your ears be true)
Beds of hyacinth and roses,
Where young Adonis oft reposes,
Waxing well of his deep wound, 1000
In slumber soft, and on the ground
Sadly sits the Assyrian queen.
But far above, in spangled sheen,
Celestial Cupid, her famed son, advanced
Holds his dear Psyche, sweet entranced
After her wandering labours long,
Till free consent the gods among
Make her his eternal bride,
And from her fair unspotted side
Two blissful twins are to be born, 1010
Youth and Joy; so Jove hath sworn.
But now my task is smoothly done,
I can fly, or I can run
Quickly to the green earth's end,
Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend,
And from thence can soar as soon
To the corners of the moon.
Mortals, that would follow me,
Love Virtue; she alone is free.
She can teach ye how to climb 1020
Higher than the sphery chime;
Or, if Virtue feeble were,
Heaven itself would stoop to her.

NOTES.

~discovers~, exhibits, displays. The usual sense of 'discover' is to find
out or make known, but in Milton and Shakespeare the prefix _dis-_ has
often the more purely negative force of _un-_: hence discover = uncover,
reveal. Comp.--

"Some high-climbing hill
Which to his eye _discovers_ unaware
The goodly prospect of some foreign land."

_Par. Lost_, iii. 546.

~Attendant Spirit descends~. The part of the attendant spirit was taken by
Lawes (see Introduction), who, in his prologue or opening speech,
explains who he is and on what errand he has been sent, hints at the
plot of the whole masque, and at the same time compliments the Earl in
whose honour the masque is being given (lines 30-36). In the ancient
classical drama the prologue was sometimes an outline of the plot,
sometimes an address to the audience, and sometimes introductory to the
plot. The opening of _Comus_ prepares the audience and also directly
addresses it (line 43). For the form of the epilogue in the actual
performance of the masque see note, l. 975-6.

1. ~starry threshold~, etc. Comp. Virgil: "The sire of gods and monarch of
men summons a council to the starry chamber" (_sideream in sedem_),
_Aen._ x. 2.

2. ~mansion~, abode. Trench points out that this word denotes strictly