但可悲的事实是，出于对该司机父亲打击报复的恐惧心理，校方竟然一片沉默，并迫使学生也缄默其口。

But the pathetic fact is that, for fear of revenge by the driver's father, the university authorities remained reticent and forced students into reticence.

youdao

Milton is narrating or representing the process by which they are silenced. They're rendered speechless or dumb, and the poem effects this process in order to give someone else an opportunity to speak.

弥尔顿在叙述或描绘这个,他们缄默的过程，他们都变得沉默或哑巴了，同时诗歌也影响了这个过程,为了使另外某个人有机会开口说话。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选