Milton and the theme of fame 9783111392080, 9783111029597

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STUDIES IN ENGLISH

LITERATURE

Volume LXXVII

MILTON AND THE THEME OF FAME by

R. B. JENKINS

1973

MOUTON THE HAGUE • PARIS

© Copyright 1973 in The Netherlands Mouton & Co. N.V., Publishers, The Hague No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publishers

Printed in The Netherlands by Mouton & Co., The Hague.

TO MY PARENTS HENRY CLAY AND EVA GRA Y DO WD JENKINS

Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise (That last infirmity of Noble mind) To scorn delights, and live laborious days. Lycidas, 70-72

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction I. Fame in the Period of Education and Youthful Hope: 1608-1639 II. Fame in the Period of Prose and Conflict : 1640-1660

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III. Fame in the Period of Poetry and Disillusionment : 1660-1674

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Conclusion

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Bibliography

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Index

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INTRODUCTION

The motif of fame is a rich one in the writings of John Milton, as the hundred and fifty references to the word, occupying more than four columns in the Index of the Columbia edition, attest. A glance at the Columbia listings under "Fame" will suggest what, in fact, a close investigation will bear out — namely, that Milton's interest in fame began when he was quite young and continued during every period of his life. This theme has been left relatively unexplored by scholars, perhaps because its presence seems obvious. Those scholars who have dealt with this important area of Milton's thought have confined themselves for the most part to relating his ideas to the classical and Christian traditions. For example, in "Milton and the Sense of Glory" (1949), Merritt Y. Hughes states that in Milton's every major poem runs the theme of glory. 1 Hughes points out that Milton is following a main line of tradition, stemming back to Plato and Augustine, when he writes in Lycidas that Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil,... But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes And perfect witness of all-judging Jove. (11. 78-82)2 Further, Hughes sees Milton's transformation of "the noble thirst for immortality into a passion for social righteousness" as a logical step for one deeply read in Plato and Augustine. 3 In an effort to vindicate Milton from the charge of narcissism, "the naively dogmatic doctrine of Milton's full identification of himself with the hero of Samson Agonistes, with the Satan of 1

Merritt Y. Hughes, "Milton and the Sense of Glory", Philological Quarterly, X X V m (October, 1949), 107. 2 Ibid., p. 109. 3 Ibid., p. 111.

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Paradise Lost and the Christ of Paradise Regained",4 Hughes examines each poem separately, recognizing that "all three of these narcissistic views... are closely bound up with epiphanies of glory in the three poems." 5 Hughes ties almost all of Milton's ideas on fame and glory to traditional avenues of thought, reaching far back into classical antiquity. Finally, in contrast to such critics as T. S. Eliot, Hughes argues: It is strange that Milton's treatment of hell's darkness has not been generally recognized as the play of his imagination upon the reversal of heaven's glory, yet current opinion seems to concur with Mr. Eliot in seeing nothing more in it than an unfortunate result of his visual ineptitude. 8 In "Boethius and 'That Last Infirmity of Noble Mind' ", (1963), John S. Coolidge states that, since Henry Todd's edition of Milton in 1809, editors have invited readers "to compare the thought that desire of fame is the 'last infirmity of noble mind' with Tacitus' sentence, 'etiam sapientibus cupido gloriae novissima exuitur'." 7 According to Coolidge, editors are wrong to suggest that Tacitus is parallel in his thought with Milton's line, for Tacitus does not suggest that the desire for fame was the motive for Priscus' devotion to his studies as a youth; he introduces the thought about fame in order to account for Priscus' perhaps unphilosophical eagerness in the debates that are about to be recounted. If this place in Tacitus did come to Milton's mind as he wrote Lycidas, then, it was only by a casual association of ideas, for it does not contain the thought which leads to the reflection of fame in the poem. 8 Coolidge argues that Milton's thought parallels not Tacitus, but rather Boethius (Consolation of Philosophy, II, vii; III, ii).° Furthermore, To call to mind the sentence from Tacitus, then, in reading Milton's * Ibid., p. 112. Ibid. 8 Ibid., p. 118. 7 John S. Coolidge, "Boethius and 'That Last Infirmity of Noble Mind'", Philological Quarterly, XLII (April, 1963), 176. 8 Ibid., p. 177. » Ibid., pp. 179-181. 8

INTRODUCTION

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passage on fame is at best merely to feel once more the weight of tradition in all that Milton wrote; and, unless Tacitus' metaphor is decently obscured in translation, it may intrude suggestions quite out of harmony with the text which the allusion is supposed to illuminate. To recall Boethius, however, is to evoke a kind of thought that is entirely germane to Milton's poem. The effect of the Consolation of Philosophy is actually to vindicate the realm of nature by showing it to be everywhere indicative of a promise. Lycidas might well be described as Milton's Consolatio Poeticae. Each of the major movements of the poem, and the poem itself in its overall design, progresses through the inadequate complaints, false surmises, and mythical evocations of the merely natural, merely human elegiac tradition, to issue finally in that consolidation of grace toward which they all point, qua quis adepta nihil ulterius desiderare queat.10 Irene Samuel, in Plato and Milton (1965), includes a chapter on Milton and " T h e G o o d Life: Pleasure, Wealth, F a m e " . Samuel states that in Plato's hierarchy of values the desire for fame, in the sense of " w o r t h " , follows the desire for wisdom and virtue. Indeed, the desire for f a m e is " t h e least perverted expression of a universal longing for eternal happiness". 1 1 Plato distinguishes between the philosophos, the lover of wisdom, and the philotimas, the lover of honor. 1 2 According to Samuel, the i m p o r t a n t distinction between the philosophos a n d the philotimas rests largely in the idea that, "while to the lover of wisdom [philosophos] only the opinion of wise a n d good men is important, the lover of h o n o r [philotimas] cares little a b o u t the source of his praise". 1 3 Samuel holds t h a t Milton, aware of this classical distinction, knew that the "higher spirits are m o r e tempted by praise, while the highest overcome the temptation. Because Milton keenly feels this superiority, he denies with emphasis the charge of writing f o r r e n o w n . " 1 4 Recognizing Milton's desire of fame, especially when bestowed by a fit audience, " c o m p o s e d of the morally even more t h a n of the intellectually eminent", 1 5 Samuel feels that f r o m "this distinction between proper 10 11 12 13 14 15

Ibid., pp. 181-182. Irene Samuel, Plato and Milton (Ithaca, New York, 1965), p. 86. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid., p. 87. Ibid., p. 88.

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INTRODUCTION

and improper judges, it is but a step to the notion that truest fame is the opinion of the truest judge, God". 1 6 Milton's wish for the condescending approval of God, the ultimate judge of human worth, parallels Plato's wish, for "only the character of the judge alters, not the character of the judgment". 1 7 Milton recognizes the spur which urges men to laborious toil as the desire for fame. So does Plato, when, in Symposium, Diotima says to Socrates: [T] hink only of the ambition of men, and you will wonder at the senselessness of their ways, unless you consider how they are stirred by the love of an immortality of fame. 18 William J. Grace, in his Ideas in Milton, includes two pages on "The Theme of Glory" and a somewhat longer section on "Satan's Search for Glory" in Paradise Lost. Grace quotes C. M. Bowra's The Greek Experience: The essence of the heroic outlook is the pursuit of honor through action. The great man is he who, being endowed with superior qualities of body and mind, uses them to the utmost and wins the applause of his fellows because he spares no effort and shirks no risk in his desire to make the most of his gifts and to surpass other men in his exercise of them. His honor is the center of his being, and any affront to it calls for immediate amends. He courts danger gladly because it offers the best opportunity for showing of what stuff he is made. Such a conviction and its system of behavior are built on a man's conception of himself and what he owes to it. And, if it has any further sanctions, they are to be found in what other men like himself think of him. By prowess and renown he gains an enlarged sense of personality and well being. 19 Grace feels that the familiar to Milton Milton's Satan in While admitting the

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Greek hero described by Bowra is a type quite from his classical training and, further, that Paradise Lost parallels this Greek model. 2 0 obvious parallel, however, Grace cautions:

Ibid. Ibid. Ibid., p. 89.

William J. Grace, Ideas in Milton (Notre Dame, Indiana, 1968), p. 67. Ibid.

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We must not overlook the mock-heroic pattern, running submerged through Paradise Lost, by which certain classical values are subordinated to the supernatural ones of Christianity, in which false glory is contrasted with true glory.21

Quite correctly, Grace perceives the reason for earthly glory being suspect when he says: Like "the robber Prometheus" Satan violated the prima musica, the cosmic harmony, by ignoring that his own glory had to be in due proportion, in due contribution, to the universal glory of God. As a result of the Fall, the glory of the world has to be held suspect. 22

In addition to these studies, there are more general works that are particularly useful to students interested in this area of Milton's thought. W. O. Sypherd, in Studies in Chaucer's Hous of Fame, investigates the background of fame in medieval literature. 23 Of particular significance is B. G. Koonce's examination of the tradition of fame in the scriptual, Boethian, and literary frameworks in his book, Chaucer and the Tradition of Fame.2i For the Renaissance concept of fame, Jacob Burckhardt's The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy is quite revealing, drawing as it does from the thought of Dante and Petrarch, in particular, as rich springs from which Renaissance ideas on fame came forth. 25 Milton's chief biographers — Masson, French, Darbishire, Parker, as well as Bush, Hanford, Daiches, and Tillyard — mention Milton's desire of fame as seen in the autobiographical passages of his own writings; but, to the writer's knowledge, no systematic study has been made of Milton's attitude toward fame, as reflected in his writings, showing whatever changes might have occurred during his lifetime. Such is the object of the present study: an examination of Milton's references to fame, whether direct or indirect, as they relate to the circumstances of his life. An acquaint21

Ibid. Ibid. 23 W. O. Sypherd, Studies in Chaucer's Hous of Fame (London, 1907). 24 B. G. Koonce, Chaucer and the Tradition of Fame (Princeton, New Jersey, 1966). 25 Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, 2 vols. (New York, 1958). 22

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ance with the facts of Milton biography, supported by an awareness of the scholarship done on his relationship to the classical and Christian traditions, makes it evident that Milton is at once both traditional and personal in almost everything he wrote. Thus, scholars are quite correct in asserting that, almost everywhere, Milton is following established traditions of thought; but, since Milton also put himself into almost all of his works, the personal element becomes as relevant as the traditional. One needs merely to recall Hughes's attempt to vindicate Milton from the charge of narcissism to realize how much of Milton's personal life is woven into his three richly traditional long poems — Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes. For the execution of the present study, it is necessary to examine each phase of Milton's life separately. His life falls conveniently into a pattern of three periods — a practicable, viable pattern for the purposes of literary interest and speculation. Loosely, and for the purposes of the present examination, the dates 1608-1639, which cover Milton's youth and education and culminate with Lycidas (1637) and his foreign travels, is the first period of Milton's life and the period with which Chapter I deals. The second period (1640-1660), discussed in Chapter II, covers the years of Milton's vigorous participation in the political, religious, and social activities of his age, as reflected in his writings — his prose works and some few poems, most of them occasional. Finally, the third period (1660-1674), covered in Chapter III, reveals Milton's thought during the last fourteen years of his life, when his attention could at last turn fully to poetry, and when he wrote his three great long poems, Paradise Lost (1667), Paradise Regained (1671), and Samson Agonistes (1671).

I FAME IN THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION AND YOUTHFUL HOPE: 1608-1639

John Milton was born into a well-to-do London family on December 9, 1608. His father stressed the literary education of his son, providing the young Milton with fine tutors at home and later enrolling him in two of England's finest schools. One of his early biographers, John Aubrey, says that by 1619, when Milton was ten years old, he was already a poet. 1 Certainly by 1624 Milton was writing paraphrases of the Psalms in English at St. Paul's School. As Aubrey and Milton himself imply, Milton's education, early and late, was a long preparation for a distinguished literary career. Milton continued his training for a career as a poet at Christ College, Cambridge, matriculating on February 12, 1625, at the age of sixteen. He took his B. A. degree in 1629 and his M.A. in 1632. After leaving Cambridge, Milton retired to his father's house at Horton in Buckinghamshire, with occasional visits to nearby Hammersmith, for a period of five and two thirds years (1632-1638) of intensive private study. At Cambridge, Milton wrote prose and verse in Latin, English, and Italian, and learned French and Hebrew. Among his Cambridge juvenilia are seven Latin prolusions, or academic exercises, on assigned topics, treating on such subjects as "Whether Day Is More Excellent Than Night" (his first) and "Learning Makes Men Happier Than Does Ignorance" (his last). During this period Milton also composed seven Latin elegies and seven sonnets, some verses on the death of his niece (his earliest original English poem), 1 As cited in Merritt Y. Hughes, ed., John Milton: Complete Poems and Major Prose (New York, 1957), p. 1021. All quotations of Milton are from the Hughes edition unless otherwise indicated.

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as well as some lines on the death of the Marchioness of Winchester. Of particular literary significance among his works during the Cambridge period are the ode, "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity", and the companion poems, "L'Allegro" and "II Penseroso". During the period of independent study at Horton and Hammersmith, he produced his masque, Comus, and his famous elegy, Lycidas. In addition to these familiar works are Milton's letters to his close friend, Diodati, to his father, and to his tutor, Thomas Young. In many of these works, he expresses his desire for fame; and these works, which are generally representative of the scope and quality of the early Milton canon, give evidence of the maturing of Milton's thinking, both generally and with specific regard to his attitude toward and treatment of fame. As early as 1626 Milton devoted a long section of his Latin poem, In Quintum Novembris, to fame in the classical tradition of rumor. However, Milton's treatment of fame as rumor breaks with the classical tradition by generally praising rumor instead of denigrating her. The poem celebrates the detection of Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot, and it contains a lengthy description, drawn from pagan literature, of the House of Fame: a brazen structure, broad, noise-haunted, and closer to the glowing stars than Athos or Pelion, piled upon Ossa. A thousand doors and entrances and no fewer windows are open wide. ... Here a crush of people start various whispers. So swarms of flies buzz and hum about the milk-pails or in the wattled sheepfolds. ... Fame herself ... sits atop of her citadel and raises her head, which is girt about with innumerable ears, so as to catch the faintest sound and seize the lightest murmur from the uttermost ends of the wide world.2

Milton's treatment of fame in In Quintum Novembris acknowledges that as rumor "it is Fame's habit to pry into dark places" and that with "a thousand tongues", as is her custom, "the blab recklessly pours out what she has heard and seen to any auditor, and lyingly she pares down the truth or enlarges it with fabrications". 3 How2

3

In Quintum Novembris, p. 20.

Ibid. Cf. also fame as rumor, with a hundred tongues, in "On the Death of the Bishop of Ely", 1626, as a "messenger of evil and calamity", pp. 24-25.

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ever, fame as rumor has done well in uncovering the Gunpowder Plot, and Milton does not hesitate to priase her: O Fame, you deserved the praise of our song.... You deserve that I should sing about you and I shall never regret this commemoration of you at such length in my song. 4

Even though Milton generally praises fame as rumor throughout the poem, he shows his awareness of her bad classical reputation when he says that, although "she assumes strident wings..., takes a trumpet..., makes no delay", still "in her usual way, she scatters ambiguous rumors and uncertain whispers through the English cities". 5 Soon, however, she grows "clear-voiced" and "publishes the plots and detestable work of treason". 6 A year later, in Elegia Quarta to Thomas Young, Milton's tutor at St. Paul's School from 1618 to 1620, fame as rumor again appears. By 1620, Young was in Hamburg, where Milton writes to him, saying that he writes out of love because "vagrant Rumor — alas, the veracious reporter of disasters — says that in regions bordering upon you wars are ready to burst out". 7 By 1628, Milton's attention was drawn from fame as rumor to fame in the sense of being known among men. The occasion for Milton's expression of this idea was the death of his niece. His sister Ann married Edward Phillips on November 27,1623. The daughter born to them on January 12, 1625, soon died — probably in 1628. At the time Milton composed "On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough" to his sister, she was expecting her second child, born in April, 1628. Regarding the death of Anne's first child, Milton writes: Then thou the mother of so sweet a child Her false imagin'd loss cease to lament, And wisely learn to curb thy sorrows wild; Think what a present thou to God hast sent, And render him with patience what he lent; 4 5 6 7

Ibid. Ibid., p. 21. Ibid. Elegia Quarta, p. 28.

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This if thou do, he will an offspring give That till the world's last end shall make thy name to live. 8

This theme of fame through propagation of the family line had been earlier used by Shakespeare in his sonnets, and two years later, in 1630, Milton, in his lines "On Shakespeare", uses another theme that also appears in Shakespeare's sonnets. Shakespeare, presumably writing to the young man whom he admired, first admonished him to marry, to have children, and consequently to achieve a kind of immortality on earth in his children, who would keep his beauty alive. Shakespeare also writes that he will then immortalize his subject's beauty in verse. In short, literary works can give a kind of immortality, for So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. 9

Milton applies this idea to Shakespeare himself in his lines "On Shakespeare". Shakespeare has won his own earthly fame through his works rather than through monuments or other short-lived attempts at fame. These verses, appearing in the Second Folio of 1632 under the title "An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramatic Poet W. Shakespear", say: What needs my Shakespeare for his honor'd Bones The labor of an age in piled Stones, Or that his hallow'd relics should be hid Under a Star-ypointing Pyramid? Dear son of memory, great heir of Fame, What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name? Thou in our wonder and astonishment Hast built thyself a livelong Monument. (11.1 -8) 10 8

"On the Death of a Fair Infant," p. 27. Cf. "Epitaph on the Marchioness of Winchester", Hughes, p. 67: Jane Paulet's purity of heart and mind brings her heavenly fame after her death, as she sits in heaven "in radiant sheen, / No marchioness, but now a queen" (11.73-74). 9 Sonnet 18, as cited in G. B. Harrison, ed., Shakespeare: The Complete Works (New York, 1952), p. 1598. 10 "On Shakespeare", p. 63. Cf. Ben Jonson's similar verses on Shakespeare which appeared in the First Folio. Cf. Hesiod, Thoeg. 53-59: as "son of mem-

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By the time Milton's lines "On Shakespeare" appeared in the Second Folio of 1632, Milton had written Prolusion VII, "Learning Makes Men Happier Than D o e s Ignorance". According to Milton in his seventh prolusion, it is Ignorance that murmurs that men are stimulated in the main by glory; that while a long sequence and course of years has glorified the illustrious men of the past, we are borne down by the world's decrepit old age and the impending destruction of all things. If we leave anything behind us for everlasting fame to proclaim, our name will flourish but briefly, since hardly any posterity are to succeed us. And so it is in vain that so many books and glorious monuments of the mind are produced, since the impending conflagration of the world will burn them all. 11 A s a rebuttal to what Ignorance says, Milton concentrates his attention on the final achievement of heavenly fame which will last eternally: I do not deny that this may be quite probable. But in truth to set no value on glory when you have done well, that is beyond all glory. How little pleasure could the empty praise of men give to those dead and departed worthies whom no pleasure and no sensation from it could reach! But we may look forward to etenal life which will never erase the memory of our good deeds on earth. Whatever lovely thing we may have done here we shall be present to hear praised there. And there — as many men have seriously thought — those who have lived temperately and dedicated all their time to worthy studies and thereby helped mankind, will be enriched above all others with knowledge that is peerless and supreme. 12 Going still further, Milton in another passage suggests that "those who have lived temperately and dedicated all their time to worthy

ory" Shakespeare is brother of muses. Cf. Horace, Odes II, xx: poetry as worldfamous tomb. Cf. lines on Sir Edward Stanley, possibly written by Shakespeare himself: Not monumentall stones preserves our Fame; Nor sky-aspiring Pirámides our name; The memory of him for whom this standes Shall outlive marble and defacers hands When all to times consumption shall be given, Standly for whom this stands shall stand in Heaven. 11 Prolusion VII, p. 628. 12 Ibid.

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studies and thereby helped mankind" 1 3 will achieve not only heavenly fame but true earthly fame as well: To be the oracle of many peoples, to have one's home become a shrine, to be the object of invitation from kings and commonwealths and of visits from neighbors and distant foreigners, and of pride for still others who will boast it an honorable distinction merely to have had a single glimpse of one. These are the rewards of study and the profits that learning can and often does bring to those who cultivate her in private life.... [And] we may look forward to eternal life which will never erase the memory of our good deeds on earth.14 Milton is interested not merely in earthly fame of any kind, but in a true earthly fame — a fame based on merit — which will hold its established reputation on earth as well as deserve the approbation of God. It should not be forgotten that Milton was preparing himself to be a great Christian poet, as the above passages indicate. As a Christian poet, Milton felt that it was necessary to live what he wrote about — to live temperately, industriously, and helpfully. Milton, in Elegy VI to Diodati, written in December, 1629, contrasts the Christian poet with his high dedicated spirit to the secular poet. He tells Diodati that When the ivory key is played and the festive throng dances through the perfumed halls to the sound of the lute, you will feel the silent approach of Phoebus in your breast like a sudden heat that permeates to the marrow; and through a maiden's eyes and music-making fingers Thalia will glide into full possession of your breast.15 But for him whose theme is wars and heaven under Jupiter in his prime, and pious heroes and chieftains half-divine, and he who sings now of the sacred counsels of the gods on high, and now of the infernal realms where the fierce dog howls, let him live sparingly, like the Samian teacher [Pythagoras].... Beyond this, his youth must be innocent of crime and chaste, his conduct irreproachable and his hands stainless. His character should be like yours, O Priest, when, glorious with sacred vestments and lustral w Ibid. 14 Ibid., p. 625. 15 Elegia Sexta, p. 51.

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water, you arise to go into the presence of the angry deities.... For truly, the bard is sacred to the gods and is their priest. His hidden heart and his lips alike breathe out Jove. 16 It is necessary to return to Prolusion VII for one further requirement of the poet if a true fame is to be established: For I have learned from the printed and the spoken wisdom of the most learned men that nothing mean or mediocre is tolerable in an orator any more than it is in a poet, and that it behoves an aspirant to true, and not to merely specious eloquence, to be instructed and perfected in an allaround foundation in all the arts and in every science. Since my years do not permit this, I have hitherto preferred to set u p that foundation and to struggle for that true glory by long and strenuous study rather than to grab a false glory on the basis of a forced and immature style. 17 The first period of Milton's life (1608-1639) is the record of his long struggle "for that true glory by long and strenuous study". From Milton's private correspondence, it is evident that he had misgivings at times about his progress. In 1631 or 1632, he sent a letter ( X X X V I I ) to an unidentified friend — perhaps Thomas Y o u n g — and included in the letter a Petrarchan sonnet (VII), which he had composed somewhat earlier. Both the letter and the sonnet indicate that Milton was troubled about his lack of fame. It can be inferred from Milton's letter that his friend had admonished him for spending t o o many years in study and not entering actively into some worthwhile occupation or profession, perhaps the clergy. Milton says to him: [Y] ou are often to me and were yesterday especially, as a good watch man to admonish that the howres of the night pass on (for so I call my life as yet obscure, and unserviceable to mankind) and that the day with me is at hand wherin Christ commands all to labour while there is light, which because I am persuaded you doe to no other purpose than out of a true desire that god should be honourd in every one; I therefore thinke my selfe bound though unask't to give you account,... of this my tardie moving; according to the praecept of my conscience, which I firmely trust is not without god. 18 16

Ibid., p. 52. Cf. Boccacio's Genealogia deorum, XIV, xix: Homer composes his story of Ulysses in a similar manner. 17 Prolusion Vn, p. 622. 18 Letter XXXVIII (Second Draft) as cited in Frank Allen Patterson, gen. ed. The Works of John Milton, XII (New York, 1936), 322-323.

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Milton goes on to justify the way in which he is spending his time: But if you thinke, as you said, that too much love of Learning is in fault, & that I have given up my selfe to dream away my years in the armes of studious retirement... yet consider that if it were no more but the meere love of learning, whether it proceed from a principle bad, good, or naturall it could not have held out thus long against so strong opposition on the other side of every kind, for if it be bad why should not all the fond hopes that forward Youth & Vanitie are fledge with together with Gaine, pride, & ambition call me forward more powerfully, then a poore regardlesse & unprofitable sin of curiosity should be able to withhold me.... Or if it be to be thought an nautrall pronenesse there is against that a much more potent inclination & inbred which about this tyme of a mans life sollicits most, the desire of house & family of his owne to which nothing is esteemed more helpefull then the early entering into credible employment, & nothing more hindering then this affected solitarinesse and though this were anough yet there is to this another act if not of pure yet of refined nature no lesse available to dissuade prolonged obscurity, a desire of honour & repute & immortall fame seated in the brest of every true scholar which all make hast to by the readiest ways of publishing & divulging conceived merits.19 Milton's final justification for his long preparation is that he wants t o prepare himself for God's service and continue in his search after truth until G o d directs him to use his talent: Lastly if the Love of Learning as it is be the persuit of something good, it would sooner follow the more excellent & supreme good knowne & praesented and so be quickly diverted from the emptie & fantastick chase of shadows & notions to the solid good flowing from due & tymely obedience to that command in the gospell set out by the terrible seasing of him that hid the talent. It is more probable therfore that not the endjesse delight of speculation but this very consideration of that great commandment does not presse forward as soone as may be to undergoe but keeps off with a sacred reverence, & religious advisement how best to undergoe not taking thought of beeing late so it give advantage to be more fit, for those that were latest lost nothing when the maister of the vinyard came to give each one his hire. 20 But although he justifies his solitary retirement, Milton confesses to his friend his personal concern regarding his obscurity: 19 20

Ibid., p. 323. Ibid., p. 324.

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Yet that you may see that I am something suspicious of my selfe, & doe take notice of a certaine belatednesse in me I am the bolder to send you some of my nightward thoughts some while since because they com in not altogether unfitly, made up in a Petrarchian stanza which I told you of. 21 Sonnet VII follows in the letter: How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stol'n on his wing my three and twentieth year! My hasting days fly on with full career, But my late spring no bud or blossom show'th. Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth, That I to manhood am arriv'd so near, And inward ripeness doth much less appear, That some more timely-happy spirits endu'th. Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow, It shall be still in strictest measure ev'n To that same lot, however mean or high, Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heav'n; All is, if I have grace to use it so, As ever in my great task-Master's eye. 22 In December, 1631, Milton was twenty-three years old, still a long way from being satisfied with his literary achievements, and still far from completing the full cycle of studies which he set for himself. His is a "late spring", showing "no bud or blossom" worthy of literary fame. Acutely conscious of his lack of "inward ripeness", Milton observes that "some more timely-happy spirits" 23 achieve outward recognition of their "inward ripeness", and such an observation makes his o w n unripeness more poignant still. Despite all misgivings, however, Milton is intent on pursuing his course as a poet, completing his cycle of preparatory studies, and 21

Ibid., p. 325. Sonnet VII, Hughes, pp. 76-77. 23 John S. Smart, The Sonnets of Milton (Oxford, 1966), p. 46, says that Thomas Randolph, Milton's contemporary at Cambridge, had already won fame for his Aristippus and The Jealous Lovers, and that Milton is probably thinking of him when he speaks of "some more timely-happy spirits". E. A. J. Honigmann, in Milton's Sonnets (New York, 1966), pp. 96-97, agrees with Smart that Milton had in mind contemporaries, such as Randolph; but, since spirits is plural, Honigmann further suggests that Milton had in mind Cowley, and Diodati, as well as Randolph, and perhaps others. 22

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waiting patiently for the ripeness that he longs for — be it "soon or slow." He will pursue that course "Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heav'n". Although all possible haste should be made to achieve "honour & repute & immortall fame," Milton is determined to develop himself as fully as possible beforehand in order that his fame may be a true fame based on merit rather than a false fame grasped in haste. On September 23, 1637, while still at Horton, Milton wrote to his friend Charles Diodati, "the one friend", according to Douglas Bush, "to whom Milton poured out his mind freely, in talk and on paper" : 24 Hearken, Theodotus, but let it b e in y o u r private ear, lest I blush; and allow m e for a little to use big language with you. Y o u ask what I a m thinking of? So may the g o o d D e i t y help me, of immortality [of fame]. A n d what a m I doing? Growing m y wings a n d meditating flight; but as yet our Pegasus raises himself o n very tender pinions. Let us be lowly wise! 2 5

In this private letter Milton admits that he is thinking of an immortality of fame, a hope of such magnitude that he blushes at his own presumption. The Horton period of his studies was drawing to a close, and Milton showed a greater confidence in his poetic abilities. His artistic unripeness, which he had lamented five years earlier, was giving way to the maturnity he had longed for, and now he was growing stronger poetic wings and "meditating flight." Even at this stage in his preparation, however, he was not satisfied with his powers, for they were still not yet fully developed. Still, his "Pegasus raises himself on very tender pinions." However tender his creative pinions might be, they were strong enough to give Milton a confidence in his future career, a confidence which was not noticeable before this time. 24

Douglas Bush, John Milton: A Sketch of His Life and Writings (New York, 1967), p. 23. 25 Letter to Diodati, September 23, 1637, as cited in John S. Diekhoff, Milton on Himself (New York, 1965), p. 126. Cf. PL, VIII, 173 (Hughes), where the phrase, "be lowly wise", is employed again.

FAME IN THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION AND YOUTHFUL HOPE

25

During this same year (1637),26 Milton wrote a long Latin letter to his father, thanking him for his support and encouragement and kindness. In Ad Patrem, further evidence of Milton's confidence in himself appears: Therefore, however humble my present place in the company of learned men, I shall sit with the ivy and laurel of a victor. I shall no longer mingle unknown with the dull rabble and my walk shall be far from the sight of profane eyes.27 Milton acknowledges his present position in the field of letters, recognizing it as a humble place; but also in Ad Patrem there is the implication that, when deserved fame finally does come to him, when he indeed sits "with the ivy and laurel of a victor," his juvenile verse, along with his mature works, will be preserved; and, if such be the case, Milton's father will be remembered. In the concluding stanza of this poem-letter, Milton, addressing the verse itself, says: And you, my juvenile verses and amusements, if only you dare hope for immortality and a life and a glimpse of the light beyond your master's funeral pyre, and if dark oblivion does not sweep you down into the throngs of Hades, perhaps you will preserve this eulogy and the name of the father whom my song honors as an example to remote ages.28 Also in 1637, the same year Milton wrote to Diodati that he was "meditating flight", aware as he was of his "tender pinions," and the same year that he wrote Ad Patrem, voicing his hope to sit "in the company of learned men", a freak accident occurred which forced Milton to try his poetic wings, however tender. The accidental drowning of Edward King gave occasion for Milton's elegy Lycidas: Yet once more, O ye Laurels, and once more Ye Myrtles brown, with Ivy never sere, I come to pluck your Berries harsh and crude, And with forc'd fingers rude, 26 27 28

The date of Ad Patrem is unsettled, varying anywhere from 1631 to 1645. AdPatrem, p. 85. Ibid., p. 86; also, cf. Mansus, pp. 127-130.

26

FAME IN THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION A N D YOUTHFUL HOPE

Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear, Compels me to disturb your season due: For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime, Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer. (11.1-9) 2 9

From the opening lines of the elegy, it is clear that Milton considers himself yet unripe for the task that is his, but "Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear" forces him to pluck his poetic talents before they have had due season to ripen fully. The death of King must have been particularly painful for Milton during this period of his life, not because King was a close friend — for there is evidence that he was only a casual acquaintance 30 — but because King's death raised a serious question in Milton's mind. He began to question what might be the use of self-denial and hard study if, before a reputation could be established, one were cut off by death. King, like Milton, had devoted himself to the laborious task of preparation for a distinguished career among learned men, but death had cut him off "ere his prime". Milton, who that same year had written to Diodati that he was hoping for an immortality of fame, and to his father that he hoped to set himself apart from the dull rabble by achieving literary renown, was painfully shocked at the thought that he, too, could be cut off "ere his prime", and then what was the use of his laborious preparations? He asks: Alas! What boots it with uncessant care To tend the homely slighted Shepherd's trade, And strictly meditate the thankless Muse? Were it not better done as others use, To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neaerds hair? Fame is the spur 31 that the clear spirit doth raise (That last infirmity of Noble mind) 3 2 29

Lycidas, p. 120.

30

Bush, Milton, pp. 61-62.

31

Cf. Ovid: Epistulae etPonte: IV, ii, 36: "excellence increases with praise, and renown possesses a mighty spur". 32 Cf. Tacitus: Historiarum, IV, vi: "etiam sapientibus cupido gloriae novissima exuitur." Also, cf. Cicero's Pro A. Lincinio Archia Poeta Oratio, XI, 27: "Ambition is an universal factor in life, and the nobler a man is, the more susceptible is he to the sweets of fame." Also, cf. Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, II, vii and III, ii.

FAME IN THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION AND YOUTHFUL HOPE

27

To scorn delights, and live laborious days; But the fair Guerdon when we hope to find, And think to burst out into sudden blaze, Comes the blind Fury with th' abhorred shears, And slits the thin-spun life. "But not the praise," Phoebus repli'd, and touch'd my trembling ears; Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil, Nor in the glistering foil Set off to th' world, nor in broad rumor lies, But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes And perfect witness of all-judging Jove; As he pronounces lastly on each deed, Of so much fame in Heav'n expect thy meed. (11. 78-84) 33

Until the shocking death of King, Milton had perhaps not thought of God's seeing fit to cut off one of his chosen priests. Such King was, and such, too, Milton considered the poet to be. He, no doubt, thought that God would spare his appointed, those who were devoting their lives to some noble, edifying task. What, indeed, would have been the use of his remaining chaste, for doubtless his references to Amaryllis and Neaera are, as E. M. W. Tillyard says, to be associated with lack of chastity, and what use his long preparation "if fame, for whose sake he has denied himself, is to escape him, anticipated by death?" 3 4 Tillyard further states: Earthly fame, he replies to himself in the person of Phoebus, has nothing to do with heavenly fame: it depends on deeds, not on what those deeds effect. So he argues, but one does not get the impression of emotional conviction yet: the final impression of the first section is that it would be a cruel shame and a wicked waste, if he were to die. 35

In Lycidas, Milton for the first time entirely shifts his attention from earthly to heavenly fame; but perhaps, as Tillyard observes, he does so without full conviction. At any rate, Lycidas is the final statement of Milton's ideas concerning fame during the first period of his life (1608-1639). The line of his thought on the subject moves 33 34 35

Lycidas, p. 122. E. M. W. Tillyard, Milton (New York, 1930), p. 83. Ibid.

28

FAME IN THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION AND YOUTHFUL HOPE

from fame in the pagan sense of rumor to a desire for both earthly and heavenly fame through literary works, and finally, as Lycidas evinces, to a resting of one's hopes on fame in heaven. It is significant that in Lycidas Milton refers to the desire for earthly fame as an infirmity — in fact, the last infirmity of even the noblest minds. Phoebus makes the distinction between earthly and heavenly fame. Heavenly fame — that is, true fame — is achieved only by the "perfect witness of all-judging Jove" (1. 82), and the implication is that the desire for heavenly fame, unlike the desire for earthly fame, is not an infirmity. It is interesting to note that Lycidas includes all of Milton's ideas on fame during this first period of his life, starting with "broad rumor" and continuing to his new concept, that of the desire for fame as an infirmity, if the desire is for the approval of man rather than for the approval of God. In April, 1638, soon after writing Lycidas, Milton began his travels to Italy and other parts of the Continent, "on what", according to David Daiches, "was presumably intended to be the last great phase of his self-preparation as a poet". 36 Milton was away from England for some fifteen months, and was planning to remain away even longer, but in 1639 his plans were altered, as he himself indicates in a retrospective account in Defensio Secunda: When I was preparing to pass over into Sicily and Greece, the melancholy intelligence which I received of the civil commotions in England made me alter my purpose; for I thought it base to be travelling for amusement abroad, while my fellow-citizens were fighting for liberty at home. 37

Milton's return to England in 1639 brings to a close the first period of his life.

39 37

David Daiches, Milton (New York, 1966), p. 92. Defensio Secunda, p. 829.

II FAME IN THE PERIOD OF PROSE AND CONFLICT: 1640-1660

When Milton returned to England in the summer of 1639, he moved, as David Daiches says, "to 'a pretty garden house' in Aldersgate Street, where he undertook the education of his two nephews, his widowed sister's sons, and after a while he took in other boarders who likewise became his pupils." 1 Archbishop Laud, Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich, and others were engaged in a fierce pamphlet war, defending the establishment, while Thomas Young and a group of Puritan preachers urged change, writing under the collective name of Smectymnuus. After an attack on the Smectymnuans by Hall in a pamphlet entitled A Defense of the Humble Remonstrance, Against the frivolous and false exceptions of Smectymnuus, Milton entered the battle with the publication of his first anti-episcopal tract, Of Reformation touching Church-Discipline in England (1641). Several months later, in an effort to defend his old tutor, Thomas Young, Milton published his Animadversions upon the Remonstrant's Defence against Smectymnuus. Early the following year (1642) followed The Reason of Church Government and An Apology against A Modest Confutation. During this same year Milton married Mary Powell, who left him and returned to her father's house after two or three months with Milton. In 1643, about a year after Mary Powell left him, Milton published The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. In 1644, he published Of Education, a small prose tract addressed to Mr. Hartlib, and another divorce pamphlet, The Judgment of Martin Bucer concerning Divorce, following it with his defense of freedom on a wider level in 1

David Daiches, Milton (New York, 1966), p. 99.

30

FAME IN THE PERIOD OF PROSE AND CONFLICT

Areopagitica. Tetrachordon and Colasterion, two final pamphlets on divorce, followed in 1645, a few months before Mary Powell's return to Milton. With the turn of the year, Milton published Poems of Mr. John Milton (1646). His next publication was not until 1649, when The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates was published, arguing that "it is lawful, and hath been held so through all ages, for any, who have the power, to call to account a tyrant or wicked king, and after due conviction, to depose and put him to death...." 2 A month after The Tenure was published, Milton was appointed Secretary of Foreign Tongues to the Council of State. In October, 1649, he published Eikonoklastes, answering a pamphlet entitled Eikon Basilike, which gave "the portraiture of his sacred majesty in his solitudes and sufferings". 3 Eikonoklastes was followed by Defensio pro Populo Anglicano in 1651, another defense of the English people against tyrannical kings. By the following year, 1652, Milton's blindness had become almost complete; his wife, Mary Powell, died: and his infant son, John, also died. Two years later, in 1654, he published Defensio Secunda, a second defense of the English people. In 1656, he married Katherine Woodcock, who died in 1658. In 1659, he published A Treatise of Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes, "showing that it is not lawful for any power on earth to compel in matters of religion", 4 and, in 1660, The Ready and Easy Way To Establish a Free Commonwealth followed — a desperate, last-minute attempt to avert the Restoration of Charles II, which Milton saw as marking the total defeat of the Puritan movement to which he had devoted the past twenty years of his life. It was within a framework of such struggle and despair that Milton's concept of fame on earth underwent change and his personal ambitions were modified. Milton's concept of literary worth and, in a broader sense, literary fame is related closely to his concept of the pure man of 2

The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, as cited in Merritt Y. Hughes (ed ), John Milton: Complete Poems and Major Prose (New York, 1957), p 750. All quotations of Milton are from the Hughes edition unless otherwise indicated. 3 Eikonoklastes, p. 781. 4 A Treatise of Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes, p. 839.

FAME IN THE PERIOD OF PROSE AND CONFLICT

31

virtuous spirit. He believed, in effect, that nothing pure and good can proceed from a mind or spirit that is impure and tainted. In the first period of Milton's life (1608-1639), he advanced this idea, as Prolusion VII, Elegia Quarta, Elegia Sexta, and Comus attest; but, during the second period of Milton's life (1640-1660), he enlarged upon the idea as early as 1642 in the Apology for Smectymnuus: I was confirmed in this opinion that he w h o would not be frustrate of his hope to write well hereafter in laudable things, ought himself to be a true poem, that is a composition a n d pattern o f the best and honorablest things — not pre-suming t o sing high praises of heroic men or f a m o u s cities, unless he have in himself the experience and the practice of all that which is praiseworthy. 5

Indeed, Milton carries the idea still further, stressing that purity in a man is, in fact, more essential than purity in a woman: [T]hus also I argued t o myself: that if unchastity in a w o m a n , w h o m St. Paul terms the glory of man, be such a scandal a n d dishonor, then certainly in a man, w h o is both the image and glory o f G o d , it must, though c o m m o n l y not s o thought, be much more deflowering and dishonorable; in that he sins both against his o w n b o d y , which is the perfecter sex, and his o w n glory, which is in the w o m a n , and that which is worst, against the image and glory o f G o d , which is in himself. 6

During the second period of Milton's life, he became more and more convinced that literature which springs from a source that is pure and good will of itself be pure and good and, further, that it will have an appeal to after ages, ensuring an enduring fame for its author and for anyone else whom the author sees fit to immortalize in the literature. In Sonnet VIII (1642), for example, Milton describes London as besieged and playfully imagines himself tacking up this sonnet on his door, asking the troops to spare him as Alexander the Great spared Pindar. If they will, he — through his poetry — can call fame upon their gentle act and spread their names over lands and seas. 7 Then again, in 1646, Milton wrote a sonnet to Henry Lawes, the first English composer to fit his music 5 8 7

Apology for Smectymnuus, p. 694. Ibid., p. 695. Sonnet VIII, p. 140.

32

FAME IN THE PERIOD OF PROSE AND CONFLICT

to the rhythm of Milton's lyrics. In return for Lawes's favor, Milton will make his name live in verse: To after age thou shalt be writ the man That with smooth air couldst humor best our tongue.8 Recalling Dante's musician friend, Casella, who charmed Dante with his voice even in Purgatory (Purg., II, 76-119), Milton says to his friend, Henry Lawes: Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher Than his Casella, whom he woo'd to sing, Met in the milder shades of Purgatory. 9 During the last several years of Milton's first period (1608-1639), he indicates that his artistic abilities are growing stronger and that he is meditating flight. Returning to England, however, and finding her engaged in religious and civil turmoil, Milton delayed his poetic career to assist in the fight for religious and civil liberty, having the use of his left hand only, as he says in The Reason of Church Government, instead of having full use of his powers in the area of poetic creation. When Milton entered the pamphlet wars, some men accused him of doing so out of selfish reasons for a hastily procured fame. In The Reason of Church Government (1642), Milton comes to his own defense: lest it should be still imputed to me, as I have found it hath been, that some self-pleasing humor of vainglory hath incited me to contest with men of high estimation.10 Milton entered the pamphlet battles for several reasons. One reason was that he wanted to make some return to God for all of God's goodness to him; and, then, Milton also was against the bishops and prelates who he thought were not properly utilizing God's gift of knowledge. Milton felt that the gift of knowledge is always burdensome, even for the blind Tiresias, who bemoans his 8 9 10

Sonnet XIII, p. 144. Ibid. Reason of Church Government, p. 667.

FAME IN THE PERIOD OF PROSE AND CONFLICT

33

fate because he knows more than other men; but Milton also felt, as he points out in The Reason of Church Government, that When God commands to take the trumpet and blow a ... jarring blast, it lies not in man's will what he shall say or what he shall conceal. If he shall think to be silent, as Jeremiah did..., he would be forced to confess as he confessed: "His word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones...." 11

When God commands his servant to speak, the age should not condemn the pointed reprimands, "those sharp but saving words which would be a terror and a torment to him to keep back". 12 Milton further wishes that he might have solace in his old age by knowing that he is exercising "the honest liberty of free speech" in the interest of the church's good. 13 He foresees that, if the church is oppressed, and if God has given him the tongue to defend the church, he must do so; otherwise, he should feel reproachful toward himself ever after. He reflects that his voice of conscience would condemn him if he remained silent, especially since he has been given an appropriate education to defend the church, and he is aware that God is listening for Milton's voice among his zealous servants. In another section of The Reason of Church Government, Milton explains that "neither envy nor gall hath entered me upon this controversy, but the enforcement of conscience only and a... fear lest omitting this duty should be against me." 1 4 Further he denies that he is entering the battle for any desire for fame: [I]f I had hunted after praise by the ostentation of wit and learning, I should not write thus out of mine own season when I have [not] yet completed ... the full circle of my private studies.15

Or, even if he had fully matured in his poetic abilities, 11

Ibid., p. 666. Ibid. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid., p. 667. " Ibid. 12

34

FAME IN THE PERIOD OF PROSE AND CONFLICT

It were a folly to commit anything elaborately composed to the careless and interrupted listening of these tumultuous times. Next, ... I would certainly take such a subject as of itself might catch applause, whereas this hath all the disadvantages on the contrary.16 And, if he were writing for fame, he would want at least time enough to pencil over it with all the curious touches of art,... whereas in this argument the not deferring is of great moment.... Lastly, I should not choose this manner of writing, wherein knowing myself inferior to myself, led by the genial power of nature to another task, I have the use, as I may account it, but of my left hand.17 It seems clear that Milton's denial of a desire of fame refers to a hasty fame, secured by the ostentation of wit and learning in the pamphlet wars. Milton feels that a lasting fame must be won by the exercise of one's complete and fullest talents. In Milton's case, those talents lie in verse rather than in prose, and it is through verse that he hopes to win an established fame. In another passage of The Reason of Church Government, Milton states his case: I must say ... that after I had from my first years by the ceaseless diligence and care of my father been exercised to the tongues and some sciences... and by sundry masters and teachers both at home and at the schools, it was found that [of] ... mine own ... prosing or versing, but chiefly this latter, the style, by certain vital signs it had, was likely to live.18 He recalls that he had shown some of his writing, done before he was twenty years old, to various people he met on his Italian journeys, and he received praise from his Italian critics, who are not usually generous with praise, according to Milton, toward "men of this side of the Alps". 19 Milton had won some degree of fame even during the first period of his life. Comus had been well received. Lycidas had been printed, along with other tributes to King, in an obscure memorial volume. His lines "On Shakespeare" had appeared in a more distinguished 16 17 18 19

Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid., p. 668.

FAME IN THE PERIOD OF PROSE AND CONFLICT

35

publication, the Second Folio of 1632; and, as noted above, he had won the praise of what he must have considered to be a respectable audience among the Italians whom he admired enough to ask their opinion of his early work. These progressions toward fame through poetic creations no doubt inspired Milton to continue trying his pinions, however tender. At any rate, he confesses in another passage in The Reason of Church Government that he is contemplating fame through poetic merit, if not through the pamphlet wars. H e says that there came upon him an inward prompting which now grew daily upon me, that by labour and intent study (which I take to be my portion in this life) joined with the strong propensity of nature, I might perhaps leave something so written to aftertimes, as they should not willingly let it die. 20

Further, he decided to fix all his industry and art on English, to try " t o be an interpreter and relater of the best and sagest things among mine own citizens throughout this island in the mother dialect", for "not caring to be once named abroad, though perhaps I could attain to this", Milton says he will be "content with these British islands as my world". 2 1 Milton, even when devoting himself to God's service in the pamphlet wars, is thinking about future contributions in the area of artistic creation. He wonders if he should write an epic about some king or knight who exemplified the Christian hero. He reflects that: [The] scripture also affords us a divine pastoral drama in the Song of Solomon.... And the Apocalypse of St. John is the majestic image of a high and stately tragedy.22

Further, he considers imitating "those magnific odes and hymns wherein Pindarus and Callimachus excell". 23 Such works as these, Milton concludes, would be a great benefit to the youth and to the gentry who are now swallowing "vicious principles in sweet pills"

20

Ibid.

21

Ibid.

22 23

Ibid.,p.m. Ibid.

36

FAME IN THE PERIOD OF PROSE AND CONFLICT

through "the writings and interludes of libidinous and ignorant poetasters" who do not know good from evil.24 Regardless of Milton's poetic prospectus for the future, his aims were laid aside in order that he might devote himself to God's service in the task that lay at hand. But, though this was not his purpose, in doing so he also was developing his spirit for future strength in poetry by engaging it in the battles of the present. As already seen, Milton placed a heavy stress on virtue, and his engagement in the pamphlet wars offered him the opportunity to strengthen his virtue through the fire of trial. In Areopagitica (November, 1644), he states: I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for. 2 5

That Milton was not unconcerned with earthly respect and fame, achieved through merit, is evinced by his Latin foreword to the 1645 volume, Poems of Mr. John Milton, Both English and Latin. In the foreword to Testimonia, writing in third person, Milton says: Here f o l l o w testimonia with respect to the author.... [T]he author was unwilling that the kindly feelings entertained for him by the writers of these testimonia should n o t be known, especially since others were very earnestly urging him to make them generally known. For, while he is seeking with might and main t o fend off from himself the o d i u m that excessive praise begets, and prefers that h e should not be credited with more than is his due, he cannot in the meantime deny that he sees a signal h o n o u r to himself in the favourable judgement of men of intellect reinforced by high distinction. 2 6

The Testimonia witnesses Milton's advancing fame and respect among men of intellect, whose judgments are supported by personal distinction. Only a year earlier, in Areopagitica, Milton might have been thinking of men like himself in referring to "that lasting fame and perpetuity of praise which God and good men have 24

Ibid., p. 670. Aeropagitica, p. 728. 26 Foreword to Testimonia, John S. Diekhoff, Milton on Himself (New York, 1965), p. 134. 25

FAME IN THE PERIOD OF PROSE AND CONFLICT

37

consented shall be the reward of those whose published labors advance the good of mankind". 27 Although Milton did not write his pamphlets with the thought of immediate and permanent literary fame in mind, he did use consciously all of the rhetorical techniques available to him to make the pamphlets as excellent stylistically as possible; and, of course, he would not have refused any fame and respect that might have come to him as a reward for his efforts. He hopes for a more favorable opinion of his works from readers in future ages who will be more objective and will be exempt from envy and malice. Several times during the second period of Milton's life he playfully promoted the fame of his own work. For example, in 1646, Milton wrote to "the most learned man and upright judge of books, John Rouse, Librarian of Oxford University": John Milton gladly sends his pamphlets to be received into that most ancient and celebrated library as into a temple o f immortal fame and a vacation (as he hopes) exempt from envy a n d calumny, if Truth a n d G o o d Fortune alike be propitious. 2 8

Again, in 1647, Milton similarly addresses his English and Latin poems: I am bidding y o u n o w ... to hope for a calm and quiet rest, a rest that shall be done with envy; I bid y o u hope for the blest abodes that kindly Hermes and the skilful guardianship of R o u s e will vouchsafe you, abodes >nto which the wanton tongue of the rabble will n o t make its way, from which the throngs of worthless readers will speed afar. But our latest children's children, and an age o f sounder minds, will mayhap f r o m hearts untainted apply juster judgements to all things. Then, when envy and malice shall be buried, if we deserve aught, the sound minds of after days will know it, thanks to Rouse's favour. 2 9

Even in the half-joking advice to his books, Milton was perhaps quite serious in advancing the idea of wanting the praise of a respectable audience and the good opinion of capable judges, for this idea stayed with Milton during the remainder of his life. As the 27 28 29

Areopagitica, p. 735. Diekhoff, p. 161. Ibid., p. 135.

38

FAME IN THE PERIOD OF PROSE AND CONFLICT

years passed, he cared nothing for the applause of the rabble, for just as Milton believed that the good and pure can come forth only from a good and pure source, he also believed that the judgment of the good and pure was the only judgment of value, and he was aware that the thinking of his own age might not be clear enough to judge him without malice. But if his works were truly good, they would eventually receive the fame and praise they deserved. True worth, either in literary works or in the actions of men, leads toward fame, either soon or late. As an example of fame's springing from good actions, it might be useful to note Milton's Sonnet XV to Sir Thomas Fairfax (1648). Fairfax had acted courageously against the Royalists, and Milton says his fame is far-spread, "filling each mouth with envy or with praise" and "rumors loud" of Fairfax's "firm, unshaken virtue" — i.e., his courage in civil and military leadership. 30 Milton's personal desire for fame, great though it was, was never so strong that he would stoop to secure it by whatever means were available. Instead, he wanted fame in the most honorable manner, and it seems clear that Milton did not expect an immediate fame to come through his participation in the pamphlet wars. If, indeed, any fame should come through his efforts in these battles, it would be a result of his success in proclaiming what to him was truth and right, and it would be bestowed upon him by perceptive judges who supported truth and justice. As an indication of Milton's attitude toward his pamphlets, it is useful to note his answer to John Gauden's Eikon Basilike, in which Gauden accused Milton of wanting to grasp an immediate fame by writing against King Charles. Milton's reply in the Preface of Eikonoklastes (1649) is characteristic: To descant on the misfortunes of a person fallen from so high a dignity, who hath also paid his final debt both to nature and his faults, is neither of itself a thing commendable nor the intention of this discourse. Neither was it fond ambition or the vanity to get a name, present or with posterity, by writing against a king. I never was so thirsty after fame nor so destitute of other hopes and means, better and more certain to attain it. 31 30

31

Sonnet XV, p. 159.

Eikonoklastes, p.1%1.

FAME IN THE PERIOD OF PROSE AND CONFLICT

39

Regardless of Milton's private desires, however, his participation in the pamphlet wars did bring him before the public eye, and he enjoyed a kind of Fairfax-like fame for his courage in civil controversy. By 1652, as can be inferred from a letter from Hermann Mylius to Milton, dated January 9, Milton had won the respect of many men and, according to Mylius, was well on the way to an established fame: You tread the short road to fame; you who are really such as you wish to be held and seem; he who pretends to be such a man, and is not, is worse than he (as the Philosopher says in Book 9 of the Ethics) who [openly displays] the false and lying aspects of falsity; you do not counterfeit. 32

Mylius is telling Milton exactly what Milton wants to hear — namely, that there is nothing false in him; that he is, in fact, the man that he wants people to think him to be; and that, since he does not counterfeit, his true worth will lead him shortly to fame. Milton was intent on being in actuality what he wished to appear to be; he was determined from his youth up to avoid falseness, and he recalls in the Second Defence (1654) that, even during his Italian travels, he "never once deviated from the paths of integrity and virtue, and perpetually reflected that, though my conduct might escape the notice of men, it could not elude the inspection of God." 3 3 Whatever fame Milton achieved during the middle period of his life (1640-1660) was, in a sense, thrust upon him. He spoke out as Jeremiah once did because he felt the fire in his bones, and he must release it. However, even by 1651, when the First Defence was published, Milton's fame was perhaps not well established, for the author of the Cry of the Royal Blood to Heaven against the English Parricides, whom Milton thought to be Alexander More but who was, in fact, Du Moulin, had reproached Milton as an unknown. Milton, in turn, attacks the author of Cry of the Royal Blood, and in his attack he touches on fame: The truth is, I had learned to be long silent, to be able to forbear writing, 32 Mylius to Milton, LVI, January 9, 1652, as cited in Frank Allen Patterson, gen. ed., The Works ofJohn Milton, XII (New York, 1936), 363. 33 Second Defence, p. 830.

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which Salmasius 34 never could, and carried silently in my own breast what if I had chosen then, as well as now, to bring forth, I could long since have gained a name. But I was not eager for fame, who is slow of pace. 35 The author of Cry of the Royal Blood had cast aspersions against Milton's efforts in the First Defence to battle with the great Salmasius and used Milton's lack of reputation as a central argument. Here, in the Second Defence, Milton is saying that his obscurity was a matter of choice and that he carried in his own breast the power to gain a name for himself if he had so chosen. But, as John S. Diekhoff pointed out, "the First Defence itself... brought him fame and a welcome throughout Europe." 36 In a passage from the Second Defence (1654), Milton alludes to the attention he is receiving, and it is clear that Milton is proud of the fame he has won with the fit audience; it is equally clear that he is not interested in the opinions of the rabble: I have been burned by one court, perhaps by a single Parisian executioner. But in spite of this, how many excellent and learned men are there, throughout all France, who read, approve, embrace?... This, moreover, I can truly say; at the time when our defence was first published and readers were all glowing with attention to it, there was not an ambassador from any prince or state at that time in the city, who did not congratulate me either on an accidental meeting, who did not desire my company at his own house, or who did not visit me at mine.... It is also pleasing to me... that I, who, as it seemed, had been writing in opposition to kings, have obtained the approving nod even of royal majesty itself...' And why should I scruple to say this as often as I think of that most 34

Salmasius (Claude Saumaise), famous French scholar and author (living in Holland) of Defensio Regiapro Carolo I (1649), a tract invoking anathema upon the executioners of Charles I. This tract was effectively rebutted by Milton's Defensio pro Populo Anglicano (1651); as a result, Salmasius' reputation was almost completely destroyed. 35 Second Defence, as cited in Diekhoff, pp. 14-15. Cf. Diekhoff, Note 67, p. 227: "Du Moulin, in the Cry of the Royal Blood, tried to discount the importance of the First Defence by gibes at Milton's lack of reputation. Later in the Second Defence (extract 2), Milton explains that his obscurity was a matter of choice, that he had carried silently in his own breast what would long since have gained him a name had he chosen to bring it forth. Now the First Defence itself has brought him fame and a welcome throughout Europe." 36 Diekhoff, Note 67, p. 227.

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41

august queen whose high praises are the theme of every tongue? Indeed, not even that wisest Athenian, between whom and myself, however, I make no comparison, can I think more graced by the testimony of the Pythian himself, than me by her opinion' 37 Twelve years before Milton wrote the Second Defence, he stated in The Reason of Church Government that he wished "to be an interpreter and a relater of the best and sagest things among mine own citizens throughout this island in the mother dialect." 38 By the time Milton published the Second Defence, his viewpoint had shifted considerably. Twelve years earlier Milton had concluded that he would be "content with these British islands as my world." 3 9 By 1654, however, he was interested only in the fit audience, whether at home or abroad; and, as he states in the Second Defence, he regrets having written "in the mother dialect": I regret that I published this work [his second divorce pamphlet] in English; for then it would not have been exposed to the view of those common readers, who are wont to be as ignorant of their own blessings as they are insensible to others' sufferings. 40 Milton's interest in preserving the good opinion of the fit audience prompts him time and again to vindicate himself of the attacks of accusers. In his Defence of Himself (1655), he replies to an attack of the Second Defence and to an accusation of dishonor regarding his battle with Salmasius, "who but yesterday flourished in the highest degree of favor", but today seems "to wither in neglect." 41 In his self-defense, Milton says: 37 Second Defence, Diekhoff, pp. 237-238. Cf. Defence of Himself (1655), Diekhoff, p. 242: "It is true, that in that former defence [the Second Defence] to which I was called by a public order and by private injury, ...I performed the common task with zealous diligence. And being now under a heavy accusation, by the same person [Alexander More], of having defamed by scandal and falsehood an innocent and unoffending man, that I might confound his impudence and vindicate my own innocence, and further... that I may be able to obtain, if not the praise of learning and of genius, at least a fame untainted by dishonour, with the credit of being an adorer of truth." 38 The Reason of Church Government, p. 668. 39 Ibid. 40 Second Defence, p. 828. 41 Ibid., p. 820.

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A n d being n o w under a heavy accusation, by the same person, of having defamed forsooth by scandal and falsehood an innocent and unoffending man, that I might confound his impudence and vindicate m y o w n innocence, and further (if I have hitherto written anything well, or shall hereafter write what may be of utility) that I m a y be able to obtain, if not the praise o f learning and of genius, at least a fame untainted by dishonour, with the credit of being an adorer of truth — I have stooped again to this contention, necessary indeed, though in itself most ungrateful. 4 2

In the same year (1655), Milton wrote Sonnet XXII to Cyriack Skinner and refers to the fame he has won "In liberty's defence, my noble task, / Of which all Europe talks from side to side". 43 Regardless of what "all Europe" might be saying about Milton, however, he is still interested only in the good opinion of good men, the fit audience though few, as is made quite clear in a letter to Jean Labadie, Minister of Orange, written in 1659: A n d truly, though I am not ignorant that, whether f r o m the fact that I did not when publicly commissioned decline the contest with an adversary o f such name, or on account of the celebrity of the subject, or, finally, on account of m y style of writing, I have b e c o m e sufficiently k n o w n far and wide, yet m y feeling is that I have real fame only in proportion t o the g o o d esteem I have among g o o d m e n . 4 4

It is not difficult to conjecture why, perhaps, Milton turned from England as a whole for audience to the fit audience either there or abroad. His divorce pamphlets had brought him scorn bordering on infamy, and his civil pamphlets, though they brought him a wide audience, brought also reproach and slander. His defeat of Salmasius, it is true, made him famous not only in England but throughout Europe. Nevertheless, the overall ill reception of his efforts, especially the divorce pamphlets, perhaps caused Milton to wish for an understanding audience, even though limited in number. Whatever the reasons, he became more deeply convinced of the worthlessness of fame if the fame was not founded on the judgment of good men. Milton was justly proud that, among the peoples of Europe, a certain respectable audience had viewed his struggles with favor and had applauded his actions with enthusiasm. 42 43 44

Diekhoff, Defence of Himself, p. 242. Sonnet XXII, p. 170. Diekhoff, Letter to Jean Labadie, p. 245.

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By the end of the second period of Milton's life (1640-1660), his attitude toward earthly fame has shifted considerably from his attitude during the first period (1608-1639). During the first period of his life, he felt that it would be desirable, as he states in Prolusion VII, to be the oracle of many people, to have one's home become a shrine, to be the object of invitation from kings and commonwealths and of visits from neighbors and distant foreigners, and of pride for still others who will boast it an honorable distinction merely to have had a single glimpse of one.45 By the end of his second period, he has restricted his audience only to the wise and good men of Europe; he regrets that he has written so widely in the vernacular and that consequently his words have fallen to an unfit audience which could neither appreciate nor understand his position but viewed him with malice and disgraced him, if possible, with slander. The wide audience of the first period of Milton's hopes, after the battles of the pamphleteers, has narrowed to only a capable few. It will be easy to see how, during the third period of his life (1660-1674), his emphasis on the fit audience makes the final transition from wishing the good opinion only of good men to wishing the good opinion only of God — the ultimate fit judge of true worth.

« Prolusion VII, p. 625.

Ill FAME IN THE PERIOD O F POETRY A N D DISILLUSIONMENT: 1660-1674

During the third and final period of Milton's life (1660-1674), he was at last able to turn full time to writing poetry. Though blind, tired, and old, he at last could exercise his "right hand", having spent the past twenty years of his life in the struggle for religious and civil liberties. It was during these last fourteen years of his life that he wrote his three masterpieces. In 1667, he published the first ten books of Paradise Lost, later dividing the seventh and tenth books and adding a few lines in the 1674 edition, giving the twelvebook structure that is standard today. In 1670 he published The History of Britain and, in 1671, his two final poems — Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes.1 With the publication of Paradise Lost, Milton had, as David Daiches points out, "at long last... written that poem 'doctrinal and exemplary to a nation' that he had been determined to write from his earliest years". 2 By the time of its publication in 1667, Milton had achieved earthly fame. John Aubrey says: Foreigners came much to see him, and much admired him, ... and the only inducement of several foreigners that came over into England, was chiefly to see O. Protector, and Mr. J. Milton; and would see the house and chamber where he was born. 3 1

There is difference of opinion as to the date of composition of Samson Agonistes. Most scholars, such as Masson, Grierson, and Hanford, place the poem near the end of Milton's life. A. S. P. Woodhouse places Samson around 1660-1661 since he sees it as a reflection of Milton's own personal vacillation between hope and despair. W. R. Parker suggests 1646-1655. 2 David Daiches, Milton (New York, 1966), p. 145. 3 Some Early Lives of Milton: Collections for the Life of Milton, as cited in Merritt Y. Hughes, ed. John Milton: Complete Poems and Major Prose (New York, 1957), p. 1023. All quotations of Milton are from the Hughes edition unless otherwise indicated.

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Although he was famous, by this stage in his development as a thinker, Milton had come t o the realization that earthly renown mattered little. T h r o u g h o u t the second period of his life (16401660), as Chapter II indicates, Milton was already beginning to realize how worthless p o p u l a r acclaim was a n d was reducing his hope of an established f a m e t o the fit audience of few, wishing more f o r the good opinion of good men a n d less for the attentions of the rabble. It is only natural that during the last fourteen years of his life he should m a k e the logical shift of emphasis once again and be intent on winning by merit a n d goodness the approval of G o d , the ultimate fit judge of merited worth. Milton's t h o r o u g h training in the Christian doctrine and his intense awareness of the teachings of the Bible would have m a d e it impossible for him to be ignorant of the theological implications of earthly fame. Milton would have known the tradition which B. G. K o o n c e is writing a b o u t in Chaucer and the Tradition of Fame: In man's pristine state of innocence, no distinction existed between heavenly and earthly fame. As long as Adam lived in harmony with God, his own fame was fame in heaven, his actions and speech a glorification not of himself but of God and the divine image within. But with the Fall human fame acquired new meaning; for Adam's sin, symbolizing the mind's turning away from God to the world, involved an irrational confusion between temporal and eternal glory. Unlike heavenly fame, which lies in the opinion of God, earthly fame comes to mean the opinion of man's fellow creatures, whose judgments may be equally impaired as a result of Adam's sin. 4 In Book III of Paradise Lost, Milton shows his awareness of the vanity of earthly f a m e when he places in the Paradise of Fools Both all things vain, and all who in vain things Built thir fond hopes of Glory or lasting fame, Or happiness in this or th' other life; All who have thir reward on Earth, the fruits Of painful superstition and blind Zeal, Naught seeking but the praise of men, here find Fit retribution, empty as thir deeds. (11.448-454) 4

B. G. Koonce, Chaucer and the Tradition of Fame (Princeton, New Jersey, 1966), p. 16.

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All earthly praise and acclaim whatever is somehow tainted, perhaps even the praise of good men, since they, too, are men "whose judgments may be equally impaired as a result of Adam's sin." Wisdom itself turned Milton's eyes away from earth toward heaven. Right reason should teach man to stand approved in the sight of God as Abdiel stands approved: for this was all thy care To stand approv'd in sight of God, though Worlds Judg'd thee perverse.... (VI, 35-37)

The other loyal angels, says Raphael, have the same attitude toward fame as Abdiel does, an attitude contrasting sharply with that of the rebel angels: I might relate of thousands, and thir names Eternize here on Earth; but those elect Angels contented with thir fame in Heav'n Seek not the praise of men; the other sort In might though wondrous and in Acts of War, Nor of Renown less eager, yet by doom Cancell'd from Heav'n and sacred memory, Nameless in dark oblivion let them dwell. For strength from Truth divided and from Just, Illaudable, naught merits but dispraise And ignominy, yet to glory aspires Vain-glorious, and through infamy seeks fame: Therefore Eternal silence be thir doom. (VI, 373-385)

Satan is himself the prototype of those who seek fame even through infamy if necessary. He is the antithesis of the Son in Paradise Lost, who seeks only to glorify his Father and by so doing wins a merited, though unsought, glory for himself. Unlike the Son, Satan feels that To reign is worth ambition though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n.

(1,262-263)

To achieve this end, Satan, quite subtly, establishes himself as ruler in hell:

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Mee though just right and the fixt Laws of Heav'n Did first create your Leader, next, free choice, With what besides, in Counsel or in Fight, Hath been achiev'd of merit, yet this loss Thus far at least recover'd, hath much more Establisht in a safe unenvied Throne Yielded with full consent. The happier state In Heav'n, which follows dignity, might draw Envy from each inferior; but who here Will envy whom the highest place exposes Foremost to stand against the Thunderer's aim Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share Of endless pain? where there is then no good For which to strive, no strife can grow up there From Faction; for none sure will claim in Hell Precedence, none, whose portion is so small Of present pain, that with ambitious mind Will covet more. (11,18-35) Satan is careful not to have any rivals in honor. For example, after carefully describing how hazardous and hard the trip is to the newly created world, Satan quickly volunteers for the mission, excluding all assistance, not wishing to share any of the honor with any of the other fallen angels: this enterprise None shall partake with me. Thus saying rose The Monarch, and prevented all reply, Prudent, lest from his resolution rais'd Others among the chief might offer now (Certain to be refus'd) what erst they fear'd; And so refus'd might in opinion stand His Rivals, winning cheap the high repute Which he through hazard huge must earn. (II, 465-473) Satan expects his successful temptation of man to bring him great honor in hell, but his fellow sufferers are unable to give him the applause that he expects, for God has put the angels of hell under a curse, which they must live with once a year as a reminder of Satan's heinous deed. After relating to his followers how he seduced mankind with an apple,

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a while he stood, expecting Thir universal shout and high applause To fill his ear, when contrary he hears On all sides, from innumerable tongues A dismal universal hiss, the sound Of public scorn. a greater power Now rul'd him, punisht in the shape he sinn'd, According to his doom: he would have spoke, But hiss for hiss return'd with forked tongue To forked tongue, for now were all transform'd Alike, to Serpents all as accessories To his bold Riot.... (X, 504-521) As a further punishment, Thus was th' applause they meant, Turn'd to exploding hiss, triumph to shame Cast on themselves from thir own mouths. There stood A Grove hard by, sprung up with this thir change, His will who reigns above, to aggravate Thir penance, laden with fair Fruit, like that Which grew in Paradise, the bait of Eve Us'd by the Tempter; they fondly thinking to allay Thir appetite with gust, instead of Fruit Chew'd bitter Ashes.... (X, 545-566) Thus, quite literally, Satan's glory turns to ashes in his mouth. Diametrically opposed to the selfish glory-seeking Satan is the Son, who willingly volunteers to offer himself as a means of man's redemption as Satan had volunteered himself as a means of man's destruction. God the Father, in talking with the Son, says: Be thou in Adam's room The Head of all mankind, though Adam's Son. As in him perish all men, so in thee As from a second root shall be restor'd, As many as are restor'd, without thee none. His crime makes guilty all his Sons, thy merit Imputed shall absolve them who renounce

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Thir own both righteous and unrighteous deeds, And live in thee transplanted, and from thee Receive new life. (Ill, 285-294)

As Book III further indicates, the Son is not degrading himself when he assumes man's nature; he is still equal to God in heaven and is thus equal "By Merit more than Birthright" (1. 309). The Son is not eager after fame; he is eager only to stand approved in his Father's sight. Unlike Satan, who wants glory and fails to win it, the Son has no desire for glory and consequently does win it. He wins it not by putting himself first, or by volunteering to go to the newly created world out of a desire for self-glory, as Satan does, but by putting God first and acting in the interest of fallen man without thought of self. Consequently, he is truly the Son of God: Found worthiest to be so by being Good, Far more than Great or High; because in thee Love hath abounded more than Glory abounds, Therefore thy Humiliation shall exalt With thee thy Manhood also to this Throne; Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt Reign Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man, Anointed universal King. (Ill, 310-317)

By acting from the impulse of love, by glorifying the Father, and by forgetting self, the Son achieves full honor and glory. The Father admonishes the angels to "Adore the Sun, and honor him as mee" (III, 43). They do so with hymns of praise and exaltation: Hail Son of God, Savior of Men, thy Name Shall be the copious matter of my Song Henceforth, and never shall my Harp thy praise Forget, nor from thy Father's praise disjoin. (Ill, 412-415)

Throughout Paradise Lost, and also throughout Paradise Regained, it should be emphasized that any glory and fame of God or the Son does not derive from a selfish desire to be praised but is the natural and justified return of unselfish goodness. At the beginning of Book VII, Milton returns to the idea of a fit audience for his poem. The poem is half-completed and has moved

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from the heavenly sphere to earth, and he is invoking the aid of Urania as he completes his song: Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound Within the visible Diurnal Sphere: Standing on Earth, not rapt above the Pole, More safe I Sing with mortal voice, unchang'd To hoarse or mute, though fall'n on evil days, On evil days though fall'n, and evil tongues; In darkness, and with dangers compast round, And solitude; yet not alone, while thou Visit'st my slumbers Nightly, or when Morn Purples the East: still govern thou my Song, Urania, and fit audience find, though few. (VII, 21-31) In Book XI, Michael describes the conditions of the world in the time before the coming of Enoch, who was to walk with God and be translated into heaven. During that time, as in his own age, military prowess was the shortest route to fame, and Michael is perhaps voicing Milton's own thinking when he says: For in those days Might only shall be admir'd, And Valor and Heroic Virtue call'd; To overcome in Battle, and subdue Nations, and bring home spoils with infinite Man-slaughter, shall be held the highest pitch Of human Glory, and for Glory done Of triumph, to be styl'd great Conquerors, Patrons of Mankind, Gods, and Sons of Gods, Destroyers rightlier call'd and Plagues of men. Thus Fame shall be achiev'd, renown on Earth, And what most merits fame in silence hid. (XI, 689-699) Finally, in Book XII, Milton once more condemns the desire for earthly fame, in presenting it as the motive for the attempted construction of the Tower of Babel (XII, 38-47). Milton had witnessed many changes during his lifetime, and he himself had been a vigorous participant in the struggles of his age. In 1640, he had full hope for a great future, not only for himself but also for his country. By 1660, however, he had seen the defeat of

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much that he had worked for, and he found himself to be a changed man. As one critic points out: Milton could not praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, could not conceive of a life of pure meditation, could not imagine life in Eden lasting. At the same time he had lost his earlier confidence that Heaven on Earth could be restored by a regenerate, fully reformed England. Public virtue became for him almost a contradiction in terms, and only private virtue was real.... In Paradise Regained he was to make this point even clearer, for Satan tempts Christ there to the public life, which he rejects, with all its accompanying splendours. This was not a wholly new view of Milton's, for, together with the great public ambitions of his earlier years, he had felt also the necessity of submitting himself quietly and patiently to God's purpose for him — as Christ does in Paradise Regained. The sonnets on this twenty-third birthday and on his blindness should not be forgotten when we come to consider how far the turn to the "paradise within" represented a radical change in Milton as a result of the failure of his political hopes for England.5 Satan, in Book III of Paradise Regained (1671), tries to tempt Christ by suggesting that he win fame and glory for himself through military conquest: wherefore deprive All Earth her wonder at thy acts, thyself The fame and glory, glory the reward That sole excites to high attempts the flame Of most erected Spirits, most temper'd pure Ethereal, who all pleasures else despise, All treasures and all gain esteem as dross, And diginities and power, all but the highest?

(Ill, 23-30)

In Book III, when Christ is tempted by Satan, he is in a position similar to that of Edward King when he was drowned and to the young Milton himself. Christ is for the most part unknown to the world, and Satan is quick to point out the fame of Alexander and Pompey the Great, who had achieved worldly fame in youth. Even greater, perhaps, is the example of Scipio Africanus, "the young Conqueror of Spain and Carthage whose skill as a strategist and statesman was matched by his purity of character".6 As Hughes 5

Daiches, pp. 211-212. « Ibid.

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observes, Petrarch, "the prophet of the Renaissance cult of Fame", to whom Milton was attracted, used Scipio "as the subject of the Africa, the epic poem which was to have crowned his life work though he did not live to finish it". 7 Satan's subtle temptation of Christ to worldly glory would have perhaps been a painful reminder to Milton of his own early years, for in Sonnet VII he expresses his concern because, although he has reached the age of twenty-four, still no bud of creative work has blossomed. Satan attempts to arouse a similar concern in Christ: Thy years are ripe, and over-ripe; the Son Of Macedonian Philip had ere these Won Asia and the Throne of Cyrus held At his dispose; young Scipio had brought down The Carthaginian pride, young Pompey quell'd The Pontic King and in triumph had rode. (Ill, 31-36)

There are other striking parallels between the two lives. Like the life of Milton, Christ's was a pure, secluded, studious life (the studies including not only the Bible but the Greco-Roman culture, of which Christ shows considerable knowledge), spent in preparation for the service of God. Christ's soliloquy in Book I could as easily have been spoken by Milton about his own life: When I was yet a child, no childish play To me was pleasing, all my mind was set Serious to learn and know, and thence to do What might be public good; myself I thought Born to that end, born to promote all truth, All righteous things: therefore above my years, The Law of God I read, and found it sweet, Made it my whole delight, and in it grew To such perfection that, ere yet my age Had measur'd twice six years, at our great Feast I went into the Temple, there to hear The Teachers of our Law, and to propose What might improve my knowledge or thir own; And was admir'd by all: yet this not all To which my Spirit aspir'd; victorious deeds 7

Ibid.

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Flam'd in my heart, heroic acts; one while To rescue Israel from the Roman yoke, Then to subdue and quell o'er all the earth Brute violence and proud Tyrannic pow'r, Till truth were freed, and equity restor'd. (1,201-220)

In an autobiographical passage in Defensio Secunda, Milton records that "my appetite for knowledge was so voracious that, from twelve years of age, I hardly ever left my studies, or went to bed before midnight".8 It is perhaps significant that Milton's reference to "twelve years of age" is analogous to Christ's "twice six years" in the preceding quotation, for both Milton and Christ seem to place their entry into maturity at the age of twelve. Both wanted "to promote all truth, / All righteous things", and both were inflamed to heroic acts in the liberation of their country and in the winning of freedom. Milton, like Christ, also had come to value the private life above the public one and to feel that ... he who reigns within himself, and rules Passions, Desires, and Fears, is more a King.

(II, 466-467)

Most kingly of all, however, is Christ's ambition (as well as Milton's with his poem "doctrinal and exemplary to a nation") ... to guide Nations in the way of truth By saving Doctrine, and from error lead To know, and knowing worship God aright.

(II, 473-475)

Satan is a master at persuasive rhetoric, which Milton became more and more suspicious of as he grew older. Satan's following statement to Christ is one which the aged Milton, like the youthful Christ, could see through: Yet years, and to ripe years judgment mature, Quench not the thirst of glory, but augment, ( i n , 37-38)

However much Satan may try, Christ is not tempted. He replies: 8

Defensio Secunda, p. 828.

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Thou neither dost persuade me to seek wealth For Empire's sake, nor Empire to affect For glory's sake by all thy argument. (Ill, 44-46) Then Jesus comments on the foolishness of seeking earthly fame, i.e., false glory, and the importance of seeking heavenly glory, or true f a m e : For what is glory but the blaze of fame, The people's praise, if always praise unmixt? And what the people but a herd confus'd, A miscellaneous rabble, who extol Things vulgar, and well weigh'd, scarce worth the praise? They praise and they admire they know not what; And know not whom, but as one leads the other; And what delight to be by such extol'd, To live upon thir tongues and be thir talk, Of whom to be disprais'd were no small praise? (Ill, 47-56) True fame cannot come f r o m unfit judges who too often think "the glistering foil" and the "broad r u m o r " to be the genuine deeds of true fame. Imperfect man cannot judge perfectly. Furthermore, the "intelligent among them and the wise / Are few, and glory scarce of few is rais'd" (III, 58-59). Therefore, Jesus continues: This is true glory and renown, when God Looking on th' Earth, with approbation marks The just man, and divulges him through Heaven To all his Angels, who with true applause Recount his praises; thus he did to Job. (Ill, 60-64) As for Job, Jesus says: Famous he was in Heaven, on Earth less known, Where glory is false glory attributed To things not glorious, men not worthy of fame. (Ill, 68-70) True glory on earth does not derive f r o m wars and conquests, Jesus points o u t ; it derives f r o m goodness alone; even so, Jesus is skeptical that anything pertaining to worldly fame can be good:

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But if there be in glory aught of good, It may by means far different be attain'd, Without ambition, war, or violence; By deeds of peace, by wisdom eminent, By patience, temperance.... (Ill, 88-92)

If, however, one uses his deeds of peace, his wisdom, his patience, his temperance for the glory that they will bring him among men, his reward will be of the earth only and not in heaven: Yet if for fame and glory aught be done, Aught suffer'd; if young African for fame His wasted Country freed from Punic rage, The deed becomes unprais'd, the man at least, And loses, though but verbal, his reward. (Ill, 100-104)

This is the same idea expressed in Book III of Paradise Lost, where Milton expresses his awareness of the vanity of earthly fame by placing in the Paradise of Fools "Both all things vain, and all who in vain things / Built thir fond hopes of Glory or lasting fame" (II. 448-449). It is in the Paradise of Fools that those "seeking but the praise of men, here find / Fit retribution, empty as thir deeds" (II. 453-454). Unlike ordinary men, who seek glory "Oft not deserved" (PR, II, 106), Christ, like Job and Socrates — who live now "Equal in fame to proudest Conquerors" (III, 99), is not interested in worldly fame; they are humble creatures in the eyes of men, but are exalted among the angels in heaven. Of glory Chirst says, "I seek not mine, but his / Who sent me". (Ill, 106-107). Satan contends that God in heaven seeks glory And for his glory all things made, all things Orders and governs; nor content in Heaven By all his Angels glorifi'd, requires Glory from men, from all men good or bad, Wise or unwise, no difference, no exemption; Above all Sacrifice, or hallow'd gift Glory he requires. (Ill, 112-119)

Christ replies to this specious argument by making a key distinction

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between glory as reward and desire for glory as motivation. God has every right to glory, since his word all things produc'd Though chiefly not for glory as prime end, But to show forth his goodness, and impart His good communicable to every soul Freely; of whom what could he less expect Than glory and benediction, that is thanks, The slightest, easiest, readiest recompense From them who could return him nothing else, And not returning that would likeliest render Contempt instead, dishonor, obliquy? (Ill, 122-131)

Jesus further questions: But why should man seek glory? who of his own Hath nothing, and to whom nothing belongs But condemnation, ignominy, and shame? Who for so many benefits receiv'd Turn'd recreant to God, ingrate and false, And so of all true good himself despoil'd, Yet, sacrilegious, to himself would take That which to God alone of right belongs. (Ill, 134-141)

Because man did betray God in the Garden of Eden, because he was "ingrate and false", bringing down upon his head "condemnation, ignominy, and shame", no man has any claim to glory. Glory belongs to God alone. However, even though God deserves glory, he does not seek it; glory is not the "prime end", as Christ reminds Satan. The glory which God receives is man's insignificant return of appreciation to God for God's showing forth his goodness. "Yet, sacrilegious, to himself", man would usurp even the glory that belongs to God. In Lycidas, Milton refers to the love of glory as an infirmity. In Paradise Regained, Milton tells why it is an infirmity; it is an infirmity because it is sacrilegious, for, even at its highest on earth, it can be nothing more than a cheap imitation of the true glory that is of heavenly origin. As has already been seen, that glory which is the highest, imperfect though it must necessarily be on earth, is the glory that attends goodness and that actually goes unapplauded on

FAME IN THE PERIOD OF POETRY AND DISILLUSIONMENT

57

earth and, indeed, even misunderstood. Here Ralph Waldo Emerson's statement, " T o be great is to be misunderstood", takes on particular relevance, for certainly Job, Socrates, Christ, Milton — perhaps, as Emerson says, "every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh" — were all misunderstood. God himself is the good. He, in Chirst, is the truth, the way, and the life; and he who exalts the good, or the truth, or directs men toward goodness and truth, is exalting God ; and, as Christ points out to Satan : so much bounty is in God, such grace That who advance his glory, not thir own, Them he himself to glory will advance. (Ill, 142-144)

Samson Agonistes (1671) is a particularly interesting work when viewed in the light of Milton's developing concept of fame. Samson is a man set apart from the masses of people, commissioned by God for the great task of delivering his people f r o m bondage. Through human weakness, however, Samson fails in the execution of God's plan, and he questions why God has allowed his failure : Why was my breeding order'd and prescrib'd As of a person separate to God, Design'd for great exploits; if I must die Betray'd, Captiv'd, and both my Eyes put out, Made of my Enemies the scorn and gaze; Promise was that I Should Israel from Philistian yoke deliver, Ask for this great Deliverer now, and find him Eyeless in Gaza at the Mill with slaves, Himself in bonds under Philistian yoke. (II, 30-42)

Samson has fallen into a state of self-pity. As the opening soliloquy attests, Samson's use of the personal pronouns, I, me, my, mine, is extensive and indicative of his encompassing concern for himself. Not until the completion of his regeneration, following the provocative episodes of Samson's various visitors, is he able to put himself last, when he says : Happ'n what may, of me expect to hear

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Nothing dishonorable, impure, unworthy Our God, our Law, my Nation, or myself.

(II. 1423-1425)

Before his captivity, Samson had achieved wordly fame, and resulting from this renown is a destructive hubris: like a petty God I walk'd about admir'd of all and dreaded On hostile ground, none daring my affront, Then swoll'n with pride into the snare I fell Of fair fallacious looks. (II. 529-533)

Samson's admission of hubris as the possible cause of his downfall is further supported by the Chorus' description of such men, "solemnly elected, / With gifts and graces eminently adorn'd", in terms of fallen Greek heroes, whom Fortune Amidst thir height of noon, Changest thy count'nance and thy hand, with no regard Of highest favors past From thee on them, or them to thee of service. Nor only dost degrade them, or remit To life obscur'd, which were a fair dismission, But throw'st them lower than thou didst exalt them high. (II. 683-689)

Before Samson's captivity and his regeneration, his worldly fame, attracting attention to himself, resembled the fame Dalila ultimately expected from her countrymen. After the provocative incidents of the visitors, however, Samson is revitalized and, furthermore, is fully aware of his transgression against God; penitent before God, Samson acknowledges to Harapha that these evils I deserve and more, Acknowledge them from God inflicted on me Justly, yet despair not of his final pardon Whose ear is ever open; and his eye Gracious to re-admit the suppliant. (II. 1169-1173)

By the time Samson can say to the Officer who has come for him to contest with Harapha, "I am content to go" (I. 1403), the regen-

FAME IN THE PERIOD OF POETRY AND DISILLUSIONMENT

59

erative process is complete; he is putting self last, thinking first of God and his nation. Now the Chorus can say to him Go, and the Holy One Of Israel be thy guide To what may serve his glory best, and spread his name Great among the Heathen round. (II. 1127-1130)

By following without thought of personal glory the plan God set for him, Samson pleases God, wins fame in heaven; and, as a further indication of God's pleasure, his name achieves honor and renown among men. Milton describes the new Samson in terms of the legendary Phoenix: And though her body die, her fame survives, A secular bird ages of lives. (II. 1706-1707)

Samson had earlier described himself in Phoenix-like terms when, in referring to his race of glory as fully run, followed by his race of shame, he suggests a birth-death-rebirth process (I. 597). Through his courageous action Samson brings "To himself and Father's house eternal fame" (I. 1717). His father, Manoa, will further help to immortalize his son in his own fatherland: there will I build him A Monument, and plant it round with shade Of Laurel ever green, and branching Palm, With all his Trophies hung, and Acts enroll'd In copious Legend, or sweet Lyric Song. Thither shall all the valiant youth resort, And from his memory inflame thir breasts To matchless valor, and adventures high. (II. 1733-1740)

Samson's ultimate fame is well established, its foundation resting on unselfishness regarding personal glory and springing from a desire to glorify God by fulfilling God's desire for his life. Dalila's fame, however, like Samson's early fame before captivity and the regenerative process, is wordly and false. She wants the favor of her countrymen more than she wants the approving recognition of God. Dalila proclaims to Samson that

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Fame if not double-fac't is double-mouth'd And with contrary blast proclaims most deeds; On both his wings, one black, the other white, Bears greatest names in his wild aery flight: My name perhaps among the Circumcis'd In Dan, in Judah, and the bordering Tribes, To all posterity may stand defam'd, With malediction mention'd, and the blot Of falsehood most unconjugal traduc't. But in my country where I most desire, In Ekron, Gaza, Asdod, and in Gath I shall be nam'd among the famousest Of Women, sung at solemn festivals, Living and dead recorded, who to save Her country from a fierce destroyer, chose Above the faith of wedlock bands, my tomb With odors visited and annual flowers Not less renown'd than in Mount Ephraim, Jael, who with inhospitable guile Smote Sisera sleeping through the Temples nail'd. Nor shall I count it heinous to enjoy The public marks of honor and reward Conferr'd upon me, for the pity Which to my country I was judg'd to have shown. (II. 971-994) After Dalila's statement on fame, the Chorus says: She's gone, a manifest Serpent by her sting Discover'd in the end, till now conceal'd. (II. 997-998) The difference between Dalila's fame and Samson's is that Dalila's, like that of Nimrod and his followers, is snatched from deeds of infamy, whereas Samson's is achieved through merit and by following God's plan. As his three masterpieces suggest, during this final period of his life (1660-1674), Milton appears to have made the final transition, shifting attention from earthly to heavenly fame. The Son in Paradise Lost is not interested in personal glory; neither is Christ in Paradise Regained; and neither is Samson in Samson Agonistes; but because of their desire to please God alone, they are invested with glory and honor and fame, not only in heaven, but also on earth — fame in its finest form, coming unsought and unexpected from deeds performed unselfishly for the glory of God alone.

CONCLUSION

Throughout every period of his life, Milton embraced and supported the principles of virtue and honor, of justice and truth; his nobility of mind hungered for the spirit of goodness and rejected the ignoble as eagerly as it sought out the noble. Perhaps no other English poet lived under the heavy weight of such an awesome rectitude, for while other men reached out after the gifts of the earth, Milton longed for a merited worth and the approbation of respectable judges. As a well-educated, honorable, talented man, Milton was fitted to fill any station, ecclesiastical or secular, with distinction. The world had many gifts to offer a man of Milton's capabilities, but one gift above all attracted him — fame in all its aspects. Young, ambitious, enthusiastic, Milton had hopes of assuming a role of distinction in the leadership of his country, of guiding his people by means of intelligent thinking and right reason. He wanted to be the oracle of his people, and he was not averse to having his home become a shrine. During this early period of his life, characterized by ambition and hope at their fullest, Milton wanted a wide audience to cultivate and instruct, and he further wanted to be widely recognized and approved. During the second, or middle, period of his life, Milton entered actively into the social, political, and religious struggles of his age. For twenty years he sought to raise the level of national and individual thought with the reasoned prose of his pamphlets—pamphlets on divorce, church organization and control, governmental rights and responsibilities, education, freedom. He attempted to justify the execution of a king; and his physical blindness, his enemies thought, was God's punishment of a man who was spiritually blind in

62

CONCLUSION

attempting to justify regicide. By the end of his second period, the Commonwealth had given way to Charles II, and Milton saw all his efforts end in failure. His disillusionment and loss of hope are strongly reflected in The Ready and Easy Way (1660). His emphasis on fame shifted from desire for a wide audience to desire for a fit audience. He had grown to value only the good opinion of good men and to care nothing for the judgment of the unthinking rabble. By 1660, when Milton entered his final period of life, turning his attention fully to poetry at last, he was outwardly a defeated man, who had barely escaped execution, and now old, blind, and tired. Despite whatever personal disillusionment he might have felt, he composed his three greatest poems. Into these poems — all on traditionally established themes — Milton poured his own mind; and, since their first publication, some scholars have always seen the disillusioned Milton in the poems. He is particularly associated with the rebel Satan, the pure Christ, and the blind, defeated Samson of Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes, respectively. By 1671, when he published his last poems, Milton's attitude toward fame had made the final transformation. From the desire for the applause of a wide audience in the first period of his life, he had moved to the desire for the approval of a fit audience of capable judges in the second. The final shift was made in the third period — to the desire for the approval of God alone, the ultimate fit judge of merited worth. The progress of his thoughts on fame was not entirely steady and consistent. The turning from earthly to heavenly fame that characterizes the third period makes its first appearance at the end of the first, in Lycidas, in response to the disillusioning shock of King's death. The turning to the fit audience that characterizes the second period does not prevent his remarking, presumably with considerable satisfaction, that "all Europe talks from side to side" of his victory over Salmasius. And his request to Urania for a fit audience, and his giving Samson an earthly as well as a heavenly renown, indicate that in turning from earthly to heavenly fame in the third period he could not quite extinguish the yearning for earthly glory. But the general trend is clear. The center of his attention did shift from earthly fame to heavenly fame, and in the end he was, perhaps, like Samson, the recipient of both.

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INDEX

Abdiel, 46 Ad Patrem, 25 Africa, 52 Alexander the Great, 31, 51 Animadversions upon the Remonstrant's Defence against Snectymnuus, 29 Apocalypse of St. John, 35 Apology against A Modest Confutation, 29 Apology for Smectymnuus, 31 Areopagitica, 30, 36 Aristippus, 23 n. Aubrey, John, 15, 44 Augustine, 9

Dante, 13, 32 Darbishire, Helen, 13 Defence of Himself, 41 Defense of the Humble Remonstrance, Against the frivolous and false exceptions of Smectymnuus, 29 Defensio pro Populo Anglicano, 30, 40 n. Defensio Regia pro Carolo I, 40 n. Defensio Secunda, 28, 30, 39, 40, 41, 53 Diodati, 16, 20, 23 n., 24, 25, 26 Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, 29 Du Moulin, 39

Boccacio, 21 n. Boethius, 10, 11, 13, 26 n. Bowra, C. M., 12 Buckinghamshire, 15 Burckhardt, Jacob, 13 Bush, Douglas, 13, 24

Eikon Basilike, 30, 38 Eikonoklastes, 30, 38 Elegia Quarta, 17, 31 Elegia Sexta, 20, 31 Eliot, T. S„ 10 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 57 Epistulae Et Ponte, 26 n.

Callimachus, 35 Cambridge University, 15, 16 Charles I, 38, 40 n. Charles II, 30, 62 Cicero, 26 n. Colasterion, 30 Comus, 16, 31, 34 Consolation of Philosophy, 10, 11, 26 n. Coolidge, John S., 10 Cry of the Royal Blood to Heaven against the English Parricides, 39,40 Daiches, David, 13, 28, 29, 44

Fairfax, Thomas, 38 Fawkes, Guy, 16 First Defence, 39, 40 French, J. Milton, 13 Gauden, John, 38 Genealogia deorum, 21 n. Grace, William J., 12 Hall, Joseph, 29 Hammersmith, 15, 16 Hanford, James Holly, 13 Hartlib, 29

70

INDEX

Historiarum, 26 n. History of Britain, 44 Homer, 21 n. Horace, 19 n. Horton, 15, 16, 24 Hughes, Merritt Y., 9, 14, 51, 52 "II Penseroso", 16 In Quintum Novembris, 16 Jealous Lovers, The, 23 n. Jeremiah, 39 Job, 54, 55, 57 John, St., Apocalypse of, 35 Jonson, Ben, 18 n. Judgment of Martin Bucer Concerning Divorce, 29 King Edward, 25, 26, 27, 34, 51, 62 Koonce, B. G., 13, 45 "L'Allegro", 16 Labadie, Jean, 42 Laud, Archbishop, 29 Lawes, Henry, 31, 32 Letter XXXVII 21 22 23

52 53 54 55 56 60 62 Parker, William Riley 13 Paulet, Jane 18 n. Petrarch 13 52 Phillips, Edward 17 Pindar 31 35 Plato 9 11 12 Poems of Mr. John Milton 30 36 Pompey 51 Powell, Mary 29 30 Pro A. Lincinio Archio Poeta Oratio 26 n. Prolusion VII 19 21 31 prolusions 15 Randolph, Thomas, 23 n. Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth, 30, 62 Reason of Church Government, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, 41 Rouse, John, 37

Of Education 29 Of Reformation touching ChurchDiscipline in England 29 "On the Death of the Bishop of Ely" 16 n. "On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough" 17 18 n. "On the Norning of Christ's Nativity" 16 "On Shakespeare" 18 19 34 Ovid 26 n.

St. John, Apocalypse of, 35 St. Paul's School, 15, 17 Salmasius (Claude Saumaise), 40, 41, 42,62 Samson Agonistes, 9, 14, 44, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62 Samuel, Irene, 11 Satan, 9, 12,13, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 53, 55, 56, 57, 62 Scipio Africanus, 51, 52, 55 Shakespeare, 18 Skinner, Cyriack, 42 Smectymnuus, 29 Socrates, 12, 55, 57 Solomon, Song of, 35 Sonnet VII, 21, 23 Sonnet VIII, 31 Sonnet XIII, 32 Sonnet XV, 38 Sonnet XXII, 42 Stanley, Sir Edward, 19 n. Symposium, 12 Sypherd, W. O., 13

Paradise Lost 10 12 13 14 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 55 60 62 Paradise Regained 10 14 44 49 51

Tacitus, 10, 11, 26 n. Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, 30 Testimonia, 36

Mansus 25 n. Marchioness of Winchester 16 17 n. Masson, David 13 Milton, Ann 17 More, Alexander 39 40 n. Mylius, Hermann 39

INDEX Tetrachordon, 30 Tillyard, E. M. W., 13, 27 Tiresias, 32 Todd, Henry, 10 Treatise of Civil Power in

Ecclesiastical Causes, 30 Woodcock, Katherine, 30 Young, Thomas, 16, 17, 21, 29