[447.] snaky-headed Gorgon shield. Medusa was one of the three Gorgons, frightful beings, whose heads were covered with hissing serpents, and who had wings, brazen claws, and huge teeth. Whoever looked at Medusa was turned into stone, but Perseus, by the aid of enchantment, slew her. Minerva (Athene) placed the monster’s head in the centre of her shield, which confounded Cupid: see Par. Lost, ii. 610.
[449.] freezed, froze. The adjective ‘congealed’ is used proleptically, the meaning being ‘froze into a stone so that it was congealed.’
[450.] But, except: a preposition.
[451.] dashed, confounded: this meaning of the word is obsolete.
[452.] blank awe: the awe of one amazed. Comp. the phrase, ‘blank astonishment,’ and see Par. Lost, ix. 890.
[454.] so, i.e. chaste.
[455.] liveried angels lackey her, i.e. ministering angels attend her. So, in L’Alleg. 62, “the clouds in thousand liveries dight”; a servant’s livery being the distinctive dress delivered to him by his master. ‘Lackey,’ to wait upon, from ‘lackey’ (or lacquey), a footboy, who runs by the side of his master. The word is here used in a good sense, without implying servility (as in Ant. and Cleop. i. 4. 46, “lackeying the varying tide”). ‘Her’: the soul. Milton is fond of the feminine personification: see line [396].
[457.] vision: a trisyllable.
[458.] no gross ear. See notes, l. [112] and [997].
[459.] oft converse, frequent communion. Oft is here used adjectively: this use is common in the English Bible, e.g. i. Tim. v. 23, “thine often infirmities.”