‘that fierce democraty’: Athens in John Milton’s Paradise Regained, 1671
Look once more, ere we leave this specular mount, Westward, much nearer by south-west; behold Where on the Ægean shore a city stands, Built nobly, pure the air and light the soil— Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts And eloquence, native to famous wits Or hospitable, in her sweet recess, City of suburban,…