Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site sdcsla.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!talcott!panda!genrad!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcsla!west From: west@sdcsla.UUCP (Larry West) Newsgroups: net.books,net.sf-lovers Subject: Re: To Reign in Hell (I liked it) Message-ID: <873@sdcsla.UUCP> Date: Sun, 2-Jun-85 05:41:32 EDT Article-I.D.: sdcsla.873 Posted: Sun Jun 2 05:41:32 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 6-Jun-85 09:57:01 EDT References: <226@cbuxc.UUCP> <202@hyper.UUCP> Reply-To: west@sdcsla.UUCP (Larry West) Organization: UC San Diego: Institute for Cognitive Science Lines: 43 Xref: linus net.books:1798 net.sf-lovers:6781 In article <202@hyper.UUCP> brust@hyper.UUCP (Steven Brust) writes: >> Dennis L. McKiernan >> ...ihnp4!cbuxc!dim >> >> PS: Back in the dim recesses of my mind, I seem to remember >> that Milton drew upon but a single line in the Bible to >> weave his original tale. You see, in the elder days, >> Lucifer (light-bringer) was the name given to the >> morning star. And some biblical person (a king?) >> glanced up at the morning stars and espying Lucifer >> says something like, "O mighty Lucifer, how far thou hast >> fallen from heaven." The king(?) was simply refering >> to the nearness of the dawn, but Milton took this line >> and based the entire mythos of the heavenly revolt >> upon it... >> DLMcK > >Thanks. Your information is more complete than >mine. It is true that the above mentioned quote >is the way that Lucifer became associated with >Satan, but I didn't know that Milton was the >instrument of this. I had assumed the mistake >to have been made before his time. > -- SKZB Actually, I think this is a simplification of the story. Lucifer does indeed mean "light-bringer", and indeed was the name given to the "morning star". However, in the specific situation that the quote is from, it is refering to a nearby monarch (one who was dominating the Jews), one of whose titles was Lucifer, in the sense mentioned here. It was, however, impolitic to insult such a powerful neighbor directly. Reference: Asimov's Guide to the Old Testament. (Sorry, I don't have it at hand -- otherwise I'd be more specific.) -- Larry West Institute for Cognitive Science (USA+619-)452-6220 UC San Diego (mailcode C-015) [x6220] ARPA: La Jolla, CA 92093 U.S.A. UUCP: {ucbvax,sdcrdcf,decvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!sdcsla!west OR ulysses!sdcsla!west