similar relations of Iago, Othello, and Desdemona, or in his unrepentant remorse a parallel to the soliloquy of King Claudius. Adam's revulsion against Eve is analogous to that of Antony against Cleopatra, his meditation on the burden and mystery of human life (Book XI) like Hamlet's.45 The parallels, however, though suggestive and, I believe, significant, are intangible, and the case for Shakespeare's influence is largely a matter of specific similarities of phrase. Professor Alvin Thaler 46 has recently collected a surprising array of such resemblances and his list, when all allowances are made for accident, remains a testimony to the degree to which Milton's poetic speech was enriched by the fertile imagination of his greatest Elizabethan predecessor.

In general we may say of Milton's echoings of incident, idea, and phrase in Paradise Lost and elsewhere that they illustrate the essentially literary character of his inspiration, the wide range of his reading, and the extraordinarily assimilative quality of his mind. A hint which helps. account for the manifold reminiscences in his work is given by the anonymous biographer in his account of Milton's occupations during the period when he was composing Paradise Lost. "The evenings he likewise spent in reading some choice poets, by way of refreshment after the day's toil, and to store his fancy against the morning." The cry of plagiarism is, of course, absurd. Milton's own attitude is implied in a statement in Eikonoklastes: "Borrowing, if it be not bettered by the borrower, among good authors is accounted plagiarie." He himself certainly leaves nothing as he found it. That is why the

45 Hanford, The Dramatic Element.
46 The Shakespearean Element in Milton.

resemblances which I have been discussing are in general so shadowy. All is transformed to the substance of his imagination. The Miltonic accent is everywhere, and when the labors of the source hunters are done, Paradise Lost remains one of the most original works in English or in any literature.

CHAPTER V

PARADISE REGAINED AND SAMSON

AGONISTES

ILTON'S last two works appeared in 1671, in a

single volume bearing the following title: Paradise Regained. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is added Samson Agonistes. The Author John Milton. The date of entry in the Stationers' Register is September 20, 1670. The poems had been licensed on July 2 of the same year. No positive evidence of the date or order of their composition is available. The natural inference, however, that Paradise Regained, being, as it is, a kind of sequel to Paradise Lost, would have followed that work directly, is supported by Thomas Ellwood's account of the part which he himself played in suggesting it. He had returned the manuscript of Paradise Lost to Milton at Chalfont St. Giles toward the end of the year 1665 with the remark, "Thou hast said much of Paradise lost, but what hast thou to say of Paradise found?" When he visited the poet again some time after his return to London in 1666 Milton showed him his second poem, saying, “This is owing to you; for you put it in my head by the question you put to me at Chalfont, which before I had not thought of." Of Samson Agonistes Phillips says, “It was begun, finished, and printed after the publication of its predecessor, i. e., August, 1667." This, however, leaves

but a brief period for the composition of two major works. In spite of Ellwood's statement it seems likely that both had been in Milton's mind for some time. In The Reason of Church Government (see Appendix) he had expressed an equal interest in three literary forms, the long epic like the Aeneid, the short epic like the Book of Job, and tragedy on classical lines. Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes perfectly answer to the terms of these respective descriptions. The writing of all three represents a complete fulfillment of Milton's program. As to the subjects, the Cambridge manuscript notes written circa 1641 contain the suggestion of a drama on the life of Christ-"Christus Patiens," and five topics from the history of Samson: "Samson Pyrsophoros," "Samson Hybristes," "Samson Marrying," "RamathLechi," and "Dagonalia." The theme of Paradise Regained was in a sense logically necessitated by Paradise Lost, not that Milton had failed in the earlier poem to present Christ's part in the theologian scheme of salvation, but because he wished to give the actual process in Christ, considered as a representative of humanity, of the successful meeting of temptation corresponding to the failure of Adam in a similar situation. The analogy between Adam and Samson had already been noted in Paradise Lost, IX, 1059–62.

PARADISE REGAINED

SOURCES. The poem follows step by step the incidents of the temptation as given in the Gospel of Luke (the order in Matthew is different). The earlier events of Christ's life are introduced in retrospect and the later

by implication. The elaboration of detail is largely the work of Milton's own thought and imagination, but the recollection of Giles Fletcher's treatment of the same theme in Christ's Victory and Triumph was clearly with him as he wrote. In his interpretation of the several temptations, moreover, Milton had behind him also a long line of Scriptural commentary by eminent divines with whose work he was familiar. This material deserves to be carefully explored by Milton students.

In its structure the poem is beyond doubt deeply influenced by the Book of Job, which, as we have seen, Milton regarded as a model of the brief epic. Milton parallels the trial of Christ and the trial of Job in Book I, line 146 ff. The two works have the common characteristic of proceeding mainly by dialogue with short introductory, concluding, and linking passages of narrative. The adoption of a certain amount of the technique of classical epic, e. g., the invocation, was inevitable, but on the whole there is very little of such influence as compared with Paradise Lost. The use of adornment from ancient poetry and myth and the echoing of classical passages are also rare.

On the other hand, the poem is filled in an even more remarkable degree than its predecessor with the fruit of Milton's learning. We feel, for example, in the description of Imperial Rome, in the résumé of the intellectual achievement of Greece, in the exaltation of Hebrew expression, the result of a lifetime of intense and sympathetic study of three literatures. The historical and political grasp displayed in the account of the situation in the time of Christ bears witness to the close attention which Milton had devoted to these matters in ancient and