The Complete Poetry of John Milton (19 page)
Read The Complete Poetry of John Milton Online
Authors: John Milton
Tags: #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #Poetry, #European
15
the morning star.
16
the axle of the sun’s chariot.
17
Compare Luke ii. 8-20.
18
Christ, the Good Shepherd.
19
both “in kindness” and “in kinship” as man.
20
simple.
21
cadence.
22
orb of the moon.
23
in the union both of nature and of divine and human natures in the Incarnation.
24
inexpressible.
25
Job xxxviii. 6–7: “Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened?… When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
26
The music of the nine spheres (the ninth being the Crystalline) resulted from the harmony of single tones uttered by each of the sirens as she traveled about the earth on her allotted sphere (
Rep.
, X, 616–17). Pythagoreans believed that only the sinless could hear this “silver chime.”
27
concert, group.
28
the early age when Saturn ruled the world. It was an age of innocent happiness when men lived without strife, labor, or injustice.
29
polluted, abominable. The phrase may translate Horace’s “maculosum nefas” (
Odes
, IV, v, 22) with reference to Ecclesiastes.
30
appearing, scrutinizing, equalizing.
31
See
Mask
, n. 12. The collocation of Truth, Justice, and Mercy comes from Ps. lxxxv. 10; they are the so-called daughters of God, representing the three persons of the Holy Trinity (Father, Holy Spirit, and Son), who combined constitute the fourth daughter, Peace (see ll. 45-52).
32
death.
33
1 Thess. iv. 16: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”
34
The giving of the ten commandments (Exod. xix. 18–19: “And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke …”) is related to Judgment Day when “The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat” (2 Peter iii. 12).
35
Rev. xx. 2–3: “And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up,.…”
36
beats, shakes (his coiled tail).
37
The birth of Christ begins the destruction of the pagan divinities, extending through XXV, by stilling the false oracles of the heathen.
38
perhaps “paled with fear,” derived from the Latin usage of “palleo.”
39
Matt ii. 18: “In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning.…”
40
the spirit presiding over any particular place, such as a wood.
41
gods presiding over the home and spirits of the dead.
“Flamins”
l. 194, were Roman priests.
42
foreboding ill (see
Georgics
, I, 480).
43
The pagan divinities put to rout (XXII–XXV) are:
Peor
, the Phoenician sun god;
Baalim
, local Phoenician deities concerned with flocks; the Philistine fish god
Dagon
, whose statue was cast down twice because the people of Ashdod had taken the ark of God (1 Sam. v. 3-4);
Ashtaroth
, a Phoenician female divinity, identified with Astarte and Venus;
Ammon
, the North African name for Jove, who as tender of flocks was represented as a ram;
Thammuz
, the Phoenician Adonis, who was killed by a wild boar and revered as a vegetation god (compare Ezek. viii. 14: “behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz”);
Moloch
, a Semitic deity, represented by a hollow idol filled with fire to consume sacrificed children whose cries were drowned out by cymbals and trumpets; the Egyptian deities
Isis
, the earth goddess, with the head of a cow (thus “brutish”);
Horus
, the hawk-headed sun god;
Anubis
, guide of the dead with the head of a jackal; and
Osiris
, the chief god and judge of the dead, identified with Apis, the Sacred Bull, which was buried in the temple of Serapis at Memphis; and
Typhon
, a hundred-headed serpent who killed Osiris, scattering truth to the four winds (
Areo.
, p. 29).
44
referring to the aridity of Egypt.
45
Osiris’ “sacred chest” borne by his black-robed priests to a temple, accompanied by the sound of tambourines.
46
Compare Luke ii. 7. The line glances at the legend of the strength of the infant Hercules.
47
Evil spirits return at morning to their graves or to hell.
48
wearying (since lengthy).
49
The star of Bethlehem, latest born, has taken position to shine its light on Christ the King.
50
wearing bright armor.
AD CAROLUM DIODATUM RURI COMMORANTEM
1
Qui cum idibus Decemb. scripsisset, et sua carmina excusari postulasset si solito minus essent bona, quòd inter lautitias quibus erat ab amicis exceptus, haud satis felicem operam Musis dare se posse affirmabat, hunc habuit responsum.
Mitto tibi sanam non pleno ventre salutem,
Quâ tu distento forte carere potes.
At tua quid nostram prolectat Musa camoenam,
Nec sinit optatas posse sequi tenebras?
5
Carmine scire velis quàm te redamémque colámque,
Crede mihi vix hoc carmine scire queas.
Nam neque noster amor modulis includitur arctis,
Nec venit ad claudos integer ipse pedes.
2
Quàm bene solennes epulas, hilaremque Decembrim
10
Festaque cœlifugam
3
quæ coluere Deum,
Deliciasque refers, hyberni gaudia ruris,
Haustaque per lepidos Gallica musta focos.
Quid quereris refugam vino dapibusque poesin?
Carmen amat Bacchum, Carmina Bacchus amat.
4
15
Nec puduit Phœbum virides gestasse corymbos,
Atque hederam lauro præposuisse suæ.
5
Sæpius Aoniis clamavit collibus Euœ
Mista Thyoněo turba novena choro.
6
Naso Corallæis
7
mala carmina misit ab agris:
20
Non illic epulæ non sata vitis erat.
Quid nisi vina, rosasque racemiferumque Lyæum
Cantavit brevibus Tëia Musa
8
modis?
Pindaricosque inflat numeros Teumesius Euan,
Et redolet sumptum pagina quæque merum;
25
Dum gravis everso currus crepat axe supinus,
Et volat Eléo pulvere fuscus eques.
Quadrimoque madens Lyricen Romanus
9
Jaccho
Dulce canit Glyceran, flavicomamque Chloen.
Jam quoque lauta tibi generoso mensa paratu,
30
Mentis alit vires, ingeniumque fovet.
Massica
10
fœcundam despumant pocula venam,
Fundis et ex ipso condita metra cado.
Addimus his artes, fusumque per intima Phœbum
Corda, favent uni Bacchus, Apollo, Ceres.
11
35
Scilicet haud mirum tam dulcia carmina per te
Numine composito tres peperisse Deos.
Nunc quoque Thressa
12
tibi cælato barbitos auro
Insonat argutâ molliter icta manu;
Auditurque chelys suspensa tapetia circum,
40
Virgineos tremulâ quæ regat arte pedes.
Illa tuas saltern teneant spectacula Musas,
Et revocent, quantum crapula pellit iners.
Crede mihi dum psallit ebur, comitataque plectrum
Implet odoratos festa chorea tholos,
45
Percipies taciturn per pectora serpere Phœbum,
Quale repentinus permeat ossa calor,
Perque puellares oculos digitumque sonantem
Irruet in totos lapsa Thalia
13
sinus.
Namque Elegía levis multorum cura deorum est,
50
Et vocat ad numeros quemlibet illa suos;
Liber adest elegis, Eratoque, Ceresque, Venusque,
Et cum purpureâ matre tenellus Amor.
Talibus inde licent convivia larga poetis,
Sæpius et veteri commaduisse mero.
55
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,
14
Ille quidem parcè Samii pro more magistri
15
60
Vivat, et innocuos præbeat herba cibos;
Stet prope fagineo pellucida lympha catillo,
Sobriaque è puro pocula fonte bibat.
Additur huic scelerisque vacans, et casta juventus,
Et rigidi mores, et sine labe manus.
65
Qualis veste nitens sacrâ, et lustralibus undis
Surgis ad infensos augur iture Deos.
Hoc ritu vixisse ferunt post rapta sagacem
Lumina Tiresian, Ogygiumque Linon,
16
Et lare devoto profugum Calchanta, senemque
70
Orpheon edomitis sola per antra feris;
Sic dapis exiguus, sic rivi potor Homerus
Dulichium vexit per freta longa virum,
Et per monstrificam Perseiæ Phœbados
17
aulam,
Et vada fœmineis insidiosa sonis,
75
Perque tuas, rex ime, domos, ubi sanguine nigro
Dicitur umbrarum detinuisse greges.
Diis etenim sacer est vates, divûmque sacerdos,
Spirat et occultum pectus, et ora Jovem.
At tu siquid agam, scitabere (si modò saltern
80
Esse putas tanti noscere siquid agam)
Paciferum canimus cælesti semine regem,
18
Faustaque sacratis sæcula pacta libris,
Vagitumque Dei, et stabulantem paupere tecto
Qui suprema suo cum patre regna colit;
85
Stelliparumque polum, modulantesque æthere turmas,
Et subitò 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,