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Perque tuas, rex ime, domos, ubi sanguine nigro

Dicitur umbrarum detinuisse greges.
Dis etenim sacer est vates, divumque sacerdos;

Spirat et occultum peetus, et ora, Jovem.
At tu, siquid agam, scitabere, (si modo saltem

Esse putas tanti noscere siquid agam)
Paciferum canimus cælesti semine Regem,

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

Qui suprema suo cum Patre regna colit;
Stelliparumque polum, modulantesque æthere turmas,

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

Illa sub auroram lux mihi prima tulit.
Te quoque pressa manent patriis meditata cicutis ;"

Tu mihi cui recitem, judicis instar eris.

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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 tropæa 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 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 fuít.

Te quoque pressa manent patriis meditata cicutis. His English "Ode on the Nativity." This he means to submit to Deodate's inspeotion. “You shall next have some of my English poetry.”

The transitions and connexions of this Elegy are conducted with skill and address of a 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.-T. Warton.

* At mihi adhuc refugam quærabant lumina noctem,

Nec matutinum sustinuere jubar. Here is the elegance of poetical expression : but he really complains of the weakness of his eyes, which began early. He has "light unsufferable," -“ Ode Nativ."

V.8.T. WARTON.

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Talis in æterno juvenis Sigeius Olympo

Miscet amatori pocula plena Jovi;
Aut, qui formosas pellexit ad oscula nymphas,

Thiodamantæus Naide raptus Hylas.
Addideratque iras, sed et has decuisse putares;

Addideratque truces, nec sine felle, minas:
Et,—“Miser, exemplo sapuisses tutius," inquit:

“Nunc, mea quid possit dextera, testis eris :
Inter et expertos vires numerabere nostras,

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 auctor 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 Phæbæus porriget anguis opem."
Dixit; et, aurato quatiens mucrone sagittam,

Evolat in tepidos Cypridos ille sinus.
At mihi risuro tonuit ferus ore minaci,

Et mihi de puero non metus ullus erat :
Et modo qua nostri spatiantur in urbe Quirites,

Et modo villarum proxima rura placent.
Turbab frequens, facieque simillima turba dearum,

Splendida per medias itque reditque vias;
Auctaque luce dies gemino fulgore coruscat:

Fallor? An et radios hinc quoque Phæbus habet ?

SO

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* Cydoniusque mihi, &c. Perhaps indefinitely, as the “Parthus eques,” just before. The Cydonians were famous for hunting, which implies archery. If a person is here intended, he is most probably Hippolytus. Cydon was a city of Crete. 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.-T. Warton.

y Et ille, &c. Cephalus, who unknowingly shot his wife Procris.-T. WARTON.

2 Est etiam nobis ingens quoque victus Orion. Orion was also a famous hunter.-T. WARTON.

a Nec tibi Phæbæus porriget anguis opem. “No medicine will avail you : not even the serpent, which Phæbus sent to Rome to cure the city of a pestilence." Ovid, “Metam." xv. 742.—T. WARTOX.

b Turba, &c. In Milton's youth, the

fashionable places of walking in London were Hyde-Park, and Gray's-Inn Walks.-T. Warton.

Hæc ego non fugi spectacula grata severus ;

Impetus et quo me fert juvenilis, agor;
Lumina luminibus male providus obvia misi,

Neve oculos potui continuisse meos.
Unam forte aliis supereminuisse notabam :

Principium nostri lux erat illa mali.
Sic Venus optaret mortalibus ipsa videri,

Sic regina deum conspicienda fuit.
Hanc memor objecit nobis malus ille Cupido,

Solus et hos nobis texuit ante dolos :
Nec procul ipse vafer latuit, multæque sagittæ,

Et facis a tergo grande pependit onus :
Nec mora; nunc ciliis hæsit, nunc virginis ori;

Insilit hinc labiis, insidet inde genis:
Et quascunque agilis partes jaculator oberrat,

Hei mihil mille locis pectus inerme ferit.
Protinus insoliti subierunt corda furores;

Uror amans intus, flammaque totus eram.
Interea, misero quæ jam mihi sola placebat,

Ablata est oculis, non reditura,meis.
Ast ego progredior tacite querebundus, et excors,

Et dubius volui sæpe referre pedem.
Findor, et hæc remanet: sequitur pars altera votum,

Raptaque tam subito gaudia flere juvat.
Sic dolet amissum proles Junonia coelum,

Inter Lemniacos præcipitata focos :
Talis et abreptum solem respexit, ad Orcum

Vectus ab attonitis Amphiaraus equis.
Quid faciam infelix, et luctu victus ? Amores

Nec licet inceptos ponere, neve sequi.
0, utinam, spectare semel mihi detur amatos

Vultus, et coram tristia verba loqui !
Forsitan et duro non est adamante creata,
Forte nec ad nostras surdeat illa

preces

!
Crede mihi, nullus sic infeliciter arsit;

Ponar in exemplo primus et unus ego.
Parce, precor, teneri cum sis deus ales

amoris,
Pugnent officio nec tua facta tuo.
Jam tuus, O! certe est mihi formidabilis arcus,

Nate dea, jaculis, nec minus igne, potens :
Et tua fumabunt nostris altaria donis,

Solus et in superis tu mihi summus eris.
Deme meos tandem, verum nec deme, furores;

Nescio cur, miser est suaviter omnis amans:

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c Non reditura. He saw the unknown lady, who had thus won his heart, but once. The fervour of his love is inimitably expressed in the following lines.—TODD.

d Deme meos tandem, verum nec deme, furores ;

Nescio cur, miser est suaviter omnis amane. There never was a more beautiful description of the irresolution of love. He wishes

Tu modo da facilis, posthæc mea siqua futura est,

Cuspis amaturos figat ut una duos.

Hæc ego, mente Olim læva, studioque supino,

Nequitiæ posui vana tropaea meæ.
Scilicet abreptum sic me malus impulit error,

Indocilisque atas prava magistra fuit;
Donec Socraticos umbrosa Academia rivos

Præbuit, admissum dedocuitque jugum.
Protinus, extinctis ex illo tempore flammis,

Cineta rigent multo pectora nostra gelu;
Unde suis frigus metuit puer ipse sagittis,

Et Diomedeam vim timet ipsa Venus.

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EPIGRAMMATUM LIBER.

I.-IN PRODITIONEM BOMBARDICAM.
Cum simul in regem nuper satrapasque Britannos

Ausus es infandum, perfide Fauxe, nefas,
Fallor? An et mitis voluisti ex parte videri,

Et pensare mala cum pietate scelus?
Scilicet hos alti missurus ad atria coeli,

Sulphureo curru, flammivolisque rotis:
Qualiter ille, feris caput inviolabile Parcis,
Liquit Iordanios turbine raptus agros.

II.-IN EANDEM.
SICCINE tentasti coelo donasse Täcobum,

Quæ septemgemino, Bellua,a 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 fodus in ccelum pelle cucullos,

Et quot habet brutos Roma profana deos: to have his woe removed, but recalls his wish ; preferring the sweet misery of those who love. Thus Eloisa wavers, in Pope's fine poem :

Unequal task ! a passion to resign
For hearts so touch'd, so pierc'd, so lost, as mine.-TODD.

e Hæc ego, &c. These lines are an epilogistic palinode to the last Elegy. The Socratie doctrines of the shady Academe soon broke the bonds of beauty : in other words, his return to the university. They were probably written when the Latin poems were prepared for the press in 1645.-T. Warton.

a Quæ septemgemino, Bellua, &c. The Pope, called, in the theological language of the times, “The Beast."-T. WARTOX,

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usque deos.

Namque hac aut alia nisi quemque adjuveris arte,
Crede mihi, cæli vix bene scandet iter.

III.-IN EANDEM.
PURGATOREM animæ derisit Täcobus ignen,

Et sine quo superum non adeunda domus.
Frenduit hoc trina monstrum Latiale corona,

Movit et 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.”
0, quam funesto cecinisti proxima vero,

Verbaque ponderibus vix caritura suis !
Nam prope Tartareo sublime rotatus ab igni,
Ibat ad æthereas, umbra perusta, plagas.

IV.-IN EANDEM.
QUEM modo Roma suis devoverat impia diris,

Et Styge damparat, Tænarioque sinu;
Hunc, vice mutata, jam tollere gestit ad astra,
Et cupit ad superos evehere

V.-IN INVENTOREM BOMBARDÆ.
IAPETIONIDEM laudavit cæca vetustas,

Qui tulit ætheream solis ab axe facem;
At mihi major erit, qui lurida creditur arma,
Et trifidum fulmen, surripuisse Jovi.

VI.-AD LEONORAM ROMÆ CANENTEM.
ANGELUS unicuique suus, sic credite gentes,

Obtigit æthereis ales ab ordinibus.
Quid mirum, Leonora, tibi si gloria major ?

Nam tua præsentem vox sonat ipsa Deum.
Aut Deus, aut vacui certe mens tertia coeli,

Per tua 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, cætera mutus habet.

VII.-AD EANDEM.
ALTERA Torquatum cepit Leonorao poetam,

Cujus ab insano cessit amore furens. b Adriana of Mantua, for her beauty surnamed the Fair, and her daughter Leonora Baroni, the lady whom Milton celebrates in these three Latin Epigrams, were esteemed by their conteniporaries the finest singers in the world. When Milton was at Rome, he was introduced to the concerts of Cardinal Barberini, where he heard Leonora sing and her mother play. It was the fashion for all the ingenious strangers, who visited Rome, to leave some verses on Leonora. -T. WARTOX.

c Altera Torquatum cepit Leonora. This allusion to Tasso's Leonora, and the turn which it takes, are inimitably beautiful.-T. WARTON.

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