Standing in the Lethe of Milton's hell is none other than the classical figure, the figure from classical mythology, Medusa.

站在弥尔顿笔下的忘川河畔正是,那个源自神话的经典人物美杜莎。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选

This structure -- and this is something that's important for Milton to convey to us -- is genuinely beautiful. It's not entirely clear that Milton wants us to think of Pandemonium as unambiguously evil.

这个结构是弥尔顿认为应该传达给我们的,很重要的事，它实在是很美，尚不清楚弥尔顿,是否想让我们决得这地狱是绝对的邪恶。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选

You could think of Medusa as Milton's counter-muse.

你可以把美杜莎看作是弥尔顿最重要的缪斯女神。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选

Now it goes without saying that Milton has not been up to this point writing an allegorical poem. The creatures moving and speaking have been actual creations of the deity, with the strange exception of Medusa.

不用说，弥尔顿从未,写过寓言诗，这些移动着的说着话的生灵,是由神创造的，除了美杜莎这个奇怪的例外。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选

Milton has dug up a gem from the pages of The Iliad, and this gem has something like a Medusa effect on the poem or perhaps on us as readers. Time almost seems to stop when we begin appreciating this image solely on aesthetic grounds.

弥尔顿从《伊利亚特》中挖出了一块瑰宝，这块瑰宝对于诗或我们读者起得作用,如同美杜莎一样，在我们只欣赏着,精美绝伦的地面上的场景时，时间仿佛停止。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选