presented as
wearing on her breast the aegis with a border of snakes and the Gorgon's
head in the centre.

460-462. Note the different modes in begin and turns, where we should
look for similar constructions.

487. The ellipsis of _we had_ is readily supplied. Draw and stand are
infinitives.

494. Thyrsis, a stock shepherd-name. The spirit henceforth appears to his
fellow-actors in the mask as the shepherd with whom they are familiar.

495-512. These lines express sudden emotion, and approximate lyric in
character. Hence the rhyme.

508. How chance she is not. Supply the ellipsis.

517. Chimeras is here used vaguely in the plural to mean dangerous
monsters.

526. With many murmurs mixed. The enchanter spoke or sang forms of
incantation over his mixing and brewing. Recall Macbeth.

529. The word mintage has an interesting history. The human countenance
is conceived as an imprint, like the characters on a coin.

530. Charactered in the face. The _noun character_ Milton pronounces with
accent on the first syllable, as does Shakespeare. Probably he also
agrees with Shakespeare in pronouncing the _verb_ with the accent on the
second syllable, as this verse suggests.

531. crofts. The word is still in use in England, meaning a small farm.

540. by then the chewing flocks: by the time when, etc.

547. To meditate my rural minstrelsy: to play on my shepherd-pipe and to
sing. To meditate the muse is a standard expression of the pastoral
poets. See Lycidas 66.

552. What do we know was the cause of this unusual stop of sudden
silence?

553-554. The cessation of the din gave to the steeds of sleep, and to
people who were trying to sleep, relief from annoyance.

557-560. Be sure you understand the figure.

560. Still, in its very frequent sense, _always_.

562. Under the ribs of Death: in a skeleton.

575. such two; describing them.

586. Shall be unsaid for me: it is not necessary for me to make any
change in my opinion to make it harmonize with this new aspect of
affairs.

595. Gathered like scum, and settled to itself. The two metaphors thus
combined make a rather strange mixture.

598. The pillared firmament. By the _firmament_ is usually understood the
sphere of the fixed stars. How to introduce the conception of _pillars_
is not clear.

604. Acheron. See Par. Lost II 578.

605. The Harpies were monstrous birds with women's heads. Their doings
are described AEneid III. The Hydra was a monster ser