Abstract
Milton’s time in the secretariat of the Council of State is an element in the genesis of Paradise Lost, not merely a biographical note. In the poem, Milton explores the move from patrimonial to rational-legal legitimacy, and the challenge posed by charisma to a godly institution. His experience of the duties of public service prompts him to imagine what working practices might emerge, when one is serving a rational-legal God.
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Notes
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Sullivan, C. (2013). The 1650s: Milton and the Beginning of Civil Service. In: Literature in the Public Service. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137287427_2
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