Perque tuas, rex ime, domos, ubi sanguine nigro Stelliparumque polum, modulantesque æthere turmas, Dona quidem dedimus Christi natalibus illa, Te quoque pressa manent patriis meditata cicutis;▾ ELEG. VII. ANNO ÆTATIS 19. NONDUM, blanda, tuas leges, Amathusia, noram, Atque tuum sprevi, maxime, numen, Amor. Aut de passeribus timidos age, parve, triumphos; 75 80 85 90 In genus humanum quid inania dirigis arma? 10 Non tulit hoc Cyprius, neque enim deus ullus ad iras Ver erat, et summæ radians per culmina villæ At mihi adhuc refugam quærebant lumina noctem, Astat Amor lecto, pictis Amor impiger alis; 15 20 ▾ Te quoque pressa manent patriis meditata cicutis. His English "Ode on the Nativity." This he means to submit to Deodate's inspection. "You shall next have some of my English poetry." The transitions and connexions of this Elegy are conducted with the skill and address of a master, and form a train of allusions and digressions productive of fine sentiment and poetry. From a trifling and unimportant circumstance, the reader is gradually led to great and lofty imagery.-T. WARTON. w At mihi adhuc refugam quærabant lumina noctem, Nec matutinum sustinuere jubar. Here is the elegance of poetical expression: but he really complains of the weakness of his eyes, which began early. He has "light unsufferable," "Ode Nativ." v. 8.T. WARTON. Talis in æterno juvenis Sigeius Olympo Et mihi de puero non metus ullus erat: Turba frequens, facieque simillima turba dearum, Fallor? An et radios hinc quoque Phoebus habet? x Cydoniusque mihi, &c. Perhaps indefinitely, as the "Parthus eques," just before. The Cydonians were famous for hunting, which implies archery. If a person is here intended, he is most probably Hippolytus. Cydon was a city of Crete. But then he is mentioned here as an archer. Virgil ranks the Cydonians with the Parthians for their skill in the bow, "En." xii. 852.-T. WARTON. y Et ille, &c. Cephalus, who unknowingly shot his wife Procris.-T. WARTON. z Est etiam nobis ingens quoque victus Orion. Orion was also a famous hunter.-T. WARton. a Nec tibi Phabæus porriget anguis opem. "No medicine will avail you: not even the serpent, which Phoebus sent to Rome to cure the city of a pestilence." Ovid, "Metam." xv. 742.-T. WARTON. b Turba, &c. In Milton's youth, the fashionable places of walking in London were Hyde-Park, and Gray's-Inn Walks.-T. WARTON. Hæc ego non fugi spectacula grata severus; Uror amans intus, flammaque totus eram. с Ast ego progredior tacite querebundus, et excors, Findor, et hæc remanet: sequitur pars altera votum, Et dubius volui sæpe referre pedem. Raptaque tam subito gaudia flere juvat. Sic dolet amissum proles Junonia cœlum, 65 70 75 80 Talis et abreptum solem respexit, ad Orcum Jam tuus, O! certe est mihi formidabilis arcus, Et tua fumabunt nostris altaria donis, Solus et in superis tu mihi summus eris. c Non reditura. He saw the unknown lady, who had thus won his heart, but once. The fervour of his love is inimitably expressed in the following lines.-TODD. d Deme meos tandem, verum nec deme, furores; Nescio cur, miser est suaviter omnis amans. There never was a more beautiful description of the irresolution of love. He wishes Tu modo da facilis, posthæc mea siqua futura est, HAC ego, mente olim læva, studioque supino, EPIGRAMMATUM LIBER. 10 I.-IN PRODITIONEM BOMBARDICAM. CUM simul in regem nuper satrapasque Britannos II-IN EANDEM. SICCINE tentasti coelo donasse Iacobum, Ille quidem sine te consortia serus adivit Et quot habet brutos Roma profana deos: to have his woe removed, but recalls his wish; preferring the sweet misery of those who love. Thus Eloisa wavers, in Pope's fine poem : Unequal task! a passion to resign For hearts so touch'd, so pierc'd, so lost, as mine.-TODD. e Hæc ego, &c. These lines are an epilogistic palinode to the last Elegy. The Socratic doctrines of the shady Academe soon broke the bonds of beauty: in other words, his return to the university. They were probably written when the Latin poems were prepared for the press in 1645.-T. WARTON. a Quæ septemgemino, Bellua, &c. The Pope, called, in the theological language of the times, "The Beast."-T. WARTON. Namque hac aut alia nisi quemque adjuveris arte, III.-IN EANDEM. PURGATOREM animæ derisit Iacobus ignem, Movit et horrificum cornua dena minax. "Et nec inultus," ait, "temnes mea sacra, Britanne: Et, si stelligeras unquam penetraveris arces, IV.-IN EANDEM. QUEM modo Roma suis devoverat impia diris, V.-IN INVENTOREM BOMBARDÆ. IAPETIONIDEM laudavit cæca vetustas, VI.-AD LEONORAM ROMÆ CANENTEM.b ANGELUS unicuique suus, sic credite gentes, VIL-AD EANDEM. ALTERA Torquatum cepit Leonora poetam, Cujus ab insano cessit amore furens. b Adriana of Mantua, for her beauty surnamed the Fair, and her daughter Leonora Baroni, the lady whom Milton celebrates in these three Latin Epigrams, were esteemed by their contemporaries the finest singers in the world. When Milton was at Rome, he was introduced to the concerts of Cardinal Barberini, where he heard Leonora sing and her mother play. It was the fashion for all the ingenious strangers, who visited Rome, to leave some verses on Leonora.-T. WARTON. e Altera Torquatum cepit Leonora. This allusion to Tasso's Leonora, and the turn which it takes, are inimitably beautiful.-T. WARTON. |