268. ~Pan or Sylvan~: see l. 176: also _Il Pens._ 134, "shadows brown that Sylvan loves," and _Arc._ 106, "Though Syrinx your Pan's mistress were." Sylvanus, the god of fields and forests, as denoted by his name which is corrupted from Silvan (Lat. _silva_, a wood). 269. ~Forbidding~, etc. These lines recall the language of _Arcades_, in which also a lady is complimented as "a _deity_," "a _rural_ Queen," and "mistress of yon princely shrine" in the land of Pan. There is a reference also to her protecting the woods through her servant, the Genius: _Arc._ 36-53, 91-95. 271. ~ill is lost~. A Latin idiom (as Keightley points out) = _male perditur_: Prof. Masson, however, would regard it as equivalent to "there is little loss in losing." 273. ~extreme shift~; last resource. Comp. l. 617. 274. ~my severed company~: a condensed expression = the companions separated from me. Comp. l. 315: this figure of speech is called Synecdoche. 277. ~What chance~, etc. In lines 277-290 we have a reproduction of that form of dialogue employed in Greek tragedy in which question and answer occupy alternate lines: it is called _stichomythia_, and is admirable when there is a gradual rise in excitement towards the end (as in the _Supplices_ of Euripides). In _Samson Agonistes_, which is modelled on the Greek pattern, Milton did not employ it. 278. An alliterative line. 279. ~near ushering~, closely attending. To usher is to introduce (Lat. _ostium_, a door). 284. ~twain~: thus frequently used as a predicate. It is also used after its substantive as in _Lyc._ 110, "of metals _twain_," and as a substantive. 285. ~forestalling~, anticipating. 'Forestall,' originally a marketing term, is to buy up goods before they have been displayed at a _stall_ in the market in order to sell them again at a higher price: hence 'to anticipate.' ~prevented~. 'Prevent,' now used in the sense of 'hinder,' seems in this line to have something of its older meaning, viz., to anticipate (in which case 'forestalling' would be proleptic). Comp. l. 362; _Par. Lost_, vi. 129, "half-way he met His daring foe, at this _prevention_ more Incensed." 286. ~to hit~. This is the gerundial infinitive after an adjective: comp. "good to eat," "deadly to hear," etc. 287. ~Imports their loss~, etc.: 'Apart from the present emergency, is the loss of them important?' 289. ~manly prime~, etc.: 'Were they in the prime of manhood, or were they merely youths?' With Milton the 'prime of manhood' is where 'youth' ends: comp. _Par. Lost_, xi. 245, "_prime_ in manhood where youth ended"; iii. 636, "a stripling Cherub he appears, Not of the prime, yet such as in his face Youth smiled celestial." Spenser has 'prime' = Spring. 290. ~Hebe~, the goddess of youth. "The down of manhood" had not appeared on the lips of the brothers.