476. ~divine Philosophy~, _i.e._ such philosophy as is to be found in "the divine volume of Plato" (as Milton has called it). 477. ~crabbed~, sour or bitter: comp. crab-apple. _Crab_ (a shell-fish) and _crab_ (a kind of apple) are radically connected, both conveying the idea of scratching or pinching (Skeat). 478. ~Apollo's lute~: Apollo being the god of song and music. Comp. _Par. Reg._ i. 478-480; _L. L. L._ iv. 3. 342, "as sweet and musical As bright _Apollo's lute_, strung with his hair." 479. ~nectared sweets~. Nectar (Gk. νέκταρ, the drink of the gods) is repeatedly used by Milton to express the greatest sweetness: see l. 838; _Par. Lost_, iv. 333, "Nectarine fruits"; v. 306, 426. 482. ~Methought~: see note, l. 171. ~what should it be?~ This is a direct question about a past event, and means 'What was it likely to be?' "It seems to increase the emphasis of the interrogation, since a doubt about the past (time having been given for investigation) implies more perplexity than a doubt about the future" (Abbott, § 325). ~For certain~, _i.e._ for certain truth, certainly. 483. ~night-foundered~; benighted, lost in the darkness. Radically, 'to founder' is to go to the bottom (Fr. _fondrer_; Lat. _fundus_, the bottom), hence applied to ships; it is also applied to horses sinking in a slough. The compound is Miltonic (see _Par. Lost_, i. 204), and is sometimes stigmatised as meaningless; on the contrary, it is very expressive, implying that the brothers are swallowed up in night and have lost their way. 'Founder' is here used in the secondary sense of 'to be lost' or 'to be in distress.' 484. ~neighbour~. An adjective, as in line 576, and frequently in Shakespeare. Neighbour = nigh-boor, _i.e._ a peasant dwelling near. 487. ~Best draw~: we had best draw our swords. 489. ~Defence is a good cause~, etc., _i.e._ 'in defending ourselves we are engaged in a good cause, and may Heaven be on our side.' 490. ~That hallo~. We are to understand that the Attendant Spirit has halloed just before entering; this is shown by the stage-direction given in the edition of _Comus_ printed by Lawes in 1637: _He hallos; the Guardian Dæmon hallos again, and enters in the habit of a shepherd._ 491. ~you fall~, etc., _i.e._ otherwise you will fall on our swords. 493. ~sure~: see note, l. 246. 494. ~Thyrsis~, Like Lycidas, this name is common in pastoral poetry. In Milton's _Epitaphium Damonis_ it stands for Milton himself; in _Comus_ it belongs to Lawes, who now receives additional praise for his musical genius. In lines 86-88 the compliment is enforced by alliterative verses, and here by the aid of rhyme (495-512). Masson thinks that the poet, having spoken of the madrigals of Thyrsis, may have introduced this rhymed passage in order to prolong the feeling of Pastoralism by calling up the cadence of known English pastoral poems.