Milton's Eve and the Neoplatonic Graces

Some of Milton's classical allusions are stylistically supplemental, but more often than not they function with illuminating homology. Milton's description of Eve as Queen of the Graces is one example of what might appear a passing simple detail:With Goddess-like demeanor forth she went; Not unattended, for on her as Queen A pomp of winning Graces waited still.But on closer reading, one discovers that the allusion embraces large themes, especially when seen through the lenses of Neoplatonism. It is altogether apposite that Ficino regarded Venus, the symbol of love, as the mediatrix between God and man: ‘love is the perpetual knot and link of the universe: amor nodus perpetuus, et copula mundi.’ Following the precedent in Spenser of linking the Graces with flowers, the symbol of fruition, Milton identified the three Graces in L'Allegro (11-16) as the daughters of Venus.