JOANNIS MILTONI

LONDINENSIS

POEMATA.

QUORUM PLERAQUE INTRA ANNUM ÆTATIS VIGESIMUM CONSCRIPSIT.

Hæc quæ sequuntur de Authore testimonia, tametsi ipse intelligebat non tam de se quàm supra se esse dicta, eò quòd præclaro ingenio viri, nec non amici, ita ferè solent laudare, ut omnia suis potiùs virtutibus, quàm veritati congruentia, nimis cupidè affingant, noluit tamen horum egregiam in se voluntatem non esse notam; cùm alii præsertim ut id faceret magnoperè suaderent. Dum enim nimiæ laudis invidiam totis ab se viribus amolitur, sibique quod plus æquo est non attributum esse mavult, judicium interim hominum cordatorum atque illustrium quin summo sibi honori ducat, negare non potest.

JOANNES BAPTISTA MANSUS, Marchio Villensis,
Neapolitanus, ad JOANNEM MILTONIUM Anglum.

Ur mens, forma, decor, facies, mos, si pietas sic,
Non Anglus, verùm herclè Angelus, ipse fores.

Non Anglus, verùm herclè Angelus,] Such was nearly the remark of Gregory, Archdeacon of Rome, as related by Milton in his Hist. of Eng. B. iv. "The Northumbrians had a custom to sell their children for a small value into any foreign land. Of which number two comely youths were brought to Rome, whose fair and honest countenances invited Gregory, pitying their condition, to demand whence they were: It was answered, that they were Angli of the province Deira, subjects to Alla king of Northumberland, and by religion Pagans. Which last Gregory deploring, fram'd on a sudden this allusion to the three names he heard; that the ANGLI So like to ANGELS should be snatched de ira, that is, from the wrath of God, to sing Hallelujah." TODD.

160

Ad JOANNEM MILTONEM Anglum, triplici poeseos laurea coronandum, Græcâ nimirum, Latiná,

atque Hetrusca, Epigramma JOANNIS SALSILLI Romani.

CEDE, Meles; cedat depressâ Mincius urnâ;
Sebetus Tassum desinat usque loqui;

At Thamesis victor cunctis ferat altior undas,
Nam per te, Milto, par tribus unus erit.

Ad JOANNEM MILTONUM.

GRÆCIA Mæonidem, jactet sibi Roma Maronem,
Anglia Miltonum jactat utrique parem.

SELVAGGI.

Nam per te, Milto, par tribus unus erit.] The conclusion is not dissimilar to the last line of Dryden's celebrated epigram on Milton:

“To make a third, she join'd the former two."

The next verses by Selvaggi, it has often been remarked, might

suggest to Dryden the formation and turn of his epigram. Or

the following Epigram by a French writer, was probably in Dryden's mind, as the late Mr. Reed observed to me.

In Roberti Garnerii Opuscula Tragica.
Tres tragicos habuisse vetus se Græcia jactat:
Unum pro tribus his Gallia nuper habet.
Eschylon, antiquâ qui majestate superbus
Grande cothurnato carmen ab ore sonat.
Quem Sophocles sequitur perfectior arte priorem,
Nec nimis antiquus, nec nimis ille novus.
Tertius Euripides, Actæi fama theatri,
In cujus labris Attica sedet apis.

At nunc vincit eos, qui tres Garnerius unus,
Terna ferat Tragicis præmia digna tribus.

JOH. AURATUS.

Al Signor Gio. MILTONI Nobile Inglese.

ERGIMI all' Etra ò Clio

ODE.

Perche di stelle intreccierò corona
Non più del Biondo Dio

La fronde eterna in Pindo, e in Elicona,
Diensi a merto maggior, maggiori i fregi,
A' celeste virtù celesti pregi.

Non puo del tempo edace

Rimaner preda, eterno alto valore
Non puo l'oblio rapace,

Furar dalle memorie eccelso onore,

Su l'arco di mia cetra un dardo forte

Virtù m' adatti, e ferirò la morte.

Del ocean profondo

Cinta dagli ampi gorghi Anglia resiede

Separata dal mondo,

Però che il suo valor l' umano eccede:

Questa feconda sà produrre Eroi,

Ch' hanno a ragion del sovruman tra noi.

Alla virtù sbandita

Danno ne i petti lor fido ricetto,

Quella gli è sol gradita,

Perche in lei san trovar gioia, e diletto;.

Garnier was one of the most celebrated tragick poets before Corneille; and this epigram is prefixed to most editions of his works. It has been also translated into French by R. Estienne, who extended it to fourteen lines. TODD.