Notes on Miltoiis' Nativity Ode. 345 



130. base. This was assigned to tlie furthest sphere by Nico- 

 machus, and by Servius on Virgil, u'Eii. 2. 255, but to that of the 

 moon by Cicero and Martianus Capella. 



deep. Perhaps as apphed to thunder in P.L. 2. 267; Ps. 81. 29, 

 but one might also think of the whole range of the spheres in space. 



organ. Dor3daeus, as quoted by Censorinus, Dc Die Nat., chap. 

 13, calls the planetary system God's organ, organum Dei (Piper 2. 251). 



blow. Cf P.L. 6. 60, but especially II P. 161 : 'let the pealing 

 organ blow.' 



131. ninefold. See 125, note. Verity refers to Arc. 64, and 

 to Sylvester (ed. Grosart 2. 37). 



132. consort. Accord, agreement. 



angelic symphony. This is given the precedence throughout ; 

 the natural is exhorted to ' keep in time with Heaven ' {Sol. Mus. 26). 

 symphony. Harmony. 



134. fancy. Imagination. 



135. age of gold. Cf. Virg. Eel. 4. 9 ff. 



136. speckled. L. ' plague-spotted, tainted, polluted.' Cf. the 

 maciilosum nefas of Horace, Od. 4. 5. 22 (Joseph Warton). Shake- 

 speare uses spotted and stained in this way: Rich. II 3. 2. 134; 

 Liicr. 196, etc. 



T. Rutherfurd Clark translates the Horatian line : 



Good laws, good customs, cleanse our leprosies. 



Vanity. Perhaps cf Eph. 4. 17, 18. 

 138. leprosies. Lej^rosy seems to be regarded as a type of sin 

 in Ps. 51. 7 ; cf. Lev. 14. 2—7. Chr3'sostom says {Horn. 3 on Titus) : 

 ' Sin is a lepros\', various and multiform ' ; Alain de Lille, De Planctu 

 Nat., Prose 5, 11. 272—3 (tr. Moffat) says : ' The snow-white leprosy 

 of licentiuosness has destroyed great numbers.' Cf. Todd's note. 



melt. Cf. Shakespeare, A. and C. 3. 13. 90 : ' authority melts 

 from me.' 



from earthly mould. Either from humanity (cf. Arc. 72—3, 

 'the heavenly tune, which none can hear Of human mould) or from 

 the earth (cf. Com. 17, 'the rank vapours of this sin-worn mould'). 

 140. The Iliad (20. 61-65) has the lord of the underworld fearing 

 lest the world be cloven above him, and his dwelling-place be laid 

 bare to mortals and immortals. Cf. ^n. 8. 243-6 (T. Warton) : 



Si qua penitus vi terra dehiscens 

 Infernas reseret sedes et regna recludat 

 Pallida, dis invisa, superque immane barathrum 

 Cernatur, trepidentque immisso lumine Manes. 



