[Milton-L] That fault I take not on me: reply to Derek Wood

[Derek Wood]

We know that they will not take this opportunity either, but does our
knowledge redound to Samson's discredit?  He would surely answer "That fault
I take not on me. . ."  He did his part; let Israel now do theirs.  This
does indeed have resonances with post Restoration England, but the parallel
does not, I think, point to the pacifist or quietist conclusion that Derek
wants to find. We should also remember that when the Israelites were
eventually liberated, it was by violence.  David was not a pacifist--as
Harapha's son learned to his cost.
, John Leonard

Hi, John,
 
Yes, this is a great crux in reading Milton's later politics. "Quietist" for me means "abandoning the world of the senses for mystical withdrawal." But even in a less pristine sense it means giving up political action for a state of quiescence (and acceptance). In 1671, in  the three great, last poems and in the latest prose, he clearly does not abandon strong political views, and still bravely though carefully expresses them: he is not "quietist." He is again prepared to "stand and wait." There are a great deal of political implications in his latest work. But he is disillusioned like Samson with the Israelites (the English.). He is where  Samson was when Israel "not at all considered deliverance offered." The English were sinful, inept backsliders. They were not ready or deserving of freedom --  and violent rebellion in their cause was a waste of the lives of the Saints. He was right of course: no David came to the English rescue., not soon or ever. They almost came to be ruled by a Catholic king!. Christ in PR rejects a violent uprising against Caesar. He learned in that "fire that turns knowledge into wisdom" many of the principles he had voiced but not realised. As Keats said, "The axioms of philosophy are not axioms till we have proved them on our pulses:"
                                    
,          "For what can war, but endless war still breed,
            Till truth, and right from violence be freed." 
 
As Freeeman writes in Milton and the Martial Muse : . "Paradise Lost speaks against war with such learning, complexity, and humaneness that it still towers over other statements in our long Western tradition." I think so too.
 
Best wishes,
Derek Wood. 

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[i] <https://webmail.stfx.ca/exchange/dwood/Drafts/RE:%20[Milton-L]%20That%20fault%20I%20take%20not%20on%20me:%20reply%20to%20Derek%20Wood.EML/1_text.htm#_ednref1> . 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Derek N. C. Wood,
Senior Research Professor and Shastri Fellow,,
St. Francis Xavier University,
ANTIGONISH,    NS,
Canada,    B2G 2W5
 
e-mail: dwood at stfx.ca
phone: 902-867-2328 (w)
           902-863-5433 (h)
fax:      902-867-5400
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