633. ~bore~. The nom. of this verb is, in sense, some such word as the
plant or the root.
634. ~unknown and like esteemed~: known and esteemed to a like extent,
_i.e._ in both cases not at all. _Like_ here corresponds to the prefix
_un_ in _unknown_. On the description of the plant, see Introduction,
reference to Ascham's _Scholemaster_.
635. ~clouted shoon~, patched shoes. The expression is found in
Shakespeare, ii. _Hen. VI._ iv. 2. 195, "Spare none but such as go in
_clouted shoon_"; _Cym._ iv. 2. 214, "put My _clouted brogues_ from off
my feet, whose rudeness Answer'd my steps too loud": see examples in
Mayhew and Skeat's _M. E. Dictionary_. There are instances, however, of
_clout_ in the sense of a plate of iron fastened on the sole of a shoe.
In either sense of the word 'clouted shoon' would be heavy and coarse.
_Shoon_ is an old plural (O.E. _scon_); comp. _hosen_, _eyen_ (= eyes),
_dohtren_ (= daughters), _foen_ (= foes), etc.
636. ~more med'cinal~, of greater virtue. The line may be scanned thus:
And yet | more med | 'cinal is | it than | that Mo | ly. ~Moly~. When
Ulysses was approaching the abode of Circe he was met by Hermes, who
said: "Come then, I will redeem thee from thy distress, and bring
deliverance. Lo, take this herb of virtue, and go to the dwelling of
Circe, that it may keep from thy head the evil day. And I will tell thee
all the magic sleight of Circe. She will mix thee a potion and cast
drugs into the mess; but not even so shall she be able to enchant thee;
so helpful is this charmed herb that I shall give thee ... Therewith the
slayer of Argos gave me the plant that he had plucked from the ground,
and he showed me the growth thereof. It was black at the root, but the
flower was like to milk. _Moly_ the gods call it, but it is hard for
mortal men to dig; howbeit with the gods all things are possible"
(_Odyssey_, x. 280, etc., _Butcher and Lang's translation_). In his
first Elegy Milton alludes to M{=o}ly as the counter-charm to the spells
of Circe: see also Tennyson's _Lotos-Eaters_, "beds of amaranth and
_moly_."
638. ~He called it Hæmony~. _He_ is the shepherd lad of line 619.
_Haemony_: Milton invents the plant, both name and thing. But the
adjective _Haemonian_ is used, in Latin poetry as = _Thessalian_,
Haemonia being the old name of Thessaly. And as Thessaly was regarded as
a land of magic, 'Haemonian' acquired the sense of 'magical' (see Ovid,
_Met._ vii 264, "_Haemonia_ radices valle resectas," etc.), and Milton's
Haemony is simply "the magical plant." Coleridge supposes that by the
prickles and gold flower of the plant Milton signified the sorrows and
triumph of the Christian life.
639. ~sovran use~: see note, l. 41. The use of this adjective with charms,
medicines, or remedies of any kind was so very common that the word came
to imply 'all-healing,' 'supremely efficacious'; see _Cor._ ii. 1. 125,
"The most _sovereign_ prescription in Galen."
640. ~mildew blast~: comp. _Arc._ 48-53, _Ham._ iii. 4. 64, "Here is your
husband; Like a _mildew'd_ ear _Blasting_ his wholesome brother." A
mildew blast is one giving rise to that kind of blight called mildew
(A.S. meledeáw, honey-dew), it being supposed that the prevalence of dry
east winds was favourable to its formation.
642. ~pursed it up~, etc., _i.e._ put it in my wallet, though I did not
attach much importance to it. ~little reckoning~: comp. _Lyc._ 116, where
the very same phrase occurs.
643. ~Till now that~. Here _that_ = when, the clause introduced by it
being explanatory of _now_ (see Abbott, § 284).
646-7. ~Entered ... came off~. 'I entered into the very midst of his
treacherous enchantments, and yet escaped.' _Lime-twigs_ = snares; in
allusion to the practice of catching birds by means of twigs smeared
with a viscous substance (called on that account 'birdlime').
Shakespeare makes repeated allusion to this practice: see _Macbeth_, iv.
2. 34; _Two Gent._ ii. 2. 68; ii. _Hen. VI._ i. 3. 91; etc.
649. ~necromancer's hall~. Warton supposes that Milton here thought of a
magician's castle which has an enchanted hall invaded by Christian
knights, as we read of in the romances of chivalry. _Necromancer_, lit.
one who by magical power can commune with the dead (Gk. +nekros+, a
corpse); hence a sorcerer. From confusion of the first syllable with
that of the Lat. _niger_, black, the art of necromancy came to be called
"the black art."
650. ~Where if he be~, Lat. _ubi si sit_: in English the relative adverb
in such cases is best rendered by a conjunction + a demonstrative
adverb; thus, '_and_ if he be _there_.'
651. ~brandished blade~. Comp. Hermes' advice to Ulysses: "When it shall
be that Circe smites thee with her long wand, even then draw thy sharp
sword from thy thigh, and spring on her, as one eager to slay her,"
_Odyssey_, x. ~break his glass~. An imitation of Spenser, who makes Sir
Guyon break the golden cup of the enchantress Excess, _F. Q._ i. 12,
stanza 56.
652. ~luscious~, delicious. The word is a corruption of _lustious_ from
O.E. _lust_ = pleasure: see note, l. 49.
653. ~But seize his wand~. The force of this injunction is shown by lines
815-819.
654. ~menace high~, violent threat. _High_ is thus used in a number of
figurative senses, _e.g._ a high wind, a high hand, high passions (_Par.
Lost_, ix. 123), high descent, high design, etc.
655. ~Sons of Vulcan~. In the _Aeneid_ (Bk. viii. 252) we are told that
Cacus, son of Vulcan (the Roman God of Fire), "vomited from his throat
huge volumes of smoke" when pursued by Hercules, "_Faucibus ingentem
fumum_," etc.
657. ~apace~; quickly, at a great pace. This word has changed its
meaning: in Chaucer it means 'at a foot pace,' _i.e._ slowly. The first
syllable is the indefinite article '_a_' = one (Skeat).
658. ~bear~: the subjunctive used optatively (Abbott, § 365). (_Stage
Direction_) ~puts by~: puts on one side, refuses. ~goes about to rise~,
_i.e._ endeavours to rise. This idiomatic use of _go about_ still
lingers in the phrase 'to _go about_ one's business'; comp. 'to _set
about_' anything.
659. ~but~, merely: comp. l. 656. After the conditional clause we have
here a verb in the present tense ('are chained'), a construction which
well expresses the certainty and immediate action of the sorcerer's
spell (see Abbott, § 371).
660. ~your nerves ... alabaster~. Comp. _Tempest_, i. 2. 471-484. Milton
has the word alabaster three times, twice incorrectly spelled
_alablaster_ (in this passage and _Par. Lost_, iv. 544) and once
correctly, as now entered in the text (_Par. Reg._ iv. 548). Alabaster
is a kind of marble: comp. _On Shak._ 14, "make us _marble_ with too
much conceiving."
661. ~or, as Daphne was~, etc. The construction is: 'if I merely wave
this wand, you (become) a marble statue, or (you become) root-bound, as
Daphne was, that fled Apollo.' Milton inserts the adverbial clause in
the predicate, which is not unusual; he then adds an attributive clause,
which is not usual in English, though common in Greek and Latin. Daphne,
an Arcadian goddess, was pursued by Apollo, and having prayed for aid,
she was changed into a laurel tree (Gk. +daphnê+): comp, the story of
Syrinx and Pan, referred to in _Arc._ 106.
662. ~fled~. Comp. the transitive use of the verb in l. 829, 939, _Son._
xviii. 14, "_fly_ the Babylonian woe"; _Sams. Agon._ 1541, "_fly_ The
sight of this so horrid spectacle."
663. ~freedom of my mind~, etc. Comp. Cowper's noble passage, "He is the
freeman whom the truth makes free," etc. (_Task_, v. 733).
665. ~corporal rind~: the body, called in _Il Pens._ 92, "this fleshly
nook."