858. ~adjuring~, charging by something sacred and venerable. The
adjuration is contained in lines 867-889, which, in Milton's MS., are
directed "to be said," not sung, and in the Bridgewater MS. "to sing or
not." From the latter MS. it would appear that these lines were sung as
a kind of trio by Lawes and the two brothers.
863. ~amber-dropping~: see note, l. 333; and comp. l. 106, where the idea
is similar, warranting us in taking 'amber-dropping' as a compound
epithet = dropping amber, and not (as some read) 'amber' and 'dropping.'
_Amber_ conveys the ideas of luminous clearness and fragrance: see
_Sams. Agon._ 720, "_amber_ scent of odorous perfume."
865. ~silver lake~, the Severn. Virgil has the Lat. _lacus_ in the sense
of 'a river.'
868. ~great Oceanus~, Gk. +Ôkeanon te megan+. The early Greeks regarded
the earth as a flat disc, surrounded by a perpetually flowing river
called Oceanus: the god of this river was also called Oceanus, and
afterwards the name was applied to the Atlantic. Hesiod, Drayton, and
Jonson have all applied the epithet 'great' to the god Oceanus; in fact,
throughout these lines Milton uses what may be called the "permanent
epithets" of the various divinities.
869. ~earth-shaking Neptune's mace~, _i.e._ the trident of Poseidon
(Neptune). Homer calls him +ennosigaios+ = earth-shaking: comp. _Iliad_,
xii. 27, "And the Shaker of the Earth with his trident in his hands,"
etc. In _Par. Lost_, x. 294, Milton provides Death with a "mace
petrifick."
870. ~Tethys' ... pace~. Tethys, wife of Oceanus, their children being
the Oceanides and river-gods. In Hesiod she is 'the venerable' (+potnia
Têthys+), and in Ovid 'the hoary.'