Auditurque chelys suspensa tapetia circum, Percipies tacitum per pectora serpere Phœbum, Perque puellares oculos, digitumque sonantem, Namque Elegia levis multorum cura Deorum est, Sæpius et veteri commaduisse mero: 40 4.5 50 At qui bella refert, et adulto sub Jove cœlum, 55 Et nunc sancta canit superum consulta deorum, Ille quidem parce, Samii pro more magistri, Stet prope fagineo pellucida lympha catillo, 60 Additur huic scelerisque vacans, et casta juventus, Qualis veste nitens sacra, et lustralibus undis, Surgis ad infensos augur iture Deos. Hoc ritu vixisse ferunt post rapta sagacem 39. Auditurque chelys suspensa tapetia circum,] See the note on Tapestry halls, Comus, 324. 65. 65 lustralibus undis,] See note on Comus, v. 913. Lumina Tiresian, Ogygiumque Linon, Dulichium vexit per freta longa virum, Et per monstrificam Perseiæ Phœbados aulam, Et vada fœmineis insidiosa sonis, 70 Perque tuas, rex ime, domos, ubi sanguine nigro 75 Diis etenim sacer est vates, divumque sacerdos, 80 Stelli parumque polum, modulantesque æthere turmas, Dona quidem dedimus Christi natalibus illa, 69. Virgil and Milton disagree on the subject of Orpheus's age, See Georg. iv. 524. Decerptum latos juvenem sparsere per prima tulit. not by the Iliad. 86 73. Et per monstrificam Perseia Phabados aulam,] Circe was the daughter of the sun, and, as some say, of Hecate. Ovid, Metam. vii. 74. "Hecates Perseidos aras." And Remed. Amor. 263. "Quid tibi profu erunt, Circe, Perseidos herbæ?” And Buchanan has " Circe Perseia." El. vii. 17. p. 44. ut supr. And Ovid mentions Circe's Aula, Metam. xiv. 45. -Perque ferarum Agmen adulantum media procedit ab aula. Te quoque pressa manent patriis meditata cicutis, ELEG. VII. Anno Etatis 19. NONDUM blanda tuas leges, Amathusia, noram, Tu Atque tuum sprevi maxime numen Amor. puer imbelles, dixi, transfige columbas, Conveniunt tenero mollia bella duci : Aut de passeribus timidos age, parve, triumphos, In genus humanum quid inania dirigis arma? Non valet in fortes ista pharetra viros. 90 5 10 Non tulit hoc Cyprius, neque enim Deus ullus ad iras Promptior, et duplici jam ferus igne calet. Ver erat, et summæ radians per culmina villæ Attulerat primam lux tibi, Maie, diem: At mihi adhuc refugam quærebant lumina noctem, 15 89. Te quoque pressa manent patriis meditata cicutis,] Would sit and hearken even to ccstasy, &c. His English Ode on the Nativity. See Ovid, Epist. Pont. iv. ii. 37. This he means to submit to Deodate's inspection. "You shall "next have some of my English " poetry." 90. Tu mihi, cui recitem, judicis instar eris.] In Comus, we have supposed the simple " shep"herd lad," skilled in plants, to be the same Charles Deodate, to whom this Elegy is addressed, v. 619. See supr. p. 429. For, as here, He lov'd me well, and oft would bid me sing; Which when I did, he on the tender grass Hic, mea cui recitem, &c, *The transitions and connecwith the skill and address of a tions of this Elegy, are conducted master, and form a train of allusions and digressions, productive of fine sentiment and poetry. From a trifling and unimportant circumstance, the reader is gradually led to great and lofty imagery. 15. At mihi adhuc refugam quærebant lumina noctem, Nec matutinum sustinuere jubar. Aut, qui formosas pellexit ad oscula nymphas, 21. Talis in æterno, &c.] This line is from Tibullus, iv. ii. 13. Talis in æterno felix Vertumnus has decuisse putares,] Twelfth O what a deal of scorn looks beautiful Compare Anacreon's Bathyllus, Αλλα και οὕτως Ην καλος εξ οργας ερεθίζετο μαλλιν And Shakespeare's Venus and Which bred more beautie in his angrie eyes. We find also the same idea in his -Fie, wrangling queen! Et faciam vero per tua damna fidem. 37. Cydoniusque mihi, &c.] Perhaps indefinitely as the Parthus eques, just before. The Cydonians were famous for hunting, which implies archery. See Ovid, Metam. viii. 22. If a person is here intended, he is most probably Hippolytus. Cydon was a city of Crete. See Euripides, Hippol. v. 18. But then he is mentioned here as an archer. Virgil ranks the Cydonians with the Parthians, for their skill in the bow, Æn. xii. 852. Ibid. -et ille, &c.] Cephalus, who unknowingly shot his wife Procris. 38. Est etiam nobis ingens quoque victus Orion,] Orion was also a famous hunter. But for his amours we must consult Ovid, Art. Amator. i. 731. See Parthenius, Erotic. cap. xx. 46. Nec tibi Phœbeus porriget anguis opem.] "No medicine "will avail you. Not even the serpent, which Phoebus sent to "Rome to cure the city of a "pestilence." See Ovid, Metam. xi. 742. Huc se de Latia pinu Phœbeius anguis Where see the fable at large. Here Love his golden shafts employs, His constant lamp, and waves his purple wings. Where see the note. |