SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGIES WRITTEN in Latin, of the kind to which De Doctrina belongs, could bring in classical allusions at will, because they were normal in a Latin discourse, and useful locally to assist an argument or to sound an educated grace-note. But they deserve comment within Milton's theology for two reasons. First, they are few, despite his exceptional classical attainments and his masterly appropriation of pagan antiquity for other genres. Secondly, however, we might expect there to be none at all, in a work which insists that only scripture is to count as evidence: pagan witness should cut no ice. Putting the two comments together, therefore, may help us to understand his mind at its work in this his “dearest possession,” quibus melius aut pretiosius nihil habeo.

By examining the pagan allusions we may see if they have special effect, and if so, what sorts of effect; also to what extent they are involuntary or incidental, or reveal something idiosyncratic.

Greeks outnumber Romans, and on the whole are more striking. They are more diverse too, taken from more centuries and genres, prose and verse alike. They comprise: Aristotle (five times), Euripides (twice), Homer (twice), Plutarch, and Thucydides. Rome contributes the three main Augustan poets, Virgil (twice), Ovid, and Horace. Being more numerous, the Greek writers are taken first, in order of frequency. Among Romans, the reliance on poets hints that for Milton they stood out from the staple or medium of theological Latin prose.

Aristotle

As a general point, first, we note that Aristotle is cited, in Latin, not quoted in his original Greek (like the Bible itself). Presumably his works were normally read in translation, being familiar, so to speak the air which humanists like Milton breathed, for thought forms, distinctions, and method.

Coming to particulars, in I.2 [MS 15] we find Aristotle cited for being wrong or illjudged (“non ita commode”). Milton says: Hinc non ità commodè, actus purus, ut solet ex Aristotele, dici videtur Deus; Sic enim agere nihil poterit, nisi quod agit; idque necessario; cum tamen omnipotens sit liberrimèque agat.