milton's use of plato's myth of er

8/13/2019 Milton's Use of Plato's Myth of Er

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MILTON'S USE OF THE VISION OF ERJOSEPHINE WATERS BENNETTIN LL Plato thepassagewhichmostpowerfullyiredMilton'spoetic maginationwas the Visionof Er in the tenthbook oftheRepublic.He versified scenefrom t n theArcades 11. 2-73),ascriticshave alreadynoted,'but the much more extensive nd sig-nificantse whichMilton makes of the VisionofEr, in Paradiselost,seems ohaveescapedthenotice fhis commentators. he journey fSatan on the outside shell of the universe, rom he spotwherehelandson hiswayup fromHell to a point ust below Heaven's gate,2bearsa strikingesemblance o the ourney f Er.It willbe remembered hat Satan set out to discover he newlycreatedworld, nd thatChaos directed imto it,saying:

Now atelyHeaven ndEarth, notherWorldHung remyRealm,ink'd n a golden hainTo that ide Heav'n from hence our egionsfell . . . [II, 1004-6].

Satan ascendsto the solid outside shell ofthis world III, 418ff.),which eems a boundlessontinentDark,waste,nd wild ...Saveon that idewhich romhewallofHeav'nThough istant arrom mall eflectionainesOfglimmeringirless vextwith empestoud;.... [11. 23-29].1T. N. Orchard, Milton's astronomyNew York, 1913), pp. 70-72. Milton's furtheruse of Plato is discussed by R. B. Levinson, Milton and Plato, MLN, XLVI (1931),85-91; and Herbert Agar, Milton and Plato (Princeton, 1928). Mr. Agar traces Milton'sfrequentreferences o the music of the spheres to Plato (see pp. 37, 20-21, and appendixNos. 2, 3, 13, 22), but the idea was Pythagorean, and widespread. It appears in Cicero'sSomnium Scipionis, Macrobius, Chaucer, and Shakespeare. For its currency see Theparadise of dainty devices,ed. H. E. Rollins (Cambridge, 1927), No. 35 and notes onpp. 206-7.2Orchard (pp. 77-78, 86-88) argues that these two points are very near each other,but in that case the darkness, Satan's long journey, and the ten thousand Leaguesthrough which fools are blown from one place to the other are not accounted for.M. Y. Hughes in his edition of Paradise lost (New York, 1935; p. xxiii) followsOrchard.

[MODERN PHILOLOGY, May, 1939] 351

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352 JOSEPHINE WATERS BENNETTThe fiend, oming p fromHell, lands at first n that Backside ofthe World where ater therewill be a Paradise ofFools, on theop-positesidefromHeaven and its ight.Allthis arkGlobe heFiendfounds hepass'd,And onghewanderd,ill t lasta gleameOfdawningighturned hither-wardnhasteHis travell'dteps . . . [11.98-501].This gleamof lightshines fromHeaven's gate and illuminates hegoldenstair which s now said to connect he outside urface f theuniversewithHeaven,and which akestheplaceofthegolden hainmentionedn theearlierdescription. atan, whenhe arrives t thefootof thestair, ooks downthroughn openingn theshell oftheuniverse ponwhichhehas beentraveling,nd seesA passage own oth'Earth, passagewide 1. 28].It is bywayof thispassagethatsoulsascendfrom arthto heaven.TheypassthePlanets even, ndpassthefixt,And hatCrystallinephearwhose allanceweighsTheTrepidationalkt,ndthat irst ov'd;Andnow aint etert Heav'nsWicketeemsTowait hemwith isKeys, ndnow t footOfHeav'ns scent heyift hir eet, . . . [11.81-861.Milton'svisualization f theuniverse rom he spotwhereSatan isstandingsvery lear nd definite. atan is standingt thefoot fthegolden adderwhich onnects heuniversewithHeaven. He looksupthe ladder and sees Heaven's gate at the top of it. He looks downthroughn opening n the concentricphereswhichconstitutedheuniverse ccording o the popularconception fthe Ptolemaicsys-tem,3 nd seesthe earth.Plato describes r as going na similarourney o ustsucha place.Er's soul, temporarilyeparatedfromhis body, finds tself n amysterious lace somewhere etweenheavenand earth, n a plainormeadow,fromwhich t setsoutwithother ouls:and,on thefourthayafter, esaid that hey ame oa placewhereheycould eefrombove lineof ight,traights a column,xtendingightthroughhewhole eaven ndthroughheearth,ncolour esemblingherainbow,nly righterndpurer;notheray's ourneyroughthemothe

3 In the simplified ormwhich Milton describes,the systemwas reallyAristotelian. SeeFrancis R. Johnson,Astronomicalhoughtn RenaissanceEngland (Baltimore,1937), chap. ii.




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MILTON'S USE OF THE VISION OF ER 353place, ndthere,nthemidst f he ight, heyawthe nds fthe hains fheaven etdown rombove: ... From hese nds sextendedhe pindleofNecessity,nwhichll the evolutionsof he pheres]urn.Thisspindle s theaxisoftheuniverse,longwhich rearranged ightwhorlslikevesselswhich itnto neanother;hewhorlshow heir dges n theupper ide, ndonthe ower ideall togetherormne continuoushorl.This spiercedythe pindle, hichsdriven ome hroughhe enterf heeighth.4Fromwhatfollowswe learnthat these whorls performhe samefunction s thespheres fthePtolemaic ystem.It is evident romwhathe seesthatEr, likeSatan, s ontheoutsideofthe universeooking own nto talong tsaxis.5The long ourney,theguiding eamof ightnear theendof t,thechain nthemidst fthe light,6nd the openingdownthrough he spheres o earth,areelements fsimilarityetweenMilton'sconceptionnd Plato's. JusthowPlato imagined he whorls obe shapedcommentatorso notagree,but weknow, rom hepassage ntheArcades 1. 64) wherehecallsthem the nine nfolded phears, 7hatMilton, nhisreading fPlato,interpretedhewhorls s thespheres fthe o-calledPtolemaicsystem.Satan descends hroughheopeningntheshelloftheuniversendstopson the sun for chatwithUriel. DuringthecourseofthetalkUrieldescribes hecreation ftheworld ohim. Uriel'screation toryis notthe onewhich ppears nGenesis, ut theonegivenbyPlato intheTimaeus.s

4 B. Jowett,ThedialoguesofPlato (3rd ed.; Oxford,1892), III, 333.' W. F. Warner, The universe s picturedn Milton's Paradise lost (New York, 1915),pp. 50 ft.,points out that the passage wide is throughthe pole. Raphael descends onthe polar winds (V, 269), and in At a vacationexercise, 1. 3-35, Milton says:Such where the deep transportedmindmay soareAbove thewheeling poles, and at Heav'ns doreLook in....6 The golden chain was a classical tradition,going back to Homer. Milton mentionsit in II, 1004-6, quoted above, but in the passage under discussion he converts it intoJacob's ladder.7Aristotle added a ninth sphere, or primummobile, o Plato's eight,and still otherswere added later.'E. C. Baldwin, Milton and Plato's Timaeus, PMLA, XXXV (1920), 210-17,points out that the creation by an orderingof chaos is Platonic. The separation of chaosinto thefourelements,and thereduction oftheelementsto ordercomes from he Timaeus;but thecreationofthestars and heavens out ofan Ethereal quintessence is Aristotelian,at least in name.




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354 JOSEPHINE WATERS BENNETTEvidently oththe Timaeus nd the Visionof Er were n Milton'smind whenhe wrotethispassage,and it seemsprobablethat bothcontributedo his cosmological onception. f so, it mayhave beenfrom he Timaeusthat he took his notion hat the universewas sur-rounded ya solidshell, rsphere; lthough uch an idea wascurrentin ancient imes.9Plato says, n theTimaeus, hat the Creator madethe worldn the form f a globe,round s from lathe..... This hefinishedff,making he surface mooth ll roundformanyreasons. '0Ficino, hestandard ommentatorn Plato in Milton'sday, saysinhiscommentarynthispassage, Vertigium,utem, d est,coelum xAdamanterursus, lijsque materijs, cilicet astris non solum fixis.'12Milton'swholementalpicture ftheuniverse s a globe uspendedfromHeavenbya golden hain-a globewhich s a shell nclosinghenineenfoldedphears -is a classicalone,although ertain lementsin theconception re peculiar.His locationofHeaven and Hell out-sideofthe universewas notunprecedented;nd thechaoswhich ur-roundshisuniverse s borrowed rom he atomists.His indebtednessto Plato lies,not in thesefeatures, ut in thepictorialdeviceofthejourneyon theoutsideoftheuniverse o an opening hroughwhichthetraveler ooksdown, longtheaxis, ndsees a passage throughllthespheres o earthat the center.If werecognizehatMiltonhad Plato's Visionof Er inmindwhenhe described atan's journey,what he has to say ofLimbo takes on*A. H. Gilbert, The outside shell of Milton's world, SP, XX (1923), 444-47, dis-cusses themedieval sourcesofthis dea. F. R. Johnson chap. ii) sketches the astronomical

background of the idea. Lucian, On sacrificesWorks,Loeb ed., III, 163 f.), says heavenis bronze on the outside we learn fromHomer. When one climbs over the edge ard upon the back it is brighter nd more light than on earth and thereare the houses of thegods. Pliny (Natural history,rans. John Bostock and H. T. Riley (London: Bohn, 1855],ii. 2, 3) says that the world is a perfectglobe. He speaks of us who are in the interior,and asserts that the figures f the constellations are impressedon this globe and its sur-face is not perfectlypolished like the eggs of birds, as some celebrated authors assert.'Milton's idea of a chaos outside of the shell of the universe is Lucretian or atomic,ratherthanPlatonic. Both Plato and Aristotle ay that all ofchaos was used in themakingof the universe, nd nothingwas leftover. Eusebius (Evangelicae praeparationis,xv. 38, 42)cites Parmenides, Leucippus, Democritus, and Empedocles for deas about a wall, or solidboundaryof the universe.10Jowett, II, 452.11 icino was the Jowett of the sixteenthand seventeenthcenturies. His commentarywas printedboth with his translationand separately, and even withotherpeople's trans-1 tions and with the Greek text.12Opera divini Platonis omnia (Basle, 1532), p. 659.




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MILTON'S USE OF THE VISION OF ER 355freshignificance.t has beenpointedutthatMilton's imbo wesits name to medievaltheology,'3nd its satireto Ariosto,'4 ut themedievalimbowas situatednthebordersfHell, ndAriostouthisParadise fFoolson themoon, hileMilton's imbo s ocated nthe backside rbottomfthe olidoutside hell ftheuniverse.Letus turn ackto Satan's first rrival ponthesphere ftheuniverse:Meanwhile pon hefirmpacousGlobeOfthis oundWorld, hose irstonvex ividesThe uminousnferiorrbs, nclos'd

FromChaos nd th'inroadfDarknessld,Satan lighted alks: a Globe arrffIt seem'd, ow eems boundlessontinentDark,waste,ndwild, nderhefrownfNightStarlessxpos'd,ndever-threatningtormsOfChaos lustringound,nclementkie;.. . [III,418-26].To thisplacewillcome thesoulsofthosewhodie infolly.Theywillrisethroughhepassageopening hroughll ofthespheres o earth,and whentheycome to theoutside helloftheuniverseSaintPetertHeav'nsWicketeemsTo wait hemwith isKeys, ndnow t footOfHeav'ns scent heyift hir eet,whenoeA violentrosswind romither oastBlows hemransverseen housandeagues wryIntothedevious ir; ...Allthese pwhirledloftFlyo'rethebacksideftheWorld arrffIntoa Limboarge ndbroad,ince alldTheParadise fFools,.... [III, 484-96].The place is described s a vast,windyplain:Herewalk'd heFiend t largenspacious ield.Aswhen Vulturn mausbred.... lights n thebarrenplainesOfSericana,whereChineses riveWith ailsandWind hir anieWaggonsight:So onthiswindieea ofLand, heFiendWalk'dup and down ... [III, 430-41].13 Milton's poeticalworks, d. D. Masson (London, 1890), III, 432 n. The idea ofsuch alimbo is to be found n English literaturefrom heMiddle English period onward.14Orlando furioso, XXXIV, 73-86. See Paradise lost, ed. A. W. Verity (Cambridge,1929), note on III, 444 ff.




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MILTON'S USE OF THE VISION OF ER 357comeup throughheopening elowand see theopening bove (whichis thegateofHeaven), thatMilton makesthe udgment f God falluponfools. Andnow aint eter t Heav'nsWicketeemsTo wait hemwith isKeys, nd now tfootOfHeav'ns scent heyift heir eet,....whensuddenly hey re blown way intoLimbo.Milton'saccountoftheoccupants f Limbo fills he sameplace inhis description f Satan's journeyas the judgment nd purgatoryscenefills nPlato. In making he substitution iltonmayhavebeenfollowing suggestion erivedfrom Ficino's commentary n thispassage in Plato. Ficinosays:Themeadow,nwhichouls scendingnddescendingestfor while,is insomemiddle egion etween he owerworld ndtheheavens,nd ncharactert s between good nd an evil tate, nd tsconditionsbetweenbliss ndmisery,t is describedike imbo ntheair[limboimilisnairedesignatus].ere ttendoulswhichn formerife admutualcquaintanceand nthenext hey ecognizeachother. ikewisensuch meadowesidelongesthe ouls,ccordingo thePlatonists,f hosewhodie n nfancy.'7Ficino links the mysterious lace, ormeadow,visitedby Er withthemedievalLimbo,notonly nnamebutalso bythepresence hereofthe souls of nfants.'sTwo importanthanges re madebyMilton nthestructure fthePlatonicvision. He notonlyreduces he four penings o two,buthecombineswhat is said of the openings n the first cene withtheopening t the spindleofNecessity n Plato's secondscene. In thefirst cene Plato mentions woopenings in theHeaven above andtwo leadingdownto earth. In the second scene,at the spindleofNecessity, e merelymentions he ends ofthechains ofHeaven letdownfrom bove and theviewdownthrough he whorls. Miltoncombines he two magesputtinghe Gate ofHeav'n at theaxisoftheuniverse:Direct gainstwhich p'ndfromeneath,Just 'retheblissfuleatofParadise,

A passage own oth'Earth,passagewide,... [III, 526-28].17Translated fromFicino's Opera omnia (Paris, 1641), II, 388b.,sMost medieval writersrelegatedthe souls ofunbaptized infantsto Limbo.




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358 JOSEPHINE WATERS BENNETTExcept forthe consolidation fopenings, nd the substitution ftheMiltonicLimbo, ocatedat thepointwhere atan firstrrived, orPlato's purgatory,ocatedsomewhere elow the mysterious lacewhereEr first rrived, he ourney fSatan follows eryclosely hepattern f theVision of Er. Both beginwithan account of a plainwhere oulssojournbetweenHeaven and earth, plainor meadowwhich s alsobetweenHeaven and Hell. Bothdescribe journey nd asecond scenewhich nvolves he chainbywhich heuniverse s sus-pendedfromHeaven; this secondscene s lighted romHeaven, andcenters bout an openingwhichprovides view downthrough heconcentricpheres o earthat thecenter.The parallel s interesting,otso muchbecause tadds considerablyto thebodyofmaterialwhichMiltonhas been shown o havederivedfromPlato, as because it seems to illustrate he workings f hisimagination.The geography fthe VisionofEr, clarifiedy thecos-mology ftheTimaeusand ofAristotle,merges romMilton'smindas a clear-cut nd definite attern n whicheverydetail is fullyvisualized and logicallyworkedout. The visionaryqualitywhichkeepsPlato's Er intherealm fmyth nd dream sgone nMilton. Initsplacewe have clarity, nd a vast, orderly randeurwhich oses inspiritual ignificanceutgains nscenic nd dramatic ffect.Oncethesimilarityetween hetwo ourneyshas beenrecognized,it seems naturalenough hat Milton shoulduse as the model forhiscosmic ourney hemostfamous nd mostfrequentlymitated lassi-cal accountofsuch a journey.EVANSTON, ILLINOIS

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milton's use of plato's myth of er

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