06/06/06

"Damnation! I utterly forgot today's date!"

Gustave Doré's Depiction of Satan

John Milton's Paradise Lost

(Borrowed via Wikipedia)

As a fellow scholar on the Milton List pointed out for the hexakosioihexekontahexaphobic among us, today's date, June 6, 2006, can be written as 06/06/06, which sort of looks like 666.

The Mark of the Beast, Revelation 13:16-18:

16. και ποιει παντας τους μικρους και τους μεγαλους και τους πλουσιους και τους πτωχους και τους ελευθερους και τους δουλους ινα δωση αυτοις χαραγμα επι της χειρος αυτων της δεξιας η επι των μετωπων αυτων 17. και ινα μη τις δυνηται αγορασαι η πωλησαι ει μη ο εχων το χαραγμα η το ονομα του θηριου η τον αριθμον του ονοματος αυτου 18. ωδε η σοφια εστιν ο εχων τον νουν ψηφισατω τον αριθμον του θηριου αριθμος γαρ ανθρωπου εστιν και ο αριθμος αυτου χξς

This Greek is from the so-called Textus Receptus, from which the King James Version is translated:

16: And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18: Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.

And today is 06/06/06. What a coincidence. Without having been aware of the upcoming date's significance, I've actually been building up to it in my recent posts. In a comment to my June 4th post, "A Universe of death," I cited Paradise Lost, Book 5, Line 666 as the point at which evil first enters into one of God's creatures:

Satan, so call him now, his former name
Is heard no more in Heav'n; he of the first,
If not the first Arch-Angel, great in Power, [ 660 ]
In favour and præeminence, yet fraught
With envie against the Son of God, that day
Honourd by his great Father, and proclaimd
Messiah King anointed, could not beare
Through pride that sight, & thought himself impaird. [ 665 ]
Deep malice thence conceiving and disdain,
Soon as midnight brought on the duskie houre
Friendliest to sleep and silence, he resolv'd
With all his Legions to dislodge, and leave
Unworshipt, unobey'd the Throne supream [ 670 ] (PL 5.658-670)

By stressing the word Deep, Milton is taking special care to emphasize that Satan 'conceiving' of malice amounts to more than a mere intellectual consideration of an evil act. Satan's mental activity is not purely a thought about evil; it is a deeply evil thought.

This is important to Milton's great argument, for he also emphasizes that:

Evil into the mind of God or Man
May come and go, so unapprov'd, and leave
No spot or blame behind: (PL 5.117-119)

By emphasizing the depth of Satan's malice, Milton reveals that the evil entering into the mind of this archangel comes approved, and never goes.

For all concerned about the state of my own soul these past few days, rest assured that the evil entering my mind has come and gone unapproved and has already disappeared down the memory hole.