Paradise Lost I: Antecedents

Antecedents in Homer and Virgil: who they're antedents of.  The Muse, Satan.  Satan's relation to God far deeper in meaning and mode than any classical hero's to the gods.  This is because of the importance of free will in loving or not loving God.  Free will and its connection to freedom of thought and therefore the possibilities of nobility in the rebels.  Singing and philosophizing in hell.  Freedom = depth of character and experience.