Read The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems Online
Authors: John Milton,Burton Raffel
Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Literary Collections, #Poetry, #Classics, #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #English poetry
Or ghastly Furies apparition.
910
I pursed it up, but little reck’ning made,
Till now that this extremity compelled.
But now I find it true, for by this means
I knew the foul enchanter, though disguised—
Entered the very lime-twigs
911
of his spells
And yet came off.
912
If you have this about you
(As I will give you when we go) you may
Boldly assault the necromancer’s hall—
Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood
And brandished blade rush on him, break his glass
And shed the luscious
913
liquor on the ground.
But seize his wand. Though he and his cursed crew
Fierce sign of battle make, and menace high,
Or like the sons of Vulcan vomit smoke,
Yet will they soon retire,
914
if he but shrink.
915
BROTHER I. Thyrsis, lead on apace.
916
I’ll follow thee.
And some good Angel bear a shield before us!
The scene changes to a stately palace, set out with all
manner of deliciousness: soft music, tables spread with all
dainties. Comus appears, with his rabble, and the lady set
in an enchanted chair, to whom he offers his glass, which
she puts by and goes about to rise.
COMUS. Nay, lady. Sit. If I but wave this wand
Your nerves are all chained up in alabaster
And you a statue—or as Daphne was,
Root-bound, that fled Apollo.
LADY. Fool, do not boast.
Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind
With all thy charms, although this corporal rind
Thou has emmanacled, while Heav’n sees good.
COMUS. Why are you vexed, lady? Why do you frown?
Here dwell no frowns, nor anger. From these gates
Sorrow flies far. See here be all the pleasures
That Fancy can beget on youthful thoughts,
When the fresh blood grows lively and returns
Brisk as the April buds in primrose season.
And first behold this cordial
917
julip,
918
here,
That flames and dances in his crystal bounds,
919
With spirits of balm and fragrant syrups mixed.
Not that nepenthes
920
which the wife of Thon
921
In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena
Is of such power to stir up joy as this—
To life so friendly, or so cool to thirst.
Why should you be so cruel to yourself,
And to those dainty limbs which Nature lent
For gentle usage and soft delicacy?
But you invert the cov’nants
922
of her trust,
And harshly deal like an ill borrower
With that which you received on other terms,
Scorning the unexempt
923
condition
924
By which all mortal frailty must subsist,
Refreshment after toil, ease after pain,
That
925
have been tired all day without repast,
And timely rest have wanted. But, fair virgin,
This will restore all soon.
926
LADY. ’Twill not, false traitor!
’Twill not restore the truth and honesty
That thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies.
Was this the “cottage,” and the “safe abode”
Thou toldst me of? What grim aspects
927
are these,
These ugly-headed monsters? Mercy guard me!
Hence with thy brewed enchantments, foul deceiver!
Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence
With visored
928
falsehood and base forgeries
And wouldst thou seek again to trap me, here,
With liquorish baits, fit to ensnare a brute?
Were it a draught for Juno, when she banquets,
I would not taste thy treasonous offer! None
But such as are good men can give good things,
And that which is not good is not delicious
To a well-governed and wise appetite.
COMUS. O foolishness of men! that lend their ears
To those budge
929
doctors of the stoic fur,
And fetch their precepts from the cynic tub,
930
Praising the lean and sallow abstinence.
Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forth
With such a full and unwithdrawing hand,
Covering the earth with odors, fruits, and flocks,
Thronging the seas with spawn
931
innumerable,
But all to please and sate the curious taste?
And set to work millions of spinning worms
That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired silk
To deck her sons. And that no corner might
Be vacant of her plenty in her own loins
She hutched
932
th’ all-worshipped ore and precious gems
To store
933
her children with. If all the world
Should in a pet
934
of temperance feed on pulse,
935
Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze,
936
Th’ all-giver would be unthanked, would be unpraised,
Not half His riches known, and yet despised,
And we would serve Him as a grudging master,
As a penurious niggard
937
of His wealth,
And live like Nature’s bastards, not her sons,
Who
938
would be quite surcharged
939
with her own weight
And strangled with her waste fertility,
Th’ earth cumbered, and the winged air darked with plumes.
940
The herds would over-multitude their lords,
The sea o’er-fraught
941
would swell, and th’ unsought diamonds
Would so emblaze the forehead of the deep,
And so be-stud with stars, that they below
Would grow inured to light, and come at last
To gaze upon the sun with shameless brows.
List, lady. Be not coy, and be not cozened
942
With that same vaunted
943
name, virginity.
Beauty is Nature’s coin, must not be hoarded,
But must be current,
944
and the good thereof
Consists in mutual and partaken bliss,
Unsavory in th’ enjoyment of itself.
If you let slip time, like a neglected rose
It withers on the stalk, with languished head.
Beauty is Nature’s brag,
945
and must be shown
In courts, at feasts, on high solemnities
Where most may wonder at the workmanship.
It is for homely
946
features to keep home:
They had their name thence. Coarse complexions
947
And cheeks of sorry
948
grain
949
will serve to ply
950
The sampler
951
or to tease
952
the housewife’s wool.
What need a vermeil-tinctured lip for that?
Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the morn?
There was another meaning in those gifts!
Think what, and be advised.
953
You are but young yet.
LADY. I had not thought to have unlocked my lips
In this unhallowed air, but
954
that this juggler
955
Would think to charm my judgment as
956
mine eyes,
Obtruding
957
false rules pranked
958
in reason’s garb!
I hate when vice can bolt
959
her arguments
And virtue has no tongue to check her
960
pride.
Impostor! Do not charge
961
most innocent Nature,
As if she would
962
her children should be riotous
With her abundance! She, good cateress,
963
Means her provision only to the good
That live according to her sober laws
And holy dictate of spare temperance.
If every just man that now pines with want
Had but a moderate and beseeming
964
share
Of that which lewdly-pampered luxury
Now heaps upon some few with vast excess,
Nature’s full blessings would be well dispensed
In unsuperfluous,
965
ev’n proportion,
966
And she no whit encumbered with her store.
And then the giver would be better thanked,
His praise due paid—for winish gluttony
N’er looks to Heav’n, amidst his gorgeous
967
feast,
But with besotted base ingratitude
Crams, and blasphemes his feeder.
Shall I go on?
Or have I said enough? To him that dares
Arm his profuse tongue with contemptuous words
Against the sun-clad power of chastity
Fain would I something say—yet to what end?
Thou hast nor ear nor soul to apprehend
The sublime notion and high mystery
968
That must be uttered, to unfold the sage
And serious doctrine of virginity.
And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know
More happiness than this thy present lot.
Enjoy your dear wit and gay rhetoric
That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence!
969
Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinced.
Yet should I try, the uncontrollèd worth
Of this pure cause would kindle my rapt spirits
To such a flame of sacred vehemence
That dumb things would be moved to sympathize,
And the brute earth would lend her nerves,
970
and shake
Till all thy magic structures reared so high
Were shattered into heaps o’er thy false head!
COMUS. She fables not. I feel that I do fear
Her words, set off by some superior power.
And, though not mortal, yet a cold shudd’ring dew
Dips me all o’er, as when the wrath of Jove
Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus
971
To some of Saturn’s crew. I must dissemble
And try
972
her yet more strongly.
Come, no more.
This is mere moral babble and direct
Against the canon laws of our foundation.
973
I must not suffer this, yet ’tis but the lees
974
And settlings of a melancholy blood.
But this will cure all straight!
975
One sip of this
Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight
Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, and taste.
The brothers rush in, with swords drawn, wrest his glass
out of his hand, and break it against the ground. His rout
makes sign of resistance, but all are driven in. The
attendant spirit comes in.
SPIRIT. What? Have you let the false enchanter scape?
O ye mistook, ye should have snatched his wand
And bound him fast. Without his rod reversed,
And backward mutters of dissevering
976
power,
We cannot free the lady that sits here,