diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 6929.txt | 3692 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 6929.zip | bin | 0 -> 64639 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
5 files changed, 3708 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6929.txt b/6929.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4e44d7e --- /dev/null +++ b/6929.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3692 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Poemata (William Cowper, trans.), by John Milton + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Poemata (William Cowper, trans.) + +Author: John Milton + +Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6929] +[This file was first posted on February 12, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, POEMATA (WILLIAM COWPER, TRANS.) *** + + + + +This eBook was produced by Eaon Walkker. + + + +POEMATA: LATIN, GREEK AND ITALIAN POEMS BY JOHN MILTON + (Translated by William Cowper). + +Digraphs, accents and italics have been omitted. +Spelling has been modernized. Some notes and Titles +have been slightly edited without comment. Notes follow +the poem to which they refer. + + +CONTENTS + +Complimentary Pieces Addressed to the Author. + +1. Elegies + + Elegy I -To Charles Diodati. + Elegy II -On the Death of the University Beadle at + Cambridge. + Elegy III-On the Death of the Bishop of Winchester. + Elegy IV -To My Tutor, Thomas Young. + Elegy V -On the Approach of Spring. + Elegy VI -To Charles Diodati. + Elegy VII + On the Gunpowder Plot. + Another on the Same. + Another on the Same. + Another on the Same. + On the Invention of Gunpowder. + To Leonora, Singing in Rome. + Another to the Same. + Another to the Same. + The Fable of the Peasant and his Landlord. + +2. Poems in Various Metres. + + On the Death of the Vice-Chancellor, a Physician. + On the Fifth of November. + On the Death of the Bishop of Ely. + That Nature is Not Subject to Decay. + On the Platonic Ideal as Understood by Aristotle. + To My Father. + Psalm CXIV. + The Philosopher and the King. + On the Engraver of his Portrait. + To Giovanni Salzilli. + To Giovanni Battista Manso. + The Death of Damon. + To John Rouse. + +3. Translations of the Italian Poems. + +Appendix: To Christina, Queen of Sweden. +Appendix: Translations of Poems in the Latin Prose Works. +Appendix: Translation of a Latin Letter. +Appendix: Translations of the Italian Poems by George + MacDonald (I876). + + + + + Complimentary Pieces Addressed to the Author. + + +1Well as the author knows that the following testimonies are not +so much about as above him, and that men of great ingenuity, as +well as our friends, are apt, through abundant zeal, so to praise +us as rather to draw their own likeness than ours, he was yet +unwilling that the world should remain always ignorant of +compositions that do him so much honour; and especially because he +has other friends, who have, with much importunity, solicited +their publication. Aware that excessive commendation awakens envy, +he would with both hands thrust it from him, preferring just so +much of that dangerous tribute as may of right belong to him; but +at the same time he cannot deny that he sets the highest value on +the suffrages of judicious and distinguished persons. + +1 Milton's Preface, Translated. + +1 These complimentary pieces have been sufficiently censured +by a great authority, but no very candid judge either of Milton +or his panegyrists. He, however, must have a heart sadly +indifferent to the glory of his country, who is not gratified by +the thought that she may exult in a son whom, young as he was, +the Learned of Italy thus contended to honour.--W.C. + + + +The Neapolitan, Giovanni Battista Manso, Marquis of Villa, + to the Englishman, John Milton. + +What features, form, mien, manners, with a mind +Oh how intelligent, and how refined! +Were but thy piety from fault as free, +Thou wouldst no Angle1 but an Angel be. + +1 The reader will perceive that the word "Angle" (i.e. Anglo- +Saxon) is essential, because the epigram turns upon it.--W.C. + + +An Epigram Addressed to the Englishman, John Milton, a Poet +Worthy of the Three Laurels of Poesy, the Grecian, Latin, and +Etruscan, by Giovanni Salzilli of Rome + +Meles1 and Mincio both your urns depress! +Sebetus, boast henceforth thy Tasso less! +But let the Thames o'erpeer all floods, since he, +For Milton famed, shall, single, match the three. + +1 Meles is a river of Ionia, in the neighborhood of Smyrna, whence +Homer is called Melesigenes. + The Mincio watered the city of Mantua famous as the birthplace +of Virgil. + Sebetus is now called the Fiume della Maddalena--it runs through +Naples.--W.C. + + + To John Milton. + +Greece sound thy Homer's, Rome thy Virgil's name, +But England's Milton equals both in fame. + --Selvaggi. + + + To John Milton, English Gentleman. + + An Ode. + + Exalt Me, Clio,1 to the skies, + That I may form a starry crown, + Beyond what Helicon supplies + In laureate garlands of renown; +To nobler worth be brighter glory given, +And to a heavenly mind a recompense from heaven. + + Time's wasteful hunger cannot prey + On everlasting high desert, + Nor can Oblivion steal away + Its record graven on the heart; +Lodge but an arrow, Virtue, on the bow +That binds my lyre, and death shall be a vanquished foe. + + In Ocean's blazing flood enshrined. + Whose vassal tide around her swells, + Albion. from other realms disjoined, + The prowess of the world excels; +She teems with heroes that to glory rise, +With more than human force in our astonished eyes. + + To Virtue, driven from other lands, + Their bosoms yield a safe retreat; + Her law alone their deed commands, + Her smiles they feel divinely sweet; +Confirm my record, Milton, generous youth! +And by true virtue prove thy virtue's praise a truth. + + Zeuxis, all energy and flaine, + Set ardent forth in his career, + Urged to his task by Helen's fame, + Resounding ever in his ear; +To make his image to her beauty true, +From the collected fair each sovereign charm he drew.2 + + The bee, with subtlest skill endued, + Thus toils to earn her precious juice, + From all the flowery myriads strewed + O'er meadow and parterre profuse; +Confederate voices one sweet air compound, +And various chords consent in one harmonious sound. + + An artist of celestial aim, + Thy genius, caught by moral grace, + With ardent emulation's flame + The steps of Virtue toiled to trace, +Observed in everv land who brightest shone, +And blending all their best, make perfect good thy own. + + Front all in Florence born, or taught + Our country's sweetest accent there, + Whose works, with learned labor wrought, + Immortal honors justly share, +Then hast such treasure drawn of purest ore, +That not even Tuscan bards can boast a richer store. + + Babel, confused, and with her towers + Unfinished spreading wide and plain, + Has served but to evince thy powers, + With all hot, tongues confused in vain, +Since not alone thy England's purest phrase, +But every polished realm thy various speech displays. + + The secret things of heaven and earth, + By nature, too reserved. concealed + From other minds of highest worth, + To thee ate copiously revealed; +Thou knowest them clearly, and thy views attain +The utmost bounds prescribed to moral truth's domain. + + Let Time no snore his wing display, + And boast his ruinous career, + For Virtue, rescued front his sway. + His injuries may cease to fear; +Since all events that claim remembrance find +A chronicle exact in thy capacious mind. + + Give me, that I may praise thy song, + Thy lyre, by which alone I can, + Which, placing thee the stars among, + Already proves thee more than man; +And Thames shall seem Permessus,3 while his stream +Graced with a swan like thee. shall be my favorite theme. + + I, who beside the Arno, strain + To match thy merit with my lays, + Learn, after many an effort vain, + To admure thee rather than to praise; +And that by mute astonishment alone, +Not by the fathering tongue, thy worth may best be shown. + + --Signor Antonio Francini, Gentleman, of Florence. + +1 The muse of History. + +2 The portrait of Helen was painted at the request of the people +of Crotna, who sent to the artist all their lovliest girls for +models. Zeuxis selected five, and united their separate beauties +in his picture. + +3 A river in Boeotia which took its rise in Helicon. See Virgil +Ecl. vi.64 + + + To Mr. John Milton of London + +A youth eminent from his country and his virtues, + +Who in his travels has made himself acquainted with many +nations, and in his studies, with all, that, life another +Ulysses, lie might learn all that all could teach him; + +Skilful in many tongues, on whose lips languages now mute so +live again, that the idioms of all are insufficient to his +praise; happy acquisition by which he understands the +universal admiration and applause his talents trace excited; + +Whose endowments of mind and person move us to wonder, but at the same time fix +us immovable: whose works prompt us to +extol him, but by their beauty strike us mute; + +In whose memory the whole world is treasured; in whose +intellect, wisdom; in whose heart, the ardent desire for +glory; and in whose mouth, eloquence. Who with Astronomy for +his conductor, hears the music of the spheres; with +Philosophy for the teacher, deciphers the hand-writing of +God, in those wonders of creation which proclaim His +greatness; and with the most unwearied literary industry for +his associate, examines, restores, penetrates with case the +obscurities of antiquity, the desolations of ages, and the +labyrinths of learning; + + "But wherefore toil to reach these arduous heights?" + +To him, in short, whose virtues the mouths of Fame are too few to celebrate, and +whom astonishment forbids us to praise +a he deserves, this tribute due to his merits, and the +offering of reverence and affection, is paid by Carlo Dati, a +patrician Florentine. + This great man's servant, and this good man's friend. + + + In Miltonum.1 + +Tres tria, sed longe distantia, saecula vates +Ostentant tribus e gentibus eximios. +Graecia sublimem, cum majestate disertum +Roma tulit, felix Anglia utrique parem. +Partubus ex binis Natura exhausta, coacta est, +Tertis ut fieret, consociare duos. + --Joannem Dridenum. + +1 Translation of Dryden's Lines Printed Under the +Engraved Portrait of Milton in Tonson's Folio Edition +of "Paradise Lost," I688. + + +Stanzas on the Late Indecent Liberties Taken with +the Remains of the Great Milton, by Wm. Cowper, Esq.1 + +Me too, perchance, in future days, + The sculptur'd stone shall show, +With Paphian myrtle, or with bays + Parnessian, on my brow. + +But I, before that season come, + Escap'd from ev'ry care, +Shall reach my refuge in the tomb, + And sleep securely there. + +So sang in Roman tone and style + The youthful bard, ere long +Ordain'd to grace his native isle + With her sublimest song. + +Who then but must conceive disdain, + Hearing the deed unblest +Of wretches who have dar'd profane + His dread sepulchral rest? + +Ill fare the hands that heav'd the stones + Where Milton's ashes lay! +That trembled not to grasp his bones. + And steal his dust away! + +Oh! ill-requited bard! Neglect + Thy living worth repaid, +And blind idolatrous respect + As much affronts thee dead. + +1 This shocking outrage took place in I790 whilst the Church of St. Giles, +Cripplegate, was repairing. The overseers (for the sake of gain) opened a coffin +supposed to be Milton's, found a body, extracted its teeth, cut off its hair, +and left the remains to the grave-diggers, who exhibited them for money to the +public. + + Forsitan & nostros ducat de marmore vultus, + Nectens aut Paphia myrti aut Parnasside lauri + Fronde comas, at ego secura pace quiescam. + --Milton. "Mansus" ("Manso") + + Cowper's translation : + + To honour me, and with the graceful wreath + Or of Parnassus or the Paphian isle + Shall bind my brows--but I shall rest the while." + + + + + +POEMATA + + +1. ELEGIES + + ELEGY I + + To Charles Diodati.1 + +At length, my friend, the far-sent letters come, +Charged with thy kindness, to their destin'd home, +They come, at length, from Deva's2 Western side, +Where prone she seeks the salt Vergivian tide.3 +Trust me, my joy is great that thou shouldst be, +Though born of foreign race, yet born for me, +And that my sprightly friend, now free to roam, +Must seek again so soon his wonted home. +I well content, where Thames with refluent tide +My native city laves, meantime reside, 10 +Nor zeal nor duty, now, my steps impell +To reedy Cam,4 and my forbidden cell.5 +Nor aught of pleasure in those fields have I, +That, to the musing bard, all shade deny. +Tis time, that I, a pedant's threats6 disdain, +And fly from wrongs, my soul will ne'er sustain. +If peaceful days, in letter'd leisure spent +Beneath my father's roof, be banishment, +Then call me banish'd, I will ne'er refuse +A name expressive of the lot I chuse. 20 +I would that exiled to the Pontic shore, +Rome's hapless bard7 had suffer'd nothing more! +He then had equall'd even Homer's lays, +And, Virgil! thou hadst won but second praise. +For here I woo the Muse with no control, +And here my books--my life--absorb me whole. +Here too I visit, or to smile, or weep, +The winding theatre's majestic sweep; +The grave or gay colloquial scene recruits +My spirits spent in Learning's long pursuits. 30 +Whether some Senior shrewd, or spendthrift heir, +Wooer, or soldier, now unarm'd, be there, +Or some coif'd brooder o'er a ten years' cause +Thunder the Norman gibb'rish of the laws. +The lacquey, there, oft dupes the wary sire, +And, artful, speeds th'enamour'd son's desire. +There, virgins oft, unconscious what they prove, +What love is, know not, yet, unknowing, love. +Or, if impassion'd Tragedy wield high +The bloody sceptre, give her locks to fly 40 +Wild as the winds, and roll her haggard eye, +I gaze, and grieve, still cherishing my grief. +At times, e'en bitter tears! yield sweet relief. +As when from bliss untasted torn away, +Some youth dies, hapless, on his bridal day, +Or when the ghost, sent back from shades below, +Fills the assassin's heart with vengeful woe, +When Troy, or Argos, the dire scene affords, +Or Creon's hall8 laments its guilty lords. +Nor always city-pent or pent at home 50 +I dwell, but when Spring calls me forth to roam +Expatiate in our proud suburban shades +Of branching elm that never sun pervades. +Here many a virgin troop I may descry, +Like stars of mildest influence, gliding by, +Oh forms divine! Oh looks that might inspire +E'en Jove himself, grown old, with young desire! +Oft have I gazed on gem-surpassing eyes, +Outsparkling every star that gilds the skies. +Necks whiter than the iv'ry arm bestow'd 60 +By Jove on Pelops, or the Milky Road! +Bright locks, Love's golden snares, these falling low, +Those playing wanton o'er the graceful brow! +Cheeks too, more winning sweet than after show'r, +Adonis turn'd to Flora's fav'rite flow'r! +Yield, Heroines, yield, and ye who shar'd th'embrace +Of Jupiter in ancient times, give place; +Give place ye turban'd Fair of Persia's coast, +And ye, not less renown'd, Assyria's boast! +Submit, ye nymphs of Greece! Ye once the bloom 70 +Of Ilion,9 and all ye of haughty Rome, +Who swept of old her theatres with trains +Redundant, and still live in classic strains! +To British damsels beauty's palm is due, +Aliens! to follow them is fame for you. +Oh city,10 founded by Dardanian hands, +Whose towering front the circling realm commands, +Too blest abode! no loveliness we see +In all the earth, but it abounds in thee. +The virgin multitude that daily meets, 80 +Radiant with gold and beauty, in thy streets, +Outnumbers all her train of starry fires +With which Diana gilds thy lofty spires. +Fame says, that wafted hither by her doves, +With all her host of quiver-bearing Loves, +Venus, prefering Paphian scenes no more, +Has fix'd her empire on thy nobler shore. +But lest the sightless boy inforce my stay, +I leave these happy walls, while yet I may. +Immortal Moly11 shall secure my heart 90 +From all the sorc'ry of Circaean art, +And I will e'en repass Cam's reedy pools +To face once more the warfare of the Schools. +Meantime accept this trifle; Rhymes, though few, +Yet such as prove thy friend's remembrance true. + +1 Diodati was a schoolfellow of Milton at St. Paul's, of Italian +extraction, nephew of Giovanni Diodati, the translator of the +Bible into Italian, and son of Theodore Diodati, a physician of +eminence, who married and settled in England. charles Diodati's +early death formed the subject of The "Epitaphium Damonis" ("The +Death of Damon"). + +2 The Dee of Chester. + +3 The Vergivian Sea, so called by Ptolemy, was the Irish Sea +between England and Ireland. + +4 Cambridge. + +5 Milton had been rusticated (suspended) on account of a quarrel with his tutor, +Chappell. + +6 Chappell. + +7 Ovid. + +8 In Thebes--the guilty lords are Eteocles and Polynices the +brothers-sons of Oedipus and Jocasta, who fell in their unnatural +strife. + +9 Troy. + +10 London. The Dardanian (i.e. Trojan) hands are those of Brutus, +the legendary founder of London. + +11 The magical plant by which Odysseus was enabled to escape from +Circe. See Homer (Odyssey, x. 370-375). + + + ELEGY II + +On the Death of the University Beadle at Cambridge.1 + +Thee, whose refulgent staff and summons clear, + Minerva's flock longtime was wont t'obey, +Although thyself an herald, famous here, + The last of heralds, Death, has snatch'd away. +He calls on all alike, nor even deigns +To spare the office that himself sustains. + +Thy locks were whiter than the plumes display'd + By Leda's paramour2 in ancient time, +But thou wast worthy ne'er to have decay'd, + Or, Aeson-like,3 to know a second prime, 10 +Worthy for whom some Goddess should have won +New life, oft kneeling to Apollo's son.4 + +Commission'd to convene with hasty call + The gowned tribes, how graceful wouldst thou stand! +So stood Cyllenius5 erst in Priam's hall, + Wing-footed messenger of Jove's command, +And so, Eurybates6 when he address'd +To Peleus' son Atrides' proud behest. + +Dread Queen of sepulchres! whose rig'rous laws + And watchful eyes, run through the realms below, 20 +Oh, oft too adverse to Minerva's cause, + Too often to the Muse not less a foe, +Chose meaner marks, and with more equal aim +Pierce useless drones, earth's burthen and its shame! + +Flow, therefore, tears for Him from ev'ry eye, + All ye disciples of the Muses, weep! +Assembling, all, in robes of sable dye, + Around his bier, lament his endless sleep, +And let complaining Elegy rehearse +In every School her sweetest saddest verse. 30 + +1 Richard Redding of St. John's College, M.A. He died in October, +I626. + +2 The Swan--Jove had turned himself into that bird. + +3 i.e. Jason, who was restored to youth by his daughter Medea. + +4 Esculapius, the god of medicine. + +5 Hermes. + +6 One of the heralds sent to Achilles by Agamemnon. + + + ELEGY III + Anno Aetates 17.1 + + On the Death of the Bishop of Winchester.2 + +Silent I sat, dejected, and alone, +Making in thought the public woes my own, +When, first, arose the image in my breast +Of England's sufferings by that scourge, the pest.3 +How death, his fun'ral torch and scythe in hand, +Ent'ring the lordliest mansions of the land, +Has laid the gem-illumin'd palace low, +And level'd tribes of Nobles at a blow. +I, next, deplor'd the famed fraternal pair4 +Too soon to ashes turn'd and empty air, 10 +The Heroes next, whom snatch'd into the skies +All Belgia saw, and follow'd with her sighs; +But Thee far most I mourn'd, regretted most, +Winton's chief shepherd and her worthiest boast; +Pour'd out in tears I thus complaining said-- +Death, next in pow'r to Him who rules the Dead! +Is't not enough that all the woodlands yield +To thy fell force, and ev'ry verdant field, +That lilies, at one noisome blast of thine, +And ev'n the Cyprian Queen's own roses, pine, 20 +That oaks themselves, although the running rill +Suckle their roots, must wither at thy will, +That all the winged nations, even those +Whose heav'n-directed flight the Future shows, +And all the beasts that in dark forests stray, +And all the herds of Proteus5 are thy prey? +Ah envious! arm'd with pow'rs so unconfined +Why stain thy hands with blood of Human kind? +Why take delight, with darts that never roam, +To chase a heav'n-born spirit from her home? 30 + While thus I mourn'd, the star of evening stood, +Now newly ris'n, above the western flood, +And Phoebus from his morning-goal again +Had reach'd the gulphs of the Iberian main. +I wish'd repose, and, on my couch reclined +Took early rest, to night and sleep resign'd, +When--Oh for words to paint what I beheld! +I seem'd to wander in a spacious field, +Where all the champain glow'd with purple light +Like that of sun-rise on the mountain height; 40 +Flow'rs over all the field, of ev'ry hue +That ever Iris wore, luxuriant grew, +Nor Chloris,6 with whom amtrous Zephyrs play, +E'er dress'd Alcinous' gardens7 half so gay. +A silver current, like the Tagus, roll'd +O'er golden sands, but sands of purer gold, +With dewy airs Favonius fann'd the flow'rs, +With airs awaken'd under rosy bow'rs. +Such poets feign, irradiated all o'er +The sun's abode on India's utmost shore. 50 + While I, that splendour and the mingled shade +Of fruitful vines, with wonder fixt survey'd, +At once, with looks that beam'd celestial grace, +The Seer of Winton stood before my face. +His snowy vesture's hem descending low +His golden sandals swept, and pure as snow +New-fallen shone the mitre on his brow. +Where'er he trod, a tremulous sweet sound +Of gladness shook the flow'ry scene around: +Attendant angels clap their starry wings, 60 +The trumpet shakes the sky, all aether rings, +Each chaunts his welcome, folds him to his breast, +And thus a sweeter voice than all the rest. +"Ascend, my son! thy Father's kingdom share, +My son! henceforth be free'd from ev'ry care." + So spake the voice, and at its tender close +With psaltry's sound th'Angelic band arose. +Then night retired, and chased by dawning day +The visionary bliss pass'd all away. +I mourn'd my banish'd sleep with fond concern, 70 +Frequent, to me may dreams like this return. + +1 i.e. "In my seventeeth year," meaning at the age of sixteen. + +2 Lancelot Andrewes, Fuller's "peerless prelate." + +3 The plague which ravaged England in I626. + +4 Prince Christian of Brunswick, and Count Mansfelt. They were +brothers in arms and the Protestant champions. They both died in +I626. + +5 Marine creatures. Proteus was the shepherd of the seas. + +6 Flora. + +7 See the account of his gardens in the Odyssey. + + + ELEGY IV. + Anno Aetates 18. + + To My Tutor, Thomas Young,1 +Chaplain of the English Merchants Resident at Hamburg. + +Hence, my epistle--skim the Deep--fly o'er +Yon smooth expanse to the Teutonic shore! +Haste--lest a friend should grieve for thy delay-- +And the Gods grant that nothing thwart thy way! +I will myself invoke the King2 who binds +In his Sicanian ecchoing vault the winds, +With Doris3 and her Nymphs, and all the throng +Of azure Gods, to speed thee safe along. +But rather, to insure thy happier haste, +Ascend Medea's chariot,4 if thou may'st, 10 +Or that whence young Triptolemus5 of yore +Descended welcome on the Scythian shore. +The sands that line the German coast descried, +To opulent Hamburg turn aside, +So call'd, if legendary fame be true, +From Hama,6 whom a club-arm'd Cimbrian slew. +There lives, deep-learn'd and primitively just, +A faithful steward of his Christian trust, +My friend, and favorite inmate of my heart-- +That now is forced to want its better part! 20 +What mountains now, and seas, alas! how wide! +From me this other, dearer self divide, +Dear, as the sage7 renown'd for moral truth +To the prime spirit of the Attic youth! +Dear, as the Stagyrite8 to Ammon's son,9 +His pupil, who disdain'd the world he won! +Nor so did Chiron, or so Phoenix shine10 +In young Achilles' eyes, as He in mine. +First led by him thro' sweet Aonian11 shade +Each sacred haunt of Pindus I survey'd; 30 +And favor'd by the muse, whom I implor'd, +Thrice on my lip the hallow'd stream I pour'd. +But thrice the Sun's resplendent chariot roll'd +To Aries, has new ting'd his fleece with gold, +And Chloris twice has dress'd the meadows gay, +And twice has Summer parch'd their bloom away, +Since last delighted on his looks I hung, +Or my ear drank the music of his tongue. +Fly, therefore, and surpass the tempest's speed! +Aware thyself that there is urgent need. 40 +Him, ent'ring, thou shalt haply seated see +Beside his spouse, his infants on his knee, +Or turning page by page with studious look +Some bulky Father, or God's Holy Book, +Or minist'ring (which is his weightiest care) +To Christ's assembled flock their heav'nly fare. +Give him, whatever his employment be, +Such gratulation as he claims from me, +And with a down-cast eye and carriage meek +Addressing him, forget not thus to speak. 50 + If, compass'd round with arms, thou canst attend +To verse, verse greets thee from a distant friend, +Long due and late I left the English shore, +But make me welcome for that cause the more. +Such from Ulysses, his chaste wife to cheer, +The slow epistle came, tho' late, sincere. +But wherefore This? why palliate I a deed, +For which the culprit's self could hardly plead? +Self-charged and self-condemn'd, his proper part +He feels neglected, with an aching heart; 60 +But Thou forgive--Delinquents who confess, +And pray forgiveness, merit anger less; +From timid foes the lion turns away, +Nor yawns upon or rends a crouching prey, +Even pike-wielding Thracians learn to spare, +Won by soft influence of a suppliant's prayer; +And heav'n's dread thunderbolt arrested stands +By a cheap victim and uplifted hands. +Long had he wish'd to write, but was witheld, +And writes at last, by love alone compell'd, 70 +For Fame, too often true when she alarms, +Reports thy neighbouring-fields a scene of arms;12 +Thy city against fierce besiegers barr'd, +And all the Saxon Chiefs for fight prepar'd. +Enyo13 wastes thy country wide around, +And saturates with blood the tainted ground; +Mars rests contented in his Thrace no more, +But goads his steeds to fields of German gore, +The ever-verdant olive fades and dies, +And peace, the trumpet-hating goddess, flies, 80 +Flies from that earth which justice long had left, +And leaves the world of its last guard bereft. + Thus horror girds thee round. Meantime alone +Thou dwell'st, and helpless in a soil unknown, +Poor, and receiving from a foreign hand +The aid denied thee in thy native land. +Oh, ruthless country, and unfeeling more +Than thy own billow-beaten chalky shore! +Leav'st Thou to foreign Care the Worthies giv'n +By providence, to guide thy steps to Heav'n? 90 +His ministers, commission'd to proclaim +Eternal blessings in a Saviour's name? +Ah then most worthy! with a soul unfed +In Stygian night to lie for ever dead. +So once the venerable Tishbite stray'd +An exil'd fugitive from shade to shade, +When, flying Ahab and his Fury wife, +In lone Arabian wilds he shelter'd life; +So, from Philippi wander'd forth forlorn +Cilician Paul, with sounding scourges torn; 100 +And Christ himself so left and trod no more +The thankless Gergesenes' forbidden shore. + But thou take courage, strive against despair, +Quake not with dread, nor nourish anxious care. +Grim war indeed on ev'ry side appears, +And thou art menac'd by a thousand spears, +Yet none shall drink thy blood, or shall offend +Ev'n the defenceless bosom of my friend; +For thee the Aegis of thy God shall hide, +Jehova's self shall combat on thy side, 110 +The same, who vanquish'd under Sion's tow'rs +At silent midnight all Assyria's pow'rs, +The same who overthrew in ages past, +Damascus' sons that lay'd Samaria waste; +Their King he fill'd and them with fatal fears +By mimic sounds of clarions in their ears, +Of hoofs and wheels and neighings from afar +Of clanging armour and the din of war. + Thou therefore, (as the most affiicted may) +Still hope, and triumph o'er thy evil day, 120 +Look forth, expecting happier times to come, +And to enjoy once more thy native home! + +1 Young was private tutor to Milton before he went to St. Paul's. (Milton's +prose letter to Young is included in an appendix below.) + +2 Aeolus, god of the east wind. Sicania was a name for Sicily. + +3 Mother of the Nereids (sea-nymphs). + +4 Drawn by winged dragons. + +5 Triptolemus was presented by Ceres with a winged chariot. + +6 A Saxon warrior slain by a giant. + +7 Socrates. 8 Aristotle. 9 Alexander. + +10 Chiron and Phoenix were the tutors of Achilles. + +11 Helicon. + +12 Alluding to the war between the Protestant League and the +Imperialists. + +13 The goddess of war. + + + ELEGY V. + Anno Aetates 20. + + On the Approach of Spring. + +Time, never wand'ring from his annual round, +Bids Zephyr breathe the Spring, and thaw the ground; +Bleak Winter flies, new verdure clothes the plain, +And earth assumes her transient youth again. +Dream I, or also to the Spring belong +Increase of Genius, and new pow'rs of song? +Spring gives them, and, how strange soere it seem, +Impels me now to some harmonious theme. +Castalia's fountain and the forked hill1 +By day, by night, my raptur'd fancy fill, 10 +My bosom burns and heaves, I hear within +A sacred sound that prompts me to begin, +Lo! Phoebus comes, with his bright hair he blends +The radiant laurel wreath; Phoebus descends; +I mount, and, undepress'd by cumb'rous clay, +Through cloudy regions win my easy way; +Rapt through poetic shadowy haunts I fly: +The shrines all open to my dauntless eye, +My spirit searches all the realms of light, +And no Tartarean gulphs elude my sight. 20 +But this ecstatic trance--this glorious storm +Of inspiration--what will it perform? +Spring claims the verse that with his influence glows, +And shall be paid with what himself bestows. + Thou, veil'd with op'ning foliage, lead'st the throng +Of feather'd minstrels, Philomel! in song; +Let us, in concert, to the season sing, +Civic, and sylvan heralds of the spring! + With notes triumphant spring's approach declare! +To spring, ye Muses, annual tribute bear! 30 +The Orient left and Aethiopia's plains +The Sun now northward turns his golden reins, +Night creeps not now, yet rules with gentle sway, +And drives her dusky horrors swift away; +Now less fatigued on his aetherial plain +Bootes2 follows his celestial wain; +And now the radiant centinels above +Less num'rous watch around the courts of Jove, +For, with the night, Force, Ambush, Slaughter fly, +And no gigantic guilt alarms the sky. 40 +Now haply says some shepherd, while he views, +Recumbent on a rock, the redd'ning dews, +This night, this surely, Phoebus miss'd the fair, +Who stops his chariot by her am'rous care. +Cynthia,3 delighted by the morning's glow, +Speeds to the woodland, and resumes her bow; +Resigns her beams, and, glad to disappear, +Blesses his aid who shortens her career. +Come--Phoebus cries--Aurora come--too late +Thou linger'st slumb'ring with thy wither'd mate,4 50 +Leave Him, and to Hymettus' top repair, +Thy darling Cephalus expects thee there. +The goddess, with a blush, her love betrays, +But mounts, and driving rapidly obeys. +Earth now desires thee, Phoebus! and, t'engage +Thy warm embrace, casts off the guise of age. +Desires thee, and deserves; for who so sweet, +When her rich bosom courts thy genial heat? +Her breath imparts to ev'ry breeze that blows +Arabia's harvest and the Paphian rose. 60 +Her lofty front she diadems around +With sacred pines, like Ops on Ida crown'd, +Her dewy locks with various flow'rs new-blown, +She interweaves, various, and all her own, +For Proserpine in such a wreath attired +Taenarian Dis5 himself with love inspired. +Fear not, lest, cold and coy, the Nymph refuse, +Herself, with all her sighing Zephyrs sues, +Each courts thee fanning soft his scented wing, +And all her groves with warbled wishes ring. 70 +Nor, unendow'd and indigent, aspires +Th'am'rous Earth to engage thy warm desires, +But, rich in balmy drugs, assists thy claim +Divine Physician! to that glorious name. +If splendid recompense, if gifts can move +Desire in thee (gifts often purchase love), +She offers all the wealth, her mountains hide, +And all that rests beneath the boundless tide. +How oft, when headlong from the heav'nly steep +She sees thee plunging in the Western Deep 80 +How oft she cries--Ah Phoebus! why repair +Thy wasted force, why seek refreshment there? +Can Tethys6 win thee? wherefore should'st thou lave +A face so fair in her unpleasant wave? +Come, seek my green retreats, and rather chuse +To cool thy tresses in my chrystal dews, +The grassy turf shall yield thee sweeter rest, +Come, lay thy evening glories on my breast, +And breathing fresh through many a humid rose, +Soft whisp'ring airs shall lull thee to repose. 90 +No fears I feel like Semele7 to die, +Nor lest thy burning wheels8 approach too nigh, +For thou can'st govern them. Here therefore rest, +And lay thy evening glories on my breast. + Thus breathes the wanton Earth her am'rous flame, +And all her countless offspring feel the same; +For Cupid now through every region strays +Bright'ning his faded fires with solar rays, +His new-strung bow sends forth a deadlier sound, +And his new-pointed shafts more deeply wound, 100 +Nor Dian's self escapes him now untried, +Nor even Vesta9 at her altar-side; +His mother too repairs her beauty's wane, +And seems sprung newly from the Deep again. +Exulting youths the Hymenaeal10 sing, +With Hymen's name roofs, rocks, and valleys ring; +He, new attired and by the season dress'd +Proceeds all fragrant in his saffron vest. +Now, many a golden-cinctur'd virgin roves +To taste the pleasures of the fields and groves, 110 +All wish, and each alike, some fav'rite youth +Hers in the bonds of Hymenaeal truth. +Now pipes the shepherd through his reeds again, +Nor Phyllis wants a song that suits the strain, +With songs the seaman hails the starry sphere, +And dolphins rise from the abyss to hear, +Jove feels, himself, the season, sports again +With his fair spouse, and banquets all his train. +Now too the Satyrs in the dusk of Eve +Their mazy dance through flow'ry meadows weave, 120 +And neither God nor goat, but both in kind, +Sylvanus,11 wreath'd with cypress, skips behind. +The Dryads leave the hollow sylvan cells +To roam the banks, and solitary dells; +Pan riots now; and from his amorous chafe +Ceres12 and Cybele seem hardly safe, +And Faunus,13 all on fire to reach the prize, +In chase of some enticing Oread14 flies; +She bounds before, but fears too swift a bound, +And hidden lies, but wishes to be found. 130 +Our shades entice th'Immortals from above, +And some kind Pow'r presides oter ev'ry grove, +And long ye Pow'rs o'er ev'ry grove preside, +For all is safe and blest where ye abide! +Return O Jove! the age of gold restore-- +Why chose to dwell where storms and thunders roar? +At least, thou, Phoebus! moderate thy speed, +Let not the vernal hours too swift proceed, +Command rough Winter back, nor yield the pole +Too soon to Night's encroaching, long control. 140 + +1 Helicon. + +2 The Great Bear, called also Charles's Wain (wagon). "Bootes" is +the constellation called "The Waggoner," who is said to be "less +fatigued" because he drives the wain higher in the sky. + +3 Diana (the Moon). + +4 Tithonus, mortal husband to Aurora (the dawn), granted +immortality without eternal youth. See Homer's Hymn to Aphrodite +(lines 218-238). Cephalus was her lover, unwillingly taken by her +from his beloved wife Procris. See Ovid (Met. vii, 700-708). + +5 Hades (Pluto). + +6 A water goddess--mother of the river gods and wife of Oceanus. + +7 The mother of Dionysus. Juno persuaded her to ask to see Jove in +all his divine glory, the vision of which struck her dead. See +Ovid (Met. iii, 308-309.) + +8 The wheels of Apollo's chariot. See Ovid (Met. ii, I9-328.) + +9 The goddess of chastity. + +10 Hymn to Hymen, the goddess of marriage. 11 The wood god. + +12 The goddess of agriculture. Cybele (Rhea) was called the mother +of the gods and of men. See Virgil (Aen. x, 252-253.) + +13 The god of shepherds. 14 A wood nymph. + + + ELEGY VI + + To Charles Diodati, + When He Was Visiting in the Country + +Who sent the Author a poetical epistle, in which he requested that +his verses, if not so good as usual, might be excused on account +of the many feasts to which his friends invited him, and which +would not allow him leisure to finish them as he wished. + +With no rich viands overcharg'd, I send +Health, which perchance you want, my pamper'd friend; +But wherefore should thy Muse tempt mine away +From what she loves, from darkness into day? +Art thou desirous to be told how well +I love thee, and in verse? Verse cannot tell. +For verse has bounds, and must in measure move; +But neither bounds nor measure knows my love. +How pleasant in thy lines described appear +December's harmless sports and rural cheer! 10 +French spirits kindling with caerulean fires, +And all such gambols as the time inspires! + Think not that Wine against good verse offends; +The Muse and Bacchus have been always friends, +Nor Phoebus blushes sometimes to be found +With Ivy, rather than with Laurel, crown'd. +The Nine themselves oftimes have join'd the song +And revels of the Bacchanalian throng. +Not even Ovid could in Scythian air +Sing sweetly--why? no vine would flourish there. 20 +What in brief numbers sang Anacreon's1 muse? +Wine, and the rose, that sparkling wine bedews. +Pindar with Bacchus glows--his every line +Breathes the rich fragrance of inspiring wine, +While, with loud crash o'erturn'd, the chariot lies +And brown with dust the fiery courser flies. +The Roman lyrist steep'd in wine his lays +So sweet in Glycera's, and Chloe's praise.2 +Now too the plenteous feast, and mantling bowl +Nourish the vigour of thy sprightly soul; 30 +The flowing goblet makes thy numbers flow, +And casks not wine alone, but verse, bestow. +Thus Phoebus favours, and the arts attend +Whom Bacchus, and whom Ceres, both befriend. +What wonder then, thy verses are so sweet, +In which these triple powers so kindly meet. +The lute now also sounds, with gold inwrought, +And touch'd with flying Fingers nicely taught, +In tap'stried halls high-roof'd the sprightly lyre +Directs the dancers of the virgin choir. 40 +If dull repletion fright the Muse away, +Sights, gay as these, may more invite her stay; +And, trust me, while the iv'ry keys resound, +Fair damsels sport, and perfumes steam around, +Apollo's influence, like ethereal flame +Shall animate at once thy glowing frame, +And all the Muse shall rush into thy breast, +By love and music's blended pow'rs possest. +For num'rous pow'rs light Elegy befriend, +Hear her sweet voice, and at her call attend; 50 +Her, Bacchus, Ceres, Venus, all approve, +And with his blushing Mother, gentle Love. +Hence, to such bards we grant the copious use +Of banquets, and the vine's delicious juice. +But they who Demigods and Heroes praise +And feats perform'd in Jove's more youthful days, +Who now the counsels of high heav'n explore, +Now shades, that echo the Cerberean roar,3 +Simply let these, like him of Samos4 live, +Let herbs to them a bloodless banquet give; 60 +In beechen goblets let their bev'rage shine, +Cool from the chrystal spring, their sober wine! +Their youth should pass, in innocence, secure +From stain licentious, and in manners pure, +Pure as the priest's, when robed in white he stands +The fresh lustration ready in his hands. +Thus Linus5 liv'd, and thus, as poets write, +Tiresias, wiser for his loss of sight,6 +Thus exil'd Chalcas,7 thus the bard of Thrace,8 +Melodious tamer of the savage race! 70 +Thus train'd by temp'rance, Homer led, of yore, +His chief of Ithaca9 from shore to shore, +Through magic Circe's monster-peopled reign, +And shoals insidious with the siren train; +And through the realms, where griesly spectres dwell, +Whose tribes he fetter'd in a gory spell; +For these are sacred bards, and, from above, +Drink large infusions from the mind of Jove. + Would'st thou (perhaps 'tis hardly worth thine ear) +Would'st thou be told my occupation here? 80 +The promised King of peace employs my pen, +Th'eternal cov'nant made for guilty men, +The new-born Deity with infant cries +Filling the sordid hovel, where he lies; +The hymning Angels, and the herald star +That led the Wise who sought him from afar, +And idols on their own unhallow'd floor +Dash'd at his birth, to be revered no more! + This theme10 on reeds of Albion I rehearse; +The dawn of that blest day inspired the verse; 90 +Verse that, reserv'd in secret, shall attend +Thy candid voice, my Critic and my Friend! + +1 A poet native to Teios in Ionia. + +2 See Horace's Odes (i, 19-23). + +3 Cerberus, the guardian of Hades. + +4 Pythagoras. 5 A son of Apollo. + +6 Tiresias was gifted by Pallas with the power of understanding +the language of birds to atone for his loss of sight. + +7 The Grecian soothsayer at the siege of Troy. 8 Orpheus. + +9 Odysseus. + +10 "The Hymn" from "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity." + + + Elegy VI. + Anno Aetates undevigesimo.1 + +As yet a stranger to the gentle fires +That Amathusia's smiling Queen2 inspires, +Not seldom I derided Cupid's darts, +And scorn'd his claim to rule all human hearts. +Go, child, I said, transfix the tim'rous dove, +An easy conquest suits an infant Love; +Enslave the sparrow, for such prize shall be +Sufficient triumph to a Chief like thee; +Why aim thy idle arms at human kind? +Thy shafts prevail not 'gainst the noble mind. 10 + The Cyprian3 heard, and, kindling into ire, +(None kindles sooner) burn'd with double fire. + It was the Spring, and newly risen day +Peep'd o'er the hamlets on the First of May; +My eyes too tender for the blaze of light, +Still sought the shelter of retiring night, +When Love approach'd, in painted plumes arrayed; +Th'insidious god his rattling darts betray'd, +Nor less his infant features, and the sly +Sweet intimations of his threat'ning eye. 20 + Such the Sigeian boy4 is seen above, +Filling the goblet for imperial Jove; +Such he, on whom the nymphs bestow'd their charms, +Hylas,5 who perish'd in a Naiad's arms. +Angry he seem'd, yet graceful in his ire, +And added threats, not destitute of fire. +"My power," he said, "by others pain alone, +'Twere best to learn; now learn it by thy own! +With those, who feel my power, that pow'r attest! +And in thy anguish be my sway confest! 30 +I vanquish'd Phoebus, though returning vain +From his new triumph o'er the Python slain, +And, when he thinks on Daphne,6 even He +Will yield the prize of archery to me. +A dart less true the Parthian horseman7 sped, +Behind him kill'd, and conquer'd as he fled, +Less true th'expert Cydonian, and less true +The youth, whose shaft his latent Procris slew.8 +Vanquish'd by me see huge Orion bend, +By me Alcides,9 and Alcides's friend.10 40 +At me should Jove himself a bolt design, +His bosom first should bleed transfix'd by mine. +But all thy doubts this shaft will best explain, +Nor shall it teach thee with a trivial pain, +Thy Muse, vain youth! shall not thy peace ensure, +Nor Phoebus' serpent yield thy wound a cure.11 + He spoke, and, waving a bright shaft in air, +Sought the warm bosom of the Cyprian fair. + That thus a child should bluster in my ear +Provok'd my laughter more than mov'd my fear. 50 +I shun'd not, therefore, public haunts, but stray'd +Careless in city, or suburban shade, +And passing and repassing nymphs that mov'd +With grace divine, beheld where'er I rov'd. +Bright shone the vernal day, with double blaze, +As beauty gave new force to Phoebus' rays. +By no grave scruples check'd I freely eyed +The dang'rous show, rash youth my only guide, +And many a look of many a Fair unknown +Met full, unable to control my own. 60 +But one I mark'd (then peace forsook my breast) +One--Oh how far superior to the rest! +What lovely features! Such the Cyprian Queen +Herself might wish, and Juno wish her mien. +The very nymph was she, whom when I dar'd +His arrows, Love had even then prepar'd. +Nor was himself remote, nor unsupplied +With torch well-trimm'd and quiver at his side; +Now to her lips he clung, her eye-lids now, +Then settled on her cheeks or on her brow. 70 +And with a thousand wounds from ev'ry part +Pierced and transpierced my undefended heart. +A fever, new to me, of fierce desire +Now seiz'd my soul, and I was all on fire, +But she, the while, whom only I adore, +Was gone, and vanish'd to appear no more. +In silent sadness I pursue my way, +I pause, I turn, proceed, yet wish to stay, +And while I follow her in thought, bemoan +With tears my soul's delight so quickly flown. 80 +When Jove had hurl'd him to the Lemnian coast12 +So Vulcan sorrow'd for Olympus lost, +And so Oeclides, sinking into night, +From the deep gulph look'd up to distant light.13 + Wretch that I am, what hopes for me remain +Who cannot cease to love, yet love in vain? +Oh could I once, once more, behold the Fair, +Speak to her, tell her of the pangs I bear, +Perhaps she is not adamant, would show +Perhaps some pity at my tale of woe. 90 +Oh inauspicious flame--'tis mine to prove +A matchless instance of disastrous love. +Ah spare me, gentle Pow'r!--If such thou be +Let not thy deeds, and nature disagree. +Now I revere thy fires, thy bow, thy darts: +Now own thee sov'reign of all human hearts. +Spare me, and I will worship at no shrine +With vow and sacrifice, save only thine. +Remove! no--grant me still this raging woe! +Sweet is the wretchedness, that lovers know: 100 +But pierce hereafter (should I chance to see +One destined mine) at once both her and me. +___________________________________________________________14 + +Such were the trophies, that in earlier days, +By vanity seduced I toil'd to raise, +Studious yet indolent, and urg'd by youth, +That worst of teachers, from the ways of Truth; +Till learning taught me, in his shady bow'r, +To quit love's servile yoke, and spurn his pow'r. +Then, on a sudden, the fierce flame supprest, +A frost continual settled on my breast, 110 +Whence Cupid fears his flames extinct to see, +And Venus dreads a Diomede15 in me. + +1 i.e. "In my nineteenth year." + +2 Venus (Aphrodite), so called from Amethus in Cyprus, where she +had a temple. + +3 Cupid, called after his mother's title. + +4 Ganymede, whom Jove, in the form of an eagle, spirited away to +serve as his cup-bearer. See Ovid (Met. x, 155-161) + +5 The friend of Hercules, stolen by nymphs who had fallen in love +with him. + +6 She fled from Apollo, and was transformed into a laurel. + +7 The Roman Crassus was defeated in 53 B.C. by the Parthian +cavalry when they fired backwards with devastating effect. The Cydonians were +also famed for their skill in archery. + +8 Cephalus, who shot his wife Procris by mistake. + +9 Hercules. 10 Telemon. + +11 Esculapius, who came to Rome in the form of a snake. + +12 Vulcan (Hephaestus) was cast down from Olympus to the isle of +Lemnos. + +13 One of the Argonauts. He was swallowed up by the sea. + +14 A later retraction by Milton. The line appears in the original to separate it +from what came before it. + +15 Diomedes wounded Venus (Aphrodite) at Troy. See Homer (Il. v, +335-343) + + On the Gunpowder Plot.1 + +Cum simul in regem nuper satrapasque Britannos + Ausus es infandum perfide Fauxe nefas, +Fallor? an & mitis voluisti ex parte videri, + Et pensare mala cum pietate scelus; +Scilicet hos alti missurus ad atria caeli, + Sulphureo curru flammivolisque rotis. +Qualiter ille feris caput inviolabile Parcis + Liquit Jordanios turbine raptus agros. + +1 The Poems on the subject of the Gunpowder Treason2 I have not +translated, both because the matter of them is unpleasant, and +because they are written with an asperity, which, however it might +be warranted in Milton's day, would be extremely unseasonable +now.--W.C. + +2 This includes "On the Fifth of November" below. + + + Another on the Same. + +Siccine tentasti caelo donasse Jacobum + Quae septemgemino Bellua monte lates? +Ni meliora tuum poterit dare munera numen, + Parce precor donis insidiosa tuis. +Ille quidem sine te consortia serus adivit + Astra, nec inferni pulveris usus ope. +Sic potius foedus in caelum pelle cucullos, + Et quot habet brutos Roma profana Deos, +Namque hac aut alia quemque adjuveris arte, + Crede mihi, caeli vix bene scandet iter. 10 + + + Another on the Same. + +Purgatorem animae derisit Jacobus ignem, + Et sine quo superum non adeunda domus. +Frenduit hoc trina monstrum Latiale corona + Movit & horrificum cornua dena minax. +Et nec inultus ait temnes mea sacra Britanne, + Supplicium spreta relligione dabis. +Et si stelligeras unquam penetraveris arces, + Non nisi per flammas triste patebit iter. +O quam funesto cecinisti proxima vero, + Verbaque ponderibus vix caritura suis! 10 +Nam prope Tartareo sublime rotatus ab igni + Ibat ad aethereas umbra perusta plagas. + + + Another on the Same. + +Quem modo Roma suis devoverat impia diris, + Et Styge damnarat Taenarioque sinu, +Hunc vice mutata jam tollere gestit ad astra, + Et cupit ad superos evehere usque Deos. + + + On the Inventor of Gunpowder. + +Praise in old time the sage Prometheus won, + Who stole ethereal radiance from the sun; +But greater he, whose bold invention strove + To emulate the fiery bolts of Jove. + + + To Leonora,1 Singing in Rome.2 + +Angelus unicuique suus (sic credite gentes) + Obtigit aethereis ales ab ordinibus. +Quid mirum? Leonora tibi si gloria major, + Nam tua praesentem vox sonat ipsa Deum. +Aut Deus, aut vacui certe mens tertia coeli + Pertua secreto guttura serpit agens; +Serpit agens, facilisque docet mortalia corda + Sensim immortali assuescere posse sono. +Quod si cuncta quidem Deus est, per cunctaque fusus, + In te una loquitur, caetera mutus habet. 10 + +1 Leonora Baroni, celebrated Neapolitan singer. Milton heard her perform at the +palace of Cardinal Barberini in I638. + +2 I have translated only two of the three poetical compliments +addressed to Leonora, as they appear to me far superior to what +I have omitted.--W.C. + + + Another to the Same. + +Another Leonora1 once inspir'd + Tasso, with fatal love to frenzy fir'd, +But how much happier, liv'd he now, were he, + Pierced with whatever pangs for love of Thee! +Since could he hear that heavenly voice of thine, + With Adriana's lute2 of sound divine, +Fiercer than Pentheus'3 tho' his eye might roll, + Or idiot apathy benumb his soul, +You still, with medicinal sounds, might cheer + His senses wandering in a blind career; 10 +And sweetly breathing thro' his wounded breast, + Charm, with soul-soothing song, his thoughts to rest. + +1 Leonora d'Este, supposed lover of Torquato Tasso. + +2 Adriana Baroni, who accompanied her daughter on the lute. + +3 A mad Theban king. + + + Another to the Same. + +Naples, too credulous, ah! boast no more + The sweet-voiced Siren buried on thy shore, +That, when Parthenope1 deceas'd, she gave + Her sacred dust to a Chalcidic2 grave, +For still she lives, but has exchanged the hoarse + Pausilipo for Tiber's placid course, +Where, idol of all Rome, she now in chains, + Of magic song both Gods and Men detains. + +1 One of the Sirens. + +2 From Chalcis, whence the Greek colonies of South Italy came. + + +The Fable of the Peasant and his Landlord.1 + +A Peasant to his lord yearly court, + Presenting pippins of so rich a sort +That he, displeased to have a part alone, + Removed the tree, that all might be his own. +The tree, too old to travel, though before + So fruitful, withered, and would yield no more. +The squire, perceiving all his labour void, + Cursed his own pains, so foolishly employed, +And "Oh," he cried, "that I had lived content + With tribute, small indeed, but kindly meant! 10 +My avarice has expensive proved to me, + Has cost me both my pippins and my tree." + +1 Added to the Elegies in the I673 edition. + + + +2. POEMS IN VARIOUS METRES + + +On the Death of the Vice-Chancellor, + A Physician.1 + +Learn ye nations of the earth +The condition of your birth, +Now be taught your feeble state, +Know, that all must yield to Fate! + +If the mournful Rover, Death, +Say but once-resign your breath- +Vainly of escape you dream, +You must pass the Stygian stream. + +Could the stoutest overcome +Death's assault, and baffle Doom, 10 +Hercules had both withstood +Undiseas'd by Nessus' blood.2 + +Ne'er had Hector press'd the plain +By a trick of Pallas slain, +Nor the Chief to Jove allied3 +By Achilles' phantom died. + +Could enchantments life prolong, +Circe, saved by magic song, +Still had liv'd, and equal skill +Had preserv'd Medea still.4 20 + +Dwelt in herbs and drugs a pow'r +To avert Man's destin'd hour, +Learn'd Machaon5 should have known +Doubtless to avert his own. + +Chiron had survived the smart +Of the Hydra-tainted dart,6 +And Jove's bolt had been with ease +Foil'd by Asclepiades.7 + +Thou too, Sage! of whom forlorn +Helicon and Cirrha mourn, 30 +Still had'st filled thy princely place, +Regent of the gowned race, + +Had'st advanc'd to higher fame +Still, thy much-ennobled name, +Nor in Charon's skiff explored +The Tartarean gulph abhorr'd. + +But resentful Proserpine, +Jealous of thy skill divine, +Snapping short thy vital thread +Thee too number'd with the Dead. 40 + +Wise and good! untroubled be +The green turf that covers thee, +Thence in gay profusion grow +All the sweetest flow'rs that blow! + +Pluto's Consort bid thee rest! +Oeacus pronounce thee blest! +To her home thy shade consign, +Make Elysium ever thine! + +1 Dr. John Goslyn, Regius Professor of Medicine at Cambridge. He +died on the 21st October, I626. + +2 A centaur whom Hercules shot with a poisoned arrow. Hercules was +later poisoned by the centaur's blood-stained robe, which he was +induced to put on. + +3 Sarpedon. See Homer (Il. xvi, 477-491). + +4 Circe and Medea were enchantresses. + +5 Son of Esculapius. He was a healer to the Greeks during the +siege of Troy. See Homer (Il. xi, 514). + +6 The centaur Chiron was killed by Hercules's poisoned arrows. + +7 Esculapius. He was killed by Jove's lightning for having saved +too many from death. + + + On the Fifth of November. + Anno Aetates 17. + +Am pius extrema veniens Jacobus ab arcto +Teucrigenas populos, lateque patentia regna +Albionum tenuit, jamque inviolabile foedus +Sceptra Caledoniis conjunxerat Anglica Scotis: +Pacificusque novo felix divesque sedebat +In solio, occultique doli securus & hostis: +Cum ferus ignifluo regnans Acheronte tyrannus, +Eumenidum pater, aethereo vagus exul Olympo, +Forte per immensum terrarum erraverat orbem, +Dinumerans sceleris socios, vernasque fideles, 10 +Participes regni post funera moesta futuros; +Hic tempestates medio ciet aere diras, +Illic unanimes odium struit inter amicos, +Armat & invictas in mutua viscera gentes; +Regnaque olivifera vertit florentia pace, +Et quoscunque videt purae virtutis amantes, +Hos cupit adjicere imperio, fraudumque magister +Tentat inaccessum sceleri corrumpere pectus, +Insidiasque locat tacitas, cassesque latentes +Tendit, ut incautos rapiat, seu Caspia Tigris 20 +Insequitur trepidam deserta per avia praedam +Nocte sub illuni, & somno nictantibus astris. +Talibus infestat populos Summanus & urbes +Cinctus caeruleae fumanti turbine flammae. +Jamque fluentisonis albentia rupibus arva +Apparent, & terra Deo dilecta marino, +Cui nomen dederat quondam Neptunia proles +Amphitryoniaden qui non dubitavit atrocem +Aequore tranato furiali poscere bello, +Ante expugnatae crudelia saecula Troiae. 30 + At simul hanc opibusque & festa pace beatam +Aspicit, & pingues donis Cerealibus agros, +Quodque magis doluit, venerantem numina veri +Sancta Dei populum, tandem suspiria rupit +Tartareos ignes & luridum olentia sulphur. +Qualia Trinacria trux ab Jove clausus in Aetna +Efflat tabifico monstrosus ab ore Tiphoeus. +Ignescunt oculi, stridetque adamantinus ordo +Dentis, ut armorum fragor, ictaque cuspide cuspis. +Atque pererrato solum hoc lacrymabile mundo 40 +Inveni, dixit, gens haec mihi sola rebellis, +Contemtrixque jugi, nostraque potentior arte. +Illa tamen, mea si quicquam tentamina possunt, +Non feret hoc impune diu, non ibit inulta, +Hactenus; & piceis liquido natat aere pennis; +Qua volat, adversi praecursant agmine venti, +Densantur nubes, & crebra tonitrua fulgent. + Jamque pruinosas velox superaverat alpes, +Et tenet Ausoniae fines, a parte sinistra +Nimbifer Appenninus erat, priscique Sabini, 50 +Dextra veneficiis infamis Hetruria, nec non +Te furtiva Tibris Thetidi videt oscula dantem; +Hinc Mavortigenae consistit in arce Quirini. +Reddiderant dubiam jam sera crepuscula lucem, +Cum circumgreditur totam Tricoronifer urbem, +Panificosque Deos portat, scapulisque virorum +Evehitur, praeeunt summisso poplite reges, +Et mendicantum series longissima fratrum; +Cereaque in manibus gestant funalia caeci, +Cimmeriis nati in tenebris, vitamque trahentes. 60 +Templa dein multis subeunt lucentia taedis +(Vesper erat sacer iste Petro) fremitoesque canentum +Saepe tholos implet vacuos, & inane locorum. +Qualiter exululat Bromius, Bromiique caterva, +Orgia cantantes in Echionio Aracyntho, +Dum tremit attonitus vitreis Asopus in undis, +Et procul ipse cava responsat rupe Cithaeron. + His igitur tandem solenni more peractis, +Nox senis amplexus Erebi taciturna reliquit, +Praecipitesque impellit equos stimulante flagello, 70 +Captum oculis Typhlonta, Melanchaetemque ferocem, +Atque Acherontaeo prognatam patre Siopen +Torpidam, & hirsutis horrentem Phrica capillis. +Interea regum domitor, Phlegetontius haeres +Ingreditur thalamos (neque enim secretus adulter +Producit steriles molli sine pellice noctes) +At vix compositos somnus claudebat ocellos, +Cum niger umbrarum dominus, rectorque silentum, +Praedatorque hominum falsa sub imagine tectus +Astitit, assumptis micuerunt tempora canis, 80 +Barba sinus promissa tegit, cineracea longo +Syrmate verrit humum vestis, pendetque cucullus +Vertice de raso, & ne quicquam desit ad artes, +Cannabeo lumbos constrinxit fune salaces, +Tarda fenestratis figens vestigia calceis. +Talis uti fama est, vasta Franciscus eremo +Tetra vagabatur solus per lustra ferarum, +Sylvestrique tulit genti pia verba salutis +Impius, atque lupos domuit, Lybicosque leones. + Subdolus at tali Serpens velatus amictu 90 +Solvit in has fallax ora execrantia voces; +Dormis nate? Etiamne tuos sopor opprimit artus? +Immemor O fidei, pecorumque oblite tuorum, +Dum cathedram venerande tuam, diadmaque triplex +Ridet Hyperboreo gens barbara nata sub axe, +Dumque pharetrati spernunt tua jura Britanni; +Surge, age, surge piger, Latius quem Caesar adorat, +Cui reserata patet convexi janua caeli, +Turgentes animos, & fastus frange procaces, +Sacrilegique sciant, tua quid maledictio possit, 100 +Et quid Apostolicae possit custodia clavis; +Et memor Hesperiae disjectam ulciscere classem, +Mersaque Iberorum lato vexilla profundo, +Sanctorumque cruci tot corpora fixa probrosae, +Thermodoontea nuper regnante puella. +At tu si tenero mavis torpescere lecto +Crescentesque negas hosti contundere vires, +Tyrrhenum implebit numeroso milite Pontum, +Signaque Aventino ponet fulgentia colle: +Relliquias veterum franget, flammisque cremabit, 110 +Sacraque calcabit pedibus tua colla profanis, +Cujus gaudebant soleis dare basia reges. +Nec tamen hunc bellis & aperto Marte lacesses, +Irritus ille labor, tu callidus utere fraude, +Quaelibet haereticis disponere retia fas est; +Jamque ad consilium extremis rex magnus ab oris +Patricios vocat, & procerum de stirpe creatos, +Grandaevosque patres trabea, canisque verendos; +Hos tu membratim poteris conspergere in auras, +Atque dare in cineres, nitrati pulveris igne 120 +Aedibus injecto, qua convenere, sub imis. +Protinus ipse igitur quoscumque habet Anglia fidos +Propositi, factique mone, quisquamne tuorum +Audebit summi non jussa facessere Papae. +Perculsosque metu subito, cas£mque stupentes +Invadat vel Gallus atrox, vel saevus Iberus +Saecula sic illic tandem Mariana redibunt, +Tuque in belligeros iterum dominaberis Anglos. +Et nequid timeas, divos divasque secundas +Accipe, quotque tuis celebrantur numina fastis. 130 +Dixit & adscitos ponens malefidus amictus +Fugit ad infandam, regnum illaetabile, Lethen. + Jam rosea Eoas pandens Tithonia portas +Vestit inauratas redeunti lumine terras; +Maestaque adhuc nigri deplorans funera nati +Irrigat ambrosiis montana cacumina guttis; +Cum somnos pepulit stellatae janitor aulae +Nocturnos visus, & somnia grata revolvens. + Est locus aeterna septus caligine noctis +Vasta ruinosi quondam fundamina tecti, 140 +Nunc torvi spelunca Phoni, Prodotaeque bilinguis +Effera quos uno peperit Discordia partu. +Hic inter caementa jacent praeruptaque saxa, +Ossa inhumata virum, & trajecta cadavera ferro; +Hic Dolus intortis semper sedet ater ocellis, +Jurgiaque, & stimulis armata Calumnia fauces, +Et Furor, atque viae moriendi mille videntur +Et Timor, exanguisque locum circumvolat Horror, +Perpetuoque leves per muta silentia Manes +Exululant, tellus & sanguine conscia stagnat. 150 +Ipsi etiam pavidi latitant penetralibus antri +Et Phonos, & Prodotes, nulloque sequente per antrum +Antrum horrens, scopulosum, atrum feralibus umbris +Diffugiunt sontes, & retro lumina vortunt, +Hos pugiles Romae per saecula longa fideles +Evocat antistes Babylonius, atque ita fatur. +Finibus occiduis circumfusum incolit aequor +Gens exosa mihi, prudens natura negavit +Indignam penitus nostro conjungere mundo; +Illuc, sic jubeo, celeri contendite gressu, 160 +Tartareoque leves difflentur pulvere in auras +Et rex & pariter satrapae, scelerata propago +Et quotquot fidei caluere cupidine verae +Consilii socios adhibete, operisque ministros. +Finierat, rigidi cupide paruere gemelli. + Interea longo flectens curvamine caelos +Despicit aetherea dominus qui fulgurat arce, +Vanaque perversae ridet conamina turbae, +Atque sui causam populi volet ipse tueri. + Esse ferunt spatium, qua distat ab Aside terra 170 +Fertilis Europe, & spectat Mareotidas undas; +Hic turris posita est Titanidos ardua Famae +Aerea, lata, sonans, rutilis vicinior astris +Quam superimpositum vel Athos vel Pelion Ossae +Mille fores aditusque patent, totidemque fenestrae, +Amplaque per tenues translucent atria muros; +Excitat hic varios plebs agglomerata susurros; +Qualiter instrepitant circum mulctralia bombis +Agmina muscarum, aut texto per ovilia junco, +Dum Canis aestivum coeli petit ardua culmen 180 +Ipsa quidem summa sedet ultrix matris in arce, +Auribus innumeris cinctum caput eminet olli, +Queis sonitum exiguum trahit, atque levissima captat +Murmura, ab extremis patuli confinibus orbis. +Nec tot Aristoride servator inique juvencae +Isidos, immiti volvebas lumina vultu, +Lumina non unquam tacito nutantia somno, +Lumina subjectas late spectantia terras. +Istis illa solet loca luce carentia saepe +Perlustrare, etiam radianti impervia soli. 190 +Millenisque loquax auditaque visaque linguis +Cuilibet effundit temeraria, veraque mendax +Nunc minuit, modo confictis sermonibus auget. +Sed tamen a nostro meruisti carmine laudes +Fama, bonum quo non aliud veracius ullum, +Nobis digna cani, nec te memorasse pigebit +Carmine tam longo, servati scilicet Angli +Officiis vaga diva tuis, tibi reddimus aequa. +Te Deus aeternos motu qui temperat ignes, +Fulmine praemisso alloquitur, terraque tremente: 200 +Fama siles? an te latet impia Papistarum +Conjurata cohors in meque meosque Britannos, +Et nova sceptrigero caedes meditata Jacobo: +Nec plura, illa statim sensit mandata Tonantis, +Et satis ante fugax stridentes induit alas, +Induit & variis exilia corpora plumis; +Dextra tubam gestat Temesaeo ex aere sonoram. +Nec mora jam pennis cedentes remigat auras, +Atque parum est cursu celeres praevertere nubes, +Jam ventos, jam solis equos post terga reliquit: 210 +Et primo Angliacas solito de more per urbes +Ambiguas voces, incertaque murmura spargit, +Mox arguta dolos, & detestabile vulgat +Proditionis opus, nec non facta horrida dictu, +Authoresque addit sceleris, nec garrula caecis +Insidiis loca structa silet; stupuere relatis, +Et pariter juvenes, pariter tremuere puellae, +Effaetique senes pariter, tanteaeque ruinae +Sensus ad aetatem subito penetraverat omnem +Attamen interea populi miserescit ab alto 220 +Aethereus pater, & crudelibus obstitit ausis +Papicolum; capti poenas raptantur ad acres; +At pia thura Deo, & grati solvuntur honores; +Compita laeta focis genialibus omnia fumant; +Turba choros juvenilis agit: Quintoque Novembris +Null Dies toto occurrit celebratior anno. + + + On the Death of the Bishop of Ely.1 + Anno Aetates 17. + +My lids with grief were tumid yet, +And still my sullied cheek was wet +With briny dews profusely shed +For venerable Winton dead,2 +When Fame, whose tales of saddest sound +Alas! are ever truest found, +The news through all our cities spread +Of yet another mitred head +By ruthless Fate to Death consign'd, +Ely, the honour of his kind. 10 +At once, a storm of passion heav'd +My boiling bosom, much I grieved +But more I raged, at ev'ry breath +Devoting Death himself to death. +With less revenge did Naso3 teem +When hated Ibis was his theme; +With less, Archilochus,4 denied +The lovely Greek, his promis'd bride. +But lo! while thus I execrate, +Incens'd, the Minister of Fate, 20 +Wondrous accents, soft, yet clear, +Wafted on the gale I hear. +Ah, much deluded! lay aside +Thy threats and anger misapplied. +Art not afraid with sounds like these +T'offend whom thou canst not appease? +Death is not (wherefore dream'st thou thus?) +The son of Night and Erebus, +Nor was of fel1 Erynnis born5 +In gulphs, where Chaos rules forlorn, 30 +But sent from God, his presence leaves, +To gather home his ripen'd sheaves, +To call encumber'd souls away +From fleshly bonds to boundless day, + (As when the winged Hours excite, +And summon forth the Morning-light) +And each to convoy to her place +Before th'Eternal Father's face. +But not the wicked-Them, severe +Yet just, from all their pleasures here 40 +He hurries to the realms below, +Terrific realms of penal woe! +Myself no sooner heard his call +Than, scaping through my prison-wall, +I bade adieu to bolts and bars, +And soar'd with angels to the stars, +Like Him of old, to whom 'twas giv'n +To mount, on fiery wheels, to heav'n. +Bootes' wagon,6 slow with cold +Appall'd me not, nor to behold 50 +The sword that vast Orion draws, +Or ev'n the Scorpion's horrid claws.7 +Beyond the Sun's bright orb I fly, +And far beneath my feet descry +Night's dread goddess, seen with awe, +Whom her winged dragons draw. +Thus, ever wond'ring at my speed +Augmented still as I proceed, +I pass the Planetary sphere, +The Milky Way--and now appear 60 +Heav'ns crystal battlements, her door +Of massy pearl, and em'rald floor. +But here I cease. For never can +The tongue of once a mortal man +In suitable description trace +The pleasures of that happy place, +Suffice it that those joys divine +Are all, and all for ever, mine. + +1 Nicholas Felton. + +2 Dr. Felton died a few days after Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester. +See Milton's Third Elegy. + +3 Ovid. + +4 A Greek poet. He was refused by Lycambes as a suitor to his daughters, and in +revenge lampooned the entire family. Lycambes's daughters hanged themselves. + +5 Erebus and Erynnis are Furies. + +6 See Milton's Fifth Elegy, line 6, and the note thereto. + +7 The constellation Scorpio. + + + + That Nature is Not Subject to Decay. + +Ah, how the Human Mind wearies herself +With her own wand'rings, and, involved in gloom +Impenetrable, speculates amiss! +Measuring, in her folly, things divine +By human, laws inscrib'd on adamant +By laws of Man's device, and counsels fix'd +For ever, by the hours, that pass, and die. +How?--shall the face of Nature then be plow'd +Into deep wrinkles, and shall years at last +On the great Parent fix a sterile curse? 10 +Shall even she confess old age, and halt +And, palsy-smitten, shake her starry brows? +Shall foul Antiquity with rust and drought +And famine vex the radiant worlds above? +Shall Time's unsated maw crave and engulf +The very heav'ns that regulate his flight? +And was the Sire of all able to fence +His works, and to uphold the circling worlds, +But through improvident and heedless haste +Let slip th'occasion?--So then--All is lost-- 20 +And in some future evil hour, yon arch +Shall crumble and come thund'ring down, the poles +Jar in collision, the Olympian King +Fall with his throne, and Pallas, holding forth +The terrors of her Gorgon shield in vain,1 +Shall rush to the abyss, like Vulcan hurl'd +Down into Lemnos through the gate of heav'n. +Thou also, with precipitated wheels +Phoebus! thy own son's fall shalt imitate, +With hideous ruin shalt impress the Deep 30 +Suddenly, and the flood shall reek and hiss +At the extinction of the Lamp of Day. +Then too, shall Haemus cloven to his base +Be shattered, and the huge Ceraunian hills,2 +Once weapons of Tartarean Dis, immersed +In Erebus, shall fill Himself with fear. + No. The Almighty Father surer lay'd +His deep foundations, and providing well +For the event of all, the scales of Fate +Suspended, in just equipoise, and bade 40 +His universal works from age to age +One tenour hold, perpetual, undisturb'd. + Hence the Prime Mover wheels itself about +Continual, day by day, and with it bears +In social measure swift the heav'ns around. +Not tardier now is Saturn than of old, +Nor radiant less the burning casque of Mars. +Phoebus, his vigour unimpair'd, still shows +Th'effulgence of his youth, nor needs the God +A downward course that he may warm the vales; 50 +But, ever rich in influence, runs his road, +Sign after sign, through all the heav'nly zone. +Beautiful as at first ascends the star3 +From odorif'rous Ind, whose office is +To gather home betimes th'ethereal flock, +To pour them o'er the skies again at Eve, +And to discriminate the Night and Day. +Still Cynthia's changeful horn waxes and wanes +Alternate, and with arms extended still +She welcomes to her breast her brother's beams. 60 +Nor have the elements deserted yet +Their functions, thunder with as loud a stroke +As erst, smites through the rocks and scatters them, +The East still howls, still the relentless North +Invades the shudd'ring Scythian, still he breathes +The Winter, and still rolls the storms along. +The King of Ocean with his wonted force +Beats on Pelorus,4 o'er the Deep is heard +The hoarse alarm of Triton's sounding shell, +Nor swim the monsters of th'Aegean sea 70 +In shallows, or beneath diminish'd waves. +Thou too, thy antient vegetative pow'r +Enjoy'st, O Earth! Narcissus still is sweet, +And, Phoebus! still thy Favourite, and still +Thy Fav'rite, Cytherea!5 both retain +Their beauty, nor the mountains, ore-enrich'd +For punishment of Man, with purer gold +Teem'd ever, or with brighter gems the Deep. + Thus, in unbroken series all proceeds +And shall, till, wide involving either pole, 80 +And the immensity of yonder heav'n, +The final flames of destiny absorb +The world, consum'd in one enormous pyre! + +1 Pallas Athena (Minerva) had the head of the Gorgon Medusa in her shield; it +turned all who looked upon it into stone. + +2 Phaeton, who fled from the chariot of the Sun while driving it. + +3 Venus. + +4 The North-east promontory of Sicily. + +5 The Hyacinth, favorite of Apollo. The Anemone, favorite of Venus. + + +On the Platonic 'Ideal' as it was Understood by Aristotle. + +Ye sister Pow'rs who o'er the sacred groves +Preside, and, Thou, fair mother of them all +Mnemosyne,1 and thou, who in thy grot +Immense reclined at leisure, hast in charge +The Archives and the ord'nances of Jove, +And dost record the festivals of heav'n, +Eternity!--Inform us who is He, +That great Original by Nature chos'n +To be the Archetype of Human-kind, +Unchangeable, Immortal, with the poles 10 +Themselves coaeval, One, yet ev'rywhere, +An image of the god, who gave him Being? +Twin-brother of the Goddess born from Jove,2 +He dwells not in his Father's mind, but, though +Of common nature with ourselves, exists +Apart, and occupies a local home. +Whether, companion of the stars, he spend +Eternal ages, roaming at his will +From sphere to sphere the tenfold heav'ns, or dwell +On the moon's side that nearest neighbours Earth, +Or torpid on the banks of Lethe3 sit 20 +Among the multitude of souls ordair'd +To flesh and blood, or whether (as may chance) +That vast and giant model of our kind +In some far-distant region of this globe +Sequester'd stalk, with lifted head on high +O'ertow'ring Atlas, on whose shoulders rest +The stars, terrific even to the Gods. +Never the Theban Seer,4 whose blindness proved +His best illumination, Him beheld 30 +In secret vision; never him the son +Of Pleione,5 amid the noiseless night +Descending, to the prophet-choir reveal'd; +Him never knew th'Assyrian priest,6 who yet +The ancestry of Ninus7 chronicles, +And Belus, and Osiris far-renown'd; +Nor even Thrice-great Hermes,7 although skill'd +So deep in myst'ry, to the worshippers +Of Isis show'd a prodigy like Him. + And thou,8 who hast immortalized the shades 40 +Of Academus, if the school received +This monster of the Fancy first from Thee, +Either recall at once the banish'd bards +To thy Republic, or, thyself evinc'd +A wilder Fabulist, go also forth. + +1 Goddess of Memory and mother of the Muses. + +2 Pallas Athena. + +3 Waters of oblivion and forgetfulness. + +4 Tiresins. See Milton's Sixth Elegy, line 68. + +5 Hermes (Mercury). + +6 Perhaps the legendary Phoenician sage, Sanchuniathon. + +7 A legendary Assyrian king. Belus is the Assyrian god Bel. + +7 Hermes Trismegistus, author of Neo-Platonic works must esteemed. + +8 Plato. + + + To My Father. + +Oh that Pieria's spring1 would thro' my breast +Pour its inspiring influence, and rush +No rill, but rather an o'erflowing flood! +That, for my venerable Father's sake +All meaner themes renounced, my Muse, on wings +Of Duty borne, might reach a loftier strain. +For thee, my Father! howsoe'er it please, +She frames this slender work, nor know I aught, +That may thy gifts more suitably requite; +Though to requite them suitably would ask 10 +Returns much nobler, and surpassing far +The meagre stores of verbal gratitude. +But, such as I possess, I send thee all. +This page presents thee in their full amount +With thy son's treasures, and the sum is nought; +Naught, save the riches that from airy dreams +In secret grottos and in laurel bow'rs, +I have, by golden Clio's2 gift, acquir'd. + Verse is a work divine; despise not thou +Verse therefore, which evinces (nothing more) 20 +Man's heav'nly source, and which, retaining still +Some scintillations of Promethean fire, +Bespeaks him animated from above. +The Gods love verse; the infernal Pow'rs themselves +Confess the influence of verse, which stirs +The lowest Deep, and binds in triple chains +Of adamant both Pluto and the shades. +In verse the Delphic priestess, and the pale +Tremulous Sybil make the Future known, +And He who sacrifices, on the shrine 30 +Hangs verse, both when he smites the threat'ning bull, +And when he spreads his reeking entrails wide +To scrutinize the Fates envelop'd there. +We too, ourselves, what time we seek again +Our native skies, and one eternal Now +Shall be the only measure of our Being, +Crown'd all with gold, and chanting to the lyre +Harmonious verse, shall range the courts above, +And make the starry firmament resound. +And, even now, the fiery Spirit pure 40 +That wheels yon circling orbs, directs, himself, +Their mazy dance with melody of verse +Unutt'rable, immortal, hearing which +Huge Ophiuchus3 holds his hiss suppress'd, +Orion, soften'd, drops his ardent blade, +And Atlas stands unconscious of his load. +Verse graced of old the feasts of kings, ere yet +Luxurious dainties destin'd to the gulph +Immense of gluttony were known, and ere +Lyaeus4 deluged yet the temp'rate board. 50 +Then sat the bard a customary guest +To share the banquet, and, his length of locks +With beechen honours bound, proposed in verse +The characters of Heroes and their deeds +To imitation, sang of Chaos old, +Of Nature's birth, of Gods that crept in search +Of acorns fall'n, and of the thunderbolt +Not yet produc'd from Aetna's fiery cave. +And what avails, at last, tune without voice, +Devoid of matter? Such may suit perhaps 60 +The rural dance, but such was ne'er the song +Of Orpheus, whom the streams stood still to hear +And the oaks follow'd. Not by chords alone +Well-touch'd, but by resistless accents more +To sympathetic tears the Ghosts themselves +He mov'd: these praises to his verse he owes. + Nor Thou persist, I pray thee, still to slight +The sacred Nine, and to imagine vain +And useless, Pow'rs by whom inspir'd, thyself +Art skillfill to associate verse with airs 70 +Harmonious, and to give the human voice +A thousand modulations, heir by right +Indisputable of Arion's fame.5 +Now say, what wonder is it, if a son +Of thine delight in verse, if so conjoin'd +In close affinity, we sympathize +In social arts and kindred studies sweet? +Such distribution of himself to us +Was Phoebus' choice; thou hast thy gift, and I +Mine also, and between us we receive, 80 +Father and son, the whole inspiring God. + No. Howsoe'er the semblance thou assume +Of hate, thou hatest not the gentle Muse, +My Father! for thou never bad'st me tread +The beaten path and broad that leads right on +To opulence, nor did'st condemn thy son +To the insipid clamours of the bar, +To laws voluminous and ill observ'd, +But, wishing to enrich me more, to fill +My mind with treasure, led'st me far away 90 +From city-din to deep retreats, to banks +And streams Aonian,6 and, with free consent +Didst place me happy at Apollo's side. +I speak not now, on more important themes +Intent, of common benefits, and such +As Nature bids, but of thy larger gifts +My Father! who, when I had open'd once +The stores of Roman rhetoric, and learn'd +The full-ton'd language, of the eloquent Greeks, +Whose lofty music grac'd the lips of Jove, 100 +Thyself did'st counsel me to add the flow'rs +That Gallia7 boasts, those too with which the smooth +Italian his degentrate speech adorns, +That witnesses his mixture with the Goth, +And Palestine's prophetic songs divine.8 +To sum the whole, whate'er the Heav'n contains, +The Earth beneath it, and the Air between, +The Rivers and the restless deep, may all +Prove intellectual gain to me, my wish +Concurring with thy will; Science herself, 110 +All cloud removed, inclines her beauteous head +And offers me the lip, if, dull of heart, +I shrink not and decline her gracious boon. + Go now, and gather dross, ye sordid minds +That covet it; what could my Father more, +What more could Jove himself, unless he gave +His own abode, the heav'n in which he reigns? +More eligible gifts than these were not +Apollo's to his son, had they been safe +As they were insecure, who made the boy 120 +The world's vice-luminary, bade him rule +The radiant chariot of the day, and bind +To his young brows his own all dazzling-wreath. +I therefore, although last and least, my place +Among the Learned in the laurel-grove +Will hold, and where the conqu'ror's ivy twines, +Henceforth exempt from th'unletter'd throng +Profane, nor even to be seen by such. +Away then, sleepless Care, Complaint away, +And Envy, with thy "jealous leer malign" 130 +Nor let the monster Calumny shoot forth +Her venom'd tongue at me. Detested foes! +Ye all are impotent against my peace, +For I am privileged, and bear my breast +Safe, and too high, for your viperean wound. + But thou my Father! since to render thanks +Equivalent, and to requite by deeds +Thy liberality, exceeds my power, +Sufffice it, that I thus record thy gifts, +And bear them treasur'd in a grateful mind! 140 +Ye too, the favourite pastime of my youth, +My voluntary numbers, if ye dare +To hope longevity, and to survive +Your master's funeral pile, not soon absorb'd +In the oblivious Lethaean gulph +Shall to Futurity perhaps convey +This theme, and by these praises of my sire +Improve the Fathers of a distant age. + +1 A fount sacred to the Muses. 2 The Muse of History. + +3 The Serpent, a constellation. + +4 Bacchus, or Wine. + +5 John Milton Sr. was a fine musician. Arion was a lyric poet of +Methymna, in Lesbos, who was saved from drowning by dolphins which +he charmed with his song. + +6 Aonia is a plain in Boeotia. 7 France. + +8 The Old Testament Scriptures. + + + Psalm CXIV 1 + +When Israel by Jehovah call'd + From Egypt's hostile plain, +Pour'd forth in numbers as the Sand + And sought the adjacent main: +Then God descended from on high + To lead the favour'd Race +To rule o'er Jacob, & his Name + In Judah's Tribe to place. +The Sea at their approach alarm'd + In wild amazement fled 10 +And Jordan's flood was driven back + Within it's fountainhead. +The Mountains from their basis shook + Confess'd the Parent God! +With sudden throws like Rams they skipp'd + And broken, fell abroad. +The little Hills by the same power + Were from their Center torn +Like Lambs resistless they gave way + In Tumult wild, upborn. 20 +Ye Waves what strange amazement, say, + Seiz'd on you that you fled? +Thou Jordan too! On Israel's march, + Why driven to thy Head? +Ye Mountains whence this sudden fright + That shook you from your base? +And whence, ye little Hills, your flight + From Israel's chosen Race? +Tremble thou Earth! Jehovah leads, + And guards the might Host! 30 +That God, who by his awful Word, + Commands the Stream to flow2 +From flinty Rocks; & pouring thence, + To form the Lake below. + +1 Translated from the Latin, and not Milton's Greek poem. Milton's +own English version, presented below, was done, he tells us, "at +fifteen years old." + +2 See Exodus, chapter I7. + + + Psalm CXIV + +When the blest seed of Terah's faithful Son,1 +After long toil their liberty had won, +And past from Pharian2 fields to Canaan Land, +Led by the strength of the Almighty's hand, +Jehovah's wonders were in Israel shown, +His praise and glory was in Israel known. +That saw the troubl'd Sea, and shivering fled, +And sought to hide his froth-becurled head +Low in the earth, Jordan's clear streams recoil, +As a faint host that hath receiv'd the foil. 10 +The high, huge-bellied Mountains skip like Rams +Amongst their Ewes, the little Hills like Lambs. +Why fled the Ocean? And why skip'd the Mountains? +Why turned Jordan toward his Crystal Fountains? +Shake earth, and at the presence be aghast +Of him that ever was, and ay shall last, +That glassy floods from rugged rocks can crush, +And make soft rills from the fiery flint-stones gush. + +1 Abraham. 2 Egyptian. + + + The Philosopher and the King. + +A Philosopher, included in the same sentence of condemnation with +several guilty persons among whom he had been apprehended, sent +the following lines, composed suddenly in the moment when he was +going to death, to a certain King whom had ignorantly condemned +him. + +Know this, O King! that if thou shalt destroy +Me, no man's enemy and who have liv'd +Obedient to the Laws, thou may'st with ease +Strike off a wise man's head, but, taught the truth +Hereafter, shalt with vain regret deplore +Thy city's loss of One, her chief support. + + + On the Engraver of his Portrait.1 + +Survey my Features--you will own it clear +That little skill has been exerted here. +My Friends, who know me not here smile to see +How ill the model and the work agree. + +1 Greek lines placed by Milton beneath the engraved portrait of +himself by William Marshall in the I645 edition of his poems. The +handsome Milton disliked Marshall's picture and took revenge with +this epigram, which Marshall, ignorant of Greek, engraved beneath +the portrait. + + Another Translation of the Same.2 + +Look on myself--you will own at once +This Copy of me, taken by a Dunce. +My Friends, who gaze and guess not whom ye see, +Laugh! Would ye think it? He intended me! + + + +To Giovanni Salzilli, a Roman Poet, in his Illness. + Scazons.1 + +My halting Muse, that dragg'st by choice along +Thy slow, slow step, in melancholy song! +And lik'st that pace expressive of thy cares +Not less than Diopeia's2 sprightlier airs +When in the dance she beats with measur'd tread +Heav'n's floor in front of Juno's golden bed, +Salute Salsillus, who to verse divine +Prefers, with partial love, such lays as mine. +Thus writes that Milton then, who wafted o'er +From his own nest on Albion's stormy shore 10 +Where Eurus, fiercest of th'Aeolian band, +Sweeps with ungovern'd rage the blasted land, +Of late to more serene Ausonia came +To view her cities of illustrious name, +To prove, himself a witness of the truth, +How wise her elders, and how learn'd her Youth. +Much good, Salsillus! and a body free +From all disease, that Milton asks for thee, +Who now endur'st the languor, and the pains +That bile inflicts diffus'd through all thy veins, 20 +Relentless malady! not mov'd to spare +By thy sweet Roman voice, and Lesbian air! + Health, Hebe's sister, sent us from the skies, +And thou, Apollo, whom all sickness flies, +Pythius, or Paean, or what name divine +Soe'er thou chuse, haste, heal a priest of thine! +Ye groves of Faunus, and ye hills that melt +With vinous dews, where meek Evander3 dwelt! +If aught salubrious in your confines grow, +Strive which shall soonest heal your poet's woe, 30 +That, render'd to the Muse he loves, again +He may enchant the meadows with his strain. +Numa, reclin'd in everlasting ease +Amid the shade of dark embow'ring trees, +Viewing with eyes of unabated fire +His loved Aegeria, shall that strain admire: +So sooth'd, the tumid Tiber shall revere +The tombs of kings, nor desolate the year, +Shall curb his waters with a friendly rein, +And guide them harmless till they meet the main. 40 + +1 The original is written in a measure called Scazon, which +signifies limping, and the measure is so denominated, +because, though in other respects Iambic, it terminates with +a Spondee, and has consequently a more tardy movement. + The reader will immediately see that this property of the +Latin verse cannot be imitated in English.--W.C. + +2 Diopeia was one of Juno's nymphs. + +3 The Aventine hill. Evander, great-grandson of Pallas, King of +Arcadia, migrated to Italy about sixty years before the Trojan +War. + + + To Giovanni Battista Manso, + Marquis of Villa. + +1Giovanni Battista Manso, Marquis of Villa, is an Italian +Nobleman of the highest estimation among his countrymen, for +Genius, Literature,and military accomplishments. To Him +Torquato Tasso addressed his "Dialogue on Friendship," for he +was much the friend of Tasso, who has also celebrated him +among the other princes of his country, in his poem entitled +"Jerusalem Conquered" (Book XX). + + Among cavaliers magnanimous and courteous + --Manso is resplendent. + +During the Author's stay at Naples he received at the hands +of the Marquis a thousand kind offices and civilities, and, +desirous not to appear ungrateful, sent him this poem a short +time before his departure from that city. + + +These verses also to thy praise the Nine2 +Oh Manso! happy in that theme design, +For, Gallus and Maecenas3 gone, they see +None such besides, or whom they love as Thee, +And, if my verse may give the meed of fame, +Thine too shall prove an everlasting name. +Already such, it shines in Tasso's page +(For thou wast Tasso's friend) from age to age, +And, next, the Muse consign'd, not unaware +How high the charge, Marini4 to thy care, 10 +Who, singing, to the nymphs, Adonis' praise, +Boasts thee the patron of his copious lays. +To thee alone the Poet would entrust +His latest vows, to thee alone his dust, +And Thou with punctual piety hast paid +In labour'd brass thy tribute to his shade. +Nor this contented thee-but lest the grave +Should aught absorb of their's, which thou could'st save, +All future ages thou has deign'd to teach +The life, lot, genius, character of each, 20 +Eloquent as the Carian sage,5 who, true +To his great theme, the Life of Homer drew. + I, therefore, though a stranger youth, who come +Chill'd by rude blasts that freeze my Northern home, +Thee dear to Clio confident proclaim, +And Thine, for Phoebus' sake, a deathless name. +Nor Thou, so kind, wilt view with scornful eye +A Muse scarce rear'd beneath our sullen sky, +Who fears not, indiscrete as she is young, +To seek in Latium hearers of her song. 30 +We too, where Thames with his unsullied waves +The tresses of the blue-hair'd Ocean laves, +Hear oft by night, or, slumb'ring, seem to hear +O'er his wide stream, the swan's voice warbling clear, +And we could boast a Tityrus6 of yore, +Who trod, a welcome guest, your happy shore. + Yes, dreary as we own our Northern clime, +E'en we to Phoebus raise the polish'd rhyme, +We too serve Phoebus; Phoebus has receiv'd, +(If legends old may claim to be believ'd) 40 +No sordid gifts from us, the golden ear, +The burnish'd apple, ruddiest of the year, +The fragrant crocus, and, to grace his fane, +Fair damsels chosen from the Druid train- +Druids, our native bards in ancient time, +Who Gods and Heroes prais'd in hallow'd rhyme. +Hence, often as the maids of Greece surround +Apollo's shrine with hymns of festive sound, +They name the virgins who arriv'd of yore +With British off'rings on the Delian shore, 50 +Loxo, from Giant Corineus sprung, +Upis, on whose blest lips the Future hung, +And Hecaerge7 with the golden hair, +All deck'd with Pic'ish hues, and all with bosoms bare. +Thou therefore, happy Sage, whatever clime +Shall ring with Tasso's praise in after-time, +Or with Marini's, shalt be known their friend, +And with an equal flight to fame ascend. +The world shall hear how Phoebus and the Nine +Were inmates, once, and willing guests of thine. 60 +Yet Phoebus, when of old constrain'd to roam +The earth, an exile from his heav'nly home, +Enter'd, no willing guest, Admetus'8 door, +Though Hercules had enter'd there before. +But gentle Chiron's9 cave was near, a scene +Of rural peace, clothed with perpetual green, +And thither, oft as respite he requir'd +From rustic clamours loud, the God retir'd. +There, many a time, on Peneus' bank reclin'd +At some oak's root, with ivy thick entwin'd, 70 +Won by his hospitable friend's desire +He sooth'd his pains of exile with the lyre. +Then shook the hills, then trembled Peneus' shore, +Nor Oeta10 felt his load of forests more, +The upland elms descended to the plain,11 +And soften'd lynxes wonder'd at the strain. + Well may we think, O dear to all above! +Thy birth distinguish'd by the smile of Jove, +And that Apollo shed his kindliest pow'r, +And Maia's son,12 on that propitious hour, 80 +Since only minds so born can comprehend +A poet's worth, or yield that worth a friend. +Hence, on thy yet unfaded cheek appears +The ling'ring freshness of thy greener years, +Hence, in thy front, and features, we admire +Nature unwither'd, and a mind entire. +Oh might so true a friend to me belong, +So skill'd to grace the votaries of song, +Should I recall hereafter into rhyme +The kings, and heroes of my native clime, 90 +Arthur the chief, who even now prepares, +In subterraneous being, future wars, +With all his martial Knights, to be restor'd +Each to his seat around the fed'ral board, +And Oh, if spirit fail me not, disperse +Our Saxon plund'rers in triumphant verse! +Then, after all, when, with the Past content, +A life I finish, not in silence spent, +Should he, kind mourner, o'er my deathbed bend +I shall but need to say--"Be yet my friend!" 100 +He, faithful to my dust, with kind concern +Shal1 place it gently in a modest urn; +He too, perhaps, shall bid the marble breathe +To honour me, and with the graceful wreath13 +Or of Parnassus or the Paphian isle +Shall bind my brows--but I shall rest the while. +Then also, if the fruits of Faith endure, +And Virtue's promis'd recompense be sure, +Borne to those seats, to which the blest aspire +By purity of soul, and virtuous fire, +These rites, as Fate permits, I shall survey +With eyes illumin'd by celestial day, 110 +And, ev'ry cloud from my pure spirit driv'n, +Joy in the bright beatitude of Heav'n! + +1 Milton's Account of Manso, translated. + +2 The Muses. + +3 Cornelius Gallus, Roman eleist. See Virgil (Eclogue vi, +64-66, and x). + +Maecenas. Roman patron of letters. See Horace (Odes, i,1), + +4 Author of the Adone, a poem on the story of Venus and Adonis. + +5 Herodotus, to whom The Life of Homer is attributed. + +6 Chaucer, called Tityrus in Spencer's Pastorals. + +7 The maidens who brought offerings to Delos. Loxo, descended from the ancient +British hero, Corineus; Upis, a prophetess; and +Hecaerge. + +8 Admetus was King of Thessaly. Apollo was for a year his +shepherd. + +9 See Homer (Il. xi, 830-831) and Ovid (Met. ii, 630). + +10 Mt. Oeta, between Thessaly and Aetolia. + +11 See Ovid (Met. x, 87-I06), where the trees crowd the hear +Orpheus sing. + +12 Hermes. + +13 The wreaths of victors, made from the laurel, which grew on Mt. +Parnassus, sacred to the Muses, and the myrtle, sacred to Venus, +a shrine to whom was at Paphos in Cyprus. + + + The Death of Damon. + + The Argument. + + Thyrsis and Damon, shepherds and neighbours, had always pursued +the same studies, and had, from their earliest days, been united +in the closest friendship. Thyrsis, while traveling for improve- +ment, received intelligence of the death of Damon, and, after a +time, returning and finding it true, deplores himself and his +solitary condition, in this poem. + By Damon is to be understood Charles Diodati, connected with +the Italian city of Lucca by his Father's side, in other respects +an Englishman; a youth of uncommon genius, erudition, and virtue. + +Ye Nymphs of Himera1 (for ye have shed +Erewhile for Daphnis2 and for Hylas dead, +And over Bion's long-lamented bier, +The fruitless meed of many a sacred tear) +Now, through the villas laved by Thames rehearse +The woes of Thyrsis in Sicilian verse, +What sighs he heav'd, and how with groans profound +He made the woods and hollow rocks resound +Young Damon dead; nor even ceased to pour +His lonely sorrows at the midnight hour. 10 +The green wheat twice had nodded in the ear, +And golden harvest twice enrich'd the year, +Since Damon's lips had gasp'd for vital air +The last, last time, nor Thyrsis yet was there; +For he, enamour'd of the Muse, remain'd +In Tuscan Fiorenza long detain'd, +But, stored at length with all he wish'd to learn, +For his flock's sake now hasted to return, +And when the shepherd had resumed his seat +At the elm's root within his old retreat, 20 +Then 'twas his lot, then, all his loss to know, +And, from his burthen'd heart, he vented thus his woe. +Go, seek your home, my lambs; my thoughts are due +To other cares than those of feeding you. +Alas! what Deities shall I suppose +In heav'n or earth concern'd for human woes, +Since, Oh my Damon! their severe decree +So soon condemns me to regret of Thee! +Depart'st thou thus, thy virtues unrepaid +With fame and honour, like a vulgar shade? 30 +Let him forbid it, whose bright rod controls, +And sep'rates sordid from illustrious souls, +Drive far the rabble, and to Thee assign +A happier lot with spirits worthy thine! +Go, seek your home, my lambs; my thoughts are due +To other cares than those of feeding you. +Whate'er befall, unless by cruel chance +The wolf first give me a forbidding glance, +Thou shalt not moulder undeplor'd, but long +Thy praise shall dwell on ev'ry shepherd's tongue; 40 +To Daphnis first they shall delight to pay, +And, after Him, to thee the votive lay, +While Pales3 shall the flocks and pastures love, +Or Faunus to frequent the field or grove, +At least if antient piety and truth +With all the learned labours of thy youth +May serve thee aught, or to have left behind +A sorrowing friend, and of the tuneful kind. +Go, seek your home, my lambs, my thoughts are due +To other cares than those of feeding you. 50 +Yes, Damon! such thy sure reward shall be, +But ah, what doom awaits unhappy me? +Who, now, my pains and perils shall divide, +As thou wast wont, for ever at my side, +Both when the rugged frost annoy'd our feet, +And when the herbage all was parch'd with heat, +Whether the grim wolf's ravage to prevent +Or the huge lion's, arm'd with darts we went? +Whose converse, now, shall calm my stormy day, +With charming song who, now, beguile my way? 60 +Go, seek your home, my lambs; my thoughts are due +To other cares than those of feeding you. +In whom shall I confide? Whose counsel find +A balmy med'cine for my troubled mind? +Or whose discourse with innocent delight +Shall fill me now, and cheat the wint'ry night, +While hisses on my hearth the pulpy pear, +And black'ning chesnuts start and crackle there, +While storms abroad the dreary meadows whelm, +And the wind thunders thro' the neighb'ring elm? 70 +Go, seek your home, my lambs; my thoughts are due +To other cares than those of feeding you. +Or who, when summer suns their summit reach, +And Pan sleeps hidden by the shelt'ring beech, +When shepherds disappear, Nymphs seek the sedge, +And the stretch'd rustic snores beneath the hedge, +Who then shall render me thy pleasant vein +Of Attic wit, thy jests, thy smiles again? +Go, seek your home, my lambs; my thoughts are due +To other cares than those of feeding you. 80 +Where glens and vales are thickest overgrown +With tangled boughs, I wander now alone +Till night descend, while blust'ring wind and show'r +Beat on my temples through the shatter'd bow'r. +Go, seek your home, my lambs; my thoughts are due +To other cares than those of feeding you. +Alas, what rampant weeds now shame my fields, +And what a mildew'd crop the furrow yields! +My rambling vines unwedded to the trees +Bear shrivel'd grapes, my myrtles fail to please, 90 +Nor please me more my flocks; they, slighted, turn +Their unavailing looks on me, and mourn. +Go, seek your home, my lambs; my thoughts are due +To other cares than those of feeding you. +Aegon invites me to the hazel grove, +Amyntas, on the river's bank to rove, +And young Alphesiboeus to a seat +Where branching elms exclude the midday heat-- +"Here fountains spring-here mossy hillocks rise--" +"Here Zephyr whispers and the stream replies--" 100 +Thus each persuades, but deaf to ev'ry call +I gain the thickets, and escape them all. +Go, seek your home, my lambs; my thoughts are due +To other cares than those of feeding you. +Then Mopsus said (the same who reads so well +The voice of birds, and what the stars foretell, +For He by chance had noticed my return) +What means thy sullen mood, this deep concern? +Ah Thyrsis! thou art either crazed with love, +Or some sinister influence from above, 110 +Dull Saturn's influence oft the shepherd rue, +His leaden shaft oblique has pierced thee through. +Go, go, my lambs, unpastur'd as ye are, +My thoughts are all now due to other care. +The Nymphs amazed my melancholy see, +And, Thyrsis! cry--what will become of thee? +What would'st thou, Thyrsis? such should not appear +The brow of youth, stern, gloomy, and severe, +Brisk youth should laugh and love--ah shun the fate +Of those twice wretched mopes who love too late! 120 +Go, go, my lambs, unpastur'd as ye are, +My thoughts are all now due to other care. +Aegle with Hyas came, to sooth my pain, +And Baucis' daughter, Dryope the vain,4 +Fair Dryope, for voice and finger neat +Known far and near, and for her self-conceit, +Came Chloris too, whose cottage on the lands +That skirt the Idumanian current stands; +But all in vain they came, and but to see +Kind words and comfortable lost on me. 130 +Go, go, my lambs, unpastur'd as ye are, +My thoughts are all now due to other care. +Ah blest indiff'rence of the playful herd, +None by his fellow chosen or preferr'd! +No bonds of amity the flocks enthrall, +But each associates and is pleased with all; +So graze the dappled deer in num'rous droves, +And all his kind alike the zebra loves' +The same law governs where the billows roar +And Proteus' shoals o'erspread the desert shore; 140 +The sparrow, meanest of the feather'd race, +His fit companion finds in ev'ry place, +With whom he picks the grain that suits him best, +Flits here and there, and late returns to rest, +And whom if chance the falcon make his prey, +Or Hedger with his well-aim'd arrow slay, +For no such loss the gay survivor grieves' +New love he seeks, and new delight receives. +We only, an obdurate kind, rejoice, +Scorning all others, in a single choice, 150 +We scarce in thousands meet one kindred mind, +And if the long-sought good at last we find, +When least we fear it, Death our treasure steals, +And gives our heart a wound that nothing heals. +Go, go, my lambs, unpastur'd as ye are, +My thoughts are all now due to other care. +Ah, what delusion lured me from my flocks, +To traverse Alpine snows, and rugged rocks! +What need so great had I to visit Rome +Now sunk in ruins, and herself a tomb? 160 +Or, had she flourish'd still as when, of old +For her sake Tityrus forsook his fold, +What need so great had I t'incur a pause +Of thy sweet intercourse for such a cause, +For such a cause to place the roaring sea, +Rocks, mountains, woods, between my friend and me? +Else, I had grasp'd thy feeble hand, composed +Thy decent limbs, thy drooping eye-lids closed, +And, at the last, had said--Farewell--Ascend-- +Nor even in the skies forget thy friend. 170 +Go, go, my lambs, untended homeward fare, +My thoughts are all now due to other care. +Although well-pleas'd, ye tuneful Tuscan swains! +My mind the mem'ry of your worth retains, +Yet not your worth can teach me less to mourn +My Damon lost--He too was Tuscan born, +Born in your Lucca, city of renown, +And Wit possess'd and Genius like your own. +Oh how elate was I, when, stretch'd beside +The murm'ring course of Arno's breezy tide, 180 +Beneath the poplar-grove I pass'd my hours, +Now cropping myrtles, and now vernal flow'rs, +And hearing, as I lay at ease along, +Your swains contending for the prize of song! +I also dared attempt (and, as it seems +Not much displeas'd attempting) various themes, +For even I can presents boast from you, +The shepherd's pipe and osier basket too, +And Dati and Francini both have made +My name familiar to the beechen shade, 190 +And they are learn'd, and each in ev'ry place +Renown'd for song, and both of Lydian Race. +Go, go, my lambs, untended homeward fare, +My thoughts are all now due to other care. +While bright the dewy grass with moon-beams shone, +And I stood hurdling in my kids alone, +How often have I said (but thou had'st found +Ere then thy dark cold lodgment under-ground) +Now Damon sings, or springes sets for hares, +Or wicker-work for various use prepares! 200 +How oft, indulging Fancy, have I plann'd +New scenes of pleasure, that I hop'd at hand, +Call'd thee abroad as I was wont, and cried-- +What hoa, my friend--come, lay thy task aside-- +Haste, let us forth together, and beguile +The heat beneath yon whisp'ring shades awhile, +Or on the margin stray of Colne's5 clear flood, +Or where Cassivelan's grey turrets stood! +There thou shalt cull me simples, and shalt teach +Thy friend the name and healing pow'rs of each, 210 +From the tall blue-bell to the dwarfish weed, +What the dry land and what the marshes breed, +For all their kinds alike to thee are known, +And the whole art of Galen6 is thy own. +Ah, perish Galen's art, and wither'd be +The useless herbs that gave not health to thee! +Twelve evenings since, as in poetic dream +I meditating sat some statelier theme, +The reeds no sooner touch'd my lip, though new +And unassay'd before, than wide they flew, 220 +Bursting their waxen bands, nor could sustain +The deep-ton'd music of the solemn strain; +And I am vain perhaps, but will tell +How proud a theme I choose--ye groves farewell! +Go, go, my lambs, untended homeward fare, +My thoughts are all now due to other care. +Of Brutus, Dardan Chief, my song shall be,7 +How with his barks he plough'd the British sea, +First from Rutupia's tow'ring headland seen, +And of his consort's reign, fair Imogen; 230 +Of Brennus and Belinus, brothers bold,8 +And of Arviragus, and how of old +Our hardy sires th'Armorican controll'd, +And the wife of Gorlois, who, surprised +By Uther in her husband's form disguised, +(Such was the force of Merlin's art) became +Pregnant with Arthur of heroic fame.9 +These themes I now revolve--and Oh--if Fate +Proportion to these themes my lengthen'd date, +Adieu my shepherd's-reed--yon pine-tree bough 240 +Shall be thy future home, there dangle Thou +Forgotten and disus'd, unless ere long +Thou change thy Latin for a British song. +A British?--even so--the pow'rs of Man +Are bounded; little is the most he can, +And it shall well suffice me, and shall be +Fame and proud recompense enough for me, +If Usa10 golden-hair'd my verse may learn, +If Alain, bending o'er his chrystal urn, +Swift-whirling Abra, Trent's o'ershadow'd stream, 250 +Thames, lovelier far than all in my esteem +Tamar's ore-tinctur'd flood, and, after these, +The wave-worn shores of utmost Orcades +Go, go, my lambs, untended homeward fare, +My thoughts are all now due to other care. +All this I kept in leaves of laurel-rind +Enfolded safe, and for thy view design'd, +This--and a gift from Manso's hand beside, +(Manso, not least his native city's pride) +Two cups, that radiant as their giver shone, 260 +Adorn'd by sculpture with a double zone. +The spring was graven there; here, slowly wind +The Red-Sea shores with groves of spices lined; +Her plumes of various hues amid the boughs +The sacred, solitary Phoenix shows, +And, watchful of the dawn, reverts her head +To see Aurora11 leave her wat'ry bed. +In other part, th'expansive vault above, +And there too, even there, the God of love; +With quiver arm'd he mounts, his torch displays 270 +A vivid light, his gem-tip'd arrows blaze, +Around, his bright and fiery eyes he rolls, +Nor aims at vulgar minds or little souls +Nor deigns one look below, but aiming high +Sends every arrow to the lofty sky, +Hence, forms divine, and minds immortal learn +The pow'r of Cupid, and enamour'd burn. +Thou also Damon (neither need I fear +That hope delusive) thou art also there; +For whither should simplicity like thine 280 +Retire, where else such spotless virtue shine? +Thou dwell'st not (thought profane) in shades below, +Nor tears suit thee--cease then my tears to flow, +Away with grief on Damon ill-bestow'd, +Who, pure himself, has found a pure abode, +Has pass'd the show'ry arch, henceforth resides +With saints and heroes, and from flowing tides +Quaffs copious immortality and joy +With hallow'd lips. Oh! blest without alloy, +And now enrich'd with all that faith can claim, 290 +Look down entreated by whatever name, +If Damon please thee most (that rural sound) +Shall oft with ecchoes fill the groves around) +Or if Diodatus, by which alone +In those ethereal mansions thou art known. +Thy blush was maiden, and thy youth the taste +Of wedded bliss knew never, pure and chaste, +The honours, therefore, by divine decree +The lot of virgin worth are giv'n to thee; +Thy brows encircled with a radiant band, 300 +And the green palm-branch waving in thy hand +Thou immortal Nuptials shalt rejoice +And join with seraphs thy according voice, +Where rapture reigns, and the ecstatic lyre +Guides the blest orgies of the blazing quire. + +1 A river in Sicily. + +2 Subject of Theocritus's Lament for Daphnis (Idyl i) in which +Thyrsis is the mourning shepherd. Hylas was taken away by nymphs +who admired his beauty and Bion is the subject of Moschus's +Epitaph of Bion (Idyl iii). + +3 Goddess who was protector of the flocks. Faunus is god of the +plains and hills around Rome. + +4 Characters in Ovid's Metamorphoses. + +5 A river near St. Albans. Cassivellaunus was a British chieftan +who opposed Caesar. See Gallic War (v, xi.) + +6 Medicine. Diodati took medical training at Cambridge. + +7 Milton's planned epic opened with the Dardanian (i.e. Trojan) +fleet, under Brutus, approaching England. + +8 Brennus and Belinus were kings of Brittany who, according to +Spencer's Fairie Queen, "rasackt Greece" and conquered France +and Germany. Arviragus led the Britons against Claudius. + +9 See Malory's Morte d'Arthur. + +10 A river in Oxford. + +11 Goddess of the Dawn. + + + To Mr. John Rouse, + Librarian of the University of Oxford, + + An Ode1 on a Lost Volume of my Poems Which He + Desired Me to Replace that He Might Add + Them to My Other Works Deposited in the Library. + + Strophe I + + My two-fold Book! single in show + But double in Contents, + Neat, but not curiously adorn'd + Which in his early youth, + A poet gave, no lofty one in truth +Although an earnest wooer of the Muse-- + Say, while in cool Ausonian2 shades + Or British wilds he roam'd, + Striking by turns his native lyre, + By turns the Daunian lute 10 + And stepp'd almost in air,-- + + Antistrophe + + Say, little book, what furtive hand + Thee from thy fellow books convey'd, + What time, at the repeated suit + Of my most learned Friend, +I sent thee forth an honour'd traveller +From our great city to the source of Thames, + Caerulean sire! +Where rise the fountains and the raptures ring, + Of the Aonian choir,3 20 + Durable as yonder spheres, + And through the endless lapse of years + Secure to be admired? + + Strophe II + + Now what God or Demigod +For Britain's ancient Genius mov'd + (If our afflicted land +Have expiated at length the guilty sloth + Of her degen'rate sons) + Shall terminate our impious feuds, +And discipline, with hallow'd voice, recall? 30 + Recall the Muses too + Driv'n from their antient seats +In Albion, and well-nigh from Albion's shore, + And with keen Phoebean shafts + Piercing th'unseemly birds, + Whose talons menace us +Shall drive the harpy race from Helicon afar? + + Antistrophe + + But thou, my book, though thou hast stray'd, + Whether by treach'ry lost +Or indolent neglect, thy bearer's fault, 40 + From all thy kindred books, + To some dark cell or cave forlorn, + Where thou endur'st, perhaps, +The chafing of some hard untutor'd hand, + Be comforted-- +For lo! again the splendid hope appears + That thou may'st yet escape +The gulphs of Lethe, and on oary wings +Mount to the everlasting courts of Jove, + + Strophe III + +Since Rouse desires thee, and complains 50 + That, though by promise his, + Thou yet appear'st not in thy place +Among the literary noble stores + Giv'n to his care, +But, absent, leav'st his numbers incomplete. + He, therefore, guardian vigilant + Of that unperishing wealth, +Calls thee to the interior shrine, his charge, +Where he intends a richer treasure far +Than Ion kept--(Ion, Erectheus' son4 60 +Illustrious, of the fair Creusa born)-- +In the resplendent temple of his God, +Tripods of gold and Delphic gifts divine. + + Antistrophe + + Haste, then, to the pleasant groves, + The Muses' fav'rite haunt; +Resume thy station in Apollo's dome, + Dearer to him +Than Delos, or the fork'd Parnassian hill. + Exulting go, +Since now a splendid lot is also thine, 70 +And thou art sought by my propitious friend; + For There thou shalt be read + With authors of exalted note, +The ancient glorious Lights of Greece and Rome. + + Epode + +Ye, then my works, no longer vain + And worthless deem'd by me! +Whate'er this steril genius has produc'd +Expect, at last, the rage of Envy spent, + An unmolested happy home, +Gift of kind Hermes and my watchful friend, 80 + Where never flippant tongue profane + Shall entrance find, +And whence the coarse unletter'd multitude + Shall babble far remote. + Perhaps some future distant age +Less tinged with prejudice and better taught + Shall furnish minds of pow'r + To judge more equally. + Then, malice silenced in the tomb, + Cooler heads and sounder hearts, 90 + Thanks to Rouse, if aught of praise +I merit, shall with candour weigh the claim. + + +1 This Ode consists of three strophes and the same of antistrophes, +concluding with an epode. Although these units do not perfectly +correspond in their number of verses or in divisions which are +strictly parallel, nevertheless I have divided them in this +fashion with a view to convenience or the reader, rather than +conformity with the ancient rules of versification. In other +respects a poem of this kind should, perhaps, more correctly be +called monostrophic. The metres are in part regularly patterned +and in part free. There are two Phaleucian verses which admit a +spondee in the third foot, a practice often followed by Catullus +in the second foot. [Milton's Note, translated--W.C.] + +1 This Ode is rendered without rhyme, that it might more +adequately represent the original, which, as Milton himself +informs us, is of no certain measure. It may possibly for this +reason disappoint the reader, though it cost the writer more +labour than the translation of any other piece in the whole +collection.--W.C. + +2 Italian. + +3 The Muses, who dwelt on Mount Helicon in Aonia. + +4 See Euripides' Ion. + + + + Paradisum Amissam, Lib. II 1 + +Quales aerii montis de vertice nubes +Cum surgunt, et jam Boreae tumida ora quierunt, +Caelum hilares abdit spissa caligine vultus, +Nimbosumque nives aut imbres cogitat aether: +Tum si jucundo tandem sol prodeat ore, 5 +Et croceo montes et pascua lumine tingat, +Gaudent omnia, aves mulcent concentibus agros, +Balatuque ovium colles vallesque resultant. + + +1 Translation of a simile in Paradise Lost, + "As when, from mountaintops, the dusky clouds + Ascending, &c.--"(ii. 488)--W.C. + + + +3. TRANSLATIONS OF THE ITALIAN POEMS + + + I + +Fair Lady, whose harmonious name the Rheno + Through all his grassy vale delights to hear, + Base were, indeed, the wretch, who could forbear + To love a spirit elegant as thine, +That manifests a sweetness all divine, 5 + Nor knows a thousand winning acts to spare, + And graces, which Love's bow and arrows are, + Temp'ring thy virtues to a softer shine. +When gracefully thou speak'st, or singest gay + Such strains as might the senseless forest move, 10 + Ah then--turn each his eyes and ears away, +Who feels himself unworthy of thy love! + Grace can alone preserve him, e'er the dart + Of fond desire yet reach his inmost heart. + + II + +As on a hill-top rude, when closing day + Imbrowns the scene, some past'ral maiden fair + Waters a lovely foreign plant with care, + That scarcely can its tender bud display +Borne from its native genial airs away, 5 + So, on my tongue these accents new and rare + Are flow'rs exotic, which Love waters there, + While thus, o sweetly scornful! I essay +Thy praise in verse to British ears unknown, + And Thames exchange for Arno's fair domain; 10 + So Love has will'd, and oftimes Love has shown +That what He wills he never wills in vain. + Oh that this hard and steril breast might be + To Him who plants from heav'n, a soil as free. + + III + Canzone. + +They mock my toil--the nymphs and am'rous swains-- +And whence this fond attempt to write, they cry, +Love-songs in language that thou little know'st? +How dar'st thou risque to sing these foreign strains? +Say truly. Find'st not oft thy purpose cross'd, 5 +And that thy fairest flow'rs, Here, fade and die? +Then with pretence of admiration high-- +Thee other shores expect, and other tides, +Rivers on whose grassy sides +Her deathless laurel-leaf with which to bind 10 +Thy flowing locks, already Fame provides; +Why then this burthen, better far declin'd? + Speak, Canzone! for me.--The Fair One said who guides +My willing heart, and all my Fancy's flights, +"This is the language in which Love delights." 15 + + IV + To Charles Diodati. + +Charles--and I say it wond'ring--thou must know + That I who once assum'd a scornful air, + And scoff'd at love, am fallen in his snare + (Full many an upright man has fallen so) +Yet think me not thus dazzled by the flow 5 + Of golden locks, or damask cheek; more rare + The heart-felt beauties of my foreign fair; + A mien majestic, with dark brows, that show +The tranquil lustre of a lofty mind; + Words exquisite, of idioms more than one, 10 + And song, whose fascinating pow'r might bind, +And from her sphere draw down the lab'ring Moon, + With such fire-darting eyes, that should I fill + My ears with wax, she would enchant me still. + + V. + +Lady! It cannot be, but that thine eyes + Must be my sun, such radiance they display + And strike me ev'n as Phoebus him, whose way + Through torrid Libya's sandy desert lies. +Meantime, on that side steamy vapours rise 5 + Where most I suffer. Of what kind are they, + New as to me they are, I cannot say, + But deem them, in the Lover's language--sighs. +Some, though with pain, my bosom close conceals, + Which, if in part escaping thence, they tend 10 + To soften thine, they coldness soon congeals. +While others to my tearful eyes ascend, + Whence my sad nights in show'rs are ever drown'd, + 'Till my Aurora comes, her brow with roses bound. + + VI.1 + +Enamour'd, artless, young, on foreign ground, + Uncertain whither from myself to fly, + To thee, dear Lady, with an humble sigh + Let me devote my heart, which I have found +By certain proofs not few, intrepid, sound, 5 + Good, and addicted to conceptions high: + When tempests shake the world, and fire the sky, + It rests in adamant self-wrapt around, +As safe from envy, and from outrage rude, + From hopes and fears, that vulgar minds abuse, 10 + As fond of genius, and fix'd fortitude, +Of the resounding lyre, and every Muse. + Weak you will find it in one only part, + Now pierc'd by Love's immedicable dart. + +1 It has ever been thought difficult for an author to speak +gracefully of himself, especially in commendation; but Milton, +who was gifted with powers to overcome difficulties, of every +kind, is eminently happy in this particular. He has spoken +frequently of himself both in verse and prose, and he continually +shows that he thought highly of his own endowments; but if he +praises himself, he does it with that dignified frankness and +simplicity of conscious truth, which renders even egotism +respectable and delightful: whether he describes the fervent and +tender emotions of his juvenile fancy, or delineates his situation +in the decline of life, when he had to struggle with calamity +and peril, the more insight he affords us into his own sentiments +and feelings, the more reason we find both to love, and revere +him.--W.C. + + + + + +Appendix: Cowper's translation of Andrew Marvell's "To Christina, + Queen of Sweden," &c. + +To Christina, Queen of Sweden, with Cromwell's Picture.1 + +Christina, maiden of heroic mien! +Star of the North! of northern stars the queen! +Behold, what wrinkles I have earn'd, and how +The iron cask still chafes my vet'ran brow, +While following fate's dark footsteps, I fulfill +The dictates of a hardy people's will. +But soften'd, in thy sight, my looks appear, +Not to all Queens or Kings alike severe. + +1 Written on Cromwell's behalf, this poem was originally attr. to +Milton, hence Cowper's inclusion of it. It has since been +recognized as the work of Marvell. + + +Appendix: Poems from the Latin Prose Works. Translated by various + hands. + + Epigram From "Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio" (I650). + Translated by Joseph Washington (I692). + + On Salmasius's "Hundreda." + +Who taught Salmasius, the French chatt'ring Pye,1 +To try at English, and "Hundreda"2 cry? +The starving Rascal, flush'd with just a Hundred +English Jacobusses,3 "Hundreda" blunder'd. +An outlaw'd King's last stock.--a hundred more, +Would make him pimp for th'Antichristian Whore;4 +And in Rome's praise employ his poison'd Breath, +Who once threatn'd to stink the Pope to death. + +1 i.e. The Magpie. +2 Salmasius attempted to do certain English words in his Latin. + a "Hundred" was a division of an English shire. +3 The Jacobus was a gold coin named for James I. +4 Salmasius attacked the Pope in "De Primatu Papae" in I645. + + Epigrams from the "Defensio Secunda" (I654). + Translated by Robert Fellowes (I878?). + + On Salmasius. + +Rejoice, ye herrings, and ye ocean fry, +Who, in cold winter, shiver in the sea; +The knight, Salmasius,1 pitying your hard lot, +Bounteous intends your nakedness to clothe, +And, lavish of his paper, is preparing +Chartaceous jackets to invest you all, +Jackets resplendent with his arms and fame, +Exultingly parade the fishy mart, +And sing his praise with checquered, livery, +That well might serve to grace the letter'd store +Of those who pick their noses and ne'er read. + +1 A play on "Salmon." + + [Lines Concerning Alexander More.]1 + +O Pontia, teeming with More's Gallic seed, +You have been Mor'd2 enough, and no More need. + +1 Wrongly attr. to Milton, who prefaced these lines with, +"Ingenii, hoc distochon" [Some ingenious person wrote this +distich]. Milton wrongly believed More to be the author of a libel +against him. + +2 It is impossible to give a literally exact rendering of this. I +have played upon the name as well as I could in English.--R.F. + +Appendix: Translation of a Letter to Thomas Young, + Translated by Robert Fellows (I878?). + + To My Tutor, Thomas Young. + +Though I had determined, my excellent tutor, to write you an +epistle in verse, yet I could not satisfy myself without +sending also another in prose, for the emotions of my +gratitude, which your services so justly inspire, are too +expansive and too warm to be expressed in the confined limits +of poetical metre; they demand the unconstrained freedom of +prose, or rather the exuberant richness of Asiatic +phraseology: thought it would far exceed my power accurately +to describe how much I am obliged to you, even if I could +drain dry all the sources of eloquence, or exhaust all the +topics of discourse which Aristotle or the famed Parisian +logician has collected. You complain with truth that my +letters have been very few and very short; but I do not +grieve at the omission of so pleasurable a duty, so much as I +rejoice at having such a place in your regard as makes you +anxious often to hear from me. I beseech you not to take it +amiss, that I have not now written to you for more than three +years; but with you usual benignity to impute it rather to +circumstances than to inclination. For Heaven knows that I +regard you as a parent, that I have always treated you with +the utmost respect, and that I was unwilling to tease you +with my compositions. And I was anxious that if my letters +had nothing else to recommend them, they might be recommended +by their rarity. And lastly, since the ardour of my regard +makes me imagine that you are always present, that I hear +your voice and contemplate your looks; and as thus... I charm +away my grief by the illusion of your presence, I was afraid +when I wrote to you the idea of your distant separation +should forcibly rush upon my mind; and that the pain of your +absence, which was almost soothed into quiescence, should +revive and disperse the pleasurable dream. I long since +received your desirable present of the Hebrew Bible. I wrote +this at my lodgings in the city, not, as usual, surrounded by +my books. If, therefore, there be anything in this letter +which either fails to give pleasure, or which frustrates +expectation, it shall be compensated by a more elaborate +composition as soon as I return to the dwelling of the muses.1 + --London, March 26, I625. + +1 i.e. Cambridge. + + +Appendix: Translations of the Italian Poems + By George MacDonald (I876). + + I. + +O lady fair, whose honoured name doth grace + Green vale and noble ford of Rheno's stream-- + Of all worth void the man I surely deem + Whom thy fair soul enamoureth not apace, +When softly self-revealed in outer space 5 + By actions sweet with which thy will doth teem, + And gifts--Love's bow and shafts in their esteem + Who tend the flowers one day shall crown thy race. +When thou dost lightsome talk or gladsome sing,-- + A power to draw the hill-trees, rooted hard-- 10 + The doors of eyes and ears let that man keep, +Who knows himself unworthy thy regard. + Grace from above alone him help can bring, + That passion in his heart strike not too deep. + + II. + +As in the twilight brown, on hillside bare, + Useth to go the little shepherd maid, + Watering some strange fair plant, poorly displaced, + Not thriving in unwonted soil and air, +Far from its native springtime's genial care; 5 + So on my ready tongue hath Love assayed + Of a strange speech to wake new flower and blade, + While I of thee, in scorn so debonair, +Sing songs whose sense is to my people lost- + Yield the fair Thames, and the fair Arno gain. 10 + Love willed it so, and I, at others' cost, +Already knew Love never willed in vain. + Ill would slow mind, hard heart reward the toil + Of him who plants from heaven so good a soil, + + III. + Canzone. + +Ladies, and youths that in their favour bask, +With mocking smiles come round me: Prithee, why, +Why dost thou with an unknown language cope, +Love-riming? Whence the courage for the task? +Tell us--so never frustrate be thy hope, 5 +And the best thoughts still to thy thinking fly! +Thus mocking they: Thee other streams, they cry, +Thee other shores, another sea demands, +Upon whose verdant strands +Are budding, every moment, for thy hair, 10 +Immortal guerdon, leaves that will not die; +An over-burden on thy back why bear?-- + Song,1 I will tell thee; thou for me reply: +My lady saith-and her word is my heart-- +This is Love's mother-tongue, and fits his part. 15 + +1 Ital. "Canzone." + + IV. + To Charles Diodati. + +Diodati--and I muse to tell the tale-- + This stubborn I, that Love was wont despise, + And made a laughter of his snares, unwise, + Am fallen, where honest feet will sometimes fail. +Not golden tresses, not a cheek vermeil, 5 + Bewitched me thus; but, in a new-world guise, + A beauty that the heart beatifies; + A mien where high-souled modesty I hail; +Eyes softly splendent with a darkness dear; + A speech that more than one tongue vassal hath; 10 + A voice that in the middle hemisphere +Might make the tired moon wander from her path; + While from her eyes such potent flashes shoot, + That to stop hard my ears would little boot. + + V. + +Truly,1 my lady sweet, your blessed eyes-- + It cannot be but that they are my sun; + As strong they smite me as he smites upon + The man whose way o'er Libyan desert lies, +The while a vapour hot doth me surprise, 5 + From that side springing where my pain doth won; + Perchance accustomed lovers--I am none, + And know not--in their speech call such things sighs; +A part shut in, itself, sore vexed, conceals, + And shakes my bosom; part, undisciplined, 10 + Breaks forth, and all about in ice congeals; +But that which to mine eyes the way doth find, + Makes all my nights in silent showers abound, + Until my Dawn2 returns, with roses crowned. + +1 Correcting MacDonald's "Certes" (Ital. "Per Certo"). +2 [Ital.] "Alba"-I suspect a hint at the lady's name.-G.M. + + VI. + +A modest youth, in love a simpleton, + When to escape myself I seek and shift, + Lady, I of my heart the humble gift + Vow unto thee. In trials many a one, +True, brave, it has been, firm to things begun, 5 + By gracious, prudent, worthy thoughts uplift. + When roars the great world, in the thunder-rift, + Its own self, armour adamant, it will don, +From chance and envy as securely barred, + From hopes and fears that still the crowd abuse, 10 + As inward gifts and high worth coveting, +And the resounding lyre, and every Muse. + There only wilt thou find it not so hard + Where Love hath fixed his ever cureless sting. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, POEMATA (WILLIAM COWPER, TRANS.) *** + +This file should be named 6929.txt or 6929.zip + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +https://gutenberg.org or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext04 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext04 + +Or /etext03, 02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/6929.zip b/6929.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6181da6 --- /dev/null +++ b/6929.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d4eac2 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #6929 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6929) |