The Complete Poetry of John Milton (5 page)
Read The Complete Poetry of John Milton Online
Authors: John Milton
Tags: #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #Poetry, #European
2
the Red Sea.
3
dark-complexioned.
1
Rusticus ex Malo sapidissima poma quotannis
Legit, et urbano lecta dedit Domino:
Hic incredibili fructûs dulcedine Captus
Malum ipsam in proprias transtulit areolas.
5
Hactenus illa ferax, sed longo debilis ævo,
Mota solo assueto, protinùs aret iners.
Quod tandem ut patuit Domino, spe lusus inani,
Damnavit celeres in sua damna manus.
Atque ait, Heu quantò satius fuit illa Coloni
10
(Parva licet) grato dona tulisse animo!
Possem Ego avaritiam frœnare, gulamque voracem:
Nunc periere mihi et fœtus et ipsa parens.
1
Every year a peasant gathered from an appletree the most savory fruit / and gave the choice apples to his overlord who lived in the city. / He, pleased with the unbelievable sweetness of the fruit, / transferred the apple tree itself to his own gardens. / The tree, fruitful up to this time but weak from old age, [5] / when moved from its accustomed soil, instantly withered to inactivity. / When at last it was evident to the overlord that he had been deceived / by a vain hope, he cursed the hands so swift in bringing loss. / And he cried, “Alas, how much more satisfactory it was to receive / with a grateful heart these gifts, although small, from my tenant. [10] / Would I could curb my greed and my voracious gullet: / now both the fruit and its parent are lost to me.”
(
1624–25
)
1
A version of a popular fable by Aesop, Milton’s twelve elegiac lines were derived from ten by Mantuan (
Sylvarum
, Bk. 4).
1
Surge, age, surge, leves, iam convenit, excute somnos,
Lux oritur; tepidi fulcra relinque tori.
Iam canit excubitor gallus, prænuncius ales
Solis, et invigilans ad sua quemque vocat;
5
Flammiger Eois Titan
2
caput exerit undis,
Et spargit nitidum læta per arva iubar.
Daulias
3
argutum modulatur ab ilice carmen
Edit et excultos mitis alauda modos;
Iam rosa fragrantes spirat silvestris odores;
10
Iam redolent violæ luxuriatque seges.
Ecce novo campos Zephyritis
4
gramine vestit
Fertilis, et vitreo rore madescit humus.
Segnes invenias molli vix talia lecto,
Cum premat imbellis lumina fessa sopor;
15
Illic languentes abrumpunt somnia somnos,
Et turbant animum tristia multa tuum.
Illic tabifici generantur semina morbi.
Qui pote torpentem posse valere virum?
Surge, age, surge, leves, iam convenit, excute somnos,
20
Lux oritur; tepidi fulcra relinque tori.
1
Arise, up, arise. Now that it is time, shake off slumbers; / light is appearing; leave the props of your languid bed. / Now sings the sentinel cock, the harbinger bird / of the sun, and, watchful, calls everyone to his own affairs. / The flaming Titan
2
thrusts his head from the Eastern waves [5] / and scatters his glittering splendor through the joyful fields. / The Daulian
3
modulates her melodious song from the oak / and the gentle lark pours forth her perfect notes. / Now the wild rose breathes forth its fragrant perfumes; / now the violets diffuse their scent and the grain grows rapidly. [10] / Behold, the fruitful consort of Zephyr
4
clothes the fields with new growth, / and the soil becomes moist with glassy dew. / Lazy one, you are not likely to find such things in your soft bed, / when tranquil sleep weighs down your wearied eyes. / There dreams interrupt dull slumbers [15] / and many griefs disturb your mind. / There the seeds of a wasting malady are generated. / What strength can a listless man be capable of? / Arise, up, arise. Now that it is time, shake off slumbers; / light is appearing; leave the props of your languid bed. [20]
(
1624-25
)
1
These and the following verses were written on a loose sheet found in Milton’s Commonplace Book with only this title given for the first. Grammar school exercises, they versify a prose theme on early rising found on the reverse of the sheet: “Mane citus lectum fuge” (“Quick, hasten from your bed in the morning”).
2
Hyperion, here identified with the Sun.
3
the swallow.
4
Chloris, wife of the West Wind.
Ignavus satrapam dedecet …”
1
Ignavus satrapam dedecet inclytum
Somnus qui populo multifido præest.
Dum Dauni veteris filius armiger
2
Stratus purpureo procubuit thoro,
5
Audax Eurialus, Nisus et impiger
Invasere cati nocte sub horrida
Torpentes Rutilos castraque Volscia:
Hinc cædes oritur clamor et absonus.…
1
Slothful sleep is unbecoming to a famous governor / who presides over people divided into many sections of the land. / While the warlike son of old Daunas
2
/ lay prone on his purple couch, / bold Euryalus and quick Nisus [5] / cunningly attacked in the frightening night / the sleeping Rutilians and the Volscian camp: / hence slaughter arose and discordant shout.…
(
Incomplete; 1624–25
)
1
The meter is the lesser Aesclepiad (an irregular verse form used by Horace) with a spondee for the first foot.
2
Turnus, king of the Rutili and leader of the Volscians and other Italian tribes who resisted Aeneas’ invasion. When in a drunken sleep, his army was attacked by Euryalus and Nisus (
Aen.
, IX, 314-66).
AD CAROLUM DIODATUM
1
Tandem, chare, tuæ mihi pervenere tabellæ,
Pertulit et voces nuntia charta tuas,
Pertulit occiduâ Devæ Cestrensis ab orâ
Vergivium prono quà petit amne salum.
5
Multùm crede juvat terras aluisse remotas
Pectus amans nostri, tamque fidele caput,
Quòdque mihi lepidum tellus longinqua sodalem
Debet, at unde brevi reddere jussa velit.
Me tenet urbs refluâ quam Thamesis alluit undâ,
10
Meque nec invitum patria dulcis habet.
Jam nec arundiferum mihi cura revisere Camum,
Nec dudum vetiti me laris angit amor.
2
Nuda nec arva placent, umbrasque negantia molles,
Quàm male Phœbicolis convenit ille locus!
15
Nec duri libet usque minas perferre magistri
Cæteraque ingenio non subeunda meo.
Si sit hoc exilium patrios adiisse penates,
Et vacuum curis otia grata sequi,
Non ego vel profugi nomen, sortemve recuso,
20
Lætus et exilii conditione fruor.
O utinam vates nunquam graviora tulisset
Ille
3
Tomitano flebilis exul agro;
Non tunc Jonio quicquam cessisset Homero
Neve foret victo laus tibi prima, Maro.
4
25
Tempora nam licet hîc placidis dare libera Musis,
Et totum rapiunt me mea vita libri.
Excipit hinc fessum sinuosi pompa theatri,
Et vocat ad plausus garrula scena suos.
5
Seu catus auditur senior, seu prodigus hæres,
30
Seu procus, aut positâ casside miles adest,
Sive decennali fœcundus lite patronus
Detonat inculto barbara verba foro,
Sæpe vafer gnato succurrit servus amanti,
Et nasum rigidi fallit ubique Patris;
35
Sæpe novos illic virgo mirata calores
Quid sit amor nescit, dum quoque nescit, amat.
Sive cruentatum furiosa Tragœdia sceptrum
Quassat, et effusis crinibus ora rotat,
Et dolet, et specto, juvat et spectasse dolendo,
40
Interdum et lacrymis dulcis amaror inest:
Seu puer infelix indelibata reliquit
Gaudia, et abrupto flendus amore cadit,
Seu ferus è tenebris iterat Styga criminis ultor
Conscia funereo pectora torre movens,
45
Seu mæret Pelopeia domus, seu nobilis Ili,
Aut luit incestos aula Creontis avos.
Sed neque sub tecto semper nec in urbe latemus,
Irrita nec nobis tempora veris eunt.
Nos quoque lucus habet vicinâ consitus ulmo
50
Atque suburbani nobilis umbra loci.
Sæpius hic blandas spirantia sydera flammas
Virgineos videas præteriisse choros.
Ah quoties dignæ stupui miracula formæ
Quæ posset senium vel reparare Iovis;
55
Ah quoties vidi superantia lumina gemmas,
Atque faces quotquot volvit uterque polus;
Collaque bis vivi Pelopis
6
quæ brachia vincant,
Quæque fluit puro nectare tincta via,
Et decus eximium frontis, tremulosque capillos,
60
Aurea quæ fallax retia tendit Amor;
Pellacesque genas, ad quas hyacinthina sordet
Purpura, et ipse tui floris, Adoni, rubor.
7
Cedite laudatæ toties Heroides
8
olim,
Et quæcunque vagum cepit arnica Jovem.
65
Cedite Achaemeniæ
9
turritâ fronte puellæ,
Et quot Susa colunt, Memnoniamque Ninon.
10
Vos etiam Danaæ fasces submittite Nymphæ,
Et vos Iliacæ, Romuleæque nurus.
Nec Pompeianas Tarpëia Musa columnas
11
70
Jactet, et Ausoniis plena theatra stolis.
Gloria Virginibus debetur prima Britannis,
Extera, sat tibi sit, fœmina, posse sequi.
Tuque urbs Dardaniis Londium structa colonis
12
Turrigerum latè conspicienda caput,