The Complete Poetry of John Milton (7 page)
Read The Complete Poetry of John Milton Online
Authors: John Milton
Tags: #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #Poetry, #European
(
Oct. ? 1626
)
1
Richard Ridding, who died in Oct. (?) 1626, as senior beadle, preceded academic processions bearing the official mace.
2
Pallas Athena was the goddess of wisdom and the arts.
3
Jove, in love with the mortal Leda, approached her in the guise of a swan.
4
Aeson was restored to youth by Medea, whose magic brew was concocted from herbs of the valleys of Haemonia.
5
At the prayer of Diana, Aesculapius, god of medicine, brought Hippolytus back to life.
6
the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge.
7
Hermes, messenger of the gods, born on Mt. Cyllene in Arcadia, met Priam, king of Ilium, on the plain outside Troy (
Iliad
, XXIV, 334-57).
8
Eurybates and other heralds of Agamemnon were sent to Achilles’ tent to fetch his concubine Briseis (
Iliad
, I, 320-25).
9
Poetic tributes were customarily pinned to the bier.
IN OBITUM PRÆSULIS WINTONIENSIS
1
Mœstus eram, et tacitus nullo comitante sedebam,
Hærebantque animo tristia plura meo,
Prontinus en subiit funestæ cladis imago
Fecit in Angliaco quam Libitina
2
solo;
5
Dum procerum ingressa est splendentes marmore turres
Dira sepulchrali mors metuenda face;
Pulsavitque auro gravidos et jaspide muros,
Nec metuit satrapum sternere falce greges.
Tunc memini clarique ducis, fratisque verendi
10
Intempestivis ossa cremata rogis.
3
Et memini Heroum quos vidit ad æthera raptos,
Flevit et amissos Belgia tota duces.
At te præcipuè luxi, dignissime præsul,
Wintoniæque olim gloria magna tuæ;
15
Delicui fletu, et tristi sic ore querebar,
Mors fera Tartareo diva secunda Jovi,
4
Nonne satis quod sylva tuas persentiat iras,
Et quod in herbosos jus tibi detur agros,
Quodque afflata tuo marcescant lilia tabo,
20
Et crocus, et pulchræ Cypridi
5
sacra rosa,
Nec sinis ut semper fluvio contermina quercus
Miretur lapsus prætereuntis aquæ?
Et tibi succumbit liquido quæ plurima cælo
Evehitur pennis quamlibet augur avis,
6
25
Et quæ mille nigris errant animalia sylvis,
Et quod alunt mutum Proteos antra pecus.
7
Invida, tanta tibi cum sit concessa potestas,
Quid juvat humanâ tingere cæde manus?
Nobileque in pectus certas acuisse sagittas,
30
Semideamque animam sede fugâsse suâ?
Talia dum lacrymans alto sub pectore volvo,
Roscidus occiduis Hesperus
8
exit aquis,
Et Tartessiaco
9
submerserat aequore currum
Phœbus, ab eöo littore mensus iter.
35
Nec mora, membra cavo posui refovenda cubili,
Condiderant oculos noxque soporque meos;
Cum mihi visus eram lato spatiarier agro,
Heu nequit ingenium visa referre meum.
Illic puniceâ radiabant omnia luve,
40
Ut matutino cum juga sole rubent.
Ac veluti cum pandit opes Thaumantia
10
proles,
Vestitu nituit multicolore solum.
Non dea tam variis ornavit floribus hortos
Alcinoi, Zephyro Chloris
11
amata levi.
45
Flumina vernantes lambunt argentea campos,
Ditior Hesperio flavet arena Tago.
12
Serpit odoriferas per opes levis aura Favoni,
13
Aura sub innumeris humida nata rosis.
Talis in extremis terræ Gangetidis oris
50
Luciferi
14
regis fingitur esse domus.
Ipse racemiferis dum densas vitibus umbras
Et pellucentes miror ubique locos,
Ecce mihi subito præsul Wintonius astat,
Sydereum nitido fulsit in ore jubar;
55
Vestis ad auratos defluxit Candida talos,
Infula divinum cinxerat albu caput.
Dumque senex tali incedit venerandus amictu,
Intremuit læto florea terra sono.
Agmina gemmatis plaudunt cælestia pennis,
60
Pura triumphali personat aethra tubâ.
Quisque novum amplexu comitem cantuque salutat,
Hosque aliquis placido misit ab ore sonos;
Nate, veni, et patrii felix cape gaudia regni,
Semper ab hinc duro, nate, labore vaca.
15
65
Dixit, et aligeræ tetigerunt nablia turmæ,
16
At mihi cum tenebris aurea pulsa quies.
Flebam turbatos Cephaleiâ pellice
17
somnos,
Talia contingant somnia sæpe mihi.
ON THE DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
1
I was full of sadness, and I was sitting silent with no companion, / and many sorrows were clinging to my spirit. / Suddenly, lo, there arose a vision of the mournful destruction / which Libitina
2
wrought on English soil; / while dire death, fearful with its sepulchral torch, [5] / entered the glittering marble palaces of the nobles, / and attacked the walls laden with gold and jasper, / nor did it hesitate to overthrow hosts of princes with its scythe. / Then I remembered that illustrious duke, and his revered brother, / their bones burned on untimely pyres.
3
[10] / And I remembered the heroes whom the land saw snatched up to the sky, / and all Belgia mourned the lost leaders. / But I lamented chiefly
for you, most worthy Bishop, / and once the great glory of your Winchester; / I dissolved in weeping, and complained thus with sad words: [15] / “Savage death, goddess second to Tartarean Jove,
4
/ are you not satisfied that the forest suffers your rages, / that power is given to you over the grassy fields, / and that the blooming lilies wither from your pestilence, / and the crocus, and the rose sacred to beautiful Cypris,
5
[20] / just as you do not allow the oak bordering upon the river forever / to wonder at the fall of the ebbing water? / And the bird succumbs to you, although a prophet,
6
/ many a one which is lifted through the liquid air on its pinions, / and the thousand beasts that stray in the dark forests, [25] / and the dumb herd which the caves of Proteus sustain.
7
/ Envious one, whenever such power is allowed you, / what delights you to stain your hands with human slaughter? / and to sharpen your unerring arrows against a noble breast, / and to drive a half-divine spirit from its residence?” [30] / While, weeping, I meditated such griefs deep in my heart, / dewy Hesperus
8
rose from the western sea, / and Phoebus sank his chariot in the Tartessian
9
sea, / after measuring his course from the eastern shore. / With no delay, I lay down in cavernous bed to refresh my limbs, [35] / and night and sleep shut my eyes; / when I seemed to be walking in a broad field. / Alas! my senses cannot relate the things seen. / There all things were shining with reddish light, / just as the mountain peaks blush with the morning sun. [40] / But as when the child of Thaumas
10
spreads her riches, / the earth luxuriated in vestment of many colors. / Chloris,
11
the goddess beloved by fleet Zephyr, did not adorn / the gardens of Alcinous with so many various flowers. / Silver rivers washed the verdant field; [45] / the sand was gilded richer than Hesperian Tagus.
12
/ Through the fragrant wealth stole the light breath of Favonius,
13
/ the dewy breath born under innumerable roses. / Such, on the distant shores of the land of the Ganges, / is the home of Lucifer,
14
the king, imagined to be. [50] / While I myself was marvelling at the dense shades beneath the clustering vines / and the shining regions everywhere, / behold, Winchester’s bishop suddenly stood before me, / the splendor of stars shone in his bright face; / a dazzling white robe flowed down to his golden ankles, [55] / a white fillet encircled his divine head. / And while the reverend old man advanced in such fashion, / the flowery earth trembled with happy sound. / The celestial multitudes applaud with jewelled wings, / the pure air resounds with triumphal trumpet. [60] / Everyone salutes the new companion with an embrace and a song, / and one among them uttered these words from his peaceful lips: / “My son, come, and, happy, reap the joys of your father’s kingdom; / here rest forever, my son, from harsh labor.”
15
/ He spoke, and the winged troops touched their harps,
16
[65] / but for me golden sleep was banished with the night. / I wept for the dreams disturbed by the mistress of Cephalus.
17
/ May such dreams often befall me! /
(
Oct ? 1626
)
1
Lancelot Andrewes, who died on Sept. 25, 1626.
2
the Italian goddess of the dead. The plague was severe in London in 1625-26.
3
often identified as Duke Christian of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, who died in the Low Countries (Belgia) during the Thirty Years’ War on June 6, 1626, and Count Ernest of Mansfeld, who died on Nov. 29. Adherents of the Protestant cause, they were brothers in arms only. Or perhaps they were King James (died Mar. 27, 1625) and Maurice, Prince of Orange (died Apr. 23, 1625).
4
Pluto, god of hell and brother of Jove.
5
Venus.
6
The belief was the basis of the Roman auspices (
avis spicere
), originally signs from birds in flight or song, which were prescriptions of conduct and prayer to determine whether the gods were favorable.
7
Proteus, the changeable ancient of the sea, herded the seals of Neptune.
8
the evening star.
9
Spanish, i.e., western.
10
Iris, goddess of the rainbow.
11
goddess of spring and flowers, and wife of the West Wind. The garden of Alcinous is described in
Od.
, VI, 291–94.
12
the river in Spain, noted for its golden sand in the reflected sun.
13
Zephyr.
14
“bearer of light,” the Sun.
15
Rev. xiv. 13: “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me: ‘Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them’.”
16
Rev. xiv. 2: “And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.”
17
Aurora, the dawn.
1
Adhuc madentes rore squalebant genæ,
Et sicca nondum lumina
Adhuc liquentis imbre turgebant salis,
Quem nuper effudi pius,