~squint suspicion~. Compare Quarles: "Heart-gnawing Hatred, and
squint-eyed Suspicion." To look askance or sideways frequently indicates
suspicion.