Milton: Samson Agonistes

Excerpt from Samson AgonistesEach of these periods has its own essential characteristics; each has its own history. We are here concerned only with the last. At its commencement Milton was in his fifty-fourth year. For nearly a quarter of a century he had been in the van of contemporary history. He. Had abandoned poetry and polite letters. He had dedicated himself entirely to the service of his country and of his cause. Controversy after controversy had engaged him, and when he was not actually in the arena the duties of a responsible public post had left him little leisure for loftier avocations. The death of Cromwell in September, 1658, ended this period of prosperous activity. In little more than a year the wreck of the Puritans was complete. The Restoration found Milton under an accumulation of misfortunes such as have rarely pressed simultaneously on one man Every object for which he had lived and laboured had been de feated. The Republic was in ruins; the principles which he had vindicated with so much passionate eloquence, and which were dearer to him than his own heart's blood, had lost all their life and efficacy. Puritanism had become a its shrines had been overturned; its gospel was a jest, and the Kingdom of the Saints was the prey of an obscene and impious rabble. For a while his life was in jeopardy. Discontent and misery reigned in his home.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.