r poems Dryden
might, nevertheless, have found the thing he sought. One instance that he
gives is taken from the fourth Georgic of Virgil, where Orpheus, leading
Eurydice up from Hell, suddenly turns to look on her:--

_Cum subita incautum dementia cepit amantem;_
_Ignoscenda quidem, scirent si ignoscere Manes._

This turn--"deserving grace, if grace were known in Hell"--may easily be
matched in Milton. In the Second Book of _Paradise Lost_ is described how
the damned

feel by turns the bitter change
Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce.

In the Fifth Book, when Raphael arrives at the gate of Paradise, the
angels

to his state
And to his message high in honour rise,
For on some message high they guessed him bound.

In _Samson Agonistes_ it is noted that nations grown corrupt

love bondage more than liberty,
Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty.

Yet in the main Dryden is right, for even instances like these are not
many, and the tricky neatness of Ovid is nowhere to be found in the
English epic poet.

Milton seldom allows his verse to play in eddies; he taxes every line to
its fullest capacity, and wrings the last drop of value from each word. A
signal characteristic of his diction has its origin in this hard dealing.
He is often not satisfied with one meaning from a word, but will make it
do double duty. Here the Latin element in our language gave him his
opportunity. Words borrowed from the Latin always change their usage and
value in English air. To the ordinary intelligence they convey one
meaning; to a scholar's memory they suggest also another. It became the
habit of Milton to make use of both values, to assess his words in both
capacities. Any page of his work furnishes examples of his delicate care
for the original meaning of Latin words, such as _intend_--"intend at
home ... what best may ease the present misery"; _arrive_--"ere he arrive
the happy Isle"; _obnoxious_--"obnoxious more to all the miseries of
life"; _punctual_--"this opacous Earth, this punctual spot";
_sagacious_--"sagacious of his quarry from so far"; _explode_--"the
applause they meant turned to exploding hiss"; _retort_--"with retorted
scorn his back he turned"; _infest_--"find some occasion to infest our
foes." The Speaker of the House of Commons had to determine, some years
ago, whether it is in order to allude to the Members as "infesting" the
H