If Milton’s blindness had been successfully prevented or treated, would he still have produced the poetry that he did after 1652? The three sonnets that deal specifically with his blindness would not have appeared. Nor would some passages in Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes . There is no reason to suppose that he would not have written Paradise Lost , since he had planned some such epic for many years. And although, because of its subject matter, he might not have been inspired to write Samson Agonistes , he might well have found an alternative subject of equal interest. However, on the restoration to the throne of Charles II in 1660 an act was passed, The Act of Free and General Pardon, Indemnity and Oblivion, in which the names were published of those who were not pardoned for their part in the English civil war, and who were therefore condemned to death. It is thought that one reason that Milton was pardoned was that his blindness had been punishment enough. Had he not been blind, political expediency might have deprived us of his last three great poems. I have previously discussed two of the three questions that I posed at this year’s Chalfont St Giles and Jordans Literary Festival. First, what caused Milton’s blindness?1 My best guess is that he had glaucoma, perhaps accompanied by comorbidities, to explain some of the features that do not fit a single diagnosis. This is, of course, unsatisfactory, but I fear that no definitive diagnosis will ever be possible. Secondly, could Milton’s visual impairment have been prevented, or at least mitigated, had modern techniques been available?2 The answer is that it almost certainly could, whatever the diagnosis. Equally interesting is the question of the treatments, surgical and medical, to which Milton was …

中文翻译：

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当我使用一个词时。. . . 反事实医学史：弥尔顿的诗

如果弥尔顿的失明得到了成功的预防或治疗，他还会创作出他在 1652 年之后创作的诗歌吗？专门针对他失明的三首十四行诗不会出现。《失乐园》和《参孙阿贡尼斯特》中的某些段落也不会。没有理由认为他不会写《失乐园》，因为他已经计划了很多年这样的史诗。尽管由于它的主题，他可能没有受到启发去写《参孙阿贡尼斯特》，但他很可能找到了一个同样感兴趣的替代主题。然而，在 1660 年查理二世恢复王位时，通过了一项法案，即《自由和普遍赦免、赔偿和遗忘法案》，其中公布了那些因参与英国内战而未被赦免的人的名字, 并因此被判处死刑。人们认为弥尔顿被赦免的一个原因是他的失明已经受到了足够的惩罚。如果他不是瞎子，政治上的权宜之计可能会让我们失去他最后三首伟大的诗歌。我之前已经讨论过我在今年的 Chalfont St Giles and Jordans 文学节上提出的三个问题中的两个。首先，是什么导致了 Milton 的失明？1 我最好的猜测是他患有青光眼，可能伴有合并症，以解释一些不符合单一诊断的特征。当然，这不能令人满意，但我担心永远不可能做出明确的诊断。其次，如果现代技术可用，弥尔顿的视力障碍是否可以预防或至少减轻？2 答案是几乎可以肯定，无论诊断如何。