The word δυσμιμηρια teems In the next place, this word with error.--The Antepenult is duopeifenpece does not occur, I belong, so that a Spondæus occupies lieve, in any ancient writer; and the fourth place, which even the if it did, it could not possibly be advocates for the toleration of used in the signification, in which Anapæsti in sedibus paribus would it has been employed by Milnot readily allow. ton. . 5 Ad Salsillum, Poetam Romanum, ægrotantem.* SCAZONTES. 10 15 * Giovanni Salsilli had com- but the Latins always an iambic. plimented Milton at Rome in a In the poem before us Milton Latin tetrastich, for his Greek, has violated this rule of Latin Latin, and Italian poetry. Mil- prosody in no less than twentyton, in return, sent these elegant one instances, by inserting either Scazontes to Salsilli when in- a spondee or an anapæst in the disposed. place in question. This is to be 1. O Musa gressum quæ volens guilty not of false quantity, but trahis claudum,] Mr. Bowle here of an erroneous fabric of verse. cites Angelinus Gazæus, a Dutch Symmons. poet, in Pia Hilaria. Antv. 1629. 4. Quam cum decentes flava Deïope, &c.] As the Muses sing Subclaudicante tibia redi, Scazon. about the altar of Jupiter, in Il It is an indispensable rule, which Pens. v. 47. This pagan theoMilton has not here always ob-logy is applied in Paradise Lost, served, that the Scazon is to close of the angels, b. v. 161. with a spondee preceded by an And with songs, iambus. And choral symphonies, day without night, 1. In their Scazons, the Greeks Circle his throne rejoicing. use a spondee in the fifth place, p. 79. 20 Virosque, doctæque indolem juventutis. O dulce divum munus, O Salus, Hebes 25 30 23. O dulce dirum munus, &c.] a spring, where Numa is fabled I know not any finer modern to have received the Roman laws Latin lyric poetry, than from from his wife Egeria, one of this verse to the end. The close Diana's nymphs. The grove was which is digressional, but na- called nemus Aricinum, and someturally rises from the subject, is times Lucus Egeriæ et Camæna. perfectly antique. rum, and the spring Fons Egeria, 27. Querceta Fauni, &c.] Fau- See Ovid's Fast. ii. 275. And nus was one of the deities brought when Numa died, Egeria is said by Evander into Latium, accord- to have retired hither, to lament ing to Ovid, Fast. b. v. 99. This his death. Ovid, Metam. xv. is a poetical address to Rome. 487. 28. -mitis Evandri sedes,] The -Nam.conjux, urbe relicta, epithet mitis is finely character- Vallis Ariciniæ densis latet abdita istic of Evander. sylvis, &c. 33. Ipse inter alros emirabitur On these grounds Milton builds lucos, &c.] Very near the city of the present beautiful fiction. See Rome, in the middle of a gloomy Montfauc. Diar. Ital. c. xi. p. 152. grove, is a romantic cavern with edit. 1702. 35 Suam reclinis semper Ægeriam spectans. 40 MANSUS.* Joannes Baptista Mansus, Marchio Villensis, vir ingenii laude, tum literarum studio, nec non et bellica virtute, 38. Nec in sepulchris ibit ob- name in the twentieth canto of sessum reges, the Gerusalemme, but Tasso adNimium sinistro lacus irruens dressed his Dialogue on Friend, loro:] ship to Manso, "il Manso, overo This was Horace's inundation of “ Dell' Amicitia. Dialogo del the Tiber. Od. l. i. ii. 18. “ Sig. Torquato Tasso. Al molte -Vagus et sinistra “ illustre Sig. Giovanni Battista Labitur ripa. “ Manso. In Napoli, 1596." In For the left side, being on a de- quarto. Beside a Dedication exclivity, was soon overflowed. See pressing the sincerest regard and ibid. v. 15. attachment, five. Sonnets from Tasso to Manso are prefixed, Tre dejectum monumenta Regis. and Manso is one of the inter* At Naples Milton was intro- locutors. Manso in return wrote duced to Giovanni Battista Man- the Life of Tasso, published in so, Marquis of Villa. See Prose 1621. And, as it here seems, of Works, vol. č. 332. Milton at Marino. Hence our author, ver, leaving Naples sent this poem to 18. Manso. He was a nobleman of Nec satis hoc visum est in utrumque, distinguished rank and fortune, et nec pia cessant had supported a military cha Officia in tumulo; cupis integros raracter with high reputation, of pere Orco, unblemished morals, a polite Qua potes, atque avidas Parcarum eludere leges : scholar, a celebrated writer, and Amborum genus, et varia sub sorte an universal patron. peractam among his chief honours, that he Describis vitam, moresque, et dona had been the friend of Tasso : Minervæ, &c. and this circumstance, above all Among Manso's other works, others, inust have made Milton are, “ Erocallia, in Ven. 1628." ambitious of his acquaintance. In twelve Dialogues. And “I He is not only complimented by “ Paradossi, 1608.” He died in It was apud Italos clarus in primis est. Ad quem Torquati Tassi Dialogus extat de Amicitia scriptus; erat enim Tassi amicissimus; ab quo etiam inter Campaniæ principes celebratur, in illo poemate cui titulus GERUSALEMME CONQUISTA TĀ, lib. 20. Fra cavalier magnanimi, e cortesi, Risplende il Manso.Is authorem Neapoli commorantem summa benevolentia pro secutus est, multaque ei detulit humanitatis officia. Ad hunc itaque hospes ille antequam ab ea urbe discederet, ut ne ingratum se ostenderet, hoc carmen misit. + HÆC quoque, Manse, tuæ meditantur carmina laudi Pierides, tibi, Manse, choro notissime Phoebi ; Quandoquidem ille alium haud æquo est dignatus honore, si nostræ tantum valet aura Camænæ, 5 10 1645, aged 84. See supr. note 5. See the same verse Ad Pa. on Epigr. vii. 1. trem, 102. + Wood calls this' “ an elegant 10. —ille tuum dici se gaudet “Latin poem," Ath. Oxon. i. alumnum,] Marino cultivated poF. 263. This judgment un- etry in the academy of the Otidoubtedly came from Edward osi, of which Manso was one of Philips, Milton's nephew, through the founders. Hither he was Aubrey the antiquary. sent by the Muse, who was non 1. Hæc quoque, Manse, tuce me- inscia, not ignorant of his poetical ditantur carmina, &c.] Because abilities and inclinations, &c. For he had already been celebrated at first, against bis will, his faby many poets. Quadrio says, ther had put him to the law. ? by more than fifty. |