John Milton’s description of Satan’s shield in Paradise Lost employs the enigmatic simile of the “serican canopy.” While traditionally glossed as a general reference to luxurious Chinese silk, this note proposes a more precise and hitherto unexplored source in Plutarch’s Moralia. Specifically, a passage in De Defectu Oraculorum not only mentions the Seres but also explicitly links their wondrous textile to military resilience. By situating this source within the context of 17th-century classical reception and humanist education, and through a close philological analysis of the key Greek term πολεμικώτερον (polemikōteron), this essay argues that Milton’s simile brilliantly conflates material opulence with martial strength. This reading resolves the apparent contradiction in the image of a canopy of the “sternest temper,” revealing Milton’s genius for synthesizing erudite classical learning into a compact and potent poetic device.
Jie An (Thu,) studied this question.