ers.'

817. ~backward mutters~. The notion of a counter-charm produced by
reversing the magical wand and by repeating the charm backwards occurs
in Ovid (_Met._ xiv. 300), who describes Circe as thus restoring the
followers of Ulysses to their human forms. Milton skilfully makes the
neglect of the counter-charm the occasion for introducing the legend of
Sabrina, which was likely to interest an audience assembled in the
neighbourhood of the River Severn. On 'mutters,' see note, l. 526.

820. ~bethink me~. The pronoun after this verb is reflexive. "The
deliverance of their sister would be impossible but for supernatural
interposition, the aid afforded by the Attendant Spirit from Jove's
court. In other words, Divine Providence is asserted. Not without higher
than human aid is the Lady rescued, and through the weakness of the
mortal instruments of divine grace but half the intended work is
accomplished." Dowden's _Transcripts and Studies_.

821. In this line and the next the attributive clauses are separated
from the antecedent: see note, l. 2.

822. ~Meliboeus~. The name of a shepherd in Virgil's _Eclogue_ i.
Possibly the poet Spenser is here meant, as the tale of Sabrina is given
in the _Faerie Queene_, ii. 10, 14. The tale is also told by Geoffrey of
Monmouth and by Sackville, Drayton and Warner. As Milton refers to a
'shepherd,' _i.e._ a poet, and to 'the soothest shepherd,' _i.e._ the
truest poet, and as he follows Spenser's version of the story in this
poem, we need not hesitate to identify Meliboeus with Spenser.

823. ~soothest~, truest. The A.S. _soth_ meant _true_; hence also 'a true
thing' = truth. It survives in _soothe_ (lit. to affirm to be true),
_soothsay_ (see l. 874), and _forsooth_ (= for a truth).

824. ~from hence~. _Hence_ represents an A.S. word _heonan_, _-an_ being
a suffix = from: so that in the phrase 'from hence' the force of the
preposition is twice introduced. Yet the idiom is common: it arises from
forgetfulness of the origin of the word. Comp. _Arc._ 3: "which _we from
hence_ descry."

825. ~with moist curb sways~: comp. l. 18. Sabrina was a _numen fluminis_
or river-deity.

826. ~Sabrina~: The following is Milton's version of the legend:--"After
this, Brutus, in a chosen place, builds Troja Nova, changed in time to
Trinovantum, now London; and began to enact laws (Heli being then High
Priest in Judea); and, having governed the whole isle twenty-four years,
died, and was buried in h