9. _draught_: appositive to 'air.'
11. _day-spring_: the dawn.
12. With this line Samson's soliloquy begins, the attendant having
withdrawn.
13. _Dagon_: god of the Philistines; represented in the 'Paradise Lost'
(i. 462, 463) as a 'sea-monster, upward man, and downward fish.' See 1
Sam. v. 1-9.
16. _popular_: of the people.
19-21. Restless thoughts, that rush thronging upon me found alone.
24. _Twice by an Angel_: see Judges xiii.
27. _charioting_, etc.: withdrawing as in a chariot his godlike
presence.
28. _and from_: and (as) from.
31. _separate_: separated, set apart: 'the Holy Ghost said, Separate me
Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.'—Acts
xiii. 2.
35. _under task_: under a prescribed task.
41. _Eyeless, in Gaza_, etc.: Thomas De Quincey, in his paper entitled
'Milton _vs._ Southey and Landor,' remarks: 'Mr. Landor makes one
correction by a simple improvement in the punctuation, which has a very
fine effect. . . . Samson says, . . .
Ask for this great deliverer now, and find him
_Eyeless in Gaza at the mill with slaves_.
Thus it is usually printed, that is, without a comma in the latter line;
but, says Landor, 'there ought to be commas after _eyeless_, after
_Gaza_, after _mill_.' And why? because thus, 'the grief of Samson is
aggravated at every member of the sentence.' He (like Milton) was 1,
blind; 2, in a city of triumphant enemies; 3, working for daily bread;
4, herding with slaves—Samson literally, and Milton with those whom
politically he regarded as such.'
45. _but through_: except for, had it not been for.
55. _Proudly secure_: 'secure' is subjective, free from care or fear;
'Security is mortals' chiefest enemy.'—_Macbeth_, III. v. 32.
56. _By weakest subtleties_: by those most weak but crafty creatures
(women), who are not made to rule, but to serve as subordinates to the
rule of wisdom, the prerogative of man. This was, unfortunately, too
much Milton's own opinion of women.
58. _withal_: at the same time.
62. _above my reach_: above the reach of my capacity to know.
63. _Suffices_: it is sufficient (to know).
67. _O loss of sight_: Milton here speaks virtually _in propria
persona_.
70. _Light the prime work of God._—Gen. i. 3; 'offspring of Heaven
first born.'—_P. L._, iii. 1.
75, 76. _exposed to daily fraud_: Milton here, no doubt, drew from his
own experiences as a father.
77. _still_: ever, always.
82. _all_: any; 'without all doubt.'—_Henry VIII._, IV. i. 113; without
all remedy.'—_Macbeth_, III. ii. 11.
87. _silent_: invisible; the epithet which pertains to one sense, that
of hearing, is transferred to another, that of sight. Lat. _luna
silens_.
89. _Hid in her vacant interlunar cave_: the moon is poetically
represented as hid in a cave, and giving no light (vacant), between her
disappearance and return, in the sky.
91, 92. _if it be true that light is in the soul_: the soul proceeding
from God, and partaking of the 'Bright effluence of bright essence
increate.'—_P. L._, iii. 6.
93. _She_ (the soul) _all in every part_ (of the body).
95. _obvious_: literally, in the way of (Lat. _obvius_), and so,
exposed; 'Not obvious, not obtrusive, but retired.'—_P. L._, viii.
504.
106. _obnoxious_: subject, liable.
111. _steering_: directing their course; 'With radiant feet the tissued
clouds down steering.'—_Ode on Nativity_, 146.
118. _at random_: anyway or anyhow; _carelessly diffused_: passively
stretched upon the ground, sprawling.
'His limbs did rest
Diffused and motionless.'
—_Shelley's Alastor._
Spenser uses two phrases of similar import; '_Pour'd out in loosnesse_
on the grassy ground.'—_F. Q._, I. vii. 7; 'carelessly displaid.'—_F.
Q._, II. v. 32. This use of 'diffused' is a Latinism.
'Publica me requies curarum somnus habebat,
_Fusa_que erant toto languida membra toro.'
—_Ovid_, _Ex Ponto_, III. iii. 7, 8.
122. _weeds_: garments, clothes.
128. _Who tore the lion_: see Judges xiv. 5, 6.
132. _hammered cuirass_: the cuirass was originally of leather; here of
metal, formed with the hammer.
133. _Chalybean-tempered steel_: having the temper of steel wrought by
the Chalybes, an ancient Asiatic people dwelling south of the Black Sea,
and famous as workers in iron; hence, Lat. _chalybs_, steel, Gr. [Greek:
chalyps]. Dr. Masson accents 'Chalybean' on the third syllable; it seems
rather to have the accent here on the second.
134. _Adamantean proof_: having the strength of adamant.
136. _insupportably_: irresistibly.
139. _his lion ramp_: his leap or spring as of a lion. In the
description of the sixth day of the creation (_P. L._, vii. 463-466) it
is said of the lion,
'now half appeared
The tawny lion, pawing to get free
His hinder parts, then springs, as broke from bonds,
And rampant shakes his brinded mane.'
144. _foreskins_: uncircumcised Philistines.
145. _Ramath-lechi_: see Judges xv. 17.
147. _Azza_: Gaza. See Judges xvi. 3. The form Azzah is used Deut. ii.
23.
148. _Hebron, seat of giants old_: for Hebron was the city of Arba, the
father of Anak, and the seat of the Anakims.—Josh. xv. 13, 14. 'And the
Anakims were giants, which come of the giants.'—Num. xiii. 33.
_Newton._
149. _No journey of a sabbath-day_: Hebron was about thirty miles
distant from Gaza; a sabbath-day's journey was but three-quarters of a
mile.
150. _Like whom_: Atlas.
157. _complain_: directly transitive, in the sense of lament, bewail.
163. _visual beam_: ray of light, the condition of seeing.
'the air,
No where so clear, sharpen'd his visual ray.'
—_P. L._, iii. 620.
'then [Michael] purged with euphrasy and rue
The visual nerve, for he [Adam] had much to see.'
—_P. L._, xi. 415.
165. _Since man on earth_: a Latinism like _Post urbem conditam_, of
frequent occurrence in Milton's poetry; 'Never since created man.—_P.
L._, i. 573; 'After the Tuscan mariners transformed.'—_Comus_, 48.
169. _pitch_: usually pertains to height; here to depth.
172. _the sphere of fortune_: a constantly revolving globe.
173. _But thee_: construe with 'him,' third line above: 'For him I
reckon not in high estate . . . But thee.'
181. _Eshtaol and Zora_: see Josh. xix. 41.
185. _tumours_: perturbations, agitations; so _tumor_ is used in Latin:
'Cum tumor animi resedisset;' 'Erat in tumore animus.'
190. _superscription_: a continuation of the metaphor in preceding line.
191-193. _In prosperous days they swarm_: perhaps from Milton's own
experience after the Restoration.—_Masson._
207. _mean_: moderate, as compared with his physical strength.
208. _This_: _i.e._ wisdom.
209. _drove me transverse_: a continuation of the metaphor in 198-200.
So in 'P. L.,' iii. 488:
'A violent cross wind from either coast
Blows them transverse ten thousand leagues away
Into the devious air.'
212. _pretend they ne'er so wise_: claim they to be never so wise; the
idea of falseness is not in the word 'pretend' as in its present use.
219. _The first I saw at Timna_: Judges xiv.
221. _The daughter of an infidel_: Milton probably had his first wife,
Mary Powell, in his mind, whose family was infidel to his own political
creed.
222. _motioned_: proposed.
223. _intimate_: inward, inmost.
228. _fond_: foolish.
229. _vale of Sorec_: a valley (and stream) between Askelon and Gaza,
not far from Zorah.—Judges xvi. 4.
230. _specious_: good appearing.
235, 236. _vanquished with a peal of words_: a metaphor drawn from the
storming of a fortress. A similar metaphor is found in '1 Henry VI.,'
III. iii. 79, 80:
'I am vanquished; these haughty words of hers
Have battered me like roaring cannon-shot.'
237. _provoke_: to call forth, to challenge. Lat. _provocare_.
241. _That fault I take not on me_: 'with an occult reference, perhaps,
to the conduct of those in power in England after Cromwell's death, when
Milton still argued vehemently against the restoration of the
Stuarts.'—_Masson._
247. _ambition_: used literally, going about in the service of some
object, canvassing. Lat. _ambitio_.
248. _spoke loud_: proclaimed.
253. _Etham_: Judges xv. 8, 9.
257. _harass_: ravaging.
258. _on some conditions_: Judges xv. 11-13.
263. _a trivial weapon_: the jawbone of an ass. Judges xv. 15.
268-276. _But what more oft_: a plain reference to the state of England,
and to Milton's own position there, after the Restoration.—_Masson._
271. _strenuous_: ardently maintained. Newton quotes a similar sentiment
from the oration of Æmilius Lepidus, the consul, to the Roman people,
against Sulla: 'Annuite legibus impositis; accipite otium cum
servitio;'—but for myself—'potior visa est periculosa libertas quieto
servitio.'
278. _How Succoth_: Judges viii. 4-9.
282. _how ingrateful Ephraim_: Judges xi. 15-27.
287-289. _sore battle_: the battle fought by Jephthah with Ephraim.
Judges xii. 4-6.
291. _mine_: my people.
297, 298. _For of such doctrine_: 'Observe the peculiar effect of
contempt given to the passage by the rapid rhythm and the sudden
introduction of a rhyme in these two lines.'—_Masson._
305. _They ravel more, still less resolved_: they become more confused,
and ever less disentangled.
327. _careful step_: 'careful' is used subjectively; a step indicating
that Manoa was full of care, deeply concerned. Chaucer so uses
'dredeful':
'With dredeful foot thanne stalketh Palamoun.'
—_Knight's Tale_, 1479.
333. _uncouth_: literally, unknown; strange, with the idea of the
disagreeable.
334. _gloried_: a participial form derived from the noun.
335. _informed_: directed.
343. _Angels'_: I have followed Keightley in making 'Angels' a genitive.
345. _Duelled_: it was an individual fight on the part of Samson.
354. _as_: that; this use of 'as' after 'so' and 'such' is not uncommon
in Shakespeare and Bacon, and the later literature.
'I feel such sharp dissension in my breast,
Such fierce alarums both of hope and fear,
As I am sick with working of my thoughts.'
—_1 Henry VI._, V. v. 86.
364. _miracle_: wonder, admiration.
373. _Appoint_: 'Do not you arrange or direct the disposition of
heavenly things.'—_Keightley._
383. _Of Timna_: Judges xiv.
394. _my capital secret_: a play on the word 'capital' is, no doubt,
designed; chief secret and the secret of his strength depending upon his
hair.
433. _That rigid score_: rigorous account or reckoning.
434. _This day_: Judges xvi. 23.
453. _idolists_: idolaters.
455. _propense_: disposed.
466. _provoked_: called forth, challenged.
499, 500. _a sin that Gentiles_: supposed to be an allusion to Tantalus,
who divulged the secrets of the gods.
503. _but act not_: take not a part in thy own affliction; 'thy' is
objective: in afflicting thyself.
505. _self-preservation bids_: _i.e._ that thou do so.
509. _his debt_: debt to him.
516. _what offered means_: those offered means which.
528. _blazed_: trumpeted abroad.
531. _affront_: a front to front encounter. The word occurs as a noun
but once in Shakespeare:
'There was a fourth man in a silly habit,
That gave the affront with them.'—_Cymb._, V. iii. 87.
_i.e._ faced or confronted the enemy (Rolfe).
533. _venereal trains_: snares of Venus, or love.
537. _me_: an ethical dative? or it may be the usual dative.
539. _Then turned me out ridiculous_: an object of ridicule, a
laughing-stock.
549. _rod_: ray of light.
552. _turbulent_: used causatively.
563-572. _Now blind, disheartened_: almost literally autobiographic.
569. _robustious_: Masson explains 'full of force'; but 'vain monument
of strength' in the following verse, does not seem to support this
explanation.
581. _caused a fountain_: Judges xv. 18, 19.
590-598. _All otherwise_: this pathetic passage is quite literally
autobiographic, if 'race of shame' be excepted; but even this might be
understood, in Milton's case, to be used objectively.
599. _suggestions_: the word has a stronger meaning than at present:
inward promptings.
'why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs
Against the use of nature?'—_Macbeth_, I. iii. 34.
604. _how else_: elsewise, otherwise.
612. _all his_ (torment's) _fierce accidents_: all the fierce things
which _fall to_, or happen to, body or mind.
613. _her_: the mind's.
615. _answerable_: corresponding.
624. _apprehensive_: taking hold of, mentally; having the power of
conception or perception.
627. _medicinal_: accented on the penult.
628. _snowy Alp_: used generically for any snowy mountain.
633. _his_: Heaven's.
635. _message_: messenger, angel.
637. _amain_: vigorously.
643. _provoked_: called forth, challenged.
645. _to be repeated_: to be again and again made the subject of their
cruelty or scorn.—_Masson._
650. _speedy death_: an appositive of 'prayer.'
658. _much persuasion_: to be construed with 'many are the sayings,'
etc., and 'much persuasion (is) sought.'
662. _dissonant mood from_: mood dissonant from his complaint.
677. _Heads_: appositive to 'the common rout of men.'
683. _their highth of noon_: the meridian of their glory.
684. _Changest thy countenance_: a similar expression, but with a
different meaning, to that in Job xiv. 20: 'Thou changest his (man's)
countenance, and sendest him away.'
686. _or them to thee of service_: or of service (from) them to thee.
690. _Unseemly_: unbecoming in human eye; 'falls' is a noun in
apposition to the preceding thought, 'thou throwest them lower than thou
didst exalt them high.'
695-702. _Or to the unjust tribunals_: there has been an occult
reference all through this chorus to the wreck of the Puritan cause by
the Restoration; but in these lines the reference becomes distinct.
Milton has the trials of Vane and the Regicides in his mind. He himself
had been in danger of the law; and, though he had escaped, it was to a
'crude (premature) old age,' afflicted by painful diseases from which
his temperate life might have been expected to exempt him.—_Masson._
699. _deformed_: attended with deformity.
700. _crude_: premature.
701. _disordinate_: inordinate, irregular; yet suffering without cause.
707. _What_: the word here, perhaps, means 'why.' The following question
seems to support this.
715. _Tarsus_: _i.e._ Tarshish, which Milton avoided from his dislike to
the sound _sh_. He seems to have agreed with those who thought that
Tarshish was Tarsus in Cilicia, instead of Tartessus in Spain. In the
Bible, 'ships of Tarshish' signify large sea-going vessels in general;
_the iles_, etc.: _i.e._ the isles and coasts of Greece and Lesser
Asia; _Javan_ (pr. _Yawan_) is Ἰάονες, Ἴωνες, the Ionians. As these
were the best known of the Greeks in the south, their name was given to
the whole people, just as the Greeks themselves called all the subjects
of the king of Persia, Medes; _Gadire_: Γαδείρα, Gades,
Cadiz.—_Keightley._
717. _bravery_: finery, ornament; _trim_: shipshape, in good order.
719. _hold them play_: keep them in play.
720. _An amber scent_: an ambergris scent.
731. _makes address_: prepares.
732 _et seq._ 'The student will notice how thoroughly Euripidean the
whole of the following scene is, not merely in the fact that two of the
_dramatis personæ_ are pitted dialectically against one another, but in
the cast of the language and in the quality of the sentiment.'—_John
Churton Collins._
748. _hyæna_: 'a creature somewhat like a wolf, and is said to imitate a
human voice so artfully as to draw people to it, and then devour them.
"'Tis thus the false hyæna makes her moan,
To draw the pitying traveller to her den;
Your sex are so, such false dissemblers all."
—_Thomas Otway's Orphan_, A. ii.
Milton applies it to a woman, but Otway to the men.'—_Newton._
760, 761. _not to reject the penitent_: an obvious allusion to Milton's
forgiveness of his first wife, after her two years' abandonment of him.
803. _That made for me_: helped my purpose (_i.e._ to keep you from
leaving me as you did her at Timna).
842. _Or_: Keightley suspects that 'or' should be 'and' here, as 'or'
does not connect well with what precedes.
868. _respects_: considerations; 'there's the respect that makes
calamity of so long life.'—_Hamlet_, III. i. 68, 69.
906. _peals_: peals of words. See l. 235.
932, 933. _trains_, _gins_, _toils_: these words all express modes of
entrapping any one or anything.
934. _thy fair enchanted cup_: an allusion to Circe and the Sirens.
948. _gloss_: comment, construe.
950. _To thine_: compared to thine.
988, 989. _in mount Ephraim Jael_: Judges iv. 5.
990. _Smote Sisera_: Judges v. 26.
1016. _thy riddle_: Judges xiv. 12-19; _in one day or seven_: connect
with 'harder to hit.'
1018. _If any of these, or all_: if it be any or all of these qualities,
virtue, wisdom, valor, etc., that can win or long inherit (possess)
woman's love, the Timnian bride had not so soon preferred thy paranymph
(bridesman). Judges xiv., xv.
1022. _Nor both_: nor both wives; _disallied_: severed.
1025. _for that_: because.
1025-1060. _Is it for that such outward ornament_: the ideas expressed
in these verses, it must be admitted, were too much Milton's own, in
regard to woman, as his Divorce pamphlets show.
1030. _affect_: like.
1037. _Once joined_: _i.e._ in marriage.
1038. _far within_: a thorn in the flesh, a cleaving mischief, deep
beneath defensive armor; these may be an allusion to the poisoned shirt
sent to Hercules by his wife Deianira.
1048. _combines_: _i.e._ with her husband.
1057. _lour_: frown, or look sullen.
1062. _contracted_: drawn together, gathered.
1068. _Harapha of Gath_: see under 1079.
1069. _pile_: the giant's body is spoken of as a pile, or large, proudly
towering building.
1073. _habit_: dress.
1075. _His fraught_: the freight of commands or whatever else he is
charged with. The word seems to be used contemptuously.
1076. _chance_: fate.
1079. _Men call me Harapha_: 'No such giant is mentioned by name in
Scripture; but see 2 Sam. xxi. 16-22. The four Philistine giants
mentioned there are said to be sons of a certain giant in Gath called
"the giant"; and the Hebrew word for "the giant" there is Rapha or
Harapha. Milton has appropriated the name to his fictitious giant, whom
he makes out in the sequel (1248, 1249) to be the actual father of that
brood of giants.'—_Masson._
1080. _Og, or Anak_: see Deut. iii. 11, ii. 10, and Gen. xiv. 5.
1081. _Thou know'st me now_: so in 'P. L.,' iv. 830:
'Not to know me argues yourselves unknown.'
1091. _taste_: to make trial of; Fr. _tâter_, OF. _taster_;
'he now began
To taste the bow, the sharp shaft took, tugg'd hard,' etc.
—_Chapman's Homer's Od._, xxi. 211.
1092. _single me_: challenge me to single combat.—_Keightley._
1093. _Gyves_: handcuffs.
1105. _In thy hand_: in thy power.
1109. _assassinated_: cruelly abused or maltreated. The word is so used
in Milton's 'Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce,' Book I. c. xii.
1113. _close-banded_: secretly leagued.—_Dr. Johnson._
1116. _without feigned shifts_: without any pretended considerations for
my blindness.
1118. _Or rather flight_: a cutting phrase, implying that otherwise the
giant may seek safety in flight, if they were not in 'some narrow place
enclosed.'
1120, 1121. _brigandine_: coat of armor for the body; _habergeon_: armor
for neck and shoulders; _Vant-brace_: (_avant bras_) armor for the arms;
_greaves_: leg armor; _gauntlet_: (_gant_) glove of mail.
1122. _A weaver's beam_: 1 Sam. xvii. 5-7 was in Milton's mind in lines
1119-1122. 'And he [Goliath] had an helmet of brass upon his head, and
he was armed with a coat of mail; . . . And he had greaves of brass upon
his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of
his spear was like a weaver's beam;' . . .
1132. _had not spells_: 'taken from the ritual of the combat in
chivalry. When two champions entered the lists, each took an oath that
he had no charm, herb, or any enchantment about him.'—_T. Warton._
1164. _boisterous_: strong, powerful?
1169. _thine_: thy people?
1181. _Tongue-doughty_: tongue-valiant.
1186. _thirty men_: Judges xiv. 19.
1195. _politician lords_: lords of your state.
1197. _spies_: Judges xiv. 10-18. 'Milton follows Jewish tradition in
supposing the thirty bridal friends there mentioned to have been spies
appointed by the Philistines.'—_Masson._
1202. _wherever chanced_: _i.e._ wherever by chance met with.
1219. _not all your force_: the ellipsis is, would have disabled me.
1220. _These shifts_: the charges made by Harapha of his being 'a
murderer, a revolter, and a robber'; _appellant_: challenger.
1223. _enforce_: demand of strength.
1224. _With thee_: (fight) with thee?
1231. _Baal-zebub_: the god of Ekron. 2 Kings i. 16.
1238. _bulk without spirit vast_: vast bulk without spirit.
1242. _Astaroth_: the Phœnician goddess.
1243. _braveries_: bravadoes.
1266. _mine_: my end.
1274. _Hardy_: bold.
1292. _Either of these_: 'might' or 'patience.'
1309. _remark him_: plainly mark him.
1317. _heartened_: encouraged, emboldened.
1334. _Myself_: regard myself, do you say? No, my conscience and
internal peace I regard. Keightley and Masson both place an (!) instead
of an (?). But 'myself' requires to be uttered with an _inquiring_
surprise, and should be followed by an (?).
1346. _stoutness_: firm refusal.
1369. _the sentence holds_: the sentence, 'outward acts defile not,'
holds good, where outward force constrains.
1375. _which_: represents what precedes, 'If I obey . . . set God
behind.'
1377. _dispense with_: pardon. 'Milton here probably had in view the
story of Naaman the Syrian, begging a _dispensation_ of this sort from
Elisha, which he seemingly grants him.' See 2 Kings v. 18, 19.—_Thyer._
1397. _as_: used after 'such' to introduce a result, instead of 'that,'
as in present English; not uncommon in Shakespeare, Bacon, and other
writers of the time and later.
1399. _to try_: to test.
1408. _Yet this be sure_: looks back to 'I am content to go.'
1418-1422. _Lords are lordliest_: 'in this passage may be detected a
reference to England in Milton's time.'—_Masson._
1435. _that Spirit that first rushed on thee_: 'a young lion roared
against him. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he
rent him as he would have rent a kid.'—_Judges_ xiv. 5, 6.
1450. _I had no will_: _i.e._ to go thither.
1455. _That hope_: to partake that hope with thee would much rejoice us.
1461-1471. _Some much averse I found_: the different shades of feeling
among the men in power in England after the Restoration may be supposed
to be glanced at in this passage: obstinate and revengeful Royalism,
strongest among the High Church party; and so on.—_Masson._
1470. _The rest_: to remit the rest was magnanimity.
1471. _convenient_: fitting. Lat. _conveniens_, coming together.
1474. _Their once great dread_: former object of their great dread.
1512. _whole inhabitation_: all the inhabitants of the world, as is
indicated by 'universal groan.'
1514. _ruin_: down crashing.
1529. _dole_: grief, sorrow; 'dealing dole' is not a case of the cognate
accusative, as it is understood by some critics.
1538. _baits_: literally, stops for refreshment; in a general sense,
tarries.
1551. _concerned in_: connected with.
1554. _needs_: is necessary.
1557. _tell us the sum_: the main fact, defer what accompanied it.
1581. _glorious_: used proleptically.
1594. _eye-witness_: ocular testimony.
1599. _high street_: main or principal street; so, highway, high seas.
1608. _sort_: rank.
1610. _banks_: benches.
1619. _cataphracts_: heavy-armed cavalry soldiers, whose horses as well
as themselves were covered with a complete suit of mail armor. Gr.
κατάφρακτος, covered; _spears_: spearmen.
1621. _rifted_: split.
1625. _assayed_: tried.
1626. _still_: ever.