[**F2:I think in these notes the first number in each reference (page number) is bold, and the second is not. F1 has not marked them bold, and I am tempted to leave them, particularly as it would make the text version hard to read. They can easily be bolded by regexp in PP if required for HTML - hope that's OK.]
NOTES
BOOK I
1:1. Arms and the man I sing. Compare the following opening lines of great epics:—
"O goddess, sing the wrath of Peleus' son,
Achilles; sing the deadly wrath that brought
Woes numberless upon the Greeks."
—Iliad, Bryant's Trans.
"Tell me, O muse, of that sagacious man
Who, having overthrown the sacred town
Of Ilium, wandered far and visited
The capitals of many nations, learned
The customs of their dwellers, and endured
Great sufferings on the deep."
—Homer, Odyssey.
"Of love and ladies, knights and arms, I sing,
Of courtesies and many a daring feat."
—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso.
"I sing the pious arms and chief, who freed
The Sepulchre of Christ from thrall profane;
Much did he toil in thought and much in deed,
Much in the glorious enterprise sustain."
—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered.
"Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
Sing, heavenly muse."
—Milton, Paradise Lost.
