Primus ego Aonios illo præeunte recessus Flammeus at signum ter viderat arietis Æthon, Gramine, bisque tuas abstulit Auster opes: Grande salutiferæ religionis opus. Utque solet, multam sit dicere cura salutem, Dicere quam decuit, si modo adesset, herum. 30 35 40 45 Hæc quoque, paulum oculos in humum defixa modestos, Verba verecundo sis memor ore loqui: 50 Hæc tibi, si teneris vacat inter prælia Musis, Sera quidem, sed vera fuit, quam casta recepit Ast ego quid volui manifestum tollere crimen, Et pudet officium deseruisse suum. Sæpe sarissiferi crudelia pectora Thracis Neve moras ultra ducere passus Amor; Nam vaga Fama refert, heu nuntia vera malorum! In tibi finitimis bella tumere locis, Teque tuamque urbem truculento milite cingi, 55. The allusion is to a wellknown Epistle of Ovid. 61. Tu modo da veniam fasso,] Ovid, Epist. ex Pont. iv. ii. 23. "Tu modo da veniam fasso.' The same combination occurs in Ovid repeatedly. 65. Ovid, Metam. xii. 466. Macedoniaque sarissa.” 74. Et jam Saxonicos arma parasse duces.] About the year 55 60 65 70 1626, when this Elegy was written, the imperialists under General Tilly, were often encountered by Christian, Duke of Brunswick, and the Dukes of Saxony, particularly Duke William of Saxon Wiemar, and the Duke of Saxon Lawenburgh, in Lower Saxony, of which Hamburgh, where Young resided, is the capital. See v. 77. Germany, Te circum late campos populatur Enyo, Et sata carne virum jam cruor arva rigat ; in general, either by invasion, or 84. Vivis et ignoto solus inops que solo ;] Ovid, of Achæmenides, Metam. xiv. 217. Solus, inops, exspes. These circumstances, added to others, leave us strongly to suspect, that Young was a nonconformist, and probably compelled to quit England on account of his religious opinions and practice. He seems to have been driven back to England, by the 75 80 85 90 war in the Netherlands, not long after this Elegy was written. See v. 71. seq. and the first note. re 86. Sede peregrina quæris egenus opem.] Before and after 1630, many English ministers, puritanically affected, left their cures, and settled in Holland, where they became pastors of separate congregations: when matters took another turn in England, they returned, and were warded for their unconforming obstinacy, in the new presbyterian establishment. Among these were Nye, Burroughs, Thomas Goodwin, Simpson, and Bridge, eminent members of the Assembly of Divines. See Wood, Ath. Oxon. ii. 504. Neale's Hist. Pur. iii. 376. Et qui læta ferunt de cœlo nuntia, quique Quæ via post cineres ducat ad astra, docent? Digna quidem Stygiis quæ vivas clausa tenebris, Æternaque animæ digna perire fame! Haud aliter vates terræ Thesbitidis olim Pressit inassueto devia tesqua pede, Desertasque Arabum salebras, dum regis Achabi Effugit, atque tuas, Sidoni dira, manus : 100.-Sidoni dira,] Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, was the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians. Sidoni is a vocative, from Sidonis, often applied by Ovid to Europa the daughter of Agenor king of Sidon or Syria. Fast. b. v. 610. Sidoni, sic fueras accipienda Jovi. 95 100 " and chariots rushing to battle, "and the distant hum of clash ing arms and groaning men, terrified their numerous army." Terruit et densas pavido cum rege cohortes, &c. See 2 Kings vii. 5. "For the "Lord had made the host of "the Syrians to hear a noise of "chariots and a noise of horses, 66 His Some of these scriptural allusions are highly poetical, and much in Milton's manner. friend, who bears a sacred character, forced abroad for his piety and religious constancy by the persecutions of a tyrannic tribunal, and distressed by war and want in a foreign country, is compared to Elijah the Tishbite wandering alone over the Arabian deserts, to avoid the menaces of Ahab, and the violence of Jezebel. See 1 Kings xix. 3. seq. He then selects a most striking miracle, under which the power of the Deity is displayed in Scripture as a protection in battle, with reference to his friend's situation, from the surrounding dangers of war. "You are safe under the radiant "shield of him, who in the dead "of night suddenly dispersed the Assyrians, while the sound of an unseen trumpet was clearly "heard in the empty air, and "the noises of invisible horses 66 even the noise of a great host, "&c." Sionæa arx is the city of Samaria, now besieged by the Syrians, and where the king of Israel now resided. It was the capital of Samaria. Prisca Damascus was the capital of Syria. Pavido cum rege is Benhadad, the king of Syria. In the sequel of the narrative of this wonderful consternation and flight of the Syrians, the solitude of their vast deserted camp affords a most affecting image, even without any poetical enlargement. "We came "to the camp of the Syrians, " and behold there was no man there, neither voice of man; "but horses tied, and asses tied, " and the tents as they were.' Ibid. vii. 10. This is like a scene of inchantment in romance. 100. Mr. Warton properly refers to 2 Kings vii. for the miracle alluded to in ver. 115-122. But Milton had another miracle Talis et horrisono laceratus membra flagello, Finibus ingratus jussit abire suis. At tu sume animos, nec spes cadat anxia curis, 105 Nec tua concutiat decolor ossa metus. Sis etenim quamvis fulgentibus obsitus armis, At nullis vel inerme latus violabitur armis, Namque eris ipse Dei radiante sub ægide tutus, 110 Ille Sionææ qui tot sub moenibus arcis Inque fugam vertit quos in Samaritidas oras 115 Misit ab antiquis prisca Damascus agris, also in view, v. 113. the deliver- 101. Talis et horrisono laceratus membra flagello, &c.] Whip 120 ping and imprisonment were among the punishments of the arbitrary Star-chamber, the threats Regis Achabi, which Young fled to avoid. 109. At nullis vel inerme latus, &c.] See the same philosophy in Comus, v. 421. 123. Et tu (quod superest, &c.] For many obvious reasons, at is likely to be the true reading. |
