Milton makes a covenant with the reader. It's as if he's signing a contract because he's asking for credit here.

他与读者签了契约，就好像,因为他要借款所以签了份合同一样。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选

The sovereign is described by Hobbes as an artificial person by which he means the sovereign is the creation of the contract or the covenant that brought this office into being.

霍布斯把君主描述为一个,现今意义上的法人,也就是说君主的权力,是由某种意义上的合同,或说是契约而形成的。

耶鲁公开课 - 政治哲学导论课程节选