Milton's quoting Dionysius Alexandrinus in this passage.

弥尔顿在这段中引用狄奥尼修斯的话。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选

Merritt Hughes usefully notes this in one of the notes at the bottom of the page, that Milton in that line, "things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhyme," Milton's actually alluding to the opening of another romance epic.

梅里特修斯发现,在这页最下面有一条笔记，显示弥尔顿写到，“在《散文和韵律》中都未被人们尝试过的事“,事实上弥尔顿是暗指另一部浪漫史诗的开头。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选