104. fatal: allotted by fate; cp. 1.133.
106. denounced: threatened.
412. senteries: sentries. The meter requires the three-syllable form, a variation common in the seventeenth century.
109. Belial: “Belial … taketh the form of a beautiful angel; he speaketh fair” (Scot 15.2). See 1.158n and 1.490n.
113. manna: divinely provided food, sweet like honey (Exod. 16.31). So Homer describes the oratory of Nestor: “from whose tongue flowed speech sweeter than honey” (1.249). The ability to make the worse appear / The better reason defines sophistry and is a charge brought against Socrates (Apology 19b), as Milton observes: “that he ever made the worse cause seem the better” (Tetrachordon in MLM 989).
123. conjecture: doubt; success: outcome.
124. fact: deed, feat. Fact of arms translates an idiom common in French and Italian.
127. scope: object, end.
139. mold: material substance; for celestial beings, light or pure fire (see Ps. 104.4). Cp. Comus’s claim that he and his band are of “purer fire” than agents of morality (111).
141. Her mischief: the harm intended her (i.e., the ethereal mold of l. 139).
149–50. swallowed … Night: Satan will reiterate this fear (ll. 438–41, 10.476–77).
152. Let this be good: “were we to concede that nonexistence is desirable.”
156. As if through lack of self-control, or unwittingly. The astute Belial ironically registers God’s omnipotence and omniscience.
160. they who: “Belial avoids naming Moloch, who is in any case nameless” (Leonard). Naming a previous speaker is prohibited by Parliamentary rules of debate.
165. amain: at full speed.
170. “The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle [hellfire]” (Isa. 30.33). Cp. the story of King Nebuchadnezzar, who fires his furnace “seven times more than it was wont” to incinerate his prisoners (Dan. 3.19). According to the Geneva gloss, angry tyrants exercise their wits by “inventing strange and cruel punishments.”
173. intermitted: discontinued temporarily.
174. red right hand: translates Horace’s account of Jove’s rubente dextera (Odes 1.2.3–4.). Horace evokes Rome’s panic at a catastrophic flood threatened by Jove’s thunder. Belial conjures up a vision of Hell similarly inundated, but with fire.
175. Her: Hell’s.
176. cataracts: heavy downpours.
180–82. Caught … whirlwinds: Cp. Pallas’ vengeance on Ajax: “him, as with pierced breast he breathed forth flame, she caught in a whirlwind and impaled on a spiky crag” (Vergil, Aen. 1.44–45).
187–93. Belial offers impeccable theological rationale against either alternative on Satan’s agenda (l. 41; cp. 1.661–62).
188. what can force or guile: “what can force or guile accomplish.”
197–99. since … will: Belial’s theological clarity persists as he accurately links fate, omnipotent decree, and the victor’s will (cp. 5.602, 7.173).
199. To suffer, as to do: Editors since Newton cite Livy’s quotation of the legendary Mutius Scaevola (“left-handed”), who earned his name by burning off his own right hand in response to captors’ threats: “The strength of Rome is to do and also to suffer” (2.12). Cp. 1.158n and PR 3.195. Belial, by contrast—nameless on account of his crimes and already engulfed in flames—recommends passivity to reduce suffering (ll. 208–14). In the narrator’s terms, he seeks ignoble ease through peaceful sloth (l. 227).
200–208. Our strength … conqueror: The law to which Belial refers is the law of conquest or right of war, which Milton in CD cites to justify the death sentence imposed on all of Adam and Eve’s descendants (1.11 in MLM 1238). Cp. 1.149–50n.
213. what is punished: the punishment already inflicted.
213–19. whence … pain: “If God were to stop stoking the fire, the purity of our native substance might overcome it. Or, we might grow accustomed to a less intense fire and not notice it. Or perhaps our physiology and substance will adapt, so that hellfire will feel natural to us.” Belial’s first alternative fits with his rejection of Moloch’s plan; cp. lines 139–42. The last alternative anticipates Mammon’s proposal—that they adapt themselves to Hell (ll. 274–78). On God as the bellows infuriating hellfire, see 170n.
220. light: Possible meanings include the overtly paradoxical “illumination,” as well as less obviously contradictory adjectival senses, such as “luminous” and “less harsh.” “The rhyme at 220–21 offers a suitably jingling accompaniment to the cheerful fantasy” (Fowler).
223–24. since … worst: “Insofar as happiness is concerned, our current situation is certainly a bad one, but for a bad situation, it is not the worst.”
228. Mammon: See 1.678n.
245. Ambrosial: divinely fragrant; classically, ambrosia is divine nourishment.
256. easy yoke: “who best / Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best” (Sonnet 1910–11).
263–68. How oft … Hell?: “The Lord hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness” (2 Chron. 6.1; see also Ps. 1811–13).
271. Wants not: does not lack.
275. elements: components, habitats (cp. Il Pens 93–94); Belial makes a similar conjecture at lines 217–18.
278. sensible: what is felt; sensation (adj. for noun).
281. Compose: adjust to (by becoming part of); calm.
282. where: 1667; “were” in 1674.
288. o’erwatched: sleep deprived.
288–89. bark, pinnace: small sailing ships.
292. such another field: another battle such as they fought in Heaven.
297. policy: statecraft; in Milton’s era, policy often implies Machiavellian cunning. process of time: Cp. Adam and Eve’s prospects for improvement, “by tract of time” (5.498).
302. front: brow, face.
306. Atlantean: Atlas-like; Zeus doomed Atlas, a rebel Titan, to uphold the sky (cp. 4.987n). Statesmen were often compared to Atlas or to Hercules relieving Atlas of his burden. See Cowley’s praise of King Charles: “On whom (like Atlas shoulders) the propped state/(As he were the Primum Mobile of fate)/Solely, relies” (On his Majesty’s Return out of Scotland).
312. style: official name or title. The fallen angels’ original titles indicated their authority, the defense of which Satan cited as cause for their initial rebellion (see, e.g., 5.772–802). Beëlzebub invokes these titles to ask if they are indeed willing to forsake their Heavenly identities, as Mammon has suggested. Cp. 10.460–62, PR 2.121–25.
315. We retain from 1674 the semicolons bracing doubtless, which seem intended to indicate deliberate pauses for rhetorical effect.
321. In reply to Belial’s conjecture at lines 209–13.
324. first and last: Cp. the persistent account of God in Isaiah (41.4, 27; 43.10; 44.6; 48.12) and of the Son in Revelation (1.11, 17; 2.8; 21.6; 22.13).
327–28. iron, golden: The association of iron with severity and gold with mercy distinguishes between the regime of God in Hell and in Heaven. Cp. Ps. 2.9 and Esther 4.11. See also the iron and golden keys of St. Peter in Lyc 110–11.
329. What: why; projecting: scheming; devising.
330. determined us: settled our course. Cp. 11.227.
334. stripes: marks left by a whip.
337. reluctance: resistance, opposition.
338–40. how … feel?: “how to mitigate God’s victory and pleasure in tormenting us?” These challenging lines initiate the figure of God as a reaper seeking to maximize his yield (cp. 4.983) and cap the debate’s running concern with the balance of suffering and doing (see 199n).
349–51. To be … above: “Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor” (Ps. 8.5).
349. like to us: a comparison indicative of the fallen angels’ egocentrism, or antitheo-centrism. Resemblance between humans and angels derives from their reflection of the same creator (cp. 3.100–128, 4.567).
352–53. Fowler observes that the precedent for God??
?s Heaven-shaking oath is both biblical and classical. See Isa. 13.12–13 and especially Heb. 6.17 (a crucial verse for Lycidas also); Homer, Il. 1.528–30, and Vergil, Aen. 9.104–6.
355. mold: form. Cp. line 139. The sense “constitutive substance” (in humanity’s case, earth) is secondary here because substance follows. See Rumrich 1987, 53–69.
357. attempted: attacked or tempted. The options are elaborated through line 376.
367. puny: from the French puis né, later born.
368. God: “The first time in PL that any devil has spoken the name” (Leonard).
369–70. May … works: “And the Lord said, I will destroy man … for it repenteth me that I have made them” (Gen. 6.7). Following the Calvinist interpretive practice known as “accommodation,” the Geneva Bible explains that “God doeth never repent, but he speaketh after our capacity.” Milton refuses to go along: “God would [not] have said anything … about himself unless he intended that it should be a part of our conception of him.… Let us believe that he did repent” (CD 1.2 in MLM 1147).
374. Hurled headlong: repeats 1.45, the account of the rebel angels’ expulsion. Beëlzebub assumes that God will be consistent in punishing rebellion; hence partake (share) with us.
375. original: 1667 reads “originals.” The meaning includes “parentage” but also the prelapsarian state of bliss (see 10.731–42). Cp. RCG: “run questing up as high as Adam to fetch their original” (Yale 1:762).
377. to sit in darkness here: “Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; Because they rebelled against the words of God and condemned the counsel of the most High” (Ps. 107.10–11).
379–80. first devised/By Satan: See 1.650–56.
383. one root: Adam and Eve, the genealogical root of humanity.
387. States: representatives, dignitaries.
391. Synod: meeting, assembly (usually of clergy or church elders); cp. 6.156, 11.67.
404. tempt: make trial of, test.
405. abyss: Greek for “bottomless”; translates “the deep” in the Septuagint.
406. palpable obscure: tangible dark. Cp. the “darkness which may be felt” inflicted by God on Egypt (Exod. 10.21) and the threat of “thick and palpable clouds of darkness” invoked in the prefatory epistle to the AV.
407. uncouth: unknown, strange, unpleasant.
409. abrupt: chasm.
410. happy isle: the universe of this world, hung in the sea of chaos (ll. 1011, 1051). The phrasing recalls the Islands of the Blessed in Greek mythology.
413. had: would have.
415. Choice in our suffrage: judgment in arriving at a consensus.
418. suspense: attentive, in suspense, as is appropriate for personified expectation.
430–66. Cp. Satan’s corresponding speech at PR 1.44–105.
432–33. long … light: Satan echoes the warning of Vergil’s Sibyl to Aeneas before his trip to the underworld (Aen. 6.126–29; cp. 81n, 3.20–21).
434. convex: hemisphere or domelike vault, seen from the outside.
435. Outrageous to devour: fierce enough to destroy rapidly and completely.
436. adamant: from the Greek for “unbreakable.”
438. void profound: translates Lucretius’ inane profundum (On the Nature of Things 1.1108).
439. unessential: lacking essence; without entity. Cp. “unoriginal” (10.477), “unsubstantial” (PR 4.399). Satan proceeds to revisit Belial’s fear (ll. 149–51), as he will again when he returns to Hell (10.476–77).
441. abortive: threatening utter loss of being (as at l. 440), as if one had never been born. The sense “preventive” may also apply because, by swallowing Satan, the preexistent womb of chaos would end his mission before it begins; see lines 932–38.
443. remains: awaits.
444. Beginning with Edition 4 (1688), editors often supply a question mark after escape. The sentence may be construed as interrogative in form, but Satan is not asking a question.
448. moment: consequence.
452. Refusing: “if I refuse.”
457. intend at: attend to.
461. respite or deceive: relieve or beguile, parallel to cure or charm (460).
467. prevented: forestalled.
468. raised: buoyed, uplifted (by Satan’s resolve); modifies Others (469).
478. With awful reverence prone: For Leonard, the phrase implies respect; for Fowler, groveling submission. The former reading suits the republican strain of Hell’s polity, the latter its affinity with Asian tyranny. Cp. CD 2.13: “We nowhere read of obeisance being made to kings in any other way than by a low bow. Yet this same mark of respect was frequently used by one private individual to another” (Yale 6:651); also PL 4.958–60, 5.357–60.
483–85. lest … zeal: “to prevent bad men from boasting about actions that appear virtuous but are really motivated by fame or hidden ambition cloaked with enthusiasm.”
489. while the north wind sleeps: “what time the might of the north wind sleepeth” (Homer, Il. 5.524).
490. louring element: threatening (thus “lowering”) sky; the element is air.
491. lantskip: landscape (old spelling).
496–502. “There is more amity among serpents than among men” (Juvenal, Satire 15.159). According to Rusca, devils maintain harmony to tempt humanity more effectively (Hughes).
504. enow: archaic plural of “enough.”
511–13. The imitation of God’s state (ceremonial pomp) is slavish in detail. As in the scriptural account of God on his throne (Isa. 6.1–7), Satan is surrounded by a host of Seraphim in a compact band (globe; cp. PR 4.581). Recent editors (Fowler, Leonard) cite the Hebrew verb “to burn” as the source of Seraphim (hence fiery Seraphim). But the Jewish Encyclopedia cites the Hebrew noun for “fiery flying serpents” (Num. 21.6–9; Deut. 8:15).
513. emblazonry: heraldic devices decorating shields; horrent: bristling, dreadful.
517. alchemy: goldlike alloy, “alchemy gold”; here, a synecdoche for trumpets.
526. entertain: occupy. See 91n.
528–69. Classical precedents abound for the diversions of the fallen angels. Cp. the Myrmidons’ exercises during Achilles’ absence from battle (Il. 2.774–79) or Horace’s list of pursuits favored by various men (Odes 1.1). Milton’s specific choice of model is ironic; see Vergil’s inventory of the activities of the blessed dead in Elysium (Aen. 6.642–78).
528. sublime: aloft, uplifted; cp. PR 4.542.
530. Pythian fields: Delphi; site of games instituted by Apollo after he slew the Python.
531. shun the goal: go tightly around the turning post, without touching it. Cp. “the turning post cleared with glowing wheel” (Horace, Odes 1.1.4–5).
532. fronted: directly opposed, front to front.
533–34. As when … sky: Cloudy apparitions preceded the fall of Jerusalem, writes Josephus (The Wars of the Jews 6.5.3), and atmospheric conditions at the time of Caesar’s assassination also warned of strife, according to many authors. Portentous weather was similarly observed “about the time of [the] Civil Wars” in England (Hume). Milton persistently likens fallen angels to ominous or deceptive meteorological phenomena, in line with his account of airy angelic substance and the rebels’ authority as “powers of air” (PR 1.44).
535. van: front line of a battle formation.
536. Prick forth: spur forward; couch: lower into position for attack.
538. welkin: sky.
539. Typhoean: Identified with Etna’s volcanic power, Typhon was deemed father of the winds and is also an English word meaning whirlwind (l. 541). See 1.197–99. fell: of cruel or vicious character.
542–46. As when … Euboic Sea: Homeward bound after sacking Oechalia, Hercules asks Lichas to fetch a ceremonial robe. Hercules’ unwitting wife supplies an envenomed garment, which fastens to his flesh and burns unrelentingly. Uprooting trees in blind fury (pines is Milton’s detail), Hercules hurls Lichas into the Euboic Sea from atop Mount Oeta in souther
n Thessaly. Sophocles dramatizes the story in Trachiniae, and Seneca in Hercules Oetaeus. But Milton mainly follows Ovid (Met. 9.134–272, Her. 9).
552. partial: biased; “silent as to the corrupt motive of their conduct, and dwelt only on the sad consequences of it” (Cowper). The ensuing contrast with harmony suggests that “in parts” or “polyphonic” is not the intended sense.
554. Suspended: The OED cites this line to exemplify the sense “riveted the attention of,” and recent editors agree. The more likely meaning, however, is “to bring about the temporary cessation” (of a condition). The parenthesis implies this sense by interrupting the syntax and deferring the verb, as Newton observed. Cp. the effect on Satan of the Garden’s beauty (4.356, 9.462–66). Classical antecedents include Orpheus’ suspension of Hell (Vergil, Georg. 4.481–84) and the effect of Alcaeus’s music on the tormented Titans, “beguiled of their sufferings by the soothing sound” (Horace, Odes 2.13.38). took: charmed, enchanted (cp. l. 556).
558–69. Though well versed in classical philosophy and scholastic argument, Milton in later works includes passages critical of them (cp. PR 4.286–321, SA 300–306). God later makes his way through the mazy discourse of free will versus predestination (3.96–119); so does Milton in his theological treatise (CD 1.3, 4).
564. apathy: impassivity; signature virtue of Stoicism, one that Milton did not endorse. Cp. CD 2.10: “Sensibility to pain, and complaints or lamentations, are not inconsistent with true patience” (Yale 6:740); also, PR 4.300–18. Orthodox theology makes God the paragon of this virtue, denoted by the term impassibility. But Milton insists that we should deem God to be as passionate as Scripture says (see 369–70n).
568. obdurèd: hardened, especially in sinfulness; stubborn and unyielding, sometimes by divine intercession. See 6.785. Elledge cites obdurèd as an example of prolepsis, a figure in which the adjective describes a state yet to be produced by the action of the verb. If it is God who renders the rebels obdurate, however, the figure instead expresses a coincidence common in seventeenth-century theologies: the damned creature’s philosophical appropriation of God’s sentence; cp. 1.211–12, 240–41.