[407.] unownèd, i.e. ‘thinking her to be unowned,’ or ‘as if unowned.’ Milton thus, as in Latin, frequently condenses a clause into a participle.
[408.] infer, reason, argue. This use of the word is obsolete. See Shakespeare, iii. Hen. VI. ii. 2. 44, “Inferring arguments of mighty force”; K. John, iii. 1. 213, “Need must needs infer this principle”: also Par. Lost, viii. 91, “great or bright infers not excellence.”
[409.] without all doubt, i.e. beyond all doubt: a Latinism = sine omni dubitatione.
[411.] arbitrate the event, judge of the result. The meaning is ‘Where the result depends equally upon circumstances to be hoped and to be dreaded I incline to hope.’
[413.] squint suspicion. Compare Quarles: “Heart-gnawing Hatred, and squint-eyed Suspicion.” To look askance or sideways frequently indicates suspicion.
[419.] if Heaven gave it, i.e. even although Heaven gave it.
[420.] ’Tis chastity. “The passage which begins here and ends at line [475] is a concentrated expression of the moral of the whole Masque, and an exposition also of a cardinal idea of Milton’s philosophy” (Masson).
[421.] clad in complete steel, i.e. completely armed; comp. Hamlet, i. 4. 52, where the phrase occurs. The accent is on the first syllable.
[422.] quivered nymph. The chaste Diana of the Romans was armed with bow and quiver; and Shakespeare makes virginity “Diana’s livery.” So in Spenser, Belphoebe, the personification of Chastity, has “at her back a bow and quiver gay.” ‘Quivered’ is the Latin pharetrata.
[423.] trace, traverse, track. unharboured, affording no shelter. Radically, a harbour is a lodging or shelter.