ster, with the head of a
lion, the tail of a dragon, and the body of a goat. It was slain by
Bellerophon. As a common name 'chimera' is used by Milton to denote a
terrible monster, and is now current (in an age which rejects such
fabulous creatures) in the sense of a wild fancy; hence the adj.
_chimerical_ = wild or fanciful. ~enchanted isles~, _e.g._ those of Circe
and Calypso, mentioned in the _Odyssey_.

518. ~rifted rocks~: rifted = riven. Orpheus, in search of Eurydice,
entered the lower world through the rocky jaws of Taenarus, a cape in
the south of Greece (see Virgil _Georg._ iv. 467, _Taenarias fauces_);
here also Hercules emerged from Hell with the captive Cerberus.

519. ~such there be~. See note on l. 12 for this indicative use of _be_.

520. ~navel~, centre, inmost recess. Shakespeare (_Cor._ iii. l. 123)
speaks of the 'navel of the state'; and in Greek Calypso's island was
'the navel of the sea,' while Apollo's temple at Delphi was 'the navel
of the earth.'

521. ~Immured~, enclosed. Here used generally: radically it = shut up
within walls (Lat. _murus_, a wall).

523. ~witcheries~, enchantments.

526. ~murmurs~. The incantations or spells of evil powers were sung or
murmured over the doomed object; sometimes they were muttered (as here)
over the enchanted food or drink prepared for the victim. Comp. l. 817
and _Arc._ 60, "With puissant words and _murmurs_ made to bless."

529. ~unmoulding reason's mintage charactered~, _i.e._ defacing those
signs of a rational soul that are stamped on the human face. The figure
is taken from the process of melting down coins in order to restamp
them. 'Charactered': here used in its primary sense (Gk. +charakter+, an
engraven or stamped mark), as in the phrase 'printed characters.' The
word is here accented on the second syllable; in modern English on the
first.

531. ~crofts that brow~ = crofts that overhang. Croft = a small field,
generally adjoining a house. Brow = overhang: comp. _L'Alleg._ 8,
"low-browed rocks."

532. ~bottom glade~: the glade below. The word _bottom_, however, is
frequent in Shakespeare in the sense of 'valley'; hence 'bottom glade'
might be interpreted 'glade in the valley.'

533. ~monstrous rout~; see note on the stage-direction after l. 92. Comp.
'the bottom of the monstrous world,' _Lyc._ 158. In _Aen._ vii. 15, we
read that when Aeneas sailed past Circe's island he heard "the growling
noise of lions in wrath, ... and shapes of huge w