RPO -- John Milton : Paradise Lost: Book IX

1] The angel guest is Raphael, whose discourse with Adam has extended from the angel's arrival in Book V to the end of Book VIII. Sometimes, however, God seemed to speak directly to man (as in one instance which Adam recounts to Raphael) but always (so Milton held) through the unrecognized medium of the Son or some angel. The intimacy of Earth and Heaven marked by Raphael's joining Adam and Eve in their rural repast and his permitting Adam venial discourse (light but blameless talk) is now to be lost.

13] This theme (argument--see above I, 24 n.) is not less but more heroic, i.e., worthy of treatment in an epic or heroic poem, than that of the Iliad, whose stated subject was the wrath of Achilles and which recounted his pursuit and slaying of Hector, or than that of the Aeneid with the rivalry of Aeneas and Turnus for the hand of Lavinia, or that of the Odyssey with Neptune's persecution of Odysseus (the Greek), or again that of the Aeneid with Juno's unrelenting enmity to Aeneas, the son of Venus (Cytherea).

25] this subject for heroic (i.e., epic) song, namely, the Fall of Man: see above, Introductory Note.

27] Though he has actually, in Books V and VI, supposed the element of martial prowess expected of the epic, Milton protests that he is averse to such matter, hitherto deemed the only fit subject for epic and romance, which deal at tedious length with the ruin wrought by fabulous warriors in fictitious battles, neglecting the while the true heroism of saints and martyrs. Then, mingling epic and romance in a common condemnation he specifies epic games (like those attending the obsequies of Patroclus in the Iliad and Anchises in the Aeneid) and the description of the equipment (furniture) of the knights armed for tournaments, their shields emblazon'd with odd or ingenious devices (Impreses quaint); or of the steeds and their trappings, the long cloths thrown over them (Bases), often of material interwoven with gold or silver thread (tinsel); or, finally, of the ceremonious feast served in the castle hall, with due attendance of household officers, sewer (chief server) and seneschal (steward of the household) all this dwelling on the skill and artifice of menials, not on anything that can be justly called heroic in person or poem. To Milton there remains a higher theme (argument) sufficient in itself to raise to its true level that (debased) name of heroic, unless what he elsewhere calls "answerable style" should fail him through the advanced age and decrepitude of the whole world (an age too late) a recurrent fear in Milton's day; or the cold northern climate, so unlike that of the Mediterranean cradle of culture, where, as Milton said, the sun "ripens wits as well as fruits"; or, finally his own advancing years: all of which might well frustrate his intended flight if indeed he relied solely on himself, and not, as he does, on the Heavenly Muse.

48] Resuming his narrative, Milton refers first to the evening on which Raphael departs (end of Book VIII), then to the expulsion of Satan from the garden by Gabriel (end of Book IV).

64] Keeping always within the shadow of night, Satan circled the equator (equinoctial line) and then circled the earth four times along the imaginary lines (the colures) running from north to south through the poles.

76] Having described Satan's journey astronomically, Milton now describes it geographically. Satan travelled northward over the Black Sea (Pantus) and the Sea of Azof (the pool Maeotis) to the Siberian river Ob, which flows into the Arctic Sea; from the North pole he then descended to the South pole. Westward he travelled along the Syrian river Orontes, over the Mediterranean and the Atlantic to the Isthmus of Panama (Darien) and thence across the Pacific to India (Canges and Indus).

86] "Now the Serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made'' (Genesis 3:1).

100] Gods: angels (often so called by Milton and justified by him with reference to the Bible).

103] According to the Ptolemaic (or geocentric) scheme, Milton has the heavenly bodies circle round the earth, and according to the Christian idea they exist in order to be serviceable (officious) to it. Further, he returns to the idea of their nourishing by their influence all growth (see above, IV, 667-73 and n.). Finally, "According to the traditional scheme inherited from the Greeks, man contained within himself the faculty of growth, which was the peculiar property of vegetables, and the faculty of sensation, which was the peculiar property of the lower animals, while his own peculiar property of reason was added to these'' (Tillyard).

143] Satan, who has found cause for rebelling in God's exalting of the Son (see Head Note), now repines at the gifts showered on man. He has always affected to doubt whether God created the angels, or whether they were not self-originating, but supposing God did create them, Satan now fancies that power lost or spent. Always, indeed, he gets the facts wrong, his mind deluded by an errant Will.

166] incarnate: enter into fleshly form. Milton deliberately uses the word with religious associations, to heighten the contrast of Satan with Christ.

174] Satan, who has professed no enmity to man (above, IV, 362-81), now hardens his heart against him.

176] son of despite: a Hebraism, like "son of wickedness'' (Psalm 89:22) or "sons of valour'' (II Samuel 2:7).

276] the parting Angel: Raphael, whose last words to Adam were a warning to "beware'' and "stand fast'' (VIII, 633-43).

352] "Right reason'' was the sundard of judgment repeatedly invoked in Chnstian as in classical thought.

371] securer: less careful or (as Eve takes it, 381) less prepared, less on guard.

387] Oread: mountain nymph. Dryad: wood nymph. Delia's train: Diana or Artemis (goddess of the hunt), born on Delos and thus named Delia, was attended by a company (train) of nymphs.

392] Guiltless of fire: i.e., formed without the use of fire, necessary to work metal, but not yet discovered and put to sometimes guilty use.

393] Pales: a Roman goddess of flocks and herds. Pomona: Roman goddess of fruit.

395] Vertumnus: a lesser country deity of Roman mythology, who wooed, and after long resistance won, Pomona. Ceres: the Roman goddess of agriculture, mother of Proserpina; see above, IV, 271 and n.

440] reviv'd Adonis: Adonis, who was slain by a boar, was rescued from the underworld by the prayers of Venus and allowed to spend six months with her each year in a beautiful place known as the garden of Adonis.

441] Alcinous: King of Phoecia who entertained the wandering Odysseus (Laertes' son), possessed wonderful gardens (Odyssey, VII, 112ff.).

442] not mystic: historical, not imaginary or fictitious (as were the gardens previously mentioned), since this is mentioned in Scripture (Song of Solomon 6:2). the sapient king: Solomon "made affmity with Pharaoh king of Egypt and took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David'' (I Kings 3:1). Some critics held that the Song of Solomon was the epithalamium or wedding song for this marriage.

504] Milton compares the Serpent with those of classic myth. Cadmus and Hermione were, in Illyria on the east coast of the Adriatic), changed into serpents (Ovid, Metamorphoses, IV, 562 ff.). Aesculapius, god of medicine, manifested himself as a serpent at his temple at Epidaurus in Argolis (ibid., XV, 670-74). Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great, claimed that he was the son of Jupiter Ammon (Ammonian Jove; see above, IV, 277 and note), who appeared to her in the form of a serpent (Plutarch, Life of Alexander). In the same form Jupiter Capitalinus (i.e., of Rome) became, according to legend, the father of Scipio Africanus, the greatest of the Romans (highth of Rome), by Sempronia.

522] herd disguis'd: men transformed to beasts by the enchantress Circe (Odyssey, X).

529] He either used the serpent's tongue as organ of speech, or produced a voice by some more direct impulsion of air.

581] According to popular belief, snakes liked fennel and sucked the teats of sheep and goats.

634] Milton likens the serpent's bright crest to the will-o'-the-wisp which leads travellers astray and sometimes to their destruction, offering first a scientific explanation (Compact of unctuous vapour, i.e., `composed of oily fumes'), then that of popular superstition.

651] The prohibition regarding the Tree of Knowledge is the one example of "positive law'' (Sole daughter of his voice is a Hebraism for only uttered command) in contrast with the ''law of nature,'' known by reason, to which the rest of their conduct is left.

673] in himself collected: complete master of all his faculties. part: i.e., of the body.

687] To: perhaps "in addition to'' (which is of course a Satanic falsehood: the Tree of Knowledge is not the Tree of Life) or perhaps the meaning is, "it gives as it were a new life, the life of knowledge.''

698] Of good, how just? how can God be just if he prohibits the knowledge of good?

713] by putting off humanity to put on divinity. Satan parodies I Corinthians 15:53 and Colossians 3:9-10.

732] humane: probably means "gracious," but possibly (as often in Milton's day) "human."

815] Our great Forbidder: Eve's new view of God, a first result of her fall. safe: safely out of the way, not dangerous.

825] A like confusion of equality with liberty was the ground of Satan's rebellion.

837] sciential: productive of knowledge (science--Lat. scientia--used of all knowledge).

853] A pleading (and perhaps a guilty) expression in her face (excuse) served, like the prologue to a play, to introduce (prompt) a formal apology or verbal defence.

872] to admiration: so as to give rise to wonder (cf. Lat. admirari, to wonder).

890] Astonied: astonished. If Milton is thinking of Job 17:8, he will be well aware of the irony of Adam's response: "Upright men shall be astonied at this and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite."

907] Milton agrees with St. Augustine that, unlike Eve, Adam was not deceived but chose deliberately to share Eve's fate: his sin likewise was disobedience, but the motive was uxoriousness. Milton, however, does not minimize the diffculty of Adam's position.

913] Cf. ''This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh .... Therefore shall a man ... cleave unto his wife'' (Genesis 2:23-24).

928] Perhaps the fact (deed) is not so heinous now that the serpent has first defiled the fruit. Adam mistakenly attributes virtue to the fruit itself, which for Milton has no such power but serves only as a test of obedience.

945] Not well conceiv'd of God: it is not to be supposed that God would behave in this manner.

980] oblige: as in Latin, to make guilty or liable to punishment. fact: deed (see above 928-31n).

1000] Cf. above, lines 782-84 and note, and "the whole creation groaneth ... till now" (Romans 8:22).

1019] Since we use the word savour (i.e., taste) in reference to both the understanding (as in "man of taste") and the palate.

1050] unkindly: unnatural; grosser sleep: in contrast to that light and natural sleep of innocence described earlier (P.L., V, 3-5).

1059] Samson, of the tribe of Dan, strong like Hercules, was shorn of his strength while sleeping (Judges 16).

1079] last: can hardly mean `worst' as editors have assumed since the first, namely, alienation from God, is clearly the worst; last then because the result of all that have gone before.

1101] The fig-tree here referred to is the banyan or Indian fig; hence the place names introduced; Malabar, the southwestern coast of India; Decan, the Indian peninsula in general, and the hinterland east of Goa in particular. In the detailed description of the tree Milton is following closely Gerard's popular Herbal (1597).

1121] Readers familiar with Milton's description of the Chaos (P.L., II, 891 ff.; VII, 210-15) would recognize a reflection of Chaos in the minds of Adam and Eve.

1154] Eve was made by God from a rib taken from Adam's side (Genesis 2:21-22: P.L., VIII, 452-77).

Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: John Milton, Paradise Lost. 2nd edn. (1674).
First publication date: 1674
Publication date note: In ten books.
RPO poem editor: Hugh MacCallum, A. S. P. Woodhouse
RP edition: 3RP 1.279-305.
Recent editing: 1:2002/6/8

Composition date: 1642 - 1665
Form: iambic pentameter
Rhyme: unrhymed

John Milton (1608-1674)

Paradise Lost: Book IX