ARCADES.
The noble persons of the family of the Countess Dowager of Derby were fortunate enough to obtain the services of the poet John Milton to aid in the composition of a mask, which they presented to her ladyship at her residence in the country. Arcădes—the Arcadians—is Milton’s contribution to this performance. In date the poem precedes Comus, which is known to have been composed in 1634.
On the meaning of the term mask, as applied to a dramatic form, see [introductory note on Comus].
[20. Latona] (or Leto) was the mother of Apollo and Diana by Zeus.
[21. the towered Cybele] is Virgil’s Berecyntia Mater, the Phrygian mother, who, wearing her mural crown, drives in her chariot through the cities of Phrygia. She was conceived as one of the very oldest deities, and as mother of a hundred gods. See Æneid VI 785.
[28. Of famous Arcady ye are.] Arcadia, in the Peloponnesus, was peculiarly the home of music and song, especially among the shepherds. See Virgil, Eclogue VII 4-5.
[30. Divine Alpheus.] See [note on Lycidas 132].
[46. curl the grove:] bestow upon the grove dense, crisp foliage.
[47. With ringlets quaint and wanton windings wove.] The grove is intersected with a maze of circling and purposeless paths.
[49. noisome:] full of annoyance, injurious. See Par. Lost XI 478. blasting vapors. See [note on Comus 640].
[51. thwarting thunder blue.] Compare Julius Cæsar I 3 50, “the cross blue lightning.”
[52. the cross dire-looking planet.] Cross means adverse, unfavorable. See [note on influence], Hymn on the Nativity 71.
[54. evening gray.] See [note on Lycidas 187].
[60. murmurs.] Compare [Comus 526].
[63. the celestial Sirens’ harmony.] The Sirens are here advanced to a high function and given a new Epithet. Compare [Comus 253].
[64. the nine infolded spheres.] See [note on Hymn on Nativity 48].
[65-66.] See [note on Lycidas 75].
[69. the daughters of Necessity:] the Fates.
[72-73. which none can hear Of human mould with gross unpurged ear.] Compare Merchant of Venice V 1 64.
[87. touch the warbled string:] the string that is accompanied with the voice. See [Il Penseroso 106].
[97. Ladon], a river of Arcadia, flowing into the Alpheus.
[98. Lycæus and Cyllene], mountains of Arcadia.
[100. Erymanth.] Erymanthus is a range of mountains separating Arcadia from Achaia and Elis.
[102. Mænalus], another mountain of Arcadia.
[106. Though Syrinx your Pan’s mistress were.] Syrinx was an Arcadian nymph, who, being pursued by Pan, threw herself into the Ladon, where she was metamorphosed into a reed, of which the shepherds thereafter made their pipes.