40

45

50

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 Phæbum,

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:
At qui bella refert, et adulto sub Jove cælum,

Heroasque pios, semideosque duces,
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.
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

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60

65 75

Lumina Tiresian, Ogygiumque Linon,
Et lare devoto profugum Calchanta, senemque
Orpheon edomitis sola per antra feris;

70 Sic dapis exiguus, sic rivi potor Homerus

Dulichium vexit per freta longa virum,
Et per monstrificam Perseiæ Phæbados aulam,

Et vada fæmineis insidiosa sonis,
Perque tuas, rex ime, domos, ubi sanguine nigro

Dicitur umbrarum detinuisse greges.
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)

SO Paciferum canimus cælesti semine regem,

Faustaque sacratis sæcula pacta libris ; Vagitumque Dei, et stabulantem paupere tecto

Qui suprema suo cum patre regna colit ;
Stelli parumque polum, modulantesque æthere turmas,

Et subito elisos ad sua fana Deos.
Dona quidem dedimus Christi natalibus illa,

Illa sub auroram lux mihi prima tulit.

69. Virgil and Milton disagree not by the Iliad. on the subject of Orpheus's age. 73. Et per monstrificam PerSee Georg. iv. 524.

seiæ Phæbados aulam,] Circe Decerptum latos juvenem sparsere per was the daughter of the sun, agros.

and, as some say, of Hecate. Milton perhaps would insinuate Ovid, Metam. vii. 74. “ Hecates that his diet had a tendency to Perseidos aras.” And Remed. promote longevity. Virgil of Amor. 263. “Quid tibi profu. course would not make the wo. “ erunt, Circe, Perseidos herbæ?" men of Thrace tear an old man And Buchanan has “ Circe Perin pieces for his neglect of them. seia." El. vii. 17. p. 44. ut supr. Symmons.

And Ovid mentions Circe's Aula, 72. Dulichium vexit, &c.] It Metam. xiv. 45. is worthy of remark, that Milton here illustrates Homer's poetical

-Perque ferarum

Agmen adulanlum media procedit ab character by the Odyssey, and aula.

86

Te

quoque pressa manent patriis meditata cicutis, Tu mihi, cui recitem, judicis instar eris.*

90

5

ELEG, VII. Anno Ætatis 19. NONDUM blanda tuas leges, Amathusia, noram,

Et Paphio vacuum pectus ab igne fuit. Sæpe cupidineas, puerilia tela, sagittas,

Atque tuum sprevi maxime numen Amor.
Tu 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.
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 mibi adhuc refugam quærebant lumina noctem, 15

10

to

89. Te quoque pressa manent Would sit and hearken even patriis meditata cicutis,]

ecstasy, &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

Hic, mea cui recitem, &c, “ next have some of my English * The transitions and connecpoetry.”

tions of this Elegy, are conducted 90. Tu mihi, cui recitem, judi- with the skill and address of a cis instar eris.) In Comus, we

master, and form a train of alluhave supposed the simple “ shep- sions

and digressions, productive “ herd lad," skilled in plants, to of fine sentiment and poetry. be the same Charles Deodate, to From a trifling and unimportant whom this Elegy is addressed, circumstance, the reader is grav. 619. See supr. p. 429. For, dually led to great and lofty as here,

imagery. He lov'd me well, and oft would bid

me sing ; Which when I did, he on the tender

15. At mihi adhuc refugam quan grass

20

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,

95

of Cupid.

Nec matutinum sustinuere ju- F. Q. iii. xii. 7. Dunster.
bar.]

21. Talis in æterno, &c.) This Here is the elegance of poetical line is from Tibullus, iv. ii. 13. expression. But he really com

Talis in æterno felix Vertumnus plains of the weakness of his

Olympo. eyes, which began early. He has “ light unsufferable," Ode has decuisse putares,] Twelfth

25. Addideratque iras, sed et Nativ. v. 8.

Night, a. iii. s. 1. 17. Astat Amor lecto, &c.] In these lines, (17—24.) Milton had

O what a deal of scorn looks beautiful

In the contempt and anger of his lip. probably an eye to Spenser's description of Fancy in his Mask Compare Anacreon's Bathyllus,

xxviii. 12. And Theocritus, EPAL. The first was Fancy, like a lovely boy, THE, Idyll. xviii. 14. Of rare aspect, and beauty without

-Αλλα και ούτως peer ; Matchable either to that imp of Troy,

Ην καλος: εξ οργας ερεθιζετο μαλλον Whom Jove did love and chose his

sgarras. cup to bear,

And Shakespeare's Venus and Or that same dainty lad, which was Adonis, edit. 1596. Signat. A. iiij.

so dear To great Alcides, that, when as he

Which bred more beautie in his angrie dy'd,

eyes. He wailed woman-like with many a We find also the same idea in his

tear, And every wood and every valley

Anton. and Cleopatr. i. i. wide

30

35

Et faciam vero per tua damna fidem.
Ipse ego, si nescis, strato Pythone superbum

Edomui Phæbum, 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 Musä,

Nec tibi Phæbeus porriget anguis opem. Dixit, et aurato quatiens mucrone sagittam,

40

45

37. Cydoniusque mihi, &c.] Per Art. Amator. i. 731. See Parhaps indefinitely as the Parthus thenius, Erotic. cap. XX. eques, just before. The Cydo- 46. Nec tibi Phæbeus porriget nians were famous for hunting, anguis opem.] “No medicine which implies archery. See Ovid,“ will avail you. Not even the Metam. viii. 22. If a person is serpent, which Phoebus sent to here intended, he is most pro- “ Rome to cure the city of a bably Hippolytus. Cydon was pestilence." See Ovid, Metam. a city of Crete. See Euripides, xi. 742. Hippol. v. 18. But then he is

Huc se de Latia pinu Phæbeius anguis mentioned here as an archer.

Contulit, &c. Virgil ranks the Cydonians with the Parthians, for their skill in Where see the fable at large. the bow, Æn. xii. 852.

47. -aurato quatiens mucrone Ibid. —et ille, &c.] Cephalus, sagittam,] So in Par. Lost, b. who unknowingly shot his wife iv. 763. Procris.

Here Love his golden shafts employs, 38. Est etiam nobis ingens quo

here lights que victus Orion,] Orion was also

His constant lamp, and waves his a famous hunter. But for his

purple wings. amours we must consult Ovid, Where see the note.