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Auditurque chelys suspensa tapetia circum,
Virgineos tremula quæ regat arte pedes.
Illa tuas saltem teneant spectacula Musas,
Et revocent, quantum crapula pellit iners.
Crede mihi, dum psallit ebur, comitataque plectrum
Implet odoratos festa chorea tholos,

Percipies tacitum per pectora serpere Phœbum,
Quale repentinus permeat ossa calor,

Perque puellares oculos, digitumque sonantem,
Irruet in totos lapsa Thalia sinus.

Namque Elegia levis multorum cura Deorum est,
Et vocat ad numeros quemlibet illa suos;
Liber adest elegis, Eratoque, Ceresque, Venusque,
Et cum purpurea matre tenellus Amor.
Talibus inde licent convivia larga poetis,

Sæpius et veteri commaduisse mero:

40

4.5

50

At qui bella refert, et adulto sub Jove cœlum,
Heroasque pios, semideosque duces,

55

Et nunc sancta canit superum consulta deorum,
Nunc latrata fero regna profunda cane,

Ille quidem parce, Samii pro more magistri,
Vivat, et innocuos præbeat herba cibos ;

Stet prope fagineo pellucida lympha catillo,
Sobriaque e puro pocula fonte bibat.

60

Additur huic scelerisque vacans, et casta juventus,
Et rigidi mores, et sine labe manus.

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,
Et lare devoto profugum Calchanta, senemque
Orpheon edomitis sola per antra feris;
Sic dapis exiguus, sic rivi potor Homerus

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
Dicitur umbrarum detinuisse greges.

75

Diis etenim sacer est vates, divumque sacerdos,
Spirat et occultum pectus et ora Jovem.
At tu siquid agam scitabere (si modo saltem
Esse putas tanti noscere siquid agam)
Paciferum canimus cœlesti semine regem,
Faustaque sacratis sæcula pacta libris ;
Vagitumque Dei, et stabulantem paupere tecto
Qui suprema suo cum patre regna colit ;

80

Stelli parumque polum, modulantesque æthere turmas,
Et subito elisos ad sua fana Deos.

Dona quidem dedimus Christi natalibus illa,
Illa sub auroram lux mihi

69. Virgil and Milton disagree on the subject of Orpheus's age, See Georg. iv. 524.

Decerptum latos juvenem sparsere per

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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,
Tu mihi, cui recitem, judicis instar eris.*

ELEG. VII. Anno Etatis 19.

NONDUM blanda tuas leges, Amathusia, noram,
Et Paphio vacuum pectus ab igne fuit.
Sæpe cupidineas, puerilia tela, sagittas,

Tu

Atque tuum sprevi maxime numen Amor.

puer imbelles, dixi, transfige columbas, Conveniunt tenero mollia bella duci :

Aut de passeribus timidos age, parve, triumphos,
Hæc sunt militiæ digna trophæa tuæ.

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.
Astat Amor lecto, pictis Amor impiger alis,
Prodidit astantem mota pharetra Deum :
Prodidit et facies, et dulce minantis ocelli,
Et quicquid puero dignum et Amore fuit.
Talis in æterno juvenis Sigeius Olympo
Miscet amatori pocula plena Jovi;

Aut, qui formosas pellexit ad oscula nymphas,
Thiodamantæus Naiade raptus Hylas.
Addideratque iras, sed et has decuisse putares,
Additeratque truces, nec sine felle, minas.
Et miser exemplo sapuisses tutius, inquit,
Nunc mea quid possit dextera, testis eris.
Inter et expertos vires numerabere nostras,

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21. Talis in æterno, &c.] This line is from Tibullus, iv. ii. 13.

Talis in æterno felix Vertumnus
Olympo.

has decuisse putares,] Twelfth
25. Addideratque iras, sed et
Night, a. iii. s. 1.

O what a deal of scorn looks beautiful
In the contempt and anger of his lip.

Compare Anacreon's Bathyllus,
xxviii. 12. And Theocritus, EPAΣ-
THE, Idyll. xviii. 14.

Αλλα και οὕτως

Ην καλος εξ οργας ερεθίζετο μαλλιν
εραστας.

And Shakespeare's Venus and
Adonis, edit. 1596. Signat. A. iiij.

Which bred more beautie in his angrie

eyes.

We find also the same idea in his
Anton. and Cleopatr. i. i.

-Fie, wrangling queen!
Whom every thing becomes: to chide,
to laugh, &c.

Et faciam vero per tua damna fidem.
Ipse ego, si nescis, strato Pythone superbum
Edomui Phoebum, cessit et ille mihi;
Et quoties meminit Peneidos, ipse fatetur
Certius et gravius tela nocere mea.
Me nequit adductum curvare peritius arcum,
Qui post terga solet vincere, Parthus eques :
Cydoniusque mihi cedit venator, et ille
Inscius uxori qui necis author erat.
Est etiam nobis ingens quoque victus Orion,
Herculeæque manus, Herculeusque comes.
Jupiter ipse licet sua fulmina torqueat in me,
Hærebunt lateri spicula nostra Jovis.
Cætera quæ dubitas melius mea tela docebunt,
Et tua non leviter corda petenda mihi.
Nec te, stulte, tuæ poterunt defendere Musæ,
Nec tibi Phoebeus porriget anguis opem.
Dixit, et aurato quatiens mucrone sagittam,

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,

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Art. Amator. i. 731. See Parthenius, Erotic. cap. xx.

46. Nec tibi Phœbeus porriget anguis opem.] "No medicine "will avail you. Not even the

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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
Contulit, &c.

Where see the fable at large.
47. aurato quatiens mucrone
sagittam,] So in Par. Lost, b.
iv. 763.

Here Love his golden shafts employs,
here lights

His constant lamp, and waves his purple wings. Where see the note.

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