Nec me (crede mihi) terrent Semelëia fata, Matris in exemplum cætera turba ruunt : Triste micant ferro tela corusca novo: Marmoreas juvenes clamant Hymenæe! per urbes ; Cultior ille venit, tunicaque decentior apta, Egrediturque frequens, ad amoeni gaudia veris, Votum est cuique suum, votum est tamen omnibus unum, Nunc quoque septena modulatur arundine pastor, Delphinasque leves ad vada summa vocat : 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130 135 • More wisely than when you lent your chariot to Phaeton, and when I was consumed "by the excess of your heat." He alludes to the speech or complaint of Tellus, in the story of Phaeton. See "Metam." ii. 272.-T. WARTON. Tu saltem lente rapidos age, Phoebe, jugales, ELEG. VI. Ad CAROLUM DEODATUM ruri commorantem, qui cum Idibus Decemb. scripsisset, et sua carmina excusari postulasset si solito minus essent bona, quod inter lautitias, quibus erat ab amicis exceptus, haud satis felicem operam Musis dare se posse affirmabat, hoc habuit responsum :— MITTO tibi sanam non pleno ventre salutem, At tua quid nostram prolectat Musa Camœnam, Carmine scire velis quam te redamemque colamque ; Nam neque noster amor modulis includitur arctis, Quam bene solennes epulas hilaremque Decembrem, Haustaque per lepidos Gallica musta focos P! Naso Corallæis mala carmina misit ab agris; Quid nisi vina, rosasque, racemiferumque Lyæum, P Haustaque per lepidos Gallica musta focos! Deodate had sent Milton a copy of verses, in which he described the festivities of Christmas.-T. WARTON. a Teumesius Euan. Teumesus is a mountain of Boeotia, the district in which Thebes was situated; and its inhabitants were called Teumesii. Milton here puzzles his readers with minute and unnecessary learning. The meaning of the line is this :-"The Theban god Bacchus inspires the numbers of his congenial Pindar, the Theban poet."-T. WARTON. Addimus his artes, fusumque per intima Phoebum Et revocent, quantum crapula pellit iners. Crede mihi, dum psallit ebur, comitataque plectrum Percipies tacitum per pectora serpere Phoebum, Perque puellares oculos, digitumque sonantem, Namque Elegia levis multorum cura deorum est, Sæpius et veteri commaduisse mero. At qui bella refert t, et adulto sub Jove cœlum, Et nunc sancta canit superum consulta deorum, Additur huic scelerisque vacans, et casta juventus, 35 40 45 50 55 60 Qualis, veste nitens sacra, et lustralibus undis, 65 Hoc ritu vixisse ferunt post rapta sagacem The Thracian harp. Nunc quoque Thressa tibi, &c. Orpheus was of Thrace.-T. WARTON. • Auditurque chelys suspensa tapetia circum, &c. 70 Mr. Warton has observed, that here is a reference to the mode of furnishing halls or state-apartments with tapestry, which had not ceased in Milton's time. Compare "Comus," v. 324.-TODD. At qui bella refert, &c. Ovid, Anacreon, Pindar, and Horace indulged in convivial festivity; and this also is an indulgence which must be allowed to the professed writer of elegies and odes: but the epic poet, who has a more serious and important task, must live sparingly, according to the dictates of Pythagoras. Milton's panegyrics on temperance both in eating and drinking, resulting from his own practice, are frequent.-T. Warton. Sic dapis exiguus, sic rivi potor Homerus Perque tuas, rex ime, domos, ubi sanguine nigro Dis etenim sacer est vates, divumque sacerdos; Stelliparumque polum, modulantesque æthere turmas, Dona quidem dedimus Christi natalibus illa, Te quoque pressa manent patriis meditata cicutis '; ELEG. VII. ANNO ETATIS 19. NONDUM, blanda, tuas leges, Amathusia, noram, Atque tuum sprevi, maxime, numen, Amor. Tu, puer, imbelles, dixi, transfige columbas; Aut de passeribus timidos age, parve, triumphos : In genus humanum quid inania dirigis arma? Non tulit hoc Cyprius, neque enim deus ullus ad iras Ver erat, et summæ radians per culmina villæ At mihi adhuc refugam quærebant lumina noctem, "Et per monstrificam Perseic Phabados aulam. Circe was the daughter of the Sun, and, as some say, of Hecate.-T. WARTON. ▾ Te quoque pressa manent patriis meditata cicutis. 75 80 85 90 5 10 15 His English "Ode on the Nativity." This he means to submit to Deodate's inspection. "You shall next have some of my English poetry." The transitions and connexions of this Elegy are conducted with the 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 quærebant lumina noctem, Nec matutinum sustinuere jubar. Here is the elegance of poetical expression: but he really complains of the weakness of Astat Amor lecto, pictis Amor impiger alis; Et quicquid puero dignum et Amore fuit. Et faciam vero per tua damna fidem. Inscius uxori qui necis auctor erat. a " Et mihi de puero non metus ullus erat : his eyes, which began early. He has "light unsufferable,”—“Ode Nativ.' * 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, "En." xii. 852.-T. WARTON. y Et ille, &c. Cephalus, who unknowingly shot his wife Procris.-T. WARTON. Est etiam nobis ingens quoque victus Orion. Orion was also a famous hunter.-T. WARTON. a Nec tibi Phobæus porriget anguis opem. "No medicine will avail you: not even the serpent, which Phoebus sent to Rome to cure the city of a pestilence." Ovid, "Metam." xv. 742.-T. Warton. |