To triumph in victorious dance The dances ended, the Spirit epiloguises. To the ocean now I fly, And those happy climes that lie All amidst the gardens fair Of Hesperus, and his daughters three 976. To the ocean now I fly, &c.] This speech is evidently a paraphrase on Ariel's song in the Tempest, act v. s. 3. Where the bee sucks, there suck I, &c. 976. Pindar in his second Olympic, and Homer in his fourth Odyssey, describe a happy island at the extremity of the ocean, or rather earth, where the sun has his abode, the sky is perpetually serene and bright, the west wind always blows, and the flowers are of gold. This luxuriant imagery Milton has dressed anew, from the classical gardens of antiquity, from Spenser's gardens of Adonis "fraught with pleasures mani"fold," from the same gardens in Marino's L'Adone, Ariosto's garden of Paradise, Tasso's garden of Armida, and Spenser's Bowre of Blisse. The garden of Eden is absolutely Milton's own creation. T. Warton. 979. Up in the broad fields of 975 980 the sky :] And so in Virgil, Æn. vi. 888. Aeris in campis latis. At first he had written plain fields. 980. There I suck the liquid air.] Thus Ubaldo in Fairfax's Tasso, a good wizard, who dwells in the centre of the earth, but sometimes emerges, to breathe the purer air of mount Carmel. c. xiv. 43. And there in liquid ayre myself disport. T. Warton. 982. Of Hesperus, and his daughters three] He had written at first, Of Atlas and his nieces three. Hesperus and Atlas were brothers. 982. The daughters of Hesperus had gardens or orchards which produced apples of gold. Spenser makes them the daughters of Atlas, F. Q. ii. vii. 54. See Ovid, Metam. iv. 636. And Apollodor. Bibl. 1. ii. s. 11. But Along the crisped shades and bowers Revels the spruce and jocund Spring, That there eternal Summer dwells, 985 Our author's favourite tragic poet, Euripides, also celebrates the Hesperides under the title of ὕμνωδες κοραί. Herc. Furens, 393. Dunster. And again as aaidos, Hippol. 740. where see Professor Monk's note, who cites also Hesiod. Theog. 274. and 516. as alluding to the songs of the Hesperides, and refers to Heynè, Observat. ad Apollodorum, p. 166. seq. for a full account of the ancient fictions concerning them. E. 984. Along the crisped shades &c.] These four lines were not at first in the Manuscript, but were added afterwards, I suppose when he scratched out those lines which we quoted at the beginning. 984. Compare Il Pens. 50. "That in trim gardens takes his pleasure." And Arcades, 46. -To curl the grove wanton I suspect we have something of L'Architecture du Jardinage here also, in the spruce spring, the cedarn alleys, the crisped shades and bowers. T. Warton. 988. That there eternal summer On this bower may ever dwell Again, ibid. p. 134. L And west-winds with musky wing About the cedarn alleys fling Nard and Cassia's balmy smells. 990 Iris there with humid bow Waters the odorous banks, that blow -There the month of May Is ever dwelling, all is young and green, &c. The errata of Milton's own edition, 1673, direct That to be omitted. This is not attended to by Tonson, edit. 1695. That is omitted by Tickell and Fenton, and silently readopted by Doctor Newton. T. Warton. 989. And west-winds, with musky wing About the cedarn alleys fling Nard and Cassia's balmy smells.] So in the approach to Armida's garden in Fairfax's Tasso, c. xv. 990. About the cedarn alleys fling Nard and Cassia's balmy smells.] In the manuscript, these two lines were thus at first, About the myrtle alleys fling 990. alleys fling, &c.] In a poem by H. Peacham, the Period of Mourning, in Memorie of Prince Henry, &c. Lond. 1613. Nupt. Hymn. i. st. 3. Of the valleys, And every where your odours fling. So in Par. L. viii. 517. 66 Flung rose, flung odours." T. Warton. 991. Nard and Cassia's balmy smells.] Compare Par. L. b. v. 292. -Through groves of myrrh, T. Warton. 992. Iris there with humid bow] He had written at first garnisht or garish bow. 993. the odorous banks, that Blow is here used actively, make to blow; as in B. and Fletcher's Love's Progress, act ii. s. 1. And in Jonson's Mask at Highgate, Works, p. 882. ed. 1616. T. War ton. Flowers of more mingled hue Than her purfled scarf can shew, (List mortals, if your ears be true) 995. Than her purfled scarf can shew, &c.] Purfled is flourished or wrought upon with a needle, from the old French pourfiler. The word occurs in Spenser, Faery Queen, b. i. cant. 2. st. 13. A goodly lady clad in scarlet red Purfled with gold and pearl of rich assay; and in other places. And in the Yellow, watchet, green, and blew, All that relating to Adonis and 997. If your ears be true.] Intimating that this Song, which follows, of Adonis, and Cupid, and Psyche, is not for the profane, but only for well purged ears. See Upton's Spenser, Notes on b. iii. c. 6. Hurd. See Note on Arcad. v. 72. So the Enchanter, above, has "neither ear nor soul to ap"prehend" sublime mysteries. His ear no less than his soul, was impure, unpurged, and unprepared. T. Warton. 999. Where young Adonis oft reposes, &c.] Here Milton has plainly copied and abridged Spenser in his description of the VOL. IV. 995 gardens of Adonis. Faery Queen, b. iii. cant. 6. st. 46-50. STANZA 46. There wont fair Venus often to enjoy There yet some say in secret he doth Lapped in flowers and precious spicery, &c. STANZA 48. There now he liveth in eternal bliss, Joying his Goddess, and of her enjoy'd ; Ne feareth he henceforth that foe of his, Which with his cruel tusk him deadly cloy'd: &c. STANZA 49. There now he lives in everlasting With many of the Gods in company, winged boy Sporting himself in safe felicity: &c. STANZA 50. And his true love, fair Psyche, with him plays, Fair Psyche to him lately reconcil'd, After long troubles and unmeet upbrays, With which his mother Venus her And eke himself her cruelly exil'd: state She with him lives, and hath him borne a child, Pleasure that doth both Gods and men aggrate, Pleasure, the daughter of Cupid and K Make her his eternal bride, If the reader desires a larger account of the loves of Cupid and Psyche, he may find it in Apuleius. 1001. See Spenser's Astrophel, st. 48. T. Warton. 1002. th' Assyrian queen ;] Venus is so called because she was first worshipped by the Assyrians. Pausanias, Attic. lib. i. cap. 14. πλησιον δε ἱερον εστιν Αφροδίτης Ουρανίας. πρωτοις δε αν θρωπων Ασσυριοίς κατεστη σεβεσθαι την Ougaviar and from the Assyrians other nations derived the worship of her. μετα δε Ασσυρίους, Κυπρίων Παφίοις, και Φοινίκων τοις Ασκάλωνα έχουσιν εν τη Παλαιστινη, παρα δε Φοινίκων, Κυθηριοι μαθόντες σε ουσιν. Edit. Kuhnii, p. 36. 1010 That with her sovereign power and All faery lond does peaceable susteen. But Milton uses it as a substantive both here and before in ver. 893. the azure sheen, and in several other places; and he makes sheeny the adjective, as in the verses On the death of a fair infant, st. 7. Or did of late earth's sons besiege the Of sheeny heav'n, &c. And thirty dozen moons with bor- 1003. in spangled sheen] think this word is commonly used as an adjective, as in Spenser, Faery Queen, b. ii. cant. i. st. 10. To spoil her dainty corse so fair and sheen : and again, cant. ii. st. 40. 1010. Two blissful twins &c.] Undoubtedly Milton's allusion at large is here to Spenser's garden of Adonis, above cited; but at the same time his mythology has a reference to Spenser's Hymne of Love. For the fable of Cupid and Psyche, see Fulgentius, iii. 6. |