Urim and Thummim. Two sacred items, probaly stones or gems, placed in the ritual breastplate of Aaron, high priest and Moses' brother. Urim means "light and Thummim means "truth." See Exodus 28: 30. See also Leviticus 8: 8 and Numbers 27: 21.
Lines 25-30. "Cicero declared (De Officiis 1.8. 26) that 'the greatest passion for honor, empire, power, and glory' was found in "the greatest minds and the most splendid spirits" (Hughes 505). Indeed, classical ethicists generally see no fault in desire for legitimate glory. In "Lycidas," Milton refers to the desire for glory as "That last infirmity of noble mind" (70-72).
Thy years. Thirty, according to Luke 3: 23.
Won Asia. By the time he was 26, Alexander, son of Philip of Macedon, had already achieved near domination of the known world. Scipio Africanus had driven the Carthaginians out of Iberia by age 27. Pompey was 40 when he conquered the Mithridates. Julius Caesar, according to Plutarch, deeply envied Alexander's record of youthful achievement (Life of Caesar 11.3).
divulges. Makes him known, celebrates him.
hast thou seen my servant Job? The Son echoes the language of Job 1: 8.
Worthies. A popular tradition celebrated the "Nine Worthies": three Hebrews (Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabaeus), three pagans (Hector, Alexander, and Julius Caesar), and three Christians (Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon). See OED2. Jesus uses the word, "worthies" sarcastically here.
Son of Jove. Emperors Nero and Caligula both assumed the title, "Divine." Several of Alexander's successors took titles like "Benefactor" (see Luke 22: 25), and Alexander himself posed as the son of Jupiter, Ammon. Romulus was called the son of Mars. Herod the Great enjoyed being called a god; see Acts 12: 21-23.
vices. Compare with Comus's crew in A Mask 77. Legend held that Alexander died of alcohol poisoning at age thirty-three.
Socrates. Plato's Apology gives an account of the accusations made against Socrates, charges included corrupting youth and blasphemy. See the Crito for an account of his patient death.
young African. Refers to Scipio, called Scipio Africanus Major, (236-183 BCE), a Roman general who defeated Hannibal in the Second Punic War.
I seek not mine, but his. A paraphrase of John 8: 50.
he seeks glory. See Revelation 4: 11. Refer also to The Westminster Shorter Catechism A7.
Barbarous. Greek for "foreign."
recreant. Apostate, but see OED2 for other senses.
ingrate. God charges humans with ingratitude in Paradise Lost 3.97; in Paradise Lost 4.42-48, Satan acknowledges his own ingratitude.
By Mothers side. Matthew 1 and Luke 3: 23-38 both record genealogies of Jesus that trace Joseph's line to David, but both also indicate that Joseph was not Jesus' father. See also Luke 1: 27.
Roman. "Roman" is italicized in the 1680 text.
Obeys Tiberius. Judaea became a Roman province in CE 6. Tiberius, who ruled from 14 to 37, kept Pontius Pilate in office from 26 to 36. Pilate, it was said, committed tyrannical atrocities, like the massacre of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. See Luke 13: 1.
The Temple. The Temple in Jerusalem was "violated by Pompey, Crassus, Herod, and Pilate" (Orgel & Goldberg 934). 1 Maccabees 1: 20-24 describes Antiochus's rape of the Temple, probably around 168 BCE.
Maccabeus. In 166 BCE Judas Maccabaeus, a Levite born in the obscure Judaean town of Modin, began the struggle with Antiochus which ended in putting his family on the throne of David as the Asmonean Dynasty. See 1 Macabees and Josephus, Jewish Antiquities.
Occasions forelock. "A common iconographical attribute of Occassion, or Opportunity; she was otherwise bald. To seize Occasion's forelock was to make the best use of an opportunity" (Orgel & Goldberg). For other examples see Spenser's Amoretti 70 and The Faerie Queene 2.4.12: "Occasion".
Zeal. See Psalm 69: 9 and John 2: 17.
due time. See John 7: 6 and Ecclesiastes 3:1.
Prophetic. Not capitalized in the 1680 text. never end. See Isaiah 9: 7 and See also Luke 1: 33.
times and seasons. See Acts 1: 7.
best reign. See Plato's comment about the best rulers in (Laws 684a.
inly rackt. Inwardly tortured; see Paradise Lost 1.125-126.
placid aspect and meek regard. Jesus's face and attitude almost make Satan penitent; see Paradise Lost 9.455-67 where Eve's appearance also dramatically affects Satan.
once a year Jerusalem. Jesus's parents took him to the temple in Jerusalem annually for Pesach; See Luke : 41.
in sight. John Shawcross (in Flannagan xix) suggests this may be a misprint for "insight".
he who seeking Asses found a Kingdom. Saul became anointed the first king of Israel by the prophet Samuel who came upon the young Saul as he was looking for his father's lost asses; see 1 Samuel 9-10.
rudiments. Basic, rudimentary experiences.
Monarchies of the Earth. The temptation of the kingdoms is the second temptation in Matthew 4: 8.
a Mountain high. The Mountain may be that viewed by Satan in Paradise Lost 3.742, that viewed by Adam in Paradise Lost 11:381-4, or the mount refered to in Matthew 4: 8. See also Luke 4: 5.
two rivers. The Tigris (the name is Persian for "arrow") and the Euphrates.
Champain. Flat open land.
glebe. The soil.
train of words. New string of words, with negative connotations.
Araxes. The Aras river, forming the northern border of the Assyrian empire and flowing into the Caspian Sea.
drouth. Desert.
Ninevee. Legend identified Ninus as the founder of Ninevah, a city whose circumference was said to require a three-day's journey to walk; see Jonah 3: 3.
Salmanassar. Shalmaneser V of 2 Kings 17: 3, King of Assyria from 726 to 721 BCE. See also 2 Esdras 13: 40. Salmanassar carried the ten northern tribes of Israel into captivity in 726 BCE.
Babylon. City on the Euphrates, one of the wonders of the ancient world. See Herodotus's description from 440 BCE in his History 1.178-81.
him who twice ... laid waste. Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon from 605-561 BCE. His Babylonian name was Nabu-kudur-usur; modern historians often refer to him as Nebuchadrezzar. In 597 and again in 586 when the kingdom was under Egyptian domination, Nebuchadnezzar besieged and captured Jerusalem. The second time he destroyed the city and carried off the people of Judah into what became known as the Babylonian Captivity. See 2 Kings 24: 10-17, 2 Kings 25: 1-22, Daniel 1: 1-2, Jeremiah 39:1-9.
Cyrus. Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, captured Babylon in 538 BCE and returned the people of Judah to their homeland.
Persepolis. The Persian winter capital under Darius, Alexander sacked Persepolis in 339 BCE; his summer capital was Ecbatana.
Bactra. Also known as Bactria, a grand city between the Hindu Kush of what is today northeastern Afghanistan and the Oxus River.
Hecatompylos. The name means "a hundred gates." The capital of Parthia.
Susa. Shushan, mentioned in Esther 1: 2, capital of Susiana at the northwest tip of the Persian Gulf. Choaspes is its major river.
drink of none but Kings. According to Herodotus (History 1. 188), the Kings of Persia took the water of the Choaspes into battle and would drink no other.
Emathian. Macedonians, famous for building great cities.
Arsaces. Founder of the Parthian dynasty, the Arsacidae.
Lines 291-300. "Seleucia was rebuilt by Alexander's general Seleucus Nicator on the Tigris, about fifty miles from Babylon, as his seat of Macedonian (Emanthian) government. Nisibis was in northern Mesopotamia, Teredon in the south, at the confluence of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Ctesiphon was built by the Parthians on the Tigris after their conquest of the Seleucid empire. Antioch, on the Orontes in Syria, had become the Seleucid capital when the empire fell to Arsáces about 250 BCE. Artaxata was the capital of ancient Armenia" (Hughes 511).
Rhombs. A rhomboid or lozenge-shaped formation of infantry carrying overlapping shields and long spears. Wedges were half-rhombs.
Lines 316-321. "The lines list provinces and regions in the Parthian empire, from its easternmost areas near the Indus River, to its northern, western, and southern reaches along the Persian gulf" (Orgel & Goldberg 935). The "Iberian dales" refer not to Spain but to the region between the Black and Caspian Seas now known as Georgia.
Candaor. Changed to "Gandaor" for the 1680 edition.
horn. Wing of the battle formation.
Lines 323-327. The Parthians' skill at archery, even in retreat, was legendary; see Virgil's Georgics 3. 40, Aeneid 12. 601-2, Eclogue 10.
Cuirassiers. Horsemen in cuirasses, or breast- and backplates.
endorst with Towers. With turrets (or howdahs) on their backs.
Pioners. Military engineers, especially those who dig tunnels and fortifications to undermine the enemy.
Agrican. "In Boiardo's Orlando Innamorato (1.10.26) Angelica involves Astolfo, Roland, and some other knights of Charlemagne in the fighting around Albracca, a fabulous fortress of her father Gallaphrone, the king of Cathay (China), when it is beseiged by her lover Agrican, king of Tartary" (Hughes 513).
opposite. Opposing.
Samaritan. According to the Samaritan woman of Luke 4: 9, Jews shunned Samaritans. This premise underlies the story of the good Samaritan in Luke 10: 30-37.
By my advice. Satan's advice is unsound and inaccurate. Allied with Antigonus, the Parthians captured Jerusalem; see Josephus' Antiquities 14.
seat.Capitalized in the 1680 edition, perhaps to be consistent with Milton's capitalization of "Throne" in line 357, above.
Deliverance of thy brethren. David Quint, in "David's Census: Milton's Politics and Paradise Regained," notes that these 'Lost tribes of Israel' could easily stand for Milton's Republican compatriots, now fallen on evil days. He also notes that in the early 1660's, there was a public controversy over scientist John Graunt's suggestion that Charles II institute a nationwide census to make the newly-instituted poll-tax more efficient. King David's attempt to 'number Israel' (see 1 Chronicles 21:1), undertaken at the suggestion of the devil, provoked God's displeasure. Israel was thus struck by a plague, much like the great fire that had struck London in 1666, or so it might have seemed in the poet's mind.
ten tribes. See 2 Kings 17: 6.
Habor. Habor was one of the many Medean cities that served as places of Hebrew captivity; see 2 Kings 18: 11.
two of Joseph. That is, the tribes of Ephraim and Manasses; see Genesis 48: 1.
From Egypt to Euphrates. See Genesis 15: 18.
fleshly arm. Echoes Jeremiah 17: 5.
fragile arms. For similar indictments of martial arms, see the "idle weapons" of Paradise Lost 6.839 and Samson's scorn for arms and armor in Samson Agonistes 1119-1141.
numbring Israel. 1 Chronicles 21: 1 says that Satan provoked David to take a census of Israel, indicted as an act of pride, not administrative prudence.
worship Calves. See 1 Kings 12: 28.
Baal and Ashtaroth. King Ahab is said to have worshipped Baal in 1 Kings 16: 31-32. The Israelites worshipped Baals and Astartes according to Judges 2: 13-14 and Judges 10: 6-7. See also Paradise Lost 1.422.
left a race behind. Milton's sense of the apostate Jews, the Jews who remain Jews after the advent of Jesus, was typical of early modern Protestants. According to Milton's Son of God, these Jews enslaved themselves by worshipping amiss and became scarcely distinguishable from gentiles; according to this way of thinking, Jews become the new gentiles to the Christian "true Jew." See also Galatians 4 and Galatians 5: 6 and Romans 2: 25 for the Pauline origins of such attitudes towards post-advent Jews.
Red Sea and Jordan once he cleft. Exodus 14: 21-22 and Joshua 3: 14-17.