"But knowledge is as food, and needs no less / Her temperance over appetite, to know / In measure what the mind may well contain; / Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns / Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind."
— Milton, John (1608-1674)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Samuel Simmons
Date
1667; 2nd ed. in 1674
Metaphor
"But knowledge is as food, and needs no less / Her temperance over appetite, to know / In measure what the mind may well contain; / Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns / Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind."
Metaphor in Context
Thus Adam his illustrious guest besought:
And thus the Godlike Angel answered mild.
This also thy request, with caution asked,
Obtain; though to recount almighty works
What words or tongue of Seraph can suffice,
Or heart of man suffice to comprehend?
Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve
To glorify the Maker, and infer
Thee also happier, shall not be withheld
Thy hearing; such commission from above
I have received, to answer thy desire
Of knowledge within bounds; beyond, abstain
To ask; nor let thine own inventions hope
Things not revealed, which the invisible King,
Only Omniscient, hath suppressed in night;
To none communicable in Earth or Heaven:
Enough is left besides to search and know.
But knowledge is as food, and needs no less
Her temperance over appetite, to know
In measure what the mind may well contain;
Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns
Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind.
(Bk. VII, ll. 109-130)
And thus the Godlike Angel answered mild.
This also thy request, with caution asked,
Obtain; though to recount almighty works
What words or tongue of Seraph can suffice,
Or heart of man suffice to comprehend?
Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve
To glorify the Maker, and infer
Thee also happier, shall not be withheld
Thy hearing; such commission from above
I have received, to answer thy desire
Of knowledge within bounds; beyond, abstain
To ask; nor let thine own inventions hope
Things not revealed, which the invisible King,
Only Omniscient, hath suppressed in night;
To none communicable in Earth or Heaven:
Enough is left besides to search and know.
But knowledge is as food, and needs no less
Her temperance over appetite, to know
In measure what the mind may well contain;
Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns
Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind.
(Bk. VII, ll. 109-130)
Categories
Provenance
HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Originally working with online edition based on H. J. Todd's 1809 edition in twelve books: published by the Academic Text Service of Stanford University, 1996.
See Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books by John Milton. Licensed and entred according to order. (London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker under Creed Church neer Aldgate; and by Robert Boulter at the Turks Head in Bishopsgate-street; and Matthias Walker, under St. Dunstons Church in Fleet-street, 1667). <Link to ESTC>
See also Paradise Lost. A Poem in Twelve Books. The Author John Milton. The Second Edition Revised and Augmented by the same Author. (London: Printed by S. Simmons next door to the Golden Lion in Aldersgate-street, 1674). <Link to ESTC> <Link to LION>
Reading Alastair Fowler's Longman edition: John Milton, Paradise Lost (London and New York, 1971).
See Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books by John Milton. Licensed and entred according to order. (London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker under Creed Church neer Aldgate; and by Robert Boulter at the Turks Head in Bishopsgate-street; and Matthias Walker, under St. Dunstons Church in Fleet-street, 1667). <Link to ESTC>
See also Paradise Lost. A Poem in Twelve Books. The Author John Milton. The Second Edition Revised and Augmented by the same Author. (London: Printed by S. Simmons next door to the Golden Lion in Aldersgate-street, 1674). <Link to ESTC> <Link to LION>
Reading Alastair Fowler's Longman edition: John Milton, Paradise Lost (London and New York, 1971).
Date of Entry
08/19/2003
Date of Review
01/28/2004
