e Spirit describes the Earth as it appears to those
immortal shapes whose presence he has just quitted.

6. There are here two attributive clauses: "which men call Earth" and
"(in which) men strive," etc. ~low-thoughted care~; narrow-minded anxiety,
care about earthly things. Comp. the form of the adjective 'low-browed,'
_L'Alleg._ 8: both epithets are borrowed by Pope in his _Eloisa_.

7. This line is attributive to 'men.' ~pestered ... pinfold~, crowded
together in this cramped space, the Earth. _Pester_, which has no
connection with _pest_, is a shortened form of _impester_, Fr.
_empetrer_, to shackle a horse by the foot when it is at pasture. The
radical sense is that of clogging (comp. _Son._ xii. 1); hence of
crowding; and finally of annoyance or encumbrance of any kind. 'Pinfold'
is strictly an enclosure in which stray cattle are _pounded_ or shut up:
etymologically, the word = _pind-fold_, a corruption of _pound-fold_.
Comp. _impound_, sheep-_fold_, etc.

8. ~frail and feverish~. Comp. "life's fitful fever" (_Macbeth_, iii. 2.
23). This line, like several of the adjacent ones, is alliterative.

9. ~crown that Virtue gives~. This is Scriptural language: comp. _Rev._
iv. 4; 2 _Tim._ iv. 8, "Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of
righteousness."

10. ~this mortal change~. In Milton's MS. line 7 was followed by the
words, 'beyond the written date of mortal change,' _i.e._ beyond, or
after, man's appointed time to die. These words were struck out, but we
may suppose that the words 'mortal change' in line 10 have a similar
meaning. Milton frequently uses 'mortal' in the sense of 'liable to
death,' and hence 'human' as opposed to 'divine': the mortal change is
therefore 'the change which occurs to all human beings.' Comp. _Job_,
xiv. 14: "all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my
_change_ come": see also line 841. Prof. Masson takes it to mean 'this
mortal state of life,' as distinguished from a future state of
immortality. The Spirit uses 'this' as in line 8, in contrast with
'those,' line 2.

11. ~enthroned gods~, etc. In allusion to _Rev._ iv. 4, "And upon the
thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments;
and on their heads crowns of gold." Milton frequently speaks of the
inhabitants of heaven as _enthroned_. The accent here falls on the first
syllable of the word.

12. ~Yet some there be~, etc.: 'Although men are generally so exclusively
occupied with the car