30

35

Seu catus auditur senior, seu prodigus hæres,

Seu procus, aut posita casside miles adest, Sive decennali fæecundus lite patronus

Detonat inculto barbara verba foro; Sæpe vafer gnato succurrit servus amanti,

Et nasum rigidi fallit ubique patris ; Sæpe novos illic virgo mirata calores

Quid sit amor nescit, dum quoque nescit, amat.
Sive cruentatum furiosa Tragedia sceptrum

Quassat, et effusis crinibus ora rotat;
Et dolet, et specto, juvat et spectasse dolendo,

Interdum et lacrymis dulcis amaror inest :
Seu puer infelix indelibata reliquit

Gaudia, et abrupto flendus amore cadit ;

40

31. Sive decennali foecundus lite See Note on Il Pens. v. 98. patronus

Ovid calls his Medea “ Scriptum Detonat inculto barbara verba “regale." Trist. ii. 553. foro ;]

Et dedimus tragicis scriptum regule He probably means the play

cothurnis. of Ignoramus. In the expres- Again, Ex Pont. iv. xvi. 9. sion decennali fecundus lite, there Quique dedit Latio carmen regale is both elegance and humour. Severus. Most of the rest of Milton's Where he means the Tragedies comic characters are Teren- of Severus. tian. He is giving a general 41. Seu puer infelix indelibata view of comedy: but it is the reliquit view of a scholar, and he does Gaudia, et abrupto flendus not recollect that he sets out with

amore cadit; describing a London theatre. Seu ferus e tenebris iterat Styga 31. Mr. Dunster supposes

criminis ultor, “ that his theatre, in this place, Conscia funereo pectora torre

his own closet; where, movens ;] “ when fatigued with other By the youth, in the first “ studies, he relaxed with his couplet, he perhaps intends “ favourite dramatic poets.” And Shakespeare's Romeo. In the he conceives the “ sinuosi pompa second, either Hamlet, or Richard " theatri" &c. to be merely the the Third. He then draws his creations of the poet's fancy with illustrations from the ancient the work of some favourite dra- tragedians. The allusions, howmatic author before him. E. ever, to Shakespeare's incidents

37. Sive cruentatum, &c.] do not exactly correspond. In

was

45

Seu ferus e tenebris iterat Styga criminis ultor,

Conscia funereo pectora torre movens ;
Seu mæret Pelopeia domus, seu nobilis Ili,

Aut luit incestos aula Creontis avos.
Sed neque sub tecto semper nec in urbe latemus,

Irrita nec nobis tempora veris eunt.
Nos quoque lucus habet vicina consitus ulmo,

Atque suburbani nobilis umbra loci.

50

ic

he first instance, Romeð wás Ibid. v. 49. not torn from joys untasted :

-Desuper intonat ulmo. although puer and abrupto (imore are much in point. The allusions In Par. L. b. v. 215. are loose, or resulting from -They led the vine

To wed her elm. memory, or not intended to tally minutely.

The country about Colnebrook 44. Conscia funereo pectora impressed Milton with a preditorre movens ;] Mr. Steevens sug- lection for this tree. See the gests, that the allusion is to Ate next note. in the old play of Locrine, 50. Atque suburbani nobilis where she enters with a torch in umbra loci.] Some country house her hand, and where the motto of Milton's father very near to the Scene is, In poena sectatur London is here intended, of et umbra.

which we have now no notices. 48. Irrita nec nobis tempora A letter to Alexander Gill is veris eunt.] Ovid, Fast. ii. 150. dated " E nostro Suburbano -Primi tempora veris eunt.

Decem. 4, 1634.” Prose Works, 49. Nos quoque lucus habet vol. ii

. 567. In the Apology for vicina consitus ulmo,] The gods

Smectymnuus, published 1642, had their favourite trees. So

he says to his opponent, “ that

“ suburb wherein I dwell shall have the poets. Milton's is the elm. In L'Allegro, v. 57.

“ be in my account a more

“ honourable place than his Some time walking not unseen “ University.” Prose Works, i.

By hedge-rów elms on hillocks green. 109. His father had purchased In Arcades, v. 89.

the estate at Colnebrook before By branching eln, star-proof.

1632. In a letter to Deodate,

55

Sæpius hic, blandas spirantia sidera flammas,

Virgineos videas præteriisse choros.
Ah quoties dignæ stupui miracula formæ,

Quæ possit senium vel reparare Jovis !
Ah quoties vidi superantia lumina gemmas,

Atque faces, quotquot volvit uterque polus ; Collaque bis vivi Pelopis quæ brachia vincant, Quæque fluit puro nectare tincta via;

; Et decus eximium frontis, tremulosque capillos, Aurea

quæ

fallax retia tendit Amor; Pellacesque genas, ad quas hyacinthina sordet

Purpura, et ipse tui floris, Adoni, rubor !
Cedite laudatæ toties Heroides olim,
Et

quæcunque vagum cepit amica Jovem : Cedite Achæmeniæ turrita fronte puellæ,

60

65

569. In an academic Prolusion, Propertius, written perhaps not far from the

Indue qua primum cepisti veste Protime of writing this Elegy, is the

perti following passage, “ Testor ipse Lumina, “ lucos, et flumina, et dilectas Terence, Eunuch. iv. iii. 11. “ villarum ulmos, sub quibus

Eunuchum quem dedisti mihi quas “æslate proximè præterita, si turbas dedit. “ deorum arcána eloqui liceat, summam cum Musis gratiam

See also Phormio, V. vii. 54. “ habuisse me, jucunda memoria Many more might be given. “recolo, &c.” Prose Works, vol. Compare the very learned Bishop ii. 602.

Newcome's Preface to the Minor 55. Ah quoties vidi, &c.] Ovid, Prophets, p. xxxiv. Lond. 1785.

4to. Epist. Heroid. ix. 79.

63. Cedite laudatæ toties HeAh quotiés digitis, &c.

roides olim, &c.] Ovid, Art. Buchanan, El. vi. p. 43. edit. ut Amator. i. 713. supr.

Jupiter ad veteres supplex Heroidas -Superantia lumine flammas.

ibat,

Corripuit magnum nulla puella 58. Quæque fluit puro nectare

Jovem. tincta via ;] Here is a peculiar 65. Cedite Achæmeniæ turrita antique formula, as in the follow- fronte puellæ,] Achæmenia is a ing instances. Virgil, Æn. i. 573. part of Persia, so called from Urbem quam statuo vestra est.

Achæmenes the son of Ægeus. 67.

Et quot Susa colunt, Memnoniamque Ninon ; Vos etiam Danaæ fasces submittite Nymphæ,

Et vos Iliacæ, Romuleæque nurus : Nec Pompeianas Tarpeïa Musa columnas Jactet, et Ausoniis plena theatra stolis.

70 Gloria Virginibus debetur prima Britannis,

Extera sat tibi sit fæmina posse sequi. Tuque urbs Dardaniis, Londinum, structa colonis, The women of this country wear others, where the most beautiful a high head-dress. See Sandys's women were assembled. B. i. Travels. And the next note. 66. Et quot Susa colunt, Mem

Tu mudo Pompeii lentus spatiare sub noniamque Ninon ;] Susa [Susa- umbra, &c. rum], anciently a capital city of And v. 89. Susiana in Persia, conquered by Sed tu præcipue cúrvis venare theCyrus. Xerxes marched from atris, &c. this city, to enslave Greece, See also, b. iii. 387. Propertius “ From Susa, his Memnonian says that Cynthia had deserted “palace high.” Par. L. x. 308. this famous portico, or colonnade, It is now called Souster. Propert. of Pompey, ii. xxxii. 11. ii. xiii. i.

Scilicet umbrosis sordet Pompeia

columnis Non tot Achæmeniis armantur Susa sagittis.

Porticus, aulæis nobilis Attalicis, Ninos is a city of Assyria, built Where says the old scholiast, by Ninus: Memnon, a hero of “Romæ erat Porticus Pompeia, the Iliad, had a palace there, and “ soli arcendo accommodata, sub was the builder of Susa. Milton

qua æstivo potissimum temis alluding to oriental beauty.

pore matronæ spatiabantur.” In the next couplet, he chal- See also iv. viii.“ 75. Other lenges the ladies of ancient proofs occur in Catullus, Martial, Greece, Troy, and Rome.

and Statius. Pompey's theatre 69. Nec Pompeianas Tarpeia and portico were contiguous. Musa, &c.] The poet has a re- The words Ausoniis stolis imply trospect to a long passage in literally the theatre filled “ with Ovid, who is here called Tarpeia " the ladies of Rome.” But Stola Musa, either because he had a properly points out a matron, house adjoining to the Capitol, or See Note on Il Pens. v. 35. And by way of distinction, that he Ovid, Epist. ex Pont. iii. iii. 52.

, was the Tarpeian, the genuine

Scripsimus hæc istis, quarum nec Roman muse. It is in Ovid's vitta pudicos Art Love, where he directs Contingit crines, nec stola longa his votary Venus to frequent the pedes. portico of Pompey, or the The- And compare Heinsius on Ovid, atre, places at Rome, among Fast. vi. 645.

&c.

a

75

80

Turrigerum late conspicienda caput, Tu nimium felix intra tua monia claudis

Quicquid formosi pendulus orbis habet.
Non tibi tot coelo scintillant astra sereno

Endymioneæ turba ministra deæ,
Quot tibi, conspicuæ formaque auroque, puellæ

Per medias radiant turba videnda vias.
Creditur huc geminis venisse invecta columbis

Alma pharetrigero milite cincta Venus,
Huic Cnidon, et riguas Simoentis flumine valles,

Huic Paphon, et roseam posthabitura Cypron.
Ast ego, dum pueri sinit indulgentia cæci,
Mænia
quam

subito linquere fausta paro; Et vitare procul malefidæ infamia Circes

Atria, divini Molyos usus ope,
Stat quoque juncosas Cami remeare paludes,

Atque iterum raucæ murmur adire Scholæ.
Interea fidi parvum cape munus amici,

Paucaque in alternos verba coacta modos.*

85

90

74. Turrigerum late conspici- rushy marshes of Cam. See v. endu capul,] So in L'All. v. 117. 13, 14. And notes on Lycid. v.

105. Toro’red cities please us then.

92. The Roxana of Alabaster 88. See notes on Comus, v.

has been mentioned by Dr. 636.

Johnson as a Latin composition, 89. –juncosas Cami remeare equal to the Latin poetry of paludes,] The epithet juncosas is Milton: whoever but slightly picturesque and appropriated, examines it, will find it written and exactly describes this river: in the style and manner of the hence in Lycidas, “his bonnet turgid and unnatural Seneca.

sedge,” v. 104. Dr. J. Warton. It was printed by the author And above, y. 11.

himself at London, 1632. Yet

it was written forty years before, Jam nec arundiferum mihi cura revisere Camum,

1592, and there had been a

surreptitious edition. It is reBut there is a contempt in markable, that Mors, Death, is describing Cambridge, and its one of the persons of the Drama. river, by the expression the Dr. J. Warton.