NOTESA Defence of the People of EnglandPage 2.Salmasius(Claudius), Latinized name of Claude de Saumaise,b.1588,d.1653; regarded in his time, throughout Europe, as the paragon of scholarship; engaged, after the execution of Charles I., to defend the royal cause against the Commonwealth, which he endeavored to do in hisDefensio Regia pro Carolo I., addressed to Charles II. In this work he defines a king ('if that,' says Milton, 'may be said to be defined which he makes infinite') 'to be a person in whom the supreme power of the kingdom resides, who is answerable to God alone, who may do whatsoever pleases him, who is bound by no law.'P.4,5.single person: Milton himself, who replied to theEikon Basilike, and refuted its 'maudlin sophistry' in hisEikonoklastes;antagonist of mine: Salmasius.The Second Defence of the People of EnglandP.7.one eminent above the rest: Salmasius.P.9,10.columns of Hercules: the mountains on each side of the Straits of Gibraltar. It was fabled that they were formerly one mountain, which was rent asunder by Hercules.Triptolemus: the fabled inventor of the plough and the distributor of grain among men, under favor of Ceres.P.10.the most noble queen of Sweden: Christina, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus.P.12.Monstrum horrendum: a monster horrible, mis-shapen, huge, deprived of his eyesight; description of the Cyclops Polyphemus, whose one eye was put out by Ulysses.—Virgil's Æneid, iii. 658.P.14.Tiresias: the blind prophet of Thebes.Apollonius Rhodius: poet and rhetorician (B.C.280-203), author of theArgonautica, a heroic poem on the Argonautic expedition to Colchis in quest of the golden fleece.P.14,15.Timoleon of Corinth: Greek statesman and general, who expelled the tyrants from the Greek cities of Sicily, and restored the democratic form of government; died blind, 337B.C.Appius Claudius: surnamed Cæcus from his blindness. Roman consul, 307 and 296; induced the senate, in his old age, to reject the terms of peace which Cineas had proposed on behalf of Pyrrhus.Pyrrhus: king of Epirus(B.C.318-272), who waged war against the Romans.Cæcilius Metellus: Roman consul,B.C.251, 249;pontifex maximusfor twenty-two years from 243; lost his sight in 241 while rescuing the Palladium when the temple of Vesta was on fire.Dandolo(Enrico): b. 1107(?); elected Doge in 1192;d.1205. He was ninety-six years old when, though blind, he commanded the Venetians at the taking of Constantinople, June 17, 1203.'Oh, for one hour of blind old Dandolo!The octogenarian chief, Byzantium's conquering foe.'—Byron's Childe Harold, Canto iv.St.xii.Ziska, or Zizka (John): military chief of the Hussites,b.1360(?),d.1424; his real name was Trocznow; he lost an eye in battle, and was thence called Ziska,i.e.one-eyed; lost his other eye from an arrow at the siege of Rubi, but his blindness did not prevent his continuing the war against ecclesiastical tyranny.Jerome Zanchius(Girolamo Zanchi), Italian Protestant theologian,b.1516,d.1590; was canon regular of the Lateran when he became a Protestant; professor of theology and philosophy, University of Strasburg, 1553-1563; professor of theology, University of Heidelberg, 1568-1576.P.16.Æsculapius: the god of medicine.Epidaurus(now Epidauro): chief seat of the worship of Æsculapius;the son of Thetis: Achilles, the hero of the Iliad. I have substituted the Earl of Derby's translation of the lines which follow from the Iliad, for that given by Robert Fellowes.P.18.Prytaneum: 'a public building in the towns of Greece, where the Prytanes (chief magistrates in the states) assembled and took their meals together, and where those who had deserved well of their country were maintained during life.'P.19,20.born in London: 9th of December, 1608;grammar-school: St. Paul's, notable among the classical seminaries then in London. The head-master was a Mr. Alexander Gill, Sr., and the sub-master, or usher, Mr. Alexander Gill, Jr.; with the latter Milton afterward maintained an intimate friendship.P.20.On my father's estate: at Horton, in Buckinghamshire.Henry Wotton: at this time Provost of Eton. His letter to Milton is dated 13 April, 1638. In the concluding paragraph, Sir Henry writes: 'At Sienna I was tabled in the house of one Alberto Scipioni, an old Roman courtier in dangerous times, . . . at my departure toward Rome (which had been the centre of his experience) I had won confidence enough tobeg his advice, how I might carry myself securely there, without offence of others, or of mine own conscience.Signor Arrigo mio(says he),I pensieri stretti, & il viso sciolto: that is, your thoughts close and your countenance loose, will go safely over the whole world. Of which Delphian oracle (for so I have found it) your judgment doth need no commentary; and therefore, Sir, I will commit you with it to the best of all securities, God's dear love, remaining your friend as much at command as any of longer date.' Milton was certainly the last man in the world to make such a prudential, or rather crafty, maxim his rule of conduct, even in such a country as Italy then was. He has stated his own rule further on in this extract.Thomas Scudamore: miswritten for John (Masson).P.21.Jacopo Gaddi: a prominent and influential literary man of Florence, member of the Florentine Academy, author of poems, historical essays, etc., in Latin and in Italian.Carlo Dati: his full name was Carlo Ruberto Dati; only in his 19th year when Milton visited Florence; was afterwards one of the most distinguished of the Florentine men of letters and academicians; became strongly attached to Milton, and corresponded with him after his return to England; author of 'Vite de' Pittori Antichi' (Lives of the Ancient Painters) and numerous other works.P.21.Frescobaldi(Pietro): a Florentine academician.Coltellini(Agostino): a Florentine advocate; founder of an academy under the name of the Apatisti (the Indifferents). 'Such were the attractions of this academy, and so energetic was Coltellini in its behalf, that within ten or twenty years after its foundation it had a fame among the Italian academies equal, in some respects, to that of the first and oldest, and counted among its members not only all the eminent Florentines, but most of the distinguishedliteratiof Italy, besides cardinals, Italian princes and dukes, many foreign nobles and scholars, and at least one pope.'—Masson.Bonmattei, orBuommattei(Benedetto): an eminent member of various Florentine and other academies; author of various works, among them a commentary on parts of Dante, and a standard treatise,Della Lingua Toscana; by profession a priest.Chimentelli(Valerio): a priest; professor of Greek, and then of Eloquence and Politics, in Pisa; author of an archæological work, entitledMarmor Pisanum.Francini(Antonio): Florentine academician and poet.Lucas Holstenius(in the vernacular, Lukas Holste, or Holsten), secretary to Cardinal Barberini, and one of the librarians of the Vatican.Manso: author of a Life of Tasso, 1619. Milton, just before leaving Naples, addressed to him his Latin poem,Mansus.P.22.so little reserve on matters of religion: here it appears that he did not make Sir Henry Wotton's prudential maxim his rule of conduct.P.22, 23.the slandering More(Lat.Morus), Alexander: a Reformed minister, then resident in Holland, and at one time a friend of Salmasius. He had formerly been Professor of Greek in the University of Geneva. The real author of theRegii Sanguinis Clamorwas the Rev. Dr. Peter Du Moulin, the younger, made, 1660, a prebendary of Canterbury. More was, indeed, the publisher of the book, the corrector of the press, and author of the dedicatory preface in the printer's name, to Charles II. Milton fully believed when he wrote the Second Defence that More was the author of theR. S. C., having received convincing assurances that he was.Diodati(Dr. Jean, or Giovanni), uncle of Milton's friend, Carolo Diodati. He made the Italian translation of the Scriptures, known as Diodati's Bible, published in 1607.at the time when Charles, etc.: Milton's return to England was not, as he himself (by a slip of memory, no doubt) states, 'at the time when Charles, having broken the peace with the Scots, was renewing the second of those wars named Episcopal,' but exactly a twelvemonth previous to that time, and about eight months before the meeting of the Short Parliament.—Keightley.P.24.two books to a friend: 'Of Reformation in England, and the causes that hitherto have hindered it. 1641.'two bishops: Dr. Joseph Hall (1574-1656), Bishop of Exeter, afterward Bishop of Norwich; and Dr. James Usher (1580-1656), Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland.Concerning Prelatical Episcopacy: the full title is, 'Of prelatical episcopacy, and whether it may be deduced from the apostolical times, by virtue of those testimonies which are alleged to that purpose in some late treatises; one whereof goes under the name of James, Archbishop of Armagh. 1641.'Concerning the mode of ecclesiastical government: 'The reason of church government urged against prelaty. 1641.'P.24.Animadversions: 'Animadversions upon the remonstrant's defence against Smectymnuus. 1641.'P.24.Apology: 'An apology for Smectymnuus.' 1642. The pamphlet by Smectymnuus was published with the following title, which is sufficiently descriptive of its character: 'An Answer to a Book entituled "An Humble Remonstrance" [by Bishop Hall], in which the originall of Liturgy [and] Episcopacy is discussed and quæres propounded concerning both, the parity of Bishops and Presbyters in Scripture demonstrated, the occasion of their unparity in Antiquity discovered, the disparity of the ancient and our modern Bishops manifested, the antiquity of Ruling Eldersin the Church vindicated, the Prelaticall Church bounded: Written by Smectymnuus.' 1641. The pamphlet was the joint production of five Presbyterian clergymen, Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William Spurstow, but written for the most part by Thomas Young, Milton's former tutor. The name Smectymnuus was made up from the several authors' initials: S. M., E. C., T. Y., M. N., U. U. (for W.) S.P.24.the domestic species: the titles of the pamphlets on marriage and divorce are: 'The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce,' 1643, 1644; 'The Judgment of Martin Bucer concerning Divorce,' 1644; 'Tetrachordon: expositions upon the four chief places in Scripture which treat of marriage, or nullities in marriage,' 1644; 'Colasterion: a reply to a nameless answer against the Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce,' 1645.P.25.Selden(John), 1584-1654, celebrated English lawyer, statesman, and political writer. His 'Table Talk' was long famous, 'being his sense of various matters of weight and high consequence, relating especially to religion and state.'P.25.an inferior at home: many passages in Milton's works, poetical and prose, indicate, on his part, an estimate of woman which may be attributed, in some measure, at least, to his unfortunate first marriage. His own opinions of what should be the relation of wife to husband he, no doubt, expressed in the following passages in the 'Paradise Lost,' Book iv. 635-638, x. 145-156, xi. 287-292, 629-636; and in the 'Samson Agonistes,' 1053-1060. But no one can read the several treatises on Divorce without being impressed with the loftiness of Milton's ideal of marriage, and his sense of the sacred duties appertaining thereto. The only true marriage with him was the union ofsouls, as well as of bodies, souls whomGodhath joined together (Matt.xix. 6, Mark x. 9), not the priest nor the magistrate.P.25.the principles of education: 'Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib.' 1644. Hartlib was nominally a merchant in London, a foreigner by birth, the son of a Polish merchant of German extraction, settled in Elbing, in Prussia, whose wife was the daughter of a wealthy English merchant of Dantzic. He was a reformer and philanthropist, and an advocate of the views of the educational reformer, Comenius.P.25. 'Areopagitica: a speech for the liberty of unlicensed printing, to the Parliament of England.' 1644.P.26.what might lawfully be done against tyrants: in his pamphlet entitled, 'The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates: proving that it is lawful,and hath been held so through all ages, for any, who have the power, to call to account a tyrant or wicked king, and, after due conviction, to depose, and put him to death, if the ordinary magistrate have neglected, or denied to do it; and that they who of late so much blame deposing are the men that did it themselves. The authorJ. M.1649,'P.27.history of my country: 'The History of Britain; that part especially now called England. From the first traditional beginning continued to the Norman Conquest.'P.27.I had already finished four books:i.e.in 1648; the work was not published till 1670. It contained the fine portrait of Milton, by William Faithorne, for which he sat in his 62d year.P.27.A book . . . ascribed to the king: ten days after the king's death, was published (9 Feb. 1649), 'Ἑἰκὼν Βασιλική: The True Portraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings.—Rom.viii.More than conquerour, &c.—Bona agere et mala pati Regium est.—MDCXLVIII.' The book professed to be the king's own production, and Milton answered it as such, tho' it appears he had his suspicions as to its authorship. It was universally regarded, at the time, as the king's; but it was before long well known (though the controversy as to the authorship was long after kept up) to have been written by Dr. John Gauden, Rector of Bocking, and, after the Restoration, Bishop of Exeter, and, a short time before his death, Bishop of Worcester. Milton's reply, published 6th ofOct., 1649, is entitled 'ἙΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣin Answer To a Book Intitl'dἘΙΚῺΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΉ, The Portrature of his Sacred Majesty in his Solitudes and Sufferings. The Author I. M.Prov.xxviii. 15, 16, 17.15. As a roaring Lyon, and a ranging Beare, so is a wicked Ruler over the poor people.16. The Prince that wanteth understanding, is also a great oppressor; but he that hateth covetousnesse shall prolong his dayes.17. A man that doth violence to the blood of any person, shall fly to the pit, let no man stay him.Salust. Conjurat. Catilin.Regium imperium, quod initio, conservandæ libertatis, atque augendæ reipub. causâ fuerat, in superbiam, dominationemque se convertit.Regibus boni, quam mali, suspectiores sunt; semperque his aliena virtus formidolosa est.Quidlibet impunè facere, hoc scilicet regium est.Published by Authority.London, Printed by Matthew Simmons, next dore to the gilded Lyon in Aldersgate street. 1649.'P.27.Salmasius then appeared: that is, with hisDefensio Regia pro Carolo I.To Charles DiodatiP.28.Chester's Dee: the old city of Chester is situated on the Dee (Lat.Deva).P.28.Vergivian wave(Lat.Vergivium salum): the Irish Sea.P.28.it is not my care to revisit the reedy Cam, etc.: this was the period of his rustication from Christ's College, Cambridge, due, it seems, to some difficulty which Milton had with his tutor, Mr. Chappell.P.28.the tearful exile in the Pontic territory: Ovid, who was relegated (rather than exiled) to Tomi, a town on the Euxine.P.28.Maro: the Latin poet, Publius Virgilius Maro.P.29.or the unhappy boy . . . or the fierce avenger: as Masson suggests, the allusions here may be to Shakespeare's Romeo and the Ghost inHamlet.P.29.the house of Pelops, etc.: subjects of the principal Greek tragedies.P.29.the arms of living Pelops: an allusion to the ivory shoulder of Pelops, by which, when he was restored to life after having been served up at a feast of the gods, given by his father Tantalus, the shoulder consumed by Ceres was replaced.P.30.thy own flower: the anemone into which Adonis was turned by Venus, after his dying of a wound received from a wild boar during the chase.P.30.alternate measures: the alternate hexameters and pentameters of the Elegy.To Alexander Gill, Jr.(Familiar Letters,No.III.)P.30.Alexander Gill, Jr.: Gill was Milton's tutor in St. Paul's School, of which his father, Alexander Gill, was head-master. Milton was sent to this school in his twelfth year (1620), and remained there till his seventeenth year (1625). He was entered very soon after at Christ's College, Cambridge, beginning residence in the Easter term of 1625.To Thomas Young.(Familiar Letters,No.IV.)P.31.Thomas Young: Young had been Milton's tutor before he entered St. Paul's School, and later; he was one of the authors of the Smectymnuan pamphlet; was appointed Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1644.P.31.Stoa of the Iceni(Lat.Stoam Icenorum): a pun for Stowmarket in Suffolk, the Iceni having been the inhabitants of the parts of Roman Britain corresponding to Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, etc.—Masson.Their queen was Boadicea, who led their revolt against the Romans.P.31.Zeno: Greek philosopher (about 358-260B.C.), father of the Stoic philosophy, so called from his teaching in theStoa Pœcile, in Athens, in which were the frescoes of Polygnotus (about 480-430B.C.).P.31.Serranus: an agnomen, or fourth name, given to L. Quinctius Cincinnatus; Roman consul 460B.C.; in 458 called from the plough to the dictatorship, whence called by Florus,Dictator ad aratro; the agnomen is said to have been derived fromserere, to sow; 'Quis te, magne Cato, tacitum, aut te, Cosse, relinquat? . . . vel te sulco, Serrane, serentem' (Who can leave thee unmentioned, great Cato, or thee, Cossus? . . . or thee, Serranus, sowing in the furrow).—Æneid, vi. 844.P.31.Curius: M'. Curius Dentatus, noted for his fortitude and frugality; consulB.C.290; a second time 275, when he defeated Pyrrhus, king of Epirus; consul a third time, 274; afterward retired to his small farm, which he cultivated himself.To Charles Diodati, making a Stay in the CountryP.32.Erato: the muse of erotic poetry.P.32.the fierce dog: Cerberus.P.32.the Samian master: Pythagoras, who was a native of Samos.P.32.Tiresias: the Theban prophet, deprived of sight by Juno; Jupiter, in compensation, bestowed upon him the power of prophecy.P.32.Theban Linus: the singer and philosopher.P.32.Calchas the exile: a famous soothsayer, who accompanied the Greeks to Troy.P.32.Orpheus: the fabulous Thracian poet and musician.P.32.Circe: See Comus,50-53.P.33.the heavenly birth of the King of Peace: his odeOn the Morning of Christ's Nativity, composed on and just after Christmas, 1629.Ad PatremP.35. 1.Pieria's: used for Pierian, from Pierus, a mountain of Thessaly sacred to the muses.P. 36.18.Clio: the Muse of History, 'inasmuch,' says Masson, 'as what he is to say about his Father is strictly true.'P. 36.22.Promethean fire: the fire which Prometheus brought down from heaven.P. 37.44.Ophiuchus:i.e.a serpent holder (ὄφις+ἔχειν); a constellation in the northern hemisphere, the outline of which is imagined to be a man holding a serpent; called also Anguitenens and Serpentarius, which have the same meaning; Ophiuchus is the translator's word; the original issibila serpens, the hissing serpent.P. 37.45.Orion: a constellation with sword, belt, and club; 'Orion arm'd.'—P. L., i. 305.P. 37.50.Lyæus: an epithet of Bacchus as the deliverer from care (Gk.λυαίος).P. 37.53.proposed: set forth.P. 37.55.to imitation:i.e.for imitation, to be imitated,i.e.the character of heroes and their deeds.P. 38.92.Streams Aonian: so called as if the resort of the muses.P. 39.120.the boy: Phaëthon.P. 40.141-148.Ye too, . . . my voluntary numbers: it does not seem to me improbable that these six lines [115-120 of the original] were added to the poem just before its publication in the volume of 1645. The phrase 'juvenilia carmina' seems to refer to that volume as containing this piece among others. Anyhow, it was a beautiful ending and prophetic.—Masson.An English Letter to a FriendP.40.English letter to a friend: this letter of which there are two undated drafts in Milton's handwriting in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, must have been written in 1632 or 1633. In the second draft (which is given in the text), Milton is content, for the first few sentences, with simply correcting the language of the first; but in the remaining portion he throws the first draft all but entirely aside, and rewrites the same meaning more at large in a series of new sentences. Evidently he took pains with the letter.—Masson.P.41.tale of Latmus:i.e.of Endymion's sleeping upon Mount Latmus, and of his being visited by Selene (the moon).P. 42.5.Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth:i.e.he appears younger than he really is. In his Second Defence, he says, 'though I am more than forty years old, there is scarcely any one to whom I do not appear ten years younger than I am.'P. 42.8.timely-happy: happy, or fortunate, in the matter of inward ripeness.P. 42.10.it: 'inward ripeness.'P.42.it shall be still: Milton very early regarded himself as dedicated to the performance of some great work for which he had to make adequate preparation, in the way of building himself up;even: equal, in proportion to, in conformity with.P.43.Your true and unfeigned friend, etc.: see penultimate sentence of the passage given, p.65, from 'The Reason of Church Government urged against Prelaty.'To Alexander Gill, Jr.(Familiar Letters,No.V.)P.43.this ode: Psalm cxiv.To Charles Diodati.(Familiar Letters,No.VI.)P.44.To Charles Diodati: Milton's schoolfellow at St. Paul's, and his dearest friend; he died in August, 1638, while Milton was on his Continental tour; on his return he wrote theIn memoriampoem,Epitaphium Damonis.To Benedetto Bonmattei of Florence.(Familiar Letters,No.VIII.)P.46.To Benedetto Bonmattei: mentioned by Milton among his Florentine friends, in the autobiographical passage in the Second Defence; seenote, p. 247.MansusP.47.our native kings: the ancient kings of Britain.P.47.stirring wars even under the earth: King Arthur, after his death, was supposed to be carried into the subterraneous land of Faerie, or of Spirits, where he still reigned as a king, and whence he was to return into Britain, to renew the Round Table, conquer all his old enemies, and reëstablish his throne. He was, therefore,etiam movens bella sub terris, still meditating wars under the earth. The impulse of his attachment to this subject was not entirely suppressed; it produced his History of Britain. By the expressionrevocabo in carmina, the poet means, that these ancient kings, which were once the themes of the British bards, should now again be celebrated in verse.—Warton.Warton rendersbella moventem[v. 81 of the Latin]meditating wars, but that is not the true sense; it is waging wars, and Arthur is represented as so employed in Fairy-land in the romances.—Keightley.P.47.Paphian myrtle: the myrtle was sacred to Venus; Paphos was an ancient city of Cyprus, where was a temple of Venus.AreopagiticaP.48.Galileo:b.1564,d.1642; he was seventy-four years old when Milton visited him in 1638; whether he was actually imprisoned at the time is somewhat uncertain; he may have been, as Hales suggests,in libera custodia,i.e.'only kept under a certain restraint, as that he should not move away from a specified neighborhood, or perhaps a special house.'P.48.never be forgotten by any revolution of time:i.e.as Hales explains, caused to be forgotten.P.48.other parts:i.e.of the world.P.48.in time of parliament: there was no parliament assembled from 1629 to 1640.P.48.without envy: without exciting any odium against me.—Hales.P.48.he whom an honest quæstorship: Cicero, 75B.C.P.48.Verres: pro-prætor in Sicily, 73-71B.C.Cicero's Verrine orations were directed against his extortions and exactions.To Lucas Holstenius.(Familiar Letters,No.IX.)P.49.Lucas Holstenius: seenote, p. 21.P.49.Alexander Cherubini: Roman friend of Milton, 'known in his lifetime as a prodigy of erudition, though he died at the early age of twenty-eight.'P.49.Virgil's 'penitus convalle virenti': Virgil's 'souls enclosed within a verdant valley, and about to go to the upper light.'P.49.Cardinal Francesco Barberini:b.1597,d.1679; librarian of the Vatican, and founder of the Barberini Library.Epitaphium DamonisP.50. In the British legends of Geoffrey of Monmouth and others, the mythical Brutus, before arriving in Britain with his Trojans, marries Imogen, daughter of the Grecian king Pandrasus; Brennus and Belinus are two legendary British princes of a much later age, sons of King Dunwallo Molmutius; Arvirach or Arviragus, son of Cunobeline, or Cymbeline, belongs to the time of the Roman conquest of Britain; the "Armorican settlers" are the Britons who removed to the French coast of Armonica to avoid the invading Saxons; Uther Pendragon, Igraine, Gorlois, Merlin, and Arthur are familiar names of the Arthurian romances.—Masson.Of Reformation in EnglandP.52.their damned designs: the restoration of Papacy and ecclesiastical despotism.P.53.antichristian thraldom: he would seem to allude to the invasions of England by the Romans, Saxons, Danes (twice), and Normans, and the War of the Roses, followed by the partial reformation under Henry VIII.—Keightley.P.53.Thule: some undetermined island or other land, regarded as the northernmost part of the earth; called in LatinUltima Thule; often used metaphorically for an extreme limit.P.53.that horrible and damned blast: Keightley understands this as referring to the Gunpowder plot.P.53.that sad intelligencing tyrant: Philip IV., King of Spain from 1621 to 1665.P.53.mines of Ophir: used in a general sense for gold mines.P.53.his naval ruins: an allusion to the destruction of the Spanish armada, in 1588, in the reign of his grandfather, Philip II.P.54.in this land: when Milton wrote this, he must still have been meditating a poem to be based on British history.Animadversions upon the Remonstrant's Defence, etc.P.56.and thou standing at the door: see introductory remarks onLycidas.The Reason of Church Government urged against PrelatyP.57.Slothful, and ever to be set light by: thou slothful one, and ever, etc.P.57.infancy: not speaking.P.58.preventive: going before, forecasting, anticipative.P.58.equal: impartial, equitable;Lat.æqualis.P.58.the elegant and learned reader: him only Milton addressed, not the common reader. He was no demagogue.P.58.anything elaborately composed: he had his meditated great work in mind.P.59.another task: poetical composition.P.59.empyreal conceit: lofty conceit of himself.P.59.envy: odium;Lat.invidia.P.60.Ariosto(Lodovico): Italian poet;b.1474,d.1533; author of theOrlando Furioso.P.60.Bembo(Pietro):b.1470,d.1547; secretary to Pope Leo X.; Cardinal, 1539; famous as a Latin scholar.P.60.wits: geniuses.P.61.Tasso(Torquato): Italian poet;b.1544,d.1595; author of theGerusalemme Liberata(Jerusalem Delivered).P.61.a prince of Italy: Alfonso II., Duke of Ferrara?P.61.Godfrey's expedition against the Infidels: the subject of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered; Godfrey of Bouillon, leader of the first crusade;b.about 1058,d.1100.P.61.Belisarius: a celebrated general, in the reign of Justinian;b.about 505A.D.,d.565.P.61.Charlemagne(or Charles the Great):b.742,d.814; Emperor of the West and King of the Franks.P.61.doctrinal and exemplary: instructive and serving for example.P.61.Origen: Christian Father, of Alexandria (185-254).P.61.Pareus(David):b.1548,d.1622; a Calvinist theologian, Professor of Theology, University of Heidelberg.P.62.Pindarus: Greek lyric poet, about 522-442B.C.P.62.Callimachus: Greek poet and grammarian, about 310-235B.C.P.62.most an end: 'almost uninterruptedly, almost always, mostly, for the most part.'—Murray's New English Dictionary,s.v.'an end.' The phrase occurs again inChap.III. Book II. of this same pamphlet: 'the patients, which most an end are brought into his [the civil magistrate's] hospital, are such as are far gone,' etc.Vol.II. p. 491, of the Bohned.of theP. W.P.63.demean: conduct;O. Fr.demener.P.63.such (sports, etc.) as were authorized a while since:i.e.in the Book of Sports. Proclamation allowing Sunday sports, issued by James I.P.63.paneguries: same as panegyrics.P.64.Siren daughters: the Muses, daughters of Memory or Mnemosyne.P.65.gentle apprehension: a refined faculty of conception or perception.Apology for SmectymnuusP.66.Solon: Athenian statesman and lawgiver, about 638-558B.C.'According to Suidas it was a law of Solon that he who stood neuter in any public sedition, should be declaredἄτιμος, infamous.'P.66.doubted: hesitated; or, perhaps, in the sense of feared.P.66.most nominated: most frequently named, most prominent.P.66,67.my certain account: the account which I shall certainly have to render.P.67.tired out almost a whole youth: see the extract given from 'The Reason of Church Government urged against Prelaty.'P.67.this modest confuter: Dr. Joseph Hall, Bishop of Exeter, afterward of Norwich; the reference is to his 'Modest Confutation' of Milton's 'Animadversions.'P.69.Animadversions: 'A. upon the Remonstrant's Defence against Smectymnuus.' 1641.P.69.devised: described, represented.P.70.conversation: in New Testament sense, mode or way of life, conduct, deportment (ἀναστροφή).P.70.apology: defence, vindication.P.71.propense: inclined, disposed.P.71.that place: the University.P.71.to obtain with me: prevail, succeed with me, to get the better of.P.71.both she or her sister: Cambridge or Oxford University; 'both' requires 'and'; 'or' requires 'either.'P.71.that suburb sink: the 'pretty garden-house in Aldersgate street,' as his nephew, Edward Phillips styles it, to which he removed from 'his lodgings in St. Bride's Churchyard,' in 1640, and where he was living when he wrote his 'Apology for Smectymnuus.'P.72.I never greatly admired, so now much less: in 'The Reason of Church Government urged against Prelaty' ('The Conclusion. The mischief that Prelaty does in the State'), Milton writes: 'The service of God, who is truth, her (Prelaty's) liturgy confesses to be perfect freedom; but her works and her opinions declare that the service of prelaty is perfect slavery, and by consequence perfect falsehood. Which makes me wonder much that many of the gentry, studious men as I hear, should engage themselves to write and speak publicly in her defence; but that I believe their honest and ingenuous natures coming to the universities to store themselves with good and solid learning, and there unfortunately fed with nothing else but the scragged and thorny lectures of monkish and miserable sophistry, were sent home again with such a scholastic bur in their throats, as hath stopped and hindered all true and generous philosophy from entering, cracked their voices for ever with metaphysical gargarisms, and hath made them admire a sort of formal outside men prelatically addicted, whose unchastened and unwrought minds were never yet initiated or subdued under the true lore of religion or moral virtue, which two are the best and greatest points of learning; but either slightly trained up in akind of hypocritical and hackney course of literature to get their living by, and dazzle the ignorant, or else fondly over-studied in useless controversies, except those which they use with all the specious and delusive subtlety they are able, to defend their prelatical Sparta.'P.72.wisses: knows.P.72.the bird that first rouses: the lark; see 'L'Allegro,' 41et seq.P.72.old cloaks, false beards, night-walkers, and salt lotion: the passage alluded to in the 'Animadversions,' is the following: 'We know where the shoe wrings you, you fret and are galled at the quick; and oh what a death it is to the prelates to be thus unvisarded, thus uncased, to have the periwigs plucked off, that cover your baldness, your inside nakedness thrown open to public view! The Romans had a time, once every year, when their slaves might freely speak their minds; it were hard if the free-born people of England, with whom the voice of truth for these many years, even against the proverb, hath not been heard but in corners, after all your monkish prohibitions, and expurgatorious indexes, your gags and snaffles, your proud Imprimaturs not to be obtained without the shallow surview, butnot shallow handof some mercenary, narrow-souled, and illiterate chaplain; when liberty of speaking, than which nothing is more sweet to man, was girded and strait-laced almost to a brokenwinded phthisic, if now, at a good time, our time of parliament, the very jubilee and resurrection of the state, if now the concealed, the aggrieved, and long-persecuted truth, could not be suffered to speak; and though she burst out with some efficacy of words, could not be excused after such an injurious strangle of silence, nor avoid the censure of libelling, it were hard, it were something pinching in a kingdom of free spirits. Some princes, and great statists, have thought it a prime piece of necessary policy, to thrust themselves under disguise into a popular throng, to stand the night long under eaves of houses, and low windows, that they might hear everywhere the utterances of private breasts, and amongst them find out the precious gem of truth, as amongst the numberless pebbles of the shore; whereby they might be the abler to discover, and avoid, that deceitful and close-couched evil of flattery, that ever attends them, and misleads them, and might skilfully know how to apply the several redresses to each malady of state, without trusting the disloyal information of parasites and sycophants; whereas now this permission of free writing, were there no good else in it, yet at some time thus licensed, is such an unripping, such an anatomy of the shyest and tenderest particular truths, as makes not only the whole nation in many points the wiser, but also presents andcarries home to princes, men most remote from vulgar concourse, such a full insight of every lurking evil, or restrained good among the commons, as that they shall not need hereafter, in old cloaks and false beards, to stand to the courtesy of a night-walking cudgeller for eaves-dropping, not to accept quietly as a perfume, the overhead emptying of some salt lotion. Who could be angry, therefore, but those that are guilty, with these free-spoken and plain-hearted men, that are the eyes of their country, and the prospective glasses of their prince? But these are the nettlers, these are the blabbing books that tell, though not half your fellows' feats. You love toothless satires; let me inform you, a toothless satire is as improper as a toothed sleekstone, and as bullish.'P.73.antistrophon: reasoning turned upon an opponent.P.73.mime: a kind of buffoon play, in which real persons and events were ridiculously mimicked and represented.P.73.Mundus alter et idem(another world and the same): a satire by Bishop Hall.P.73.Cephalus: son of Mercury (Hermes), carried off by Aurora (Eos).P.73.Hylas: accompanied Hercules in the Argonautic expedition. His beauty excited the love of the Naiads, as he went to draw water from a fountain, on the coast of Mysia, and he was drawn by them into the water, and never again seen.P.73.Viraginea: the land of viragoes.P.73.Aphrodisia: the land of Aphrodite (Venus).P.73.Desvergonia: the land of shamelessness. Ital.vergona, shame, infamy.P.73.hearsay: the hearing of, knowing about.P.73.tire: head-dress.P.73.those in next aptitude to divinity: divinity students.P.73.Trinculoes: Trinculo is the name of a jester in Shakespeare's 'Tempest'; or, according to a note in Johnson's 'Life of Milton,' signed R., referred to byJ. A.St. John, 'by the mention of this name he evidently refers to "Albemazor," acted at Cambridge in 1614.'P.73.mademoiselles: ladies' maids.P.73.Atticism: because he is here imitating a well-known passage in Demosthenes's speech against Æschines.—Keightley.P.74.for me: so far as I'm concerned.P.74.ἀπειροκαλία: ignorance of the beautiful, want of taste or sensibility (Liddell and Scott).P.75.elegiac poets, whereof the schools are not scarce:i.e.they are much read in the schools.P.75.numerous: in poetic numbers; 'in prose or numerous verse.'—P. L., v. 150.P.75.For that: because.P.75.severe: serious.P.76.the two famous renowners of Beatrice and Laura: Dante and Petrarch.P.76.though not in the title-page: an allusion to his opponent's 'AModestConfutation.'P.78.Corinthian: licentious, Corinth having been noted for its licentiousness.P.78.the precepts of the Christian religion:J. A.St. John quotes from Symmons's 'Life of Milton': 'It was at this early period of his life, as we may confidently conjecture, that he imbibed that spirit of devotion which actuated his bosom to his latest moment upon earth: and we need not extend our search beyond the limits of his own house for the fountain from which the living influence was derived.'P.78.had been:i.e.might have been.P.79.sleekstone: a smoothing stone; a toothed sleekstone would fail of its purpose as much as a toothless satire.P.79.this champion from behind the arras: probably an allusion to Polonius, who, in the closet scene (A.III.S.iv.), conceals himself behind the arras to overhear the interview between Hamlet and his mother.P.80.Socrates: surnamed Scholasticus; a Greek ecclesiastical historian;b.about 379,d.after 440; author of a 'History of the Church from 306 to 439A.D.'P.81.St. Martin: there are two saints of the name; which one is alluded to is uncertain, but probably Bishop of Tours, 4th century.P.81.Gregory Nazianzen: a Greek father, surnamed the Theologian;b.about 328,d.389A.D.P.81.Murena: Roman consul, 63B.C.; charged with bribery by Servius Sulpicius; defended by Cicero, in his orationPro Murena. In Cicero's answer to Sulpicius, 'three months,' as given by Milton, should be 'three days': 'itaque, si mihi, homini vehementer occupato, stomachum moveritis,triduome jurisconsultum esse profitebor.'
Page 2.Salmasius(Claudius), Latinized name of Claude de Saumaise,b.1588,d.1653; regarded in his time, throughout Europe, as the paragon of scholarship; engaged, after the execution of Charles I., to defend the royal cause against the Commonwealth, which he endeavored to do in hisDefensio Regia pro Carolo I., addressed to Charles II. In this work he defines a king ('if that,' says Milton, 'may be said to be defined which he makes infinite') 'to be a person in whom the supreme power of the kingdom resides, who is answerable to God alone, who may do whatsoever pleases him, who is bound by no law.'
P.4,5.single person: Milton himself, who replied to theEikon Basilike, and refuted its 'maudlin sophistry' in hisEikonoklastes;antagonist of mine: Salmasius.
P.7.one eminent above the rest: Salmasius.
P.9,10.columns of Hercules: the mountains on each side of the Straits of Gibraltar. It was fabled that they were formerly one mountain, which was rent asunder by Hercules.Triptolemus: the fabled inventor of the plough and the distributor of grain among men, under favor of Ceres.
P.10.the most noble queen of Sweden: Christina, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus.
P.12.Monstrum horrendum: a monster horrible, mis-shapen, huge, deprived of his eyesight; description of the Cyclops Polyphemus, whose one eye was put out by Ulysses.—Virgil's Æneid, iii. 658.
P.14.Tiresias: the blind prophet of Thebes.Apollonius Rhodius: poet and rhetorician (B.C.280-203), author of theArgonautica, a heroic poem on the Argonautic expedition to Colchis in quest of the golden fleece.
P.14,15.Timoleon of Corinth: Greek statesman and general, who expelled the tyrants from the Greek cities of Sicily, and restored the democratic form of government; died blind, 337B.C.Appius Claudius: surnamed Cæcus from his blindness. Roman consul, 307 and 296; induced the senate, in his old age, to reject the terms of peace which Cineas had proposed on behalf of Pyrrhus.Pyrrhus: king of Epirus(B.C.318-272), who waged war against the Romans.Cæcilius Metellus: Roman consul,B.C.251, 249;pontifex maximusfor twenty-two years from 243; lost his sight in 241 while rescuing the Palladium when the temple of Vesta was on fire.Dandolo(Enrico): b. 1107(?); elected Doge in 1192;d.1205. He was ninety-six years old when, though blind, he commanded the Venetians at the taking of Constantinople, June 17, 1203.
'Oh, for one hour of blind old Dandolo!The octogenarian chief, Byzantium's conquering foe.'
'Oh, for one hour of blind old Dandolo!The octogenarian chief, Byzantium's conquering foe.'
'Oh, for one hour of blind old Dandolo!
The octogenarian chief, Byzantium's conquering foe.'
—Byron's Childe Harold, Canto iv.St.xii.
Ziska, or Zizka (John): military chief of the Hussites,b.1360(?),d.1424; his real name was Trocznow; he lost an eye in battle, and was thence called Ziska,i.e.one-eyed; lost his other eye from an arrow at the siege of Rubi, but his blindness did not prevent his continuing the war against ecclesiastical tyranny.Jerome Zanchius(Girolamo Zanchi), Italian Protestant theologian,b.1516,d.1590; was canon regular of the Lateran when he became a Protestant; professor of theology and philosophy, University of Strasburg, 1553-1563; professor of theology, University of Heidelberg, 1568-1576.
P.16.Æsculapius: the god of medicine.Epidaurus(now Epidauro): chief seat of the worship of Æsculapius;the son of Thetis: Achilles, the hero of the Iliad. I have substituted the Earl of Derby's translation of the lines which follow from the Iliad, for that given by Robert Fellowes.
P.18.Prytaneum: 'a public building in the towns of Greece, where the Prytanes (chief magistrates in the states) assembled and took their meals together, and where those who had deserved well of their country were maintained during life.'
P.19,20.born in London: 9th of December, 1608;grammar-school: St. Paul's, notable among the classical seminaries then in London. The head-master was a Mr. Alexander Gill, Sr., and the sub-master, or usher, Mr. Alexander Gill, Jr.; with the latter Milton afterward maintained an intimate friendship.
P.20.On my father's estate: at Horton, in Buckinghamshire.Henry Wotton: at this time Provost of Eton. His letter to Milton is dated 13 April, 1638. In the concluding paragraph, Sir Henry writes: 'At Sienna I was tabled in the house of one Alberto Scipioni, an old Roman courtier in dangerous times, . . . at my departure toward Rome (which had been the centre of his experience) I had won confidence enough tobeg his advice, how I might carry myself securely there, without offence of others, or of mine own conscience.Signor Arrigo mio(says he),I pensieri stretti, & il viso sciolto: that is, your thoughts close and your countenance loose, will go safely over the whole world. Of which Delphian oracle (for so I have found it) your judgment doth need no commentary; and therefore, Sir, I will commit you with it to the best of all securities, God's dear love, remaining your friend as much at command as any of longer date.' Milton was certainly the last man in the world to make such a prudential, or rather crafty, maxim his rule of conduct, even in such a country as Italy then was. He has stated his own rule further on in this extract.Thomas Scudamore: miswritten for John (Masson).
P.21.Jacopo Gaddi: a prominent and influential literary man of Florence, member of the Florentine Academy, author of poems, historical essays, etc., in Latin and in Italian.Carlo Dati: his full name was Carlo Ruberto Dati; only in his 19th year when Milton visited Florence; was afterwards one of the most distinguished of the Florentine men of letters and academicians; became strongly attached to Milton, and corresponded with him after his return to England; author of 'Vite de' Pittori Antichi' (Lives of the Ancient Painters) and numerous other works.
P.21.Frescobaldi(Pietro): a Florentine academician.Coltellini(Agostino): a Florentine advocate; founder of an academy under the name of the Apatisti (the Indifferents). 'Such were the attractions of this academy, and so energetic was Coltellini in its behalf, that within ten or twenty years after its foundation it had a fame among the Italian academies equal, in some respects, to that of the first and oldest, and counted among its members not only all the eminent Florentines, but most of the distinguishedliteratiof Italy, besides cardinals, Italian princes and dukes, many foreign nobles and scholars, and at least one pope.'—Masson.Bonmattei, orBuommattei(Benedetto): an eminent member of various Florentine and other academies; author of various works, among them a commentary on parts of Dante, and a standard treatise,Della Lingua Toscana; by profession a priest.Chimentelli(Valerio): a priest; professor of Greek, and then of Eloquence and Politics, in Pisa; author of an archæological work, entitledMarmor Pisanum.Francini(Antonio): Florentine academician and poet.Lucas Holstenius(in the vernacular, Lukas Holste, or Holsten), secretary to Cardinal Barberini, and one of the librarians of the Vatican.Manso: author of a Life of Tasso, 1619. Milton, just before leaving Naples, addressed to him his Latin poem,Mansus.
P.22.so little reserve on matters of religion: here it appears that he did not make Sir Henry Wotton's prudential maxim his rule of conduct.
P.22, 23.the slandering More(Lat.Morus), Alexander: a Reformed minister, then resident in Holland, and at one time a friend of Salmasius. He had formerly been Professor of Greek in the University of Geneva. The real author of theRegii Sanguinis Clamorwas the Rev. Dr. Peter Du Moulin, the younger, made, 1660, a prebendary of Canterbury. More was, indeed, the publisher of the book, the corrector of the press, and author of the dedicatory preface in the printer's name, to Charles II. Milton fully believed when he wrote the Second Defence that More was the author of theR. S. C., having received convincing assurances that he was.Diodati(Dr. Jean, or Giovanni), uncle of Milton's friend, Carolo Diodati. He made the Italian translation of the Scriptures, known as Diodati's Bible, published in 1607.at the time when Charles, etc.: Milton's return to England was not, as he himself (by a slip of memory, no doubt) states, 'at the time when Charles, having broken the peace with the Scots, was renewing the second of those wars named Episcopal,' but exactly a twelvemonth previous to that time, and about eight months before the meeting of the Short Parliament.—Keightley.
P.24.two books to a friend: 'Of Reformation in England, and the causes that hitherto have hindered it. 1641.'two bishops: Dr. Joseph Hall (1574-1656), Bishop of Exeter, afterward Bishop of Norwich; and Dr. James Usher (1580-1656), Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland.Concerning Prelatical Episcopacy: the full title is, 'Of prelatical episcopacy, and whether it may be deduced from the apostolical times, by virtue of those testimonies which are alleged to that purpose in some late treatises; one whereof goes under the name of James, Archbishop of Armagh. 1641.'Concerning the mode of ecclesiastical government: 'The reason of church government urged against prelaty. 1641.'
P.24.Animadversions: 'Animadversions upon the remonstrant's defence against Smectymnuus. 1641.'
P.24.Apology: 'An apology for Smectymnuus.' 1642. The pamphlet by Smectymnuus was published with the following title, which is sufficiently descriptive of its character: 'An Answer to a Book entituled "An Humble Remonstrance" [by Bishop Hall], in which the originall of Liturgy [and] Episcopacy is discussed and quæres propounded concerning both, the parity of Bishops and Presbyters in Scripture demonstrated, the occasion of their unparity in Antiquity discovered, the disparity of the ancient and our modern Bishops manifested, the antiquity of Ruling Eldersin the Church vindicated, the Prelaticall Church bounded: Written by Smectymnuus.' 1641. The pamphlet was the joint production of five Presbyterian clergymen, Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William Spurstow, but written for the most part by Thomas Young, Milton's former tutor. The name Smectymnuus was made up from the several authors' initials: S. M., E. C., T. Y., M. N., U. U. (for W.) S.
P.24.the domestic species: the titles of the pamphlets on marriage and divorce are: 'The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce,' 1643, 1644; 'The Judgment of Martin Bucer concerning Divorce,' 1644; 'Tetrachordon: expositions upon the four chief places in Scripture which treat of marriage, or nullities in marriage,' 1644; 'Colasterion: a reply to a nameless answer against the Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce,' 1645.
P.25.Selden(John), 1584-1654, celebrated English lawyer, statesman, and political writer. His 'Table Talk' was long famous, 'being his sense of various matters of weight and high consequence, relating especially to religion and state.'
P.25.an inferior at home: many passages in Milton's works, poetical and prose, indicate, on his part, an estimate of woman which may be attributed, in some measure, at least, to his unfortunate first marriage. His own opinions of what should be the relation of wife to husband he, no doubt, expressed in the following passages in the 'Paradise Lost,' Book iv. 635-638, x. 145-156, xi. 287-292, 629-636; and in the 'Samson Agonistes,' 1053-1060. But no one can read the several treatises on Divorce without being impressed with the loftiness of Milton's ideal of marriage, and his sense of the sacred duties appertaining thereto. The only true marriage with him was the union ofsouls, as well as of bodies, souls whomGodhath joined together (Matt.xix. 6, Mark x. 9), not the priest nor the magistrate.
P.25.the principles of education: 'Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib.' 1644. Hartlib was nominally a merchant in London, a foreigner by birth, the son of a Polish merchant of German extraction, settled in Elbing, in Prussia, whose wife was the daughter of a wealthy English merchant of Dantzic. He was a reformer and philanthropist, and an advocate of the views of the educational reformer, Comenius.
P.25. 'Areopagitica: a speech for the liberty of unlicensed printing, to the Parliament of England.' 1644.
P.26.what might lawfully be done against tyrants: in his pamphlet entitled, 'The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates: proving that it is lawful,and hath been held so through all ages, for any, who have the power, to call to account a tyrant or wicked king, and, after due conviction, to depose, and put him to death, if the ordinary magistrate have neglected, or denied to do it; and that they who of late so much blame deposing are the men that did it themselves. The authorJ. M.1649,'
P.27.history of my country: 'The History of Britain; that part especially now called England. From the first traditional beginning continued to the Norman Conquest.'
P.27.I had already finished four books:i.e.in 1648; the work was not published till 1670. It contained the fine portrait of Milton, by William Faithorne, for which he sat in his 62d year.
P.27.A book . . . ascribed to the king: ten days after the king's death, was published (9 Feb. 1649), 'Ἑἰκὼν Βασιλική: The True Portraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings.—Rom.viii.More than conquerour, &c.—Bona agere et mala pati Regium est.—MDCXLVIII.' The book professed to be the king's own production, and Milton answered it as such, tho' it appears he had his suspicions as to its authorship. It was universally regarded, at the time, as the king's; but it was before long well known (though the controversy as to the authorship was long after kept up) to have been written by Dr. John Gauden, Rector of Bocking, and, after the Restoration, Bishop of Exeter, and, a short time before his death, Bishop of Worcester. Milton's reply, published 6th ofOct., 1649, is entitled 'ἙΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣin Answer To a Book Intitl'dἘΙΚῺΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΉ, The Portrature of his Sacred Majesty in his Solitudes and Sufferings. The Author I. M.
Prov.xxviii. 15, 16, 17.15. As a roaring Lyon, and a ranging Beare, so is a wicked Ruler over the poor people.16. The Prince that wanteth understanding, is also a great oppressor; but he that hateth covetousnesse shall prolong his dayes.17. A man that doth violence to the blood of any person, shall fly to the pit, let no man stay him.Salust. Conjurat. Catilin.Regium imperium, quod initio, conservandæ libertatis, atque augendæ reipub. causâ fuerat, in superbiam, dominationemque se convertit.Regibus boni, quam mali, suspectiores sunt; semperque his aliena virtus formidolosa est.Quidlibet impunè facere, hoc scilicet regium est.Published by Authority.London, Printed by Matthew Simmons, next dore to the gilded Lyon in Aldersgate street. 1649.'
Prov.xxviii. 15, 16, 17.
15. As a roaring Lyon, and a ranging Beare, so is a wicked Ruler over the poor people.
16. The Prince that wanteth understanding, is also a great oppressor; but he that hateth covetousnesse shall prolong his dayes.
17. A man that doth violence to the blood of any person, shall fly to the pit, let no man stay him.
Salust. Conjurat. Catilin.
Regium imperium, quod initio, conservandæ libertatis, atque augendæ reipub. causâ fuerat, in superbiam, dominationemque se convertit.
Regibus boni, quam mali, suspectiores sunt; semperque his aliena virtus formidolosa est.
Quidlibet impunè facere, hoc scilicet regium est.
Published by Authority.
London, Printed by Matthew Simmons, next dore to the gilded Lyon in Aldersgate street. 1649.'
P.27.Salmasius then appeared: that is, with hisDefensio Regia pro Carolo I.
P.28.Chester's Dee: the old city of Chester is situated on the Dee (Lat.Deva).
P.28.Vergivian wave(Lat.Vergivium salum): the Irish Sea.
P.28.it is not my care to revisit the reedy Cam, etc.: this was the period of his rustication from Christ's College, Cambridge, due, it seems, to some difficulty which Milton had with his tutor, Mr. Chappell.
P.28.the tearful exile in the Pontic territory: Ovid, who was relegated (rather than exiled) to Tomi, a town on the Euxine.
P.28.Maro: the Latin poet, Publius Virgilius Maro.
P.29.or the unhappy boy . . . or the fierce avenger: as Masson suggests, the allusions here may be to Shakespeare's Romeo and the Ghost inHamlet.
P.29.the house of Pelops, etc.: subjects of the principal Greek tragedies.
P.29.the arms of living Pelops: an allusion to the ivory shoulder of Pelops, by which, when he was restored to life after having been served up at a feast of the gods, given by his father Tantalus, the shoulder consumed by Ceres was replaced.
P.30.thy own flower: the anemone into which Adonis was turned by Venus, after his dying of a wound received from a wild boar during the chase.
P.30.alternate measures: the alternate hexameters and pentameters of the Elegy.
P.30.Alexander Gill, Jr.: Gill was Milton's tutor in St. Paul's School, of which his father, Alexander Gill, was head-master. Milton was sent to this school in his twelfth year (1620), and remained there till his seventeenth year (1625). He was entered very soon after at Christ's College, Cambridge, beginning residence in the Easter term of 1625.
P.31.Thomas Young: Young had been Milton's tutor before he entered St. Paul's School, and later; he was one of the authors of the Smectymnuan pamphlet; was appointed Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1644.
P.31.Stoa of the Iceni(Lat.Stoam Icenorum): a pun for Stowmarket in Suffolk, the Iceni having been the inhabitants of the parts of Roman Britain corresponding to Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, etc.—Masson.Their queen was Boadicea, who led their revolt against the Romans.
P.31.Zeno: Greek philosopher (about 358-260B.C.), father of the Stoic philosophy, so called from his teaching in theStoa Pœcile, in Athens, in which were the frescoes of Polygnotus (about 480-430B.C.).
P.31.Serranus: an agnomen, or fourth name, given to L. Quinctius Cincinnatus; Roman consul 460B.C.; in 458 called from the plough to the dictatorship, whence called by Florus,Dictator ad aratro; the agnomen is said to have been derived fromserere, to sow; 'Quis te, magne Cato, tacitum, aut te, Cosse, relinquat? . . . vel te sulco, Serrane, serentem' (Who can leave thee unmentioned, great Cato, or thee, Cossus? . . . or thee, Serranus, sowing in the furrow).—Æneid, vi. 844.
P.31.Curius: M'. Curius Dentatus, noted for his fortitude and frugality; consulB.C.290; a second time 275, when he defeated Pyrrhus, king of Epirus; consul a third time, 274; afterward retired to his small farm, which he cultivated himself.
P.32.Erato: the muse of erotic poetry.
P.32.the fierce dog: Cerberus.
P.32.the Samian master: Pythagoras, who was a native of Samos.
P.32.Tiresias: the Theban prophet, deprived of sight by Juno; Jupiter, in compensation, bestowed upon him the power of prophecy.
P.32.Theban Linus: the singer and philosopher.
P.32.Calchas the exile: a famous soothsayer, who accompanied the Greeks to Troy.
P.32.Orpheus: the fabulous Thracian poet and musician.
P.32.Circe: See Comus,50-53.
P.33.the heavenly birth of the King of Peace: his odeOn the Morning of Christ's Nativity, composed on and just after Christmas, 1629.
P.35. 1.Pieria's: used for Pierian, from Pierus, a mountain of Thessaly sacred to the muses.
P. 36.18.Clio: the Muse of History, 'inasmuch,' says Masson, 'as what he is to say about his Father is strictly true.'
P. 36.22.Promethean fire: the fire which Prometheus brought down from heaven.
P. 37.44.Ophiuchus:i.e.a serpent holder (ὄφις+ἔχειν); a constellation in the northern hemisphere, the outline of which is imagined to be a man holding a serpent; called also Anguitenens and Serpentarius, which have the same meaning; Ophiuchus is the translator's word; the original issibila serpens, the hissing serpent.
P. 37.45.Orion: a constellation with sword, belt, and club; 'Orion arm'd.'—P. L., i. 305.
P. 37.50.Lyæus: an epithet of Bacchus as the deliverer from care (Gk.λυαίος).
P. 37.53.proposed: set forth.
P. 37.55.to imitation:i.e.for imitation, to be imitated,i.e.the character of heroes and their deeds.
P. 38.92.Streams Aonian: so called as if the resort of the muses.
P. 39.120.the boy: Phaëthon.
P. 40.141-148.Ye too, . . . my voluntary numbers: it does not seem to me improbable that these six lines [115-120 of the original] were added to the poem just before its publication in the volume of 1645. The phrase 'juvenilia carmina' seems to refer to that volume as containing this piece among others. Anyhow, it was a beautiful ending and prophetic.—Masson.
P.40.English letter to a friend: this letter of which there are two undated drafts in Milton's handwriting in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, must have been written in 1632 or 1633. In the second draft (which is given in the text), Milton is content, for the first few sentences, with simply correcting the language of the first; but in the remaining portion he throws the first draft all but entirely aside, and rewrites the same meaning more at large in a series of new sentences. Evidently he took pains with the letter.—Masson.
P.41.tale of Latmus:i.e.of Endymion's sleeping upon Mount Latmus, and of his being visited by Selene (the moon).
P. 42.5.Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth:i.e.he appears younger than he really is. In his Second Defence, he says, 'though I am more than forty years old, there is scarcely any one to whom I do not appear ten years younger than I am.'
P. 42.8.timely-happy: happy, or fortunate, in the matter of inward ripeness.
P. 42.10.it: 'inward ripeness.'
P.42.it shall be still: Milton very early regarded himself as dedicated to the performance of some great work for which he had to make adequate preparation, in the way of building himself up;even: equal, in proportion to, in conformity with.
P.43.Your true and unfeigned friend, etc.: see penultimate sentence of the passage given, p.65, from 'The Reason of Church Government urged against Prelaty.'
P.43.this ode: Psalm cxiv.
P.44.To Charles Diodati: Milton's schoolfellow at St. Paul's, and his dearest friend; he died in August, 1638, while Milton was on his Continental tour; on his return he wrote theIn memoriampoem,Epitaphium Damonis.
P.46.To Benedetto Bonmattei: mentioned by Milton among his Florentine friends, in the autobiographical passage in the Second Defence; seenote, p. 247.
P.47.our native kings: the ancient kings of Britain.
P.47.stirring wars even under the earth: King Arthur, after his death, was supposed to be carried into the subterraneous land of Faerie, or of Spirits, where he still reigned as a king, and whence he was to return into Britain, to renew the Round Table, conquer all his old enemies, and reëstablish his throne. He was, therefore,etiam movens bella sub terris, still meditating wars under the earth. The impulse of his attachment to this subject was not entirely suppressed; it produced his History of Britain. By the expressionrevocabo in carmina, the poet means, that these ancient kings, which were once the themes of the British bards, should now again be celebrated in verse.—Warton.Warton rendersbella moventem[v. 81 of the Latin]meditating wars, but that is not the true sense; it is waging wars, and Arthur is represented as so employed in Fairy-land in the romances.—Keightley.
P.47.Paphian myrtle: the myrtle was sacred to Venus; Paphos was an ancient city of Cyprus, where was a temple of Venus.
P.48.Galileo:b.1564,d.1642; he was seventy-four years old when Milton visited him in 1638; whether he was actually imprisoned at the time is somewhat uncertain; he may have been, as Hales suggests,in libera custodia,i.e.'only kept under a certain restraint, as that he should not move away from a specified neighborhood, or perhaps a special house.'
P.48.never be forgotten by any revolution of time:i.e.as Hales explains, caused to be forgotten.
P.48.other parts:i.e.of the world.
P.48.in time of parliament: there was no parliament assembled from 1629 to 1640.
P.48.without envy: without exciting any odium against me.—Hales.
P.48.he whom an honest quæstorship: Cicero, 75B.C.
P.48.Verres: pro-prætor in Sicily, 73-71B.C.Cicero's Verrine orations were directed against his extortions and exactions.
P.49.Lucas Holstenius: seenote, p. 21.
P.49.Alexander Cherubini: Roman friend of Milton, 'known in his lifetime as a prodigy of erudition, though he died at the early age of twenty-eight.'
P.49.Virgil's 'penitus convalle virenti': Virgil's 'souls enclosed within a verdant valley, and about to go to the upper light.'
P.49.Cardinal Francesco Barberini:b.1597,d.1679; librarian of the Vatican, and founder of the Barberini Library.
P.50. In the British legends of Geoffrey of Monmouth and others, the mythical Brutus, before arriving in Britain with his Trojans, marries Imogen, daughter of the Grecian king Pandrasus; Brennus and Belinus are two legendary British princes of a much later age, sons of King Dunwallo Molmutius; Arvirach or Arviragus, son of Cunobeline, or Cymbeline, belongs to the time of the Roman conquest of Britain; the "Armorican settlers" are the Britons who removed to the French coast of Armonica to avoid the invading Saxons; Uther Pendragon, Igraine, Gorlois, Merlin, and Arthur are familiar names of the Arthurian romances.—Masson.
P.52.their damned designs: the restoration of Papacy and ecclesiastical despotism.
P.53.antichristian thraldom: he would seem to allude to the invasions of England by the Romans, Saxons, Danes (twice), and Normans, and the War of the Roses, followed by the partial reformation under Henry VIII.—Keightley.
P.53.Thule: some undetermined island or other land, regarded as the northernmost part of the earth; called in LatinUltima Thule; often used metaphorically for an extreme limit.
P.53.that horrible and damned blast: Keightley understands this as referring to the Gunpowder plot.
P.53.that sad intelligencing tyrant: Philip IV., King of Spain from 1621 to 1665.
P.53.mines of Ophir: used in a general sense for gold mines.
P.53.his naval ruins: an allusion to the destruction of the Spanish armada, in 1588, in the reign of his grandfather, Philip II.
P.54.in this land: when Milton wrote this, he must still have been meditating a poem to be based on British history.
P.56.and thou standing at the door: see introductory remarks onLycidas.
P.57.Slothful, and ever to be set light by: thou slothful one, and ever, etc.
P.57.infancy: not speaking.
P.58.preventive: going before, forecasting, anticipative.
P.58.equal: impartial, equitable;Lat.æqualis.
P.58.the elegant and learned reader: him only Milton addressed, not the common reader. He was no demagogue.
P.58.anything elaborately composed: he had his meditated great work in mind.
P.59.another task: poetical composition.
P.59.empyreal conceit: lofty conceit of himself.
P.59.envy: odium;Lat.invidia.
P.60.Ariosto(Lodovico): Italian poet;b.1474,d.1533; author of theOrlando Furioso.
P.60.Bembo(Pietro):b.1470,d.1547; secretary to Pope Leo X.; Cardinal, 1539; famous as a Latin scholar.
P.60.wits: geniuses.
P.61.Tasso(Torquato): Italian poet;b.1544,d.1595; author of theGerusalemme Liberata(Jerusalem Delivered).
P.61.a prince of Italy: Alfonso II., Duke of Ferrara?
P.61.Godfrey's expedition against the Infidels: the subject of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered; Godfrey of Bouillon, leader of the first crusade;b.about 1058,d.1100.
P.61.Belisarius: a celebrated general, in the reign of Justinian;b.about 505A.D.,d.565.
P.61.Charlemagne(or Charles the Great):b.742,d.814; Emperor of the West and King of the Franks.
P.61.doctrinal and exemplary: instructive and serving for example.
P.61.Origen: Christian Father, of Alexandria (185-254).
P.61.Pareus(David):b.1548,d.1622; a Calvinist theologian, Professor of Theology, University of Heidelberg.
P.62.Pindarus: Greek lyric poet, about 522-442B.C.
P.62.Callimachus: Greek poet and grammarian, about 310-235B.C.
P.62.most an end: 'almost uninterruptedly, almost always, mostly, for the most part.'—Murray's New English Dictionary,s.v.'an end.' The phrase occurs again inChap.III. Book II. of this same pamphlet: 'the patients, which most an end are brought into his [the civil magistrate's] hospital, are such as are far gone,' etc.Vol.II. p. 491, of the Bohned.of theP. W.
P.63.demean: conduct;O. Fr.demener.
P.63.such (sports, etc.) as were authorized a while since:i.e.in the Book of Sports. Proclamation allowing Sunday sports, issued by James I.
P.63.paneguries: same as panegyrics.
P.64.Siren daughters: the Muses, daughters of Memory or Mnemosyne.
P.65.gentle apprehension: a refined faculty of conception or perception.
Apology for Smectymnuus
P.66.Solon: Athenian statesman and lawgiver, about 638-558B.C.'According to Suidas it was a law of Solon that he who stood neuter in any public sedition, should be declaredἄτιμος, infamous.'
P.66.doubted: hesitated; or, perhaps, in the sense of feared.
P.66.most nominated: most frequently named, most prominent.
P.66,67.my certain account: the account which I shall certainly have to render.
P.67.tired out almost a whole youth: see the extract given from 'The Reason of Church Government urged against Prelaty.'
P.67.this modest confuter: Dr. Joseph Hall, Bishop of Exeter, afterward of Norwich; the reference is to his 'Modest Confutation' of Milton's 'Animadversions.'
P.69.Animadversions: 'A. upon the Remonstrant's Defence against Smectymnuus.' 1641.
P.69.devised: described, represented.
P.70.conversation: in New Testament sense, mode or way of life, conduct, deportment (ἀναστροφή).
P.70.apology: defence, vindication.
P.71.propense: inclined, disposed.
P.71.that place: the University.
P.71.to obtain with me: prevail, succeed with me, to get the better of.
P.71.both she or her sister: Cambridge or Oxford University; 'both' requires 'and'; 'or' requires 'either.'
P.71.that suburb sink: the 'pretty garden-house in Aldersgate street,' as his nephew, Edward Phillips styles it, to which he removed from 'his lodgings in St. Bride's Churchyard,' in 1640, and where he was living when he wrote his 'Apology for Smectymnuus.'
P.72.I never greatly admired, so now much less: in 'The Reason of Church Government urged against Prelaty' ('The Conclusion. The mischief that Prelaty does in the State'), Milton writes: 'The service of God, who is truth, her (Prelaty's) liturgy confesses to be perfect freedom; but her works and her opinions declare that the service of prelaty is perfect slavery, and by consequence perfect falsehood. Which makes me wonder much that many of the gentry, studious men as I hear, should engage themselves to write and speak publicly in her defence; but that I believe their honest and ingenuous natures coming to the universities to store themselves with good and solid learning, and there unfortunately fed with nothing else but the scragged and thorny lectures of monkish and miserable sophistry, were sent home again with such a scholastic bur in their throats, as hath stopped and hindered all true and generous philosophy from entering, cracked their voices for ever with metaphysical gargarisms, and hath made them admire a sort of formal outside men prelatically addicted, whose unchastened and unwrought minds were never yet initiated or subdued under the true lore of religion or moral virtue, which two are the best and greatest points of learning; but either slightly trained up in akind of hypocritical and hackney course of literature to get their living by, and dazzle the ignorant, or else fondly over-studied in useless controversies, except those which they use with all the specious and delusive subtlety they are able, to defend their prelatical Sparta.'
P.72.wisses: knows.
P.72.the bird that first rouses: the lark; see 'L'Allegro,' 41et seq.
P.72.old cloaks, false beards, night-walkers, and salt lotion: the passage alluded to in the 'Animadversions,' is the following: 'We know where the shoe wrings you, you fret and are galled at the quick; and oh what a death it is to the prelates to be thus unvisarded, thus uncased, to have the periwigs plucked off, that cover your baldness, your inside nakedness thrown open to public view! The Romans had a time, once every year, when their slaves might freely speak their minds; it were hard if the free-born people of England, with whom the voice of truth for these many years, even against the proverb, hath not been heard but in corners, after all your monkish prohibitions, and expurgatorious indexes, your gags and snaffles, your proud Imprimaturs not to be obtained without the shallow surview, butnot shallow handof some mercenary, narrow-souled, and illiterate chaplain; when liberty of speaking, than which nothing is more sweet to man, was girded and strait-laced almost to a brokenwinded phthisic, if now, at a good time, our time of parliament, the very jubilee and resurrection of the state, if now the concealed, the aggrieved, and long-persecuted truth, could not be suffered to speak; and though she burst out with some efficacy of words, could not be excused after such an injurious strangle of silence, nor avoid the censure of libelling, it were hard, it were something pinching in a kingdom of free spirits. Some princes, and great statists, have thought it a prime piece of necessary policy, to thrust themselves under disguise into a popular throng, to stand the night long under eaves of houses, and low windows, that they might hear everywhere the utterances of private breasts, and amongst them find out the precious gem of truth, as amongst the numberless pebbles of the shore; whereby they might be the abler to discover, and avoid, that deceitful and close-couched evil of flattery, that ever attends them, and misleads them, and might skilfully know how to apply the several redresses to each malady of state, without trusting the disloyal information of parasites and sycophants; whereas now this permission of free writing, were there no good else in it, yet at some time thus licensed, is such an unripping, such an anatomy of the shyest and tenderest particular truths, as makes not only the whole nation in many points the wiser, but also presents andcarries home to princes, men most remote from vulgar concourse, such a full insight of every lurking evil, or restrained good among the commons, as that they shall not need hereafter, in old cloaks and false beards, to stand to the courtesy of a night-walking cudgeller for eaves-dropping, not to accept quietly as a perfume, the overhead emptying of some salt lotion. Who could be angry, therefore, but those that are guilty, with these free-spoken and plain-hearted men, that are the eyes of their country, and the prospective glasses of their prince? But these are the nettlers, these are the blabbing books that tell, though not half your fellows' feats. You love toothless satires; let me inform you, a toothless satire is as improper as a toothed sleekstone, and as bullish.'
P.73.antistrophon: reasoning turned upon an opponent.
P.73.mime: a kind of buffoon play, in which real persons and events were ridiculously mimicked and represented.
P.73.Mundus alter et idem(another world and the same): a satire by Bishop Hall.
P.73.Cephalus: son of Mercury (Hermes), carried off by Aurora (Eos).
P.73.Hylas: accompanied Hercules in the Argonautic expedition. His beauty excited the love of the Naiads, as he went to draw water from a fountain, on the coast of Mysia, and he was drawn by them into the water, and never again seen.
P.73.Viraginea: the land of viragoes.
P.73.Aphrodisia: the land of Aphrodite (Venus).
P.73.Desvergonia: the land of shamelessness. Ital.vergona, shame, infamy.
P.73.hearsay: the hearing of, knowing about.
P.73.tire: head-dress.
P.73.those in next aptitude to divinity: divinity students.
P.73.Trinculoes: Trinculo is the name of a jester in Shakespeare's 'Tempest'; or, according to a note in Johnson's 'Life of Milton,' signed R., referred to byJ. A.St. John, 'by the mention of this name he evidently refers to "Albemazor," acted at Cambridge in 1614.'
P.73.mademoiselles: ladies' maids.
P.73.Atticism: because he is here imitating a well-known passage in Demosthenes's speech against Æschines.—Keightley.
P.74.for me: so far as I'm concerned.
P.74.ἀπειροκαλία: ignorance of the beautiful, want of taste or sensibility (Liddell and Scott).
P.75.elegiac poets, whereof the schools are not scarce:i.e.they are much read in the schools.
P.75.numerous: in poetic numbers; 'in prose or numerous verse.'—P. L., v. 150.
P.75.For that: because.
P.75.severe: serious.
P.76.the two famous renowners of Beatrice and Laura: Dante and Petrarch.
P.76.though not in the title-page: an allusion to his opponent's 'AModestConfutation.'
P.78.Corinthian: licentious, Corinth having been noted for its licentiousness.
P.78.the precepts of the Christian religion:J. A.St. John quotes from Symmons's 'Life of Milton': 'It was at this early period of his life, as we may confidently conjecture, that he imbibed that spirit of devotion which actuated his bosom to his latest moment upon earth: and we need not extend our search beyond the limits of his own house for the fountain from which the living influence was derived.'
P.78.had been:i.e.might have been.
P.79.sleekstone: a smoothing stone; a toothed sleekstone would fail of its purpose as much as a toothless satire.
P.79.this champion from behind the arras: probably an allusion to Polonius, who, in the closet scene (A.III.S.iv.), conceals himself behind the arras to overhear the interview between Hamlet and his mother.
P.80.Socrates: surnamed Scholasticus; a Greek ecclesiastical historian;b.about 379,d.after 440; author of a 'History of the Church from 306 to 439A.D.'
P.81.St. Martin: there are two saints of the name; which one is alluded to is uncertain, but probably Bishop of Tours, 4th century.
P.81.Gregory Nazianzen: a Greek father, surnamed the Theologian;b.about 328,d.389A.D.
P.81.Murena: Roman consul, 63B.C.; charged with bribery by Servius Sulpicius; defended by Cicero, in his orationPro Murena. In Cicero's answer to Sulpicius, 'three months,' as given by Milton, should be 'three days': 'itaque, si mihi, homini vehementer occupato, stomachum moveritis,triduome jurisconsultum esse profitebor.'