Apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light.
And o’er the dark her silver mantle threw.”
Homer, in the eighth book of the Iliad, gives us a description of a fine moonlight night, which is esteemed a master-piece of nocturnal painting. Milton’s pencil leaves off where that of Homer begins:
“As when the Moon, refulgent lamp of night,
O’er heaven’s clear azure sheds her sacred light;
When not a breath disturbs the deep serene,
And not a cloud o’ercasts the solemn scene;
Around her throne the vivid planets roll,
And stars unnumbered gild the glowing pole;
O’er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed,