As I see it, the official function of this simile is to give us a sense of the size of Satan's shield and thereby to give us a sense of the size of Satan himself.

在我看来，这个比喻的正式的作用,是要给我们展现出撒旦的屏障的规模,因此来展现撒旦自身的伟岸。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选

It's as if a gap has opened up, a gap between the official argument of and the rhetorical figures or the metaphors, Milton's elaborately construed language, which he uses to illustrate that argument.

这就像是一个鸿沟在专著中的正式论点,和运用修辞和比喻的部分之间打开了，弥尔顿精心地解释和分析他用来，阐述这个论点的语言。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选