598. ~pillared firmament~. The firmament (Lat. _firmus_, firm or solid) is here regarded as the roof of the earth and supported on pillars. The ancients believed the stars to be fixed in the solid firmament: comp. _Par. Reg._ iv. 55; also _Wint. Tale_, ii. l. 100, "If I mistake In those foundations which I build upon, The centre is not big enough to bear A schoolboy's top." 602. ~for~, as regards. ~let ... girt~, though he be surrounded. 603. ~grisly legions~. 'Grisly,' radically the same as _grue-some_ = horrible, causing terror. In _Par. Lost_, iv. 821, Satan is called "the grisly king." 'Legions' is here a trisyllable. 604. ~sooty flag of Acheron~. Acheron, at first the name of a river of the lower world, came to be used as a name for the whole of the lower world generally. Todd quotes from P. Fletcher's _Locusts_ (1627): "All hell run out and sooty flags display." 605. ~Harpies and Hydras~. The Harpies (lit. 'spoilers') were unclean monsters, being birds with the heads of maidens, with long claws and gaunt faces. _Hydras_, here used as a general name for monstrous water-serpents (Gk. _hydōr_, water); the name was first given to the nine-headed monster slain by Hercules. See _Son._ xv. 7, "new rebellions raise Their _Hydra_ heads"; the epithet 'hydra-headed' being applied to a rebellion, an epidemic, or other evil that seems to gain strength from every endeavour to repress it. 607. ~return his purchase back~, _i.e._ 'give up his spoil,' or (as in the MS.) 'release his new-got prey.' To purchase (Fr. _pour-chasser_) originally meant to pursue eagerly, hence to acquire by fair means or foul: it thus came to mean 'to steal' (as frequently in Spenser, Jonson, and Shakespeare), and 'to buy' (its current sense). See Trench, _Study of Words_; _Hen. V._ iii. 2. 45, "They will steal anything, and call it _purchase_"; i. _Hen. IV._ ii. l. 101, "thou shalt have share in our _purchase_." 609. ~venturous~, ready to venture. See note, l. 79. 610. ~yet~, nevertheless. The meaning is: '_Though_ thy courage is useless, _yet_ I love it.' ~emprise~: an obsolete form (common in Spenser) of _enterprise_. It is literally that which is undertaken; hence 'readiness to undertake'; hence 'daring.' 611. ~can do thee little stead~, _i.e._ can help thee little. _Stead_, both as noun and verb, is obsolete except in certain phrases, _e.g._ 'to stand in good stead,' and in composition, _e.g._ _stead_fast, home_stead_, in_stead_, Hamp_stead_, etc. Its strict sense is place or position: comp. _Il Pens._ 3, "How little you _bested_." 612. ~Far other arms~, _i.e._ very different arms. 'Other' has here its radical sense of 'different,' and can therefore be modified by an adverb. 615. ~unthread~, loosen. Comp. _Temp._ iv. l. 259, "Go charge my goblins that they grind their joints With dry convulsions, shorten up their sinews With aged cramps." 617. ~As to make this relation~, _i.e._ as to be able to tell this.