adds: "Religion here gave energy to the poet's strains."

585. ~safely~, confidently. ~period~, sentence.

586. ~for me~, _i.e._ for my part, so far as I am concerned: see note, l.
602.

588. ~Which erring men call Chance~. 'Erring' belongs to the predicate;
"which men erroneously call Chance." Comp. Pope, _Essay on Man_:

"All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see."

588. ~this I hold firm~. 'This' is explained by the next line: "this
belief, namely, that Virtue may be assailed, etc., I hold firmly."

590. ~enthralled~, enslaved. Comp. l. 1022.

591. ~which ... harm~, which the Evil Power intended to be most harmful.

595-7. ~Gathered like scum~, etc. According to one editor, this image is
"taken from the conjectures of astronomers concerning the dark spots
which from time to time appear on the surface of the sun's body and
after a while disappear again; which they suppose to be the scum of that
fiery matter which first breeds it, and then breaks through and consumes
it."

598. ~pillared firmament~. The firmament (Lat. _firmus_, firm or solid) is
here regarded as the roof of the earth and supported on pillars. The
ancients believed the stars to be fixed in the solid firmament: comp.
_Par. Reg._ iv. 55; also _Wint. Tale_, ii. l. 100, "If I mistake In
those foundations which I build upon, The centre is not big enough to
bear A schoolboy's top."

602. ~for~, as regards. ~let ... girt~, though he be surrounded.

603. ~grisly legions~. 'Grisly,' radically the same as _grue-some_ =
horrible, causing terror. In _Par. Lost_, iv. 821, Satan is called "the
grisly king." 'Legions' is here a trisyllable.

604. ~sooty flag of Acheron~. Acheron, at first the name of a river of the
lower world, came to be used as a name for the whole of the lower world
generally. Todd quotes from P. Fletcher's _Locusts_ (1627): "All hell
run out and sooty flags display."

605. ~Harpies and Hydras~. The Harpies (lit. 'spoilers') were unclean
monsters, being birds with the heads of maidens, with long claws and
gaunt faces. _Hydras_, here used as a general name for monstrous
water-serpents (Gk. _hyd{=o}r_, water); the name was first given to the
nine-headed monster slain by Hercules. See _Son._ xv. 7, "new rebellions
raise Their _Hydra_ heads"; the epithet 'hydra-headed' being applied to
a rebellion, an epidemic, or other evil that seems to gain strength from
every endeavour to repres