[Milton-L] Haklyut, Plutarch, Sidney and the Osiris myth

[Horace Jeffery Hodges]

Interesting discussion on the scattering and collecting myth of Isis and Osiris.
 
As for the passage in Milton's Areopagitica, while it is obviously part of the interpretive tradition concerning this myth, I recall, however, wondering if the Gnostic myth lay in the background to Milton's thinking -- the scattering and regathering of the portion of Sophia lost in the world.
 
This raises the larger issue of possible Gnsstic influence upon Milton. I can never think of that great realm of Chaos in Paradise Lost without wondering if Milton was influenced by Manichaean views on the eternity of darkness in conflict with the light.
 
Has anyone written on this sort of thing in Milton?
 
Jeffery Hodges
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