That when a soul is found sincerely so, 454. That when a soul is found sincerely so,] It was at first in the Manuscript, That when it finds a soul sincerely so. The alteration makes the sense rather plainer. 455. A thousand liveried angels lacky her.] The idea, without the lowness of allusion and expression, is repeated in Par. L. viii. 359. About her, as a guard angelic plac❜d. 458. Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear,] See note on Arcades, 72. This dialogue between the two brothers is an amicable contest between fact and philosophy. The younger argues from com 455 460 mon apprehension, and the common appearances of things; the elder from a profounder knowledge, and abstracted principles. Here the difference of their ages is properly made subservient to a contrast of character. But this slight variety must have been insufficient to keep so prolix and learned a disputation, however adorned with the fairest flowers of eloquence, alive upon the stage. The whole dialogue much resembles the manner of our author's Latin Prolusions at Cambridge, where philosophy is inforced by pagan fable and poetical allusion. T. Warton. 461. The unpolluted temple of the mind,] For this beautiful metaphor he was probably indebted to Scripture. John ii. 21. He spake of the temple of his body. And Shakespeare has the same. Tempest, act i. s. 6. There's nothing ill can dwell in such If the ill spirit have so fair an house, 462. And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence,] This is agreeable to the system of the materialists, of which Milton was one. Warburton. 2 And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence, Till all be made immortal: but when lust, The same notion of body's working up to spirit Milton afterwards introduced into his Paradise Lost, v. 469, &c. which is there, I think, liable to some objection, as he was entirely at liberty to have chosen a more rational system, and as it is also put into the mouth of an archangel. But in this place it falls in so well with the poet's design, gives such force and strength to this encomium on chastity, and carries in it such a dignity of sentiment, that however repugnant it may be to our philosophic ideas, it cannot miss striking and delighting every virtuous and intelligent reader. Thyer. 464. By unchaste looks,] "He [Christ] censures an unchaste "look to be an adultery already "committed." Divorce, b. ii. c. 1. Pr. W. i. 184. Milton therefore in this expression alludes to S. Matt. ν. 28. πας ὁ βλεπων γυνα αικα προς το επιθυμηται αυτής, κ. τ. λ. T. Warton. 465. But most by lewd and lavish act of sin,] In the Manuscript it is And most &c. and instead of lewd and lavish he had written at first, And most by the lascivious act of sin. 465. It is the same idea, yet where it is very commodiously applied, in Par. L. vi. 660. 465 -Spirits of purest light, 467. The soul grows clotted &c.] Our author has here improved his poetry by philosophy. These notions are borrowed from Plato's Phædon. See Plato's Works, vol. i. p. 81. and 83. edit. Henr. Steph. And when the other brother replies How charming is divine philosophy! he means the philosophy of Plato, who was distinguished among the ancients by the name of the divine. 467. I cannot resist the pleasure of translating a passage in Plato's Phædon, which Milton here evidently copies. "A "soul with such affections, does "it not fly away to something "divine and resembling itself? "To something divine, immor"tal, and wise? Whither when "it arrives, it becomes happy; being freed from error, ignorance, fear, love, and other " human evils.- -But if it de Imbodies, and imbrutes, till she quite lose The divine property of her first being. "but what is corporeal, and "which may be touched, seen, drank, and used for the grati"fications of lust: at the same “ time, if it has been accustomed "to hate, fear, or shun, whatever "is dark and invisible to the "human eye, yet discerned and approved by philosophy: I "ask, if a soul so disposed, will 66 go sincere and disincumbered " from the body? By no means. "And will it not be, as I have "supposed, infected and in"volved with corporeal con"tagion, which an acquaintance "and converse with the body, "from a perpetual association, "has made congenial? So I "think. But, my friend, we "must pronounce that substance "to be ponderous, depressive, "and earthy, which such a soul "draws with it: and therefore "it is burthened by such a clog, "and again is dragged off to "some visible place, for fear of "that which is hidden and un"seen; and, as they report, "retires to tombs and sepul"chres, among which the sha"dowy phantasms of these brutal "souls, being loaded with some"what visible, have often actually "appeared. Probably, O Socra"tes. And it is equally probable, "O Cebes, that these are the "souls of wicked not virtuous "the sensualities of corporeal "nature, they are again clothed "with a body, &c." Phæd. Opp. Platon. p. 386. b.1. edit. Lugdun. 1590. fol. An' admirable writer, the present Bishop of Worcester, has justly remarked, that " this "poetical philosophy nourished "the fine spirits of Milton's time, though it corrupted some." It is highly probable, that Henry More, the great Platonist, who was Milton's contemporary at Christ's college, might have given his mind an early bias to the study of Plato. But although Milton was confessedly a great reader of Plato, yet all this whole system had been lately brought forward by May, in his Continuation of Lucan's Historicall Poem, Lond. 1630. 12mo. See b. iv. signat. T. 4. where there are many lines bearing a strong resemblance to some of Milton's. But in this book May has translated almost the whole of Plato's Phædon, which he puts into the mouth of Cato. T. Warton. 468. Imbodies, and imbrutes,] Thus also Satan speaks of the debasement and corruption of his original divine essence, Par. L. ix. 165. -Mix'd with bestial slime, This essence to incarnate and imbrute, That to the height of deity aspir'd. Our author, with these Platonic refinements in his head, supposes that the human soul was for a long time embodied and imbruted with the carnal ceremonies of popery, just as she is sensualised and degraded by a participation of the vicious habits of the body. Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp 2. BROTHER. How charming is divine philosophy! Not harsh, and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, But musical as is Apollo's lute, And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets, Where no crude surfeit reigns. ELDER BROTHER. 470 475 List, list, I hear 480 Some far off halloo break the silent air. 2. BROTHER. Methought so too; what should it be? Of Reformation, &c. Prose W. vol. i. 1. Imbrute, or embrute, occurs in G. Fletcher, p. 38. T. Warton. 472. Ling'ring and sitting by a new made grave,] In the Manuscript, and in the edition of 1637, it is Hovering, and sitting, &c. 476. How charming is divine philosophy! This is an im mediate reference to the foregoing speech, in which the divine philosophy of Plato, concerning the nature and condition of the human soul after death, is so largely and so nobly displayed. See Note on Par. Reg. i. 478. T. Warton. 478. But musical as is Apollo's lute,] Milton probably took this comparison from Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost, act iv. s. 4. though there it is applied upon another occasion. as sweet and musical As bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair. He has something of the same. thought again in Paradise Regained, i. 479. Smooth on the tongue discours'd, pleasing to th' ear, And tuneable as sylvan pipe or song. 480.-List, list, I hear &c.] He had written at first, —List, list, methought I heard &c. and in the Manuscript is a marginal direction, halloo far off. ELDER BROTHER. For certain Either some one like us night-founder'd here, 2. BROTHER. Heav'n keep my Sister. Again, again, and near; Best draw, and stand upon our guard. ELDER BROTHER. I'll halloo; If he be friendly, he comes well; if not, Defence is a good cause, and heav'n be for us. The attendant Spirit, habited like a shepherd. 485 That halloo I should know, what are you? speak; 490 Come not too near, you fall on iron stakes else. SPIRIT. What voice is that? my young Lord? speak again. 2. BROTHER. O brother, 'tis my father's shepherd, sure, 485. Some roving robber calling to his fellows.] The Trinity Manuscript had at first, Some curl'd man of the sword calling &c. which alluded to the fashion of the Court Gallants of that time: and what follows continues the allusion, Had best look to his forehead, here be brambles. But I suppose he thought it might give offence: and he was not yet come to an open defiance with the court. Warburton. 489. Defence is a good cause, and heav'n be for us.] This verse was well substituted in the room of that just quoted, Had best look to his forehead, here be brambles. And then follows in the Manuscript, He halloos, the guardian Dæmon halloos again, and enters, in the habit of a shepherd. 491.-iron stakes] It was at first in the Manuscript, pointed stakes. |