by John Milton
94. argue find fault with (OED 2).
96–9. when twelve… Father’s business See Luke 2. 49 and i 209–15.
99. mused wondered and pondered.
101. obscures leaves unexplained.
103–4. My heart… sayings Cp. Luke 2. 19: ‘Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart’, and Luke 2. 51: ‘his mother kept all these sayings in her heart’.
107. salutation Gabriel’s greeting (Luke 1. 28).
115. preface earlier statement (Latin praefatio), i.e. Satan’s promise to return (i 483–5).
116. vacant at leisure (OED 4b).
117. middle… air See i 39n for Satan’s association with the cold middle air.
118. Potentates leaders, or a synecdoche for all angelic orders.
120. Solicitous anxious (OED 1).
blank nonplussed (OED 5).
122. *Demonian Spirits elemental daemons (see II Penseroso 93n), with overtones of ‘evil spirits’. Augustine had identified Platonic and Hermetic daemons with wicked demons (City of God viii 14–24, ix passim).
126–7. an enemy / Is risen Cp. the ‘enmity’ that God placed between Eve’s seed and the serpent (Gen. 3. 15, PL x 180).
127. invade attack, assault (OED 5).
130. frequence assembly (OED 1).
131. tasted put to the proof (OED 2), had experience of (OED 3).
141–2. Eve… Deceive See i 51–2n and cp. iv 6–7.
147. the old Serpent Cp. Rev. 12. 9: ‘that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan’.
150. Belial See PL i 490–505, ii 108–18 and notes.
151. Asmodai Hebrew ‘the destroyer’. Asmodai (or ‘Asmodeus’) was associated with lust because he slaughtered Sarah’s seven husbands on their wedding nights (Tobit 3. 8). Cp. PL iv 167–71, v 221–3.
152. incubus a demon that had sexual intercourse with women while they slept. (A succubus took female form to have intercourse with sleeping men.) Augustine (City of God xv 23) acknowledged the existence of incubi, and belief in them was still strong in M.’s time. See e.g. King James’s Demonologie (1597) iii 3.
159. virgin majesty Cp. PL ix 270: ‘the virgin majesty of Eve’.
160. terrible to approach Cp. PL ix 489–91: ‘though terror be in love / And beauty, not approached by stronger hate’. Cp. also Song of Sol. 6. 4.
162. amorous nets Cp. Elegia I 60, PL x 897, xi 586–7 (‘in the amorous net / Fast caught’) and SA 409, 532.
163. object The word need not imply contempt. Cp. PL x 996 where Eve describes herself as ‘the present object’. Carey hears overtones of the older sense: ‘Something “thrown” or put in the way so as to interrupt or obstruct the course of a person’ (OED 2).
164. Severest most self-disciplined.
temper temperament.
165. Enerve enervate, weaken.
166. Draw out allure (men) and prolong (the temptation). Nets (162) implies the drawing of a fishing net (OED ‘draw’ 51) and magnetic implies drawing ‘by physical force, as a magnet’ (OED ‘draw’ 25).
168. magnetic magnet (OEDB 1).
170–71. Solomon… wives Solomon’s wives led him into idolatry in his old age (I Kings 11. 1–12). Cp. Phineas Fletcher’s Jesuit council in which a devil names Solomon as a victim of sexual temptation (The Apollyonists iv 23). See also PL i 399–405, 443–6, ix 442–3.
173. Belial The name means ‘worthlessness’, and Satan’s immediate use of it is crushing. The devils had never addressed each other by name in PL. See PL i 361–5n.
177. toys contemptible trifles (OED 8).
178–81. Before the Flood… a race Cp. Gen. 6. 2–4: ‘the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose… There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.’ Here (and in PL v 446–50) M. follows a patristic tradition identifying the sons of God as fallen angels. In PL xi 573–87 he follows a rival tradition identifying them as Seth’s descendants. R. H. West, in MLN 65 (1950) 187–91, explains away the inconsistency, and most subsequent editors have followed him, but now see Edward E. Ericson, MQ 25 (1991) 79–89.
183. courts and regal chambers Cp. Belial’s association with ‘courts and palaces’ in PL i 497. The court of Charles II was notorious for debauchery.
186. Callisto a nymph of Diana. Jupiter raped her after disguising himself as Diana (Ovid, Met. ii 409–40).
Clymene mother of Phaethon by Apollo (Met. i 765–75).
187. Daphne a virgin nymph, changed into a laurel when Apollo pursued her (Ovid, Met. i 452–567).
Semele mother of Bacchus by Jupiter (Met. i 253–315).
Antiopa mother of Amphion and Zethus by Jupiter (Met. vi 110–11).
188. Amymone a sea-nymph ravished by Neptune, after he had saved her from a satyr (Ovid, Amores 1 x 5).
Syrinx an Arcadian nymph, changed into reeds when Pan pursued her (Ovid, Met. i 698–706).
189. Too long too many to mention.
scapes breaches of chastity (OED 2).
191. Faun… Sylvan Faunus… Sylvanus: Roman wood-gods identified with Pan.
haunts habits (OED 1).
196. Pelléan conqueror Alexander the Great, born at Pella in Macedonia. He captured Darius’s wife and daughters after the battle of Issus, but treated them honourably, since he considered ‘the mastery of himself a more kingly thing than the conquest of his enemies’ (Plutarch, Alexander 21). Satan praises Alexander’s restraint with women, but ignores his homosexuality. Satan will include both women and youths in the banquet temptation (ii 351–61).
198. slightly indifferently (OED 2b).
199. he surnamed of Africa Scipio Africanus. After conquering New Carthage in 210 BC, Scipio (who was twenty-four) was presented with a beautiful captive. He restored her to her Celtiberian fiancé (Livy xxvi 50).
205–6. wiser far / Than Solomon Cp. Matt. 12. 42: ‘Behold, a greater than Solomon is here’.
211. fond foolish.
214. zone of Venus the girdle of Aphrodite, worn by Hera when she seduced Zeus (Homer, Il. xiv 214–351).
216. brow including’brow of a hill’.
218. despised including ‘looked down on’ (from Virtue’s hill).
219. deject cast down from high estate (OED 3).
222. admire marvel.
222–3. plumes… toy Cp. Ovid’s peacock (Ars Amatoria i 627): ‘the bird of Juno displays its feathers if you praise them; but if you look at them in silence, it hides its treasures’. M.’s language might also suggest phallic detumescence.
235. grant consent (OED 1a).
237. Spirits likest to himself Cp. the ‘unclean spirit’ of Matt. 12. 45: ‘Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself; also Luke 11. 26.
239–40. active scene… part The theatrical terms imply that Satan’s temptations will be presented as if in a play or court masque. See below, 402–3n.
242. shade to shade either ‘shelter to shelter’ or ‘one night to the next’.
244. Now hung’ring first See i 309n.
255. so provided that.
258. fed… thoughts Cp. PL iii 37: ‘Then feed on thoughts’.
259. hung’ring… Father’s will Cp. John 4. 34: ‘My meat is to do the will of him that sent me’.
264–83. dreamed… but a dream Lucretius observes that thirsty men often dream of drinking whole rivers (De Rerum Nat. iv 1024–5). Jesus shows restraint even in sleep, eating only such food as Daniel’s pulse (278). The dream might be caused by appetite alone (264), but Satan’s prompt reference to Elijah and Daniel (312,329) suggests that he is at least partly responsible. Cp. Eve’s demonic dream (PL v 30–93), which also ends with the words but a dream.
266. Him thought it seemed to him.
266–9. brook of Cherith… brought Cp. I Kings 17. 5–6: ‘For he [Elijah] went and dw
elt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook’.
270–76. He saw… forty days Cp. I Kings 19. 4–8. Fleeing from Jezebel, Elijah slept in the wilderness, where he was twice fed by an angel before fasting for forty days.
278. Daniel at his pulse Cp. Dan. 1. 8–21. Daniel rejected Nebuchadnezzar’s rich fare for a diet of pulse (beans, lentils, etc.).
286. ken scan, descry.
288. cottage, herd or sheep-cote Jesus is looking for food. His subsequent rejection will be of Satan as giver (321–2).
289. bottom valley.
pleasant grove Jesus as yet sees only a place of natural beauty, but grove has ominous overtones from O.T. usage, where ‘groves’ are places of idolatry. See PL i 403n, ix 388n. Giles Fletcher’s Satan tempts Christ in a garden (CK ii 39–52).
290. *chant song. OED’s earliest instance of the noun.
292. noon the hour of Eve’s fall (PL ix 739) and Samson’s death (SA 1612). Cp. Ps. 91. 6: ‘the destruction that wasteth at noonday’.
293. brown dusky, dark.
294. a woody scene Cp. PL iv 140–41: ‘A sylvan scene… a woody theatre’.
295. Nature’s… Art Cp. Art’s imitation of Nature in Spenser’s Bower of Bliss (FQ II xii 58–9).
296. superstitious including ‘idolatrously devoted’ (OED 2b).
299. Not rustic as before Satan’s fine clothes are appropriate to the banquet as his earlier garb was appropriate to a desert-dweller. It is unclear whether Satan appears as the same man on both days. See iv 449n.
302. officious eager to please (OED 1), with overtones of the pejorative sense.
308. fugitive bondwoman Hagar, mother of Ishmael by Abraham. Sarah and Abraham drove Hagar and Ishmael into the desert after Ishmael mocked the birth of Isaac. Ishmael would have died had not an angel shown Hagar a well (Gen. 21. 9–20). Satan calls Ishmael by the name of his eldest son Nebaioth (Gen. 25. 13), perhaps because Ishmael (like Jesus) was named by God (Gen. 16. 11, Matt. 1. 21).
312. manna Exod. 16. 35.
Prophet Elijah. See above, 270–76n.
313. Thebèz a city named at Judges 9. 50. M. is unusual in associating ‘Elijah the Tishbite’ (I Kings 17. 1) with it rather than with Thisbe, in Gilead.
318. need… none Jesus had earlier acknowledged his need, but added that God could support it (ii 250–51).
321–2. as I like / The giver Cp. A Masque 702–3.
324. right to all created things Cp. Heb. 1. 2: ‘His Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things’.
328. Meats… unclean foods prohibited by the Mosaic dietary law (Lev. 11. 2–31, Deut. 14. 3–20). Satan’s assurance is false, for shellfish (345) were’an abomination’(Lev. 11.9–12). M. Fixler, in MLN 70 (1955), 573–7, thinks that so palpable a lie cannot be intended to deceive Jesus. Satan’s hope is rather to provoke Jesus into subjecting himself to the law he has come to supersede.
328–9. offered first / To idols Cp. I Cor. 10. 20–21: ‘The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and the table of devils’.
329. Daniel See above, 278n.
330. Nor… an enemy given the lie by Satan’s name and the word ‘Fiend’ (323) which also means ‘enemy’. See i 358n.
331. scruple doubt the goodness of (OED 2).
337–67. The banquet scene has no biblical precedent. Cp. Fletcher, CV ii 40–60, where Christ is tempted in a garden full of flowing wine and naked ladies. Cp. also the banquets with which Cleopatra beguiles Caesar (Lucan, Pharsalia x 107–68) and Armida tries to ensnare the Christian knights (Tasso, Gerus. Lib. x 64).
340. A table richly spread Lewalski (203) compares the Israelites’ presumptuous demand: ‘Can the Lord furnish a table in the wilderness?’ (Ps. 78. 19). Cp. also I Cor. 10. 21 (cit. above, 328–9n).
343. In pastry built Renaissance and medieval banquets served large, elaborate pastries.
344. Grisamber ambergris, a sweet-smelling substance found floating in tropical seas. Notoriously expensive, it was used as a perfume and in cooking, and was a favourite food of Charles II (Macaulay, History of England, 1849, i 442). It is now known to be (and even in M.’s time was suspected of being) sperm whale dung. See A Masque 863n.
345. freshet small stream.
346. exquisitest including the original sense ‘diligently sought out, far-fetched’ (OED 1, Latin exquaerere).
347. Pontus the Black Sea, famous for fine fish (Juvenal iv 41–4).
Lucrine bay a lagoon near Naples, prized for oysters (Juvenal iv 141).
Afric coast the Nile, famous for fish (Juvenal x 155–6).
348. cates dainties, delicacies.
349. crude uncooked (OED 2) and sour to the taste (OED 4).
diverted pleasurably excited (OED 4) and turned away from the straight (OED 6).
350. sideboard *drawing-room furniture for holding wine (OED 1b).
352. hue shape, appearance, aspect (OED 1a).
353. Ganymede a handsome Trojan boy abducted by Jove to be his cupbearer. His name was a byword for homosexual love. Giles Fletcher includes ‘a lewd throng / Of wanton boyes’ in his version of Christ’s pinnacle temptation (CV ii 31).
Hylas a beautiful youth loved by Hercules. M. names him alongside Ganymede in Elegia VII (21–4).
355. Naiades nymphs of springs, rivers, and lakes.
356. Amalthea’s horn the cornucopia (‘horn of plenty’) with which the nymph Amalthea fed the infant Jupiter (Ovid, Fasti v 115–28).
357. Hesperides the Garden of the Hesperides, often associated with female beauty. See A Masque 393n.
360. Logres a kingdom in Arthurian Britain (east of the Severn and south of the Humber).
Lyonesse the legendary birthplace of Arthur and Tristram. Camden in Britannia (1600) describes it as a now-submerged land, west of Cornwall (150).
361. Lancelot Arthur’s chief knight. Four fairy damsels (including Morgan Le Fay) found him sleeping under the apple tree and tried to seduce him (Malory, Morte d’Arthur vi, 3). I owe the source to Matthew Woodcock.
Pelleas another of Arthur’s knights. He loved Etarre, who treated him with scorn (Malory iv 22).
Pellenore King of the Isles. Lewalski (225) suggests that M. is referring to Pellenore’s son Percival. While seeking the Grail, Percival fasted for three days in a wilderness. A devil disguised as a woman offered him a banquet and sex. Percival ate the food and went to bed with the woman, but her pavilion vanished in smoke when he made the sign of the cross (Malory xiv 9–10).
363. charming both ‘delightful’ and ‘exercising magic charms’.
364. gale gentle breeze. Cp. PL iv 156, viii 515.
Arabian odours Felix Arabia (Yemen) was famous for perfumes and aromatic spices. Cp. PL iv 162–3.
365. Flora Roman goddess of flowers and springtime.
368. What doubts Why fears.
369. not fruits forbidden In fact the banquet does contain forbidden food (see above, 328n). Christ’s temptation had long been seen as counterbalancing Adam and Eve’s. See Pope (51–69), Lewalski (225–6).
370. Defends forbids (OED 3).
375–6. pay / Thee homage Satan does not include himself among those who would pay homage. Were Jesus to accept Satan’s banquet, he would be implicitly acknowledging Satan’s right to give it (380–91). Satan will later ask Jesus to pay him homage in return for his gifts (iv 163–9).
382. likes pleases.
384. Command a table in this wilderness Cp. Ps. 78. 19: ‘They said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?’ The psalmist is referring to Num. 11. 4–5, where the Israelites yearn for the good food they had left in Egypt.
386. my cup Cp. Matt. 26. 39: ‘O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me’; also Matt. 20. 22.
Cp. the dramatic irony in ‘wreath of thorns’ (ii 459).
387. diligence persistent endeavour to please (OED 1b).
391. gifts no gifts M. in An Apology for Smectymnuus speaks of ‘enemies… whose guifts are no guifts, but the instruments of our bane’ (YP 1. 939). Cp. Sophocles, Ajax 665.
397. apparent manifest.
401. far-fet far-fetched.
402–3. vanished… Harpies’ wings Cp. the stage direction to Shakespeare’s The Tempest III iii 53: ‘enter Ariel like a harpy; claps his wings upon the table; and with a quaint device, the banquet vanishes’. Harpies were monstrous bird-women who snatched food from hungry mortals and defiled their tables (Virgil, Aen. iii 225–8).
404. impórtune irksomely persistent.
414. A carpenter thy father known Cp. i 23 and Matt. 13. 55: ‘Is not this the carpenter’s son?’
416. hunger-bit Cp. Job 18. 12: ‘His strength shall be hunger-bitten, / And destruction shall be ready at his side’.
422. Money brings… realms Cp. Mammon’s praise of money in FQ II vii 11: ‘Sheilds, steeds, and armes, and all things for thee meet / It can purvay in twinckling of an eye; / And crownes and kingdomes to thee multiply’.
423. Antipater procurator of Judaea. He and his son Herod (‘the Great’) rose to power by promising money to Julius Caesar and Mark Antony (Josephus, Antiquities xiv 1).
429. Riches are mine Satan’s claim is given the lie by Hag. 2. 8: ‘The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts’.
430. amain exceedingly.
439. Gideon born to a poor family (Judges 6. 15), he was chosen by God to rout the Midianites with 300 men.
Jephtha a harlot’s son, and driven from his father’s house, he rose to deliver Israel from the Ammonites (Judges 11).
shepherd lad David, whom God chose ‘from the sheepfolds’ (Ps. 78. 70–72).
441. So many ages David’s heirs reigned in Judah for over three hundred years, until the time of Nebuchadnezzar.
441–2. regain… without end Cp. Luke 1. 32–3: ‘The Lord God shall give him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end’. See also Isa. 9. 6–7, 16. 5, Ezek. 34. 23–4, Amos 9. 11.
446. Quintius Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, a semi-legendary Roman hero who was called from the plough to be dictator in 458 BC, when the Aequi had blockaded the consul Minucius. He routed the Aequi, resigned his dictatorship after two weeks, and returned to his farm, refusing his share of the booty.