"Which he to grace his tributary gods
By course commits to several government,
And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns,
And wield their little tridents, but this isle
The greatest, and the best of all the main
He quarters to his blue-haired deities,
A noble peer of mickle trust, and power
Has in his charge, with tempered awe to guide
And old, and haughty nation proud in arms" (24-33).
In his first speech of the masque, the Attendant Spirit describes Neptune and Jove's dividing up of their respective territories of land and sea, to be governed by local "tributary gods" and "blue-haired deities." Here, Milton subtly introduces the audience to alternative structures of government, praising the concept of local authority figures rather than a single absolute ruler. This quotation also serves as a form of flattery for John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater, whose appointment to the position of Lord President of Wales (the "haughty nation" of which the Spirit speaks), was the occasion for the first performance of Comus.
"Meanwhile, welcome joy, and feast,
Midnight shout, and revelry,
Tipsy dance, and jollity.
Braid your locks with rosy twine
Dropping odours, dropping wine.
Rigour now has gone to bed,
And Advice with scrupulous head,
Strick Age, and sour Severity,
With their grave saws in slumber lie" (102-110).
In his first appearance in the masque, Comus encourages his debauched followers to engage in a mirthful party of food, drink, and carnality. He celebrates the "slumber" of virtues like advice, age, rigor, and severity, associating nightfall with the freedom to indulge. Here, Milton uses trochaic tetrameter rhyming couplets to communicate the lighthearted cadence of Comus's song.
"Shepherd I take thy word,
And trust thy honest-offered courtesy,
Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds
With smoky rafters, than in tap'stry halls
And courts of princes, where it first was named,
And yet is most pretended" (322-327).
After Comus deceives the Lady into thinking he is a shepherd, she agrees to follow him to his house to wait for her brothers. Before they depart, she remarks that his courteous behavior is more closely associated with commoners than princes. Here, Milton uses the Lady as a mouthpiece to lodge a criticism of the court, suggesting it has become overrun by corruption and no longer cares about benevolent and effective governance.
"But Beauty like the fair Hesperian tree
Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard
Of dragon-watch with unenchanted eye,
To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit
From the rash hand of bold Incontinence" (393-397).
In this quotation, the Second Brother expresses his concern over his sister's traveling alone through the woods. He notes that her beauty demands that she be doubly protected, as it is precisely what makes her most vulnerable. Here, Milton draws a parallel between Comus and the Second Brother. Although each possesses wildly different motivations, they both associate femininity with weakness. This assumption, the text will demonstrate, fails to consider the power of virtue and chastity in protecting the vulnerable.
"'Tis chastity, my brother, chastity;
She that has that, is clad in complete steel,
And like a quivered nymph with arrows keen
May trace huge forests, and unharboured heaths,
Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds,
Where through the sacred rays of chastity,
No savage fierce, bandit, or mountaineer
Will dare to soil her virgin purity" (420-427).
When the Second Brother expresses his concern for their sister, the Elder Brother explains that they should not worry because their sister possesses a hidden strength in the form of chastity. Here, the Elder Brother likens chastity to a soldier's armor with an almost supernatural protective quality. In so doing, he helps establish one of the masque's major themes—that virtue is an active and deployable power one can use to combat sin and corruption.
"I'll find him out,
And force him to restore his purchase back,
Or drag him by the curls, to a foul death,
Cursed as his life" (606-609).
After the Attendant Spirit informs the two brothers of their sister's capture, the Elder Brother vows to free her from Comus. However, in this quotation the Elder Brother announces that he intends to rely on violence and weaponry to defeat Comus, something the Attendant Spirit tells him will be ineffective against the sorcerer's charms. Here, the Elder Brother demonstrates hypocrisy in the way he muses over feminine strength in virtue but instinctively turns to violence under pressure.
"Fool, do not boast,
Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind
With all thy charms, although this corporeal rind
Thou hast immanacled, while heaven sees good" (662-665).
Back at Comus's palace, he brags about having deceived the Lady—now immobilized in his magic chair—into following him. Her response introduces the notion that while the body can be imprisoned on earth, one's mind always remains free if one is virtuous and devoted to God. Here, Milton hints at his own advocacy of individual liberty and devotion to God above earthly powers like kings and princes.
"If all the world
Should in a pet of temperance feed on pulse,
Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze,
The all-giver would be unthanked, would be unpraised,
Not half his riches known, and yet despised,
And we should serve him as a grudging master,
As a penurious niggard of his wealth" (720-726).
The Lady accuses Comus of sin and gluttony, to which Comus responds with this quotation. Here, he suggests that if temperance governed the world, people would become virtual slaves to a God who withholds luxury and excess from them. This quotation underscores Comus's debauched way of life, but it is also an early incarnation of a similar argument that Satan makes in Milton's epic Paradise Lost. Both Comus and Satan are interested in portraying God as a tyrant in order to justify their own power on earth and in hell.
"If every just man that now pines with want
Had but a moderate and beseeming share
Of that which lewdly pampered luxury
Now heaps upon some few with vast excess,
Nature's full blessings would be well-dispensed
In unsuperfluous even proportion" (768-773).
In response to Comus's argument in favor of indulgence, the Lady presents an image of social welfare based on temperance and moderation. Here, she argues for an equitable share of resources for each "just" person, and condemns those who take too much for themselves. She criticizes Comus, to be sure, but she also serves once again as a mouthpiece for Milton himself, who was often critical of the English clergy for being corrupt and self-serving.
"Mortals that would follow me,
Love Virtue, she alone is free,
She can teach ye how to climb
Higher than the sphery chime;
Or if Virtue feeble were,
Heaven itself would stoop to her" (1018-1023).
These are the final lines of the masque, spoken by the Attendant Spirit as he ascends back to the celestial realm. He encourages anyone who wishes to transcend in kind to follow the example set by the Lady in the masque and heed "virtue" above all else. The performance ends by suggesting that only through devotion to God can one remain truly free on earth, an assertion that adopts the masque genre for a Christian context.
