There would have been a prevailing sense, and Milton has to have been sensitive to this, that it was simply too late to write an epic of any kind on any subject.

这很明显，弥尔顿肯定意识到了这一点，这个时候写史诗，不管写什么主题，都已经太晚了。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选