by John Milton
Per medias radiant turba videnda vias.
Creditur huc geminis venisse invecta columbis
Alma pharetrigero milite cincta Venus,
Huic Cnidon, et riguas Simoentis flumine valles,
Huic Paphon, et roseam posthabitura Cypron.14
85
Ast ego, dum pueri sinit indulgentia cæci,
Mœnia quàm subitò linquere fausta paro;
Et vitare procul malefidæ infamia Circes
Atria, divini Molyos usus ope.15
Stat quoque juncosas Cami remeare paludes,
90
Atque iterum raucæ murmur adire Scholæ.
Interea fidi parvum cape munus amici,
Paucaque in alternos verba coacta modos.16
Elegy 1
TO CHARLES DIODATI1
At last, dear friend, your letter has reached me / and its news-filled paper conveyed your words, / conveyed them from the western region of the Dee near Chester, / from which with downward flow it seeks the Irish Sea. / I am greatly delighted, believe me, that remote lands have nurtured [5] / a loving heart, and so faithful a head, / and because the far-off region is indebted to me for a charming comrade, / yet from which it is willing to return him in a short while upon command. / The city holds me which the Thames washes with its back-flowing surge, / but my pleasant native home does not keep me against my will. [10] / At this time neither do I care to see the reedy Cam again, / nor does love of my prohibited quarters distress me just now.2 / Its bare fields are unwelcome, so unyielding are they of mild shadows; / how improperly that place assembles the followers of Phoebus! / It is not pleasant constantly to submit to the threats of a stern tutor [15] / and to other things which are foreign to my nature. / If this be exile, to have gone to the paternal hearth / and, this banishment being free of care, to follow agreeable leisurely pursuits, / neither do I flee that name, nor reject its lot, / and, happy, I delight in the result of exile. [20] / O would that the poet never had borne anything more burdensome, / he, the lamentable exile in the land of Tomis.3 / Then he would have conceded nothing to Ionian Homer, / nor would the foremost renown be yours, vanquished Maro.4 / For I am permitted to dedicate my free time to the gentle Muses, [25] / and books—my life—transport me entirely away. / Here the display of the curved theater captivates me, when wearied, / and the talkative stage calls me to its applause.5 / Sometimes is heard a sly old man, sometimes a prodigal heir, / sometimes a suitor, or a soldier appears with his helmet laid aside, [30] / or an advocate rich from a ten-year lawsuit / thunders his strange discourse at an uncultivated court. / Often a crafty slave runs to the aid of a love-sick son / and, everywhere at once, he deceives the stern father under his very nose. / Often a maiden, astonished by a strange ardor—[35] / she does not know what love is—loves even while she is ignorant. / Or raging Tragedy tosses her sceptre stained with blood / and rolls her eyes under dishevelled hair, / and it is painful; not only do I watch, but I take pleasure in having seen / suffering, and sometimes sweet bitterness lies in tears: [40] / whether an unhappy youth left his joys untasted, / and, separated from his love, dies lamentably, / or whether a fierce avenger of crimes returns from the shades beyond the Styx, / disturbing with his deadly torch hearts conscious of sin, / or whether the house of Pelops is grieving, or of noble Ilus, [45] / or the palace of Creon purges its incestuous sires. / But I am not always living in concealment indoors or in the city, / nor do the hours of spring hasten by without effect on me. / The wood strewn with close-growing elm also possesses me / as well as the celebrated shade of a suburban spot. [50] / Here you may often see bands of maidens, stars / emitting seductive flames, go dancing by. / Ah, how many times have I been stunned by the wonders of a becoming figure / which might refresh even the old age of Jove; / Ah, how many times have I seen eyes surpassing jewels [55] / and even all the flaming stars which either pole rolls round; / and necks which excel the arms of twice-living Pelops,6 / and in which flows the vein dyed with pure nectar, / and uncommon grace of brow, and shaking hair, / by which deceitful Love extends his golden nets, [60] / and seductive cheeks against which the purple of the hyacinth seems / of small account, and the blush of your flower, Adonis, as well!7 / Yield, Heroides,8 so often praised in the past, / and every mistress who subjected capricious Jove. / Yield, Achaemenian9 maidens with towered forehead, [65] / and all that dwell in Susa, or Memnonian Nineveh.10 / You likewise, Greek maidens, acknowledge your inferiority, / and you women of Troy and of Rome; / nor let the Tarpeian Muse vaunt the Pompeian pillars11 / or the theaters filled with Italian robes. [70] / The prime honor is due the young women of Britain; / be satisfied, alien womanhood, to be able to follow after. / And you, London, city built by Trojan colonists,12 / distinguished far and wide for towered height, / exceedingly happy, you enclose with your walls [75] / whatever of beauty the pendant world possesses. / Not so many stars shine down on you from the serene sky, / the ministrant multitude of Endymion’s goddess,13 / as the maidens dazzling to you in their beauty and goldenness, / the visible throng that shine forth through the trodden ways. [80] / Lofted to this place by her twin-born doves, bountiful Venus is believed / to have come, accompanied by her quiver-bearing soldier; / for this city, she neglects Cnidos and the valleys watered by the river Simois, / for this, Paphos and rosy Cyprus.14 / But I, while the blind boy’s indulgence permits, [85] / am preparing to leave the favorable walled city most quickly; / and to escape from afar the infamous halls of faithless Circe, / preparing with the help of divine moly.15 / It is decided also that I am to return to the rush-filled fens of the Cam / and again to submit to the noise of the raucous school. [90] / Meanwhile accept this small tribute of a loyal friend, / and these few words forced into alternating measures.16
(Apr. 1626)
* * *
1 The biography of Milton’s close friend is related by Donald C. Dorian in The English Diodatis. Diodati visited in Chester on the River Dee (from Milton’s words in or around the northwestern section of the city) in the spring of 1626. Two Greek letters to Milton are extant in the British Museum (see Yale Prose, I, 336-37).
2 Milton was suspended in the Lent term of 1626 as a result of a disagreement with his tutor William Chappell. On his return (around April 19), Milton was placed under Nathaniel Tovey.
3 Ovid, banished in A.D. 8 to Tomis on the Black Sea where the Coralli lived; see Elegy 6, l. 19.
4 Virgil.
5 These references from his reading which follow (note ll. 26, 47) fit the comedies of Terence and the tragedies of the Greeks. The house of Pelops is represented, for example, in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon and Euripides’ Electro; the house of Ilus, in Euripides’ Hecuba and Trojan Women; and the palace of Creon, in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and Antigone.
6 Pelops, dismembered and offered as food to the Gods, was restored by Hermes; but the piece of shoulder eaten by Demeter had to be replaced by ivory.
7 The anemone sprang from the blood of Adonis, killed by a boar while hunting.
8 heroines of legend to whom Ovid assigns the letters making up his amatory poems of this name.
9 Persian.
10 Susa in southwestern Persia was founded by Memnon’s father; Milton’s Latin confusedly connects Memnon with the Assyrian city of Nineveh.
11 Ovid lived near the Capitoline hill, where was located the Tarpeian Rock from which criminals met their death. He praised both the theater of Pompey in the Campus Martius and other Italian theaters.
12 According to legend, England was settled by Brutus, grandson of the Trojan Aeneas.
13 Endymion was beloved by Selene (the Moon), who set him in perpetual sleep, descending each night to embrace him.
14 Temples to Venus were erected at Cnidos and at Paphos, a city of Cyprus. Paris judged Venus the fairest goddess on the banks of the river Simois. The “quiver-bearing soldier” (l. 82) and the “blind boy” (l. 85) is her son Cupid.
15 Through the aid of Hermes, Ulysses was able to resist the charms of Circe by eating the herb moly. The enchantress had
turned half his followers into swine.
16 the elegiac couplet, consisting of an hexameter and a pentameter.
Elegia secunda
IN OBITUM PRÆCONIS ACADEMICI CANTABRIGIENSIS1
Te, qui conspicuus baculo fulgente solebas
Palladium toties ore ciere gregem,2
Ultima præconum præconem te quoque sæva
Mors rapit, officio nec favet ipsa suo.
5
Candidiora licet fuerint tibi tempora plumis
Sub quibus accipimus delituisse Jovem,3
O dignus tamen Hæmonio juvensecere succo,
Dignus in Æsonios vivere posse dies,4
Dignus quem Stygiis medicâ revocaret ab undis
10
Arte Coronides, sæpe rogante dea.5
Tu si jussus eras acies accire togatas,
Et celer a Phœbo6 nuntius ire tuo,
Talis in Iliacâ stabat Cyllenius7 aula
Alipes, æthereâ missus ab arce Patris.
15
Talis et Eurybates ante ora furentis Achillei
Rettulit Atridæ jussa severa ducis.8
Magna sepulchrorum regina, satelles Averni
Sæva nimis Musis, Palladi sæva nimis,
Quin illos rapias qui pondus inutile terræ?
20
Turba quidem est telis ista petenda tuis.
Vestibus hunc igitur pullis, Academia, luge,
Et madeant lachrymis nigra feretra tuis.9
Fundat et ipsa modos querebunda Elegëia tristes,
Personet et totis nænia mœsta scholis.
Elegy 2
ON THE DEATH OF THE BEADLE OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY1
You who, conspicuous with your shining mace, were accustomed / so often to assemble the Palladian band,2 / beadle as you were, the last of beadles, fierce Death, / has seized, and does not even favor one in its own service. / Although your temples were whiter than the plumes [5] / under which we understand Jove to have been disguised,3 / O yet were you worthy to grow young again with a Haemonian potion, / worthy to be able to live to an Aesonian age,4 / worthy to be one whom Coronides should recall from the Stygian waves / by his curative art, at the frequent entreaty of the goddess.5 [10] /As whenever you were bidden to fetch the gowned ranks / and to go a swift messenger from your Apollo,6 / in such manner would wing-footed Cyllenius7 stand in the court of Ilium, / dispatched from the heavenly vault of his father. / And in like fashion Eurybates before the face of angry Achilles [15] / conveyed the stern order of his chief, Atrides.8 / Great queen of sepulchers, attendant of Avernus, / too cruel to the Muses, too cruel to Pallas, / why do you not seize those who are useless burdens of the earth? / They are the throng that should be attacked by your darts. [20] / Therefore, mourn for him, Academe, in robes of black, / and moisten with your tears the dark bier,9 / and let lamenting Elegy itself pour forth its sad measures / and let all the schools resound with its sorrowful dirge.
(Oct. ? 1626)
* * *
1 Richard Ridding, who died in Oct. (?) 1626, as senior beadle, preceded academic processions bearing the official mace.
2 Pallas Athena was the goddess of wisdom and the arts.
3 Jove, in love with the mortal Leda, approached her in the guise of a swan.
4 Aeson was restored to youth by Medea, whose magic brew was concocted from herbs of the valleys of Haemonia.
5 At the prayer of Diana, Aesculapius, god of medicine, brought Hippolytus back to life.
6 the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge.
7 Hermes, messenger of the gods, born on Mt. Cyllene in Arcadia, met Priam, king of Ilium, on the plain outside Troy (Iliad, XXIV, 334-57).
8 Eurybates and other heralds of Agamemnon were sent to Achilles’ tent to fetch his concubine Briseis (Iliad, I, 320-25).
9 Poetic tributes were customarily pinned to the bier.
Elegia tertia
IN OBITUM PRÆSULIS WINTONIENSIS1
Mœstus eram, et tacitus nullo comitante sedebam,
Hærebantque animo tristia plura meo,
Prontinus en subiit funestæ cladis imago
Fecit in Angliaco quam Libitina2 solo;
5
Dum procerum ingressa est splendentes marmore turres
Dira sepulchrali mors metuenda face;
Pulsavitque auro gravidos et jaspide muros,
Nec metuit satrapum sternere falce greges.
Tunc memini clarique ducis, fratisque verendi
10
Intempestivis ossa cremata rogis.3
Et memini Heroum quos vidit ad æthera raptos,
Flevit et amissos Belgia tota duces.
At te præcipuè luxi, dignissime præsul,
Wintoniæque olim gloria magna tuæ;
15
Delicui fletu, et tristi sic ore querebar,
Mors fera Tartareo diva secunda Jovi,4
Nonne satis quod sylva tuas persentiat iras,
Et quod in herbosos jus tibi detur agros,
Quodque afflata tuo marcescant lilia tabo,
20
Et crocus, et pulchræ Cypridi5 sacra rosa,
Nec sinis ut semper fluvio contermina quercus
Miretur lapsus prætereuntis aquæ?
Et tibi succumbit liquido quæ plurima cælo
Evehitur pennis quamlibet augur avis,6
25
Et quæ mille nigris errant animalia sylvis,
Et quod alunt mutum Proteos antra pecus.7
Invida, tanta tibi cum sit concessa potestas,
Quid juvat humanâ tingere cæde manus?
Nobileque in pectus certas acuisse sagittas,
30
Semideamque animam sede fugâsse suâ?
Talia dum lacrymans alto sub pectore volvo,
Roscidus occiduis Hesperus8 exit aquis,
Et Tartessiaco9 submerserat aequore currum
Phœbus, ab eöo littore mensus iter.
35
Nec mora, membra cavo posui refovenda cubili,
Condiderant oculos noxque soporque meos;
Cum mihi visus eram lato spatiarier agro,
Heu nequit ingenium visa referre meum.
Illic puniceâ radiabant omnia luve,
40
Ut matutino cum juga sole rubent.
Ac veluti cum pandit opes Thaumantia10 proles,
Vestitu nituit multicolore solum.
Non dea tam variis ornavit floribus hortos
Alcinoi, Zephyro Chloris11 amata levi.
45
Flumina vernantes lambunt argentea campos,
Ditior Hesperio flavet arena Tago.12
Serpit odoriferas per opes levis aura Favoni,13
Aura sub innumeris humida nata rosis.
Talis in extremis terræ Gangetidis oris
50
Luciferi14 regis fingitur esse domus.
Ipse racemiferis dum densas vitibus umbras
Et pellucentes miror ubique locos,
Ecce mihi subito præsul Wintonius astat,
Sydereum nitido fulsit in ore jubar;
55
Vestis ad auratos defluxit Candida talos,
Infula divinum cinxerat albu caput.
Dumque senex tali incedit venerandus amictu,
Intremuit læto florea terra sono.
Agmina gemmatis plaudunt cælestia pennis,
60
Pura triumphali personat aethra tubâ.
Quisque novum amplexu comitem cantuque salutat,
Hosque aliquis placido misit ab ore sonos;
Nate, veni, et patrii felix cape gaudia regni,
Semper ab hinc duro, nate, labore vaca.15
65
Dixit, et aligeræ tetigerunt nablia turmæ,16
At mihi cum tenebris aurea pulsa quies.
Flebam turbatos Cephaleiâ pellice17 somnos,
Talia contingant somnia sæpe mihi.
Elegy 3
ON THE DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF WINCHESTER1
I was full of sadness, and I was sitting silent with no companion, / and ma
ny sorrows were clinging to my spirit. / Suddenly, lo, there arose a vision of the mournful destruction / which Libitina2 wrought on English soil; / while dire death, fearful with its sepulchral torch, [5] / entered the glittering marble palaces of the nobles, / and attacked the walls laden with gold and jasper, / nor did it hesitate to overthrow hosts of princes with its scythe. / Then I remembered that illustrious duke, and his revered brother, / their bones burned on untimely pyres.3 [10] / And I remembered the heroes whom the land saw snatched up to the sky, / and all Belgia mourned the lost leaders. / But I lamented chiefly for you, most worthy Bishop, / and once the great glory of your Winchester; / I dissolved in weeping, and complained thus with sad words: [15] / “Savage death, goddess second to Tartarean Jove,4 / are you not satisfied that the forest suffers your rages, / that power is given to you over the grassy fields, / and that the blooming lilies wither from your pestilence, / and the crocus, and the rose sacred to beautiful Cypris,5 [20] / just as you do not allow the oak bordering upon the river forever / to wonder at the fall of the ebbing water? / And the bird succumbs to you, although a prophet,6 / many a one which is lifted through the liquid air on its pinions, / and the thousand beasts that stray in the dark forests, [25] / and the dumb herd which the caves of Proteus sustain.7 / Envious one, whenever such power is allowed you, / what delights you to stain your hands with human slaughter? / and to sharpen your unerring arrows against a noble breast, / and to drive a half-divine spirit from its residence?” [30] / While, weeping, I meditated such griefs deep in my heart, / dewy Hesperus8 rose from the western sea, / and Phoebus sank his chariot in the Tartessian9 sea, / after measuring his course from the eastern shore. / With no delay, I lay down in cavernous bed to refresh my limbs, [35] / and night and sleep shut my eyes; / when I seemed to be walking in a broad field. / Alas! my senses cannot relate the things seen. / There all things were shining with reddish light, / just as the mountain peaks blush with the morning sun. [40] / But as when the child of Thaumas10 spreads her riches, / the earth luxuriated in vestment of many colors. / Chloris,11 the goddess beloved by fleet Zephyr, did not adorn / the gardens of Alcinous with so many various flowers. / Silver rivers washed the verdant field; [45] / the sand was gilded richer than Hesperian Tagus.12 / Through the fragrant wealth stole the light breath of Favonius,13 / the dewy breath born under innumerable roses. / Such, on the distant shores of the land of the Ganges, / is the home of Lucifer,14 the king, imagined to be. [50] / While I myself was marvelling at the dense shades beneath the clustering vines / and the shining regions everywhere, / behold, Winchester’s bishop suddenly stood before me, / the splendor of stars shone in his bright face; / a dazzling white robe flowed down to his golden ankles, [55] / a white fillet encircled his divine head. / And while the reverend old man advanced in such fashion, / the flowery earth trembled with happy sound. / The celestial multitudes applaud with jewelled wings, / the pure air resounds with triumphal trumpet. [60] / Everyone salutes the new companion with an embrace and a song, / and one among them uttered these words from his peaceful lips: / “My son, come, and, happy, reap the joys of your father’s kingdom; / here rest forever, my son, from harsh labor.”15 / He spoke, and the winged troops touched their harps,16 [65] / but for me golden sleep was banished with the night. / I wept for the dreams disturbed by the mistress of Cephalus.17 / May such dreams often befall me! /
