46. The transformation by Bacchus of the treacherous Tuscan sailors into dolphins belongs to the established myths of that god. But Milton exercises his right as a poet to add to the classic story whatever suits his purposes. 48. After the Tuscan mariners transformed; a Latinism, meaning, after the transformation of the Tuscan mariners. 50. fell: chanced to land. For the story of Circe, see the Odyssey X. 58. Understand that no such distinct character as Comus belongs to the received mythology. Milton is a myth-maker. 59. frolic is used as an adjective, as in L'Allegro 18. 60. the Celtic and Iberian fields. The god traversed Gaul and Spain, on his way to Britain. 61. ominous: abounding in mysterious signs of danger. 65. His orient liquor. See line 673 of this poem. 72. Note that only the countenance is changed. 87. Well knows to still the wild winds. The poem moves throughout in the realm of romance. The swain Thyrsis is in his own character a practitioner of magic. 88. nor of less faith. Thyrsis has just been described as a person of great skill. 90. Likeliest: most likely to be. 93. The transition from the stately mood of the Attendant Spirit's exordium to the noisy exhilaration of Comus is marked by appropriate changes in the verse. Comus speaks in a lyric strain, and his tone is exultant. When he comes to serious business, in line 145, he also employs blank-verse. The lyric lines, 93-144, rhyme in couplets, and vary in length, most of them having four accents, while some have five. The four-accent lines vary between seven and eight syllables, many of them dropping the initial light syllable, or anakrusis (Auftakt). These seven-syllable lines have a trochaic effect, but are to be scanned as iambic, the standard rhythm of the poem. The star that bids the shepherd fold. So Collins, in his ode To Evening,--"For when thy folding-star arising shows His paly circlet." See also Measure for Measure IV 2 218. 96. doth allay: doth cool. 97. The epithet steep is applied to the ocean, though really it is the course of the downward-moving sun that is steep. 99-101. Milton uses pole, as the poets were wont to do, to mean the sky; and the passage means,--the sun, moving about the earth in his oblique course, now shines upon that part of the heavens which, when it is daylight to us, is in shadow. 105. with rosy twine; with twined, or wreathed, roses. 108-109. Advice ... Age ... Severity. For these abstract terms substitute their concretes. 110. their grave saws. So Hamlet I 5 100, "all saws of books." 116. in wavering morrice. See M. N. Dream II 1 98; All's Well II 2 25. 118. the dapper elves. _Dapper_ is akin to the German _tapfer_, but with a very different connotation. 124. Love: the Latin Amor, the Greek Eros, and our Cupid. 129. Dark-veiled Cotytto was a Thracian goddess, whose worship was connected with licentious frivolity. 133. makes one blot of all the air. Compare line 204 of this poem.