■ Nofcs oil MUtoiis Nativity Ode. 367 



called the Phairie.' Reginald Scot, Discovery of Witchcraft (Chambers, 

 p. 148) 3. 2. 32, identities the ' lady of the fairies ' with ' Sibylla, 

 Minerva, or Diana.' Chambers remarks (p. 144) that 'Titania is only 

 a synonym of Diana,' referring to Ovid, Met. 3. 173, where Titania, 

 translated b}' Golding ' Phcebe,' means ' Titan-born.' 



236. night-steeds. There are four of these, which he names, in 

 Milton's Latin poem, In Ouiiitiim Novenibris 70-73. Cf // P. 59-60 : 



While Cynthia checks her dragon yoke 

 Gently o'er the accustomed oak. 



moon-loved maze. Cf. Com. 181 : 



In the blind mazes of this tangled wood ; 



P.R. 2. 246: 



Wandering this woody maze. 



For the idea of a forest as a maze Milton may have been indebted 

 to Virgil's picture of the wanderings of Nisus through the tangled 

 wood in search of Euryalus (j^n. 9. 379 ff.). 



The ' moon-loved maze ' = the groves or forests beloved by Diana. 

 Of Diana's fondness for woods there are many testimonies in the 

 poets. Cf Horace, Conn. Scpc. 1—2 : 



Phoebe silvarumque potens Diana, 

 Lucidum caeli decus. 



In yE/i. 9. 403, Nisus invokes the moon as 



Astrorum decus et nemorum Latonia custos. 



Add Horace, Od. 3. 22. 1 : 



Montium custos nemorumque virgo. 



And so Od. 1. 21. 5-8; Catullus 34. 9-12 ; Silius Italicus 15. 769-771 ; 

 Nervesianus, Cyneg. 86 ff. ; Milton, Com. 446 ; P.L. 9. 386 ff. Cf 

 Shakespeare, M.N.D. 2. 1. 140-1 ; Tetitp. 5. 1. 33, 36-7. The nymphs 

 are often found in the company of Diana. Cf Homer, Od. 6. 102—6 : 

 ' And even as Artemis, the archer, moveth down the mountain, either 

 along the ridges of lofty Taygetus or Erymanthus, taking her pastime 

 in the chase of boars and swift deer, and with her the wild wood- 

 nymphs disport them, the daughters of Zeus.' Add Callimachus, 

 Hytnn to Diana 13 if., 170; Apollonius Rhodius 1. 1223; 3. 881; 

 Virgil, ^n. 1. 498-501 ; Horace, Od. 4. 6. 33-4; Ovid, Met. 3. 155 ff., 

 1. 690 ff.; 2. 451 ff. ; 4. 304; F. 2. 155 ff . ; Milton, P.R. 2. 354-5. 



237. Virgin. This suggests the beginning of the poem, 1. 3. 



