The Complete Poetry of John Milton (21 page)
Read The Complete Poetry of John Milton Online
Authors: John Milton
Tags: #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #Poetry, #European
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the
persona
of the drama, used for the person of the Incarnation.
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Muse.
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the
Christiad
, an epic on the life of Christ by Marco Girolamo Vida, native of Cremona, which Milton praises over similar religious works.
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A Jacobean printing practice was the use of black title pages with white letters.
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Ezekiel (Ezek. i. 1–16).
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Jerusalem was the home of sacred poetry, for David, reputed author of the psalms, reigned there thirty-three years (2 Sam. v. 5).
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Jer. ix. 10: “For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation.”
Nondum blanda tuas leges, Amathusia,
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norâm,
Et Paphio vacuum pectus ab igne fuit.
Sæpe cupidineas, puerilia tela, sagittas,
Atque tuum sprevi maxime, numen, Amor.
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Tu puer imbelles, dixi, transfige columbas,
Conveniunt tenero mollia bella duci.
Aut de passeribus tumidos age, parve, triumphos,
Hæc sunt militiæ digna trophæa tuæ.
In genus humanum quid inania dirigis arma?
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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:
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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,
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Et quicquid puero, dignum et Amore fuit
Talis in æterno juvenis Sigeius
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Olympo
Miscet amatori pocula plena Jovi;
Aut qui formosas pellexit ad oscula nymphas
Thiodamantæus Naiade raptus Hylas;
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Addideratque iras, sed et has decuisse putares,
Addideratque truces, nec sine felle minas.
Et miser exemplo sapuisses tutiùs, inquit,
Nunc mea quid possit dextera testis eris.
Inter et expertos vires numerabere nostras,
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Et faciam vero per tua damna fidem.
Ipse ego, si nescis, strato Pythone superbum
Edomui Phœbum, cessit et ille mihi;
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Et quoties meminit Peneidos, ipse fatetur
Certiùs et graviùs tela nocere mea.
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Me nequit adductum curvare peritiùs arcum,
Qui post terga solet vincere Parthus eques.
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Cydoniusque mihi cedit venator,
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et ille
Inscius uxori qui necis author
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erat.
Est etiam nobis ingens quoque victus Orion,
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Herculeæque manus, Herculeusque comes.
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Jupiter ipse licet sua fulmina torqueat in me,
Hærebunt lateri spicula nostra Jovis.
Cætera quæ dubitas meliùs mea tela docebunt,
Et tua non leviter corda petenda mihi.
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Nec te, stulte, tuæ poterunt defendere Musæ,
Nec tibi Phœbæus porriget anguis
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opem.
Dixit, et aurato quatiens mucrone sagittam,
Evolat in tepidos Cypridos ille sinus.
At mihi risuro tonuit ferus ore minaci,
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Et mihi de puero non metus ullus erat.
Et modò quà nostri spatiantur in urbe Quirites
Et modò villarum proxima rura placent.
Turba frequens, faciéque simillima turba dearum
Splendida per medias itque reditque vias.
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Auctaque luce dies gemino fulgore coruscat.
Fallor? an et radios hinc quoque Phœbus habet?
Hæc ego non fugi spectacula grata severus,
Impetus et quò me fert juvenilis, agor.
Lumina luminibus malè providus obvia misi,
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Neve oculos potui continuisse meos.
Unam forte aliis supereminuisse notabam,
Principium nostri lux erat illa mali.
Sic Venus optaret mortalibus ipsa videri,
Sic regina Deûm
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conspicienda fuit.
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Hanc memor objecit nobis malus ille Cupido,
Solus et hos nobis texuit antè dolos.
Nec procul ipse vafer latuit, multæque sagittæ,
Et facis a tergo grande pependit onus.
Nec mora, nunc ciliis hæsit, nunc virginis ori,
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Insilit hinc labiis, insidet inde genis:
Et quascunque agilis partes jaculator oberrat,
Hei mihi, mille locis pectus inerme ferit.
Protinus insoliti subierunt corda furores,
Uror amans intùs, flammaque totus eram.
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Interea misero quæ jam mihi sola placebat,
Ablata est oculis non reditura meis.
Ast ego progredior tacitè querebundus, et excors,
Et dubius volui sæpe referre pedem.
Findor, et hæc remanet, sequitur pars altera votum,
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Raptaque tàm subitò gaudia flere juvat.
Sic dolet amissum proles Junonia
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cœlum,
Inter Lemniacos præcipitata focos.
Talis et abreptum solem respexit, ad Orcum
Vectus ab attonitis Amphiaraus
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equis.
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Quid faciam infelix, et luctu victus? Amores
Nec licet inceptos ponere, neve sequi.
O utinam spectare semel mihi detur amatos
Vultus, et coràm tristia verba loquil
Forsitan et duro non est adamante creata,
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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.
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Jam tuus O certè est mihi formidabilis arcus,
Nate deâ, jaculis nec minus igne potens:
Et tua fumabunt nostris altaria donis,
Solus et in superis tu mihi summus eris.
Deme meos tandem, verùm nec deme furores,
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Nescio cur, miser est suaviter omnis amans:
Tu modo da facilis, posthæc mea siqua futura est,
Cuspis amaturos figat ut una duos.
Not yet did I know your laws, enticing Amathusia,
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/ and my breast was free from Paphian fire. / Often Cupid’s arrows, childish weapons, / and especially your divine will I contemned, O Love. / You, boy, I said, pierce peace-loving doves; [5] / gentle battles are becoming to a tender warrior, / or, over the sparrows, little one, achieve your arrogant triumphs; / these are the suitable trophies of your warfare. / Why do you aim your vain darts at mankind? / Against strong men that quiver of yours has no power. [10] / This the Cyprian boy would not bear—and indeed no god is swifter / to anger—and straightaway fierce he burned with double fire. / Spring it was, and beaming through the heights of the village roofs, / the light had brought to you your first day, O May. / But my eyes still were seeking the vanishing night, [15] / nor could they endure the morning radiance. / Love stood by my bed, Love the indefatigable with painted wings; / the moving quiver betrayed the standing god; / his face betrayed him, and his sweetly menacing little eyes, / and whatever else was fitting to youth and to Love. [20] / In like manner did the Sigean youth
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on everlasting Olympus / mix the overflowing cups for amorous Jove, / or rather Hylas,
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who lured the lovely nymphs to his kisses, / son of Theomadas, carried off by a Naiad. / And his anger grew, but you would have thought it to be proper [25] / and his harsh threats increased, not without gall. / “Wretch, you might more safely have learned from example,” he said; / “now you shall be a witness to what my right hand can do. / And you shall be counted among the men who have experienced my powers, / and as a result of your penalty, truly, I shall achieve your faithfulness. [30] / I myself, if you do not know, overcame Apollo, / and he yielded to me, proud from subduing Python,
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/ and, as often as he remembers Daphne, he acknowledges / that my arrows harm more surely and more gravely. / The Parthian horseman who is wont to conquer behind his back
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[35] / cannot draw his taut bow more skillfully than I. / And the Cydonian hunter
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yields to me, and he / who was the unwitting author
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of his wife’s death. / Likewise was prodigious Orion
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also vanquished by me, / and the powers of Hercules, and the companion of Hercules.
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[40] / Even if Jove himself hurls his bolts at me / my darts shall hold fast to the side of Jove. / Whatever else you doubt my arrows shall more surely instruct / and your own heart will not be lightly assaulted by me. / Neither will your Muses be able to protect you, fool, [45] / nor will the serpent of Apollo’s son
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extend help to you.” / He spoke, and, shaking an arrow with a golden point, / he flew to the warm bosom of Cypris. / But to me the fierce lad thundered with threatening face laughably, / and to me there was nothing to fear from the boy. [50] / And sometimes places in the city where our inhabitants walk / and sometimes the nearby fields of the villages are pleasing. / A great shining throng resembling the visages of goddesses / come and go through the trodden ways. / And with their added light the day gleams with double splendor. [55] / Am I deceived? or is it from them that Apollo also obtains his rays? / I did not austerely shun these pleasurable sights, / but was guided where the impulse of youth led me. / I sent my glances to meet their looks, / poorly cautious, nor could I have restrained my eyes. [60] / By chance I remarked one surpassing all others; / her radiance was the beginning of my misfortune. / Thus Venus herself might choose to appear to mortals, / thus was the queen of the gods
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worthy of attention. / That wicked Cupid, remembering, cast her before me, [65] / and he alone has woven these snares in my path. / Not far off the cunning one himself was hiding with his many arrows, / and the burden of his mighty torch weighed down his back. / Without delay, he now was fixed on the eyelids, now on the mouth of the maid. / Then he sprang upon her lips, thereupon he lighted on her cheek, [70] / and wherever the agile dart-thrower flits in his office— / alas for me! he strikes my defenseless breast in a thousand places. / Forthwith unaccustomed passions assailed my heart; / I burned with love inwardly, and was all in flame. / Meanwhile she who alone now was delighting me with misery [75] / was borne off, never to return to my eyes. / But I went forth silently complaining, and without understanding / and uncertain I often wished to retrace my step. / I am torn apart; part stays behind, the other follows my desire, / and I was happy to weep for pleasures so suddenly snatched away. [80] / Thus lamented Juno’s child
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for his lost heaven, / cast down among the hearths of Lemnos, / and such was Amphiaraus,
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carried off to Hell by his terrified horses, / when he looked back on the vanished sun. / What should I do, unhappy and by sorrow overcome? Incipient love [85] / one is not permitted to dismiss or to pursue. / O if only it were granted me once to look upon her beloved / features, and to relate my sad words in her presence! / Perhaps she is not made of hard adamant, / perhaps she would not be deaf to my prayers. [90] / Believe me, no one burned so unhappily with love; / I may be considered the foremost and only example. / Spare me, I pray, since you are the winged god of gentle love; / do not let your deeds contend with your duty. / Now O child of the goddess, your fearful bow [95] / is assuredly to me no less powerful than fire / and your altars will smoke with my gifts. / To me you will be the only one and the greatest one among the supreme gods. / Take away, at least, my passions, yet do not take them; / I do not know why, every lover is sweetly wretched. [100] / Only grant, courteous one, if hereafter any maiden is to be mine, / that a single point shall transfix the two in love.