NOTES (continued 2)

153. with false surmise: i.e. that we have the body of Lycidas with us.

158. monstrous world: the world of sea-monsters.

159. moist: tearful.

160. the fable of Bellerus old: i.e. the scene of the fable.

161-163. Where the great Vision: see Introductory Remarks.

164. O ye dolphins: an allusion to the story of Arion.

166. your sorrow: used objectively, he who is the object of your sorrow. 'Our love, our hope, our sorrow, is not dead.'—Shelley's Adonais.

167. watery floor: what is called the level brine, v. 98; 'the shining levels of the lake.'—Tennyson's Morte d'Arthur, suggested, no doubt, by the classical æquora.

169-171. repairs his drooping head: Milton, in these lines, compares great things with small (parvis componit magna); if they are 'considered curiously,' the sun makes his toilet on rising from his ocean bed!

172. sunk . . . mounted: any one reading this verse for the first time would be likely to get the impression that these words are participles; this would not be the case if 'sunk' were 'sank,' originally the distinctive singular form of the preterite, 'sunk' being plural; AS. sanc, suncon.

173. Him that walked the waves: a beautiful designation of the Saviour, in accord with the occasion of the poem; and so St. Peter is designated as 'the Pilot of the Galilean Lake.'

174. along: beside.

176. unexpressive: inexpressible.

184. thy large recompense: 'thy' is the personal, not the possessive adjective pronoun, being used objectively,—the large recompense thou hast received, in which is included thy becoming the genius of the shore; good: kind, propitious; 'sent by some spirit to mortals good.'—Il Pens., 154.

185. in that perilous flood: 'in' is more poetic than 'on' or 'o'er' would be; 'that perilous flood' is spoken of as a domain in which is included the atmosphere with its winds and storms; so, to wander in the desert.

186. uncouth: used, it is most likely, in its original sense of 'unknown,' Milton so regarding himself, as a poet; there may be involved the idea (supported by the opening lines of the Elegy) of wanting in poetic skill and grace.

188. tender stops: poetic transference of epithet, 'tender' being logically applicable to the music; various quills: used, by metonymy, for the varied moods, strains, metres, and other features of the Elegy; eager thought: perhaps meant to signify as much as sharp grief; Doric: equivalent to pastoral, the great Greek bucolic poets having written in the Doric dialect.

190, 191. had . . . was: note the distinctive use of these auxiliaries, the former being used with a participle of a transitive verb, and the latter, with that of an intransitive; all the hills: i.e. their shadows.

192. twitched: Keightley explains, 'pulled, drew tightly about him on account of the chilliness of the evening.' Jerram explains, 'snatched up from where it lay beside him.'

Samson Agonistes

P. 187. Aristotle: Greek philosopher, B.C. 384-322; the reference is to 'The Poetics,' (Περὶ ποιητικῆς), the greater part of which is devoted to the theory of tragedy.

P. 187. a verse of Euripides: φθείρουσιν ἤθη χρήσθ' ὁμιλίαι κακαί, 'evil communications corrupt good manners'; found in the fragments of both Euripides and Menander.

P. 187. Pareus: David Pareus, a German Calvinist theologian and biblical commentator, 1548-1622.

P. 187. Dionysius the elder: known as 'the tyrant of Syracuse,' B.C. 431-367; repeatedly contended for the prize of tragedy at Athens.

P. 187. Seneca (Lucius Annæus): Roman Stoic philosopher, B.C. 3?-65 A.D.

P. 187. Gregory Nazianzen: saint; a Greek father of the Church, Bishop of Constantinople, about 328-389.

P. 188. Martial: M. Valerius Martialis, Latin epigrammatic poet, 43-104 A.D. or later.

P. 188. apolelymenon: 'a Greek word, ἀπολελυμένον, "loosed from," i.e. from the fetters of strophe, antistrophe, or epode; monostrophic (μονόστροφος) meaning literally "single stanzaed," i.e. a strophe without answering antistrophe. So allœostrophic (ἀλλοιόστροφος) signifies stanzas of irregular strophes, strophes not consisting of alternate strophe and antistrophe.'—John Churton Collins.

P. 188. beyond the fifth act: 'Neve minor, neu sit quinto productior actu Fabula.'—Horace, Ars Poetica, 189.

P. 191. Agonistes: one who contends as an athlete. 'The term is peculiarly appropriate to Samson, for he is the hero of the drama . . . and the catastrophe results from the exhibition of his strength in the public games of the Philistines.'—J. Churton Collins.

2. dark: blind.

6. else: otherwhile, at other times.

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, . . .

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.

—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.

—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. χάλυψ. 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,

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.

—P. L., iii. 620.

—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:

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:

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':

—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.

—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:

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.

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.

—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:

1090. taste: to make trial of; Fr. tâter, OF. taster;

—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.

1671. And fat regorged: Keightley explains, 'and the fat of bulls and goats was regorged by them who had eaten too much.' This, along with the preceding and the following verse, gives a Miltonic sublimity of the disgusting to the passage. But the prefix 're-' is, perhaps, simply intensive, and 'regorged' may mean gorged, or swallowed, voraciously. The construction is, 'And (while they, 'they' being implied in 'their,' above) fat regorged of bulls and goats, . . . Among them he (our living Dread) a spirit of phrenzy sent.'

1674. Silo: Shiloh. Joshua xviii. 1, Judges xxi. 19. 'He probably terms it bright, on account of the Shekinah which was supposed to rest on the ark.'—Keightley.

1688. and thought extinguished quite: this phrase is understood by some as a nominative absolute (the Latin ablative absolute), thought having been quite extinguished; but 'thought' is rather a past participle referring to 'he': thought to be entirely extinguished.

1692. as an evening dragon came: 'he' (Samson) is the subject of 'came'; he came among the Philistines as an evening dragon comes on tame farmhouse fowl, but afterward bolted his cloudless thunder on their heads, as an eagle.

1699. that self-begotten bird: the phœnix.

1700. embost: enclosed in a wood.

1702. erewhile: for some time before; holocaust: a whole burnt offering.

1703. teemed: brought forth.

1704. revives: the subject is 'Virtue,' 1697.

1707. A secular bird: a bird living for generations. Lat. sæcula.

1713. sons of Caphtor: the Philistines, 'originally of the island Caphtor or Crete. A colony of them settled in Palestine and there went by the name of Philistim.'—Meadowcourt, in Todd's Var. Ed. of Milton.

1733. Home to his father's house: see Judges xvi. 31.

1753. band them: unite themselves.

1755. acquist: acquisition.

Aims of Literary Study

BY

Professor HIRAM CORSON

Cornell University

18mo Cloth 75 cents

THE BASIS

Professor Corson's volume will bear rereading many times, for it is the expression of a philosophy of education; as to literature, rich out of all proportion to its written page.

THE OUTLOOK

The lesson that Professor Corson desires to teach is one which needs to be taught almost universally in this country.

THE NATION

It contains in a small compass much that deserves the attention of those who are teaching literature as well as the general reader.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

The Voice and Spiritual Education

BY

Professor HIRAM CORSON

Cornell University

18mo Cloth 75 cents

THE PRESS

He holds simply that one can't read well unless he appreciates well, and that a proper use of one's voice in reading aloud is an outward and audible sign of inward and spiritual grace. He writes earnestly and with the eloquent simplicity of a man who has something to say and has considered well how he shall say it.

THE BEACON

Educationalists who are progressive in their ideas should not fail to familiarize themselves with his suggestions; and in every family where culture is an aim this book ought to be a veritable source of inspiration.

THE BOOKMAN

We believe that if this little book were thoroughly studied the result would contribute to more good reading than we are accustomed to hear.

THE CRITIC

It is a little book with much sensible matter in it, which we most emphatically commend to the attention of all teachers of literature and elocution.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the original. Words with and without accents appear as in the original.

A row of asterisks represents an ellipsis. Ellipses match the original.

Pages iii, viii, xii, 180, and 182 are blank in the original.

The following corrections have been made to the original text:

Page xxix: lessen the value of my panegyric[original has "pangeyric"] upon them

Page 136: ([parenthesis missing in original]For so I can distinguish by mine art)

Page 175: '[quotation mark missing in original]But not the praise,' Phœbus replied

Page 251: situated on the Dee (Lat. Deva[original has extraneous period]).

Page 255: specified neighborhood, or perhaps a special house.'[quotation mark missing in original]

Page 269: the mud of their own making (Ovid, Met., vi. 335-381).[original has extraneous quotation mark]

Page 273: ([quotation mark missing in original]'I know full well, I am fully aware.' Schmidt).

Page 274: 'And every one did swincke, and every one did sweat.'[quotation mark missing in original]—2. 7, 36