Henceforth I learn, that to obey is best, Still overcoming evil, and by small Subverting worldly strong, and worldly wise 565 Accomplishing great things; by things, deem'd weak, By simply meek: that suffering for truth's sake And to the faithful, death the gate of life; 570 575 To whom thus also the Angel last replied: This having learn'd, thou hast attain'd the sum Of wisdom; hope no higher, though all the stars Thou knew'st by name, and all the ethereal powers, All secrets of the deep, all Nature's works, Or works of God in Heaven, air, earth or sea, 580 And all the rule, one empire; only add Add virtue, patience, temperance; add love, 585 To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess A Paradise within thee, happier far. Let us descend now therefore from this top Exacts our parting hence; and see! the guards, 590 595 To meek submission: thou, at season fit, Let her with thee partake what thou hast heard; 600 With cause, for evils past; yet much more cheer'd With meditation on the happy end. 605 He ended, and they both descend the hill; Descended, Adam to the bower, where Eve Lay sleeping, ran before; but found her waked; And thus with words not sad she him received: Whence thou return'st, and whither went'st, I know; For God is also in sleep; and dreams advise, Which he hath sent propitious, some great good 611 Presaging, since with sorrow and heart's distress In me is no delay; with thee to go, 615 Is to stay here; without thee here to stay I carry hence; though all by me is lost, So spake our mother Eve; and Adam heard 620 Well pleased, but answer'd not; for now too nigh 625 To their fix'd station, all in bright array 630 The brandish'd sword of God before them blazed, And vapor, as the Libyan air adust, 635 Began to parch that temperate clime; whereat Our lingering parents, and to the eastern gate They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld Of Paradise, so late their happy seat, Waved over by that flaming brand; the gate 640 Some natural tears they dropp'd, but wiped them soon; THE END. BOOK I. 11. Siloa was a fountain flowing near the temple of Jerusalem. 15. Th' Aonian mount; the classical seat of the Muses. 82. Satan in Hebrew means an enemy. 543. Reign, used like the Latin regnum, for kingdom 678. Mammon is a Syrian word, and means riches. 728. Cresset, any great light. 797. Frequent, like the Latin frequens, meaning full. BOOK II. 89. Exercised, this word is here used in the sense of the Latin exerceo, that is, to vex or trouble. 104. Fatal, that is, upheld by fate. 124. Fact of arms; from the Italian fatto d'arme; a battle. 278. The sensible of pain. Sensible is used as a substantive; a Grecian mode of expression. 406. Palpable obscure; this is another instance of Milton's using adjectives in the sense of substantives. 409. The earth is here called an island, in allusion to its hanging in the air, which surrounds it like a sea. The word arrive, was formerly frequently used without a preposition following. 439. Unessential; that is, void of substance. 513. Horrent; rough and sharp. 517. Sounding alchemy, a very fine metonymy for the trumpets. 592. Serbonis was a lake two hundred furlongs long, and one thousand round, between Mount Casius and Damiata, a city in Eygpt. It was sometimes so covered with the loose sand of the neighboring hills, as not to be distinguished from the land. See Herod. 1. 3. and Lucan. 8. 539. 595. Frore, frosty. See Virgil, Georg. i. 93. Ecclus. xlii. 20, 21. Ps. cxxi. 6. 693. Conjured, from the Latin conjurare, to conspire or league together. 933. Pennons, commonly spelt pinions. 943. A gryphon, (or griffin,) is a fabulous creature said to guard gold mines, in its upper part it was like an eagle, in its lower like a lion. The Arimaspians were a one-eyed people of Scythia. BOOK III. 49. Rased, from the Latin radere, to rub out, in allusion to the manner in which the ancients, who wrote on waxen tablets, obliterated writing. 471. Empedocles was a Pythagorean philosopher, who threw himself into the crater of mount Etna. Cleombrotus was a young man, who, having been deeply interested with Plato's reflec tions on the immortality of the soul, leaped into the sea that he might at once enjoy the felicity mentioned. 603. Hermes, or Mercury; Proteus was a sea-god, celebrated as is well known for the variety of shapes he had the power of taking; the ancients meant to express, under the name of this fabulous being, the first principle of things. The stone alluded to, is that by which philosophers hoped to turn all things into gold. 627. Fledge, instead of fledged, for softness. 643. Succinct; (girded up,) ready or prepared. 644. Decent; used in the Latin sense, graceful and beautiful. 730. Triform, (three-shaped,) crescent, full, and waning. BOOK IV. 555. Through th' even, or that part of the heavens now becoming dark with the approaching evening. 567. Describ'd, that is, observed attentively. 756. The charities; the affections called forth by the different relations of life. 962. Arreed, to declare or award. 980. Ported spears; borne pointed towards him. BOOK V. 249. Ardors, Seraphim, which has the same meaning in Hebrew. 345. Meaths, sweet drinks. 440. Empyric, making many experiments. BOOK VI. 19. War in procinct, in allusion to the soldiers girding themselves up before the battle. 84. Boastful argument, in allusion to the designs painted on the shields of knights. 599. Serried, from the Italian serrato; close, compact. 868. Ruining, from the Latin ruo, to rush or fall headlong. BOOK VII. 323. Hair, coma is the same in Latin, small leaves, twigs, &c. implicit, entangled. 402. Sculls, a Saxon word, signifying an assembly. 421. Summ'd their pens. Pens, from the Latin penna, a feather. Summ'd, a term in faiconry, meaning full grown. 467. The libbard, the leopard; the word is used by Spenser and others. 597. The divisions on the finger board of a violin are called frets. BOOK IX. 85. Impresses quaint; witty devices on the shields-Bases, or housings.Sewers, servants who placed the dishes on the table. -Seneschal, a principal servant, or steward. BOOK X. 156. Person, here used in the sense of the Latin persona, character. 312. Art pontifical. The art of raising bridges was among the most wonderful in antiquity; and the high-priest of the Romans derived his name Pontifex, from pons, a bridge, and facere, to make. 872. Pretended to; in the Latin sense, held before. BOOK XI. 86. Defended, (and defends, b. xii. 207.) like the French defendre, to forbid. BOOK XII. 310. Jesus and Joshua are the same name, the former being the Greek, and the latter the Hebrew form. Jesus is used for Joshua, Acts vii. 45. Heb. iv. 8. 540. Of respiration; in Scripture, the times of refreshing. Acts iii. 19 630. Marish; from the French Marais, a marsh. |