• Ver. 53. Turba, &c. In Milton's youth, the fashionable places of walking in London were Hyde-Park, and Gray'sInn Walks.-T. WARTON.

L 7 Ver. 76. Non reditura. He saw the unknown lady, who had thus won his heart, but once.

C

The fervor of his

love is inimitably expressed in the following lines.-TODD.

8 Ver. 99.

Deme meos tandem, verum nec deme, furores ;

Nescio cur, miser est suaviter omnis amans.

There never was a more beautiful description of the irresolution of love. He wishes to have his woe removed, but recalls his wish; preferring the sweet misery of those who love. Thus Eloisa wavers, in Pope's fine poem :

Unequal task! a passion to resign,

For hearts so touch'd, so pierced, so lost, as mine.

TODD.

9 Page 277. ver. 1. Hæc ego, &c. These lines are an = epilogistic palinode to the last Elegy. The Socratic doctrines of the shady Academe soon broke the bonds of beauty: in other words, his return to the university. They were probably written when the Latin poems were prepared for the press in 1645.-T. WARTON.

VOL. VI.

T

EPIGRAMMATUM LIBER.

I.-In Proditionem Bombardicam.

CUM simul in regem nuper satrapasque Britannos
Ausus es infandum, perfide Fauxe, nefas,
Fallor? An et mitis voluisti ex parte videri,
Et pensare mala cum pietate scelus?
Scilicet hos alti missurus ad atria coli,
Sulphureo curru, flammivolisque rotis:
Qualiter ille, feris caput inviolabile Parcis,
Liquit Iördanios turbine raptus agros.

II. In eandem.

Siccine tentasti cœlo donasse läcobum,
Quæ septemgemino, Bellua,' monte lates?
Ni meliora tuum poterit dare munera numen,
Parce, precor, donis insidiosa tuis.
Ille quidem sine te consortia serus adivit
Astra, nec inferni pulveris usus ope.
Sic potius fœdos in cœlum pelle cucullos,
Et quot habet brutos Roma profana deos:
Namque hac aut alia nisi quemque adjuveris arte,
Crede mihi, cœli vix bene scandet iter.

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III. In eandem.

Purgatorem animæ derisit Iäcobus ignem,
Et sine quo superum non adeunda domus.
Frenduit hoc trina monstrum Latiale corona,

Movit et horrificum cornua dena minax.

"Et nec inultus," ait, " temnes mea sacra, Bri

tanne :

Supplicium, spreta relligione, dabis:

Et, si stelligeras unquam penetraveris arces,
Non nisi per flammas triste patebit iter."
O, quam funesto cecinisti proxima vero,
Verbaque ponderibus vix caritura suis!
Nam prope Tartareo sublime rotatus ab igni,
Ibat ad æthereas, umbra perusta, plagas.

IV. In eandem.

Quem modo Roma suis devoverat impia diris,
Et Styge damnarat, Tænarioque sinu ;
Hunc, vice mutata, jam tollere gestit ad astra,
Et cupit ad superos evehere usque deos.

V.-In Inventorem Bombardæ.

Iapetionidem laudavit cæca vetustas,

Qui tulit ætheream solis ab axe facem;
At mihi major erit, qui lurida creditur arma,
Et trifidum fulmen, surripuisse Jovi.

VI. Ad LEONORAM Romæ canentem."

Angelus unicuique suus, sic credite gentes,
Obtigit æthereis ales ab ordinibus.

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Quid mirum, Leonora, tibi si gloria major?
Nam tua præsentem vox sonat ipsa Deum.
Aut Deus, aut vacui certe mens tertia cœli,

Per tua secreto guttura serpit agens;
Serpit agens, facilisque docet mortalia corda

Sensim immortali assuescere posse sono. Quod si cuncta quidem Deus est, per cunctaque fusus,

In te una loquitur, cætera mutus habet.

VII. Ad eandem.

Altera Torquatum cepit Leonora' poetam,
Cujus ab insano cessit amore furens.
Ah! miser ille tuo quanto felicius ævo
Perditus, et propter te, Leonora, foret!
Et te Pieria sensisset voce canentem
Aurea maternæ fila movere lyræ!
Quamvis Dircæo torsisset lumina Pentheo
Sævior, aut totus desipuisset iners,
Tu tamen errantes cæca vertigine sensus
Voce eadem poteras composuisse tua;
Et poteras, ægro spirans sub corde, quietem
Flexanimo cantu restituisse sibi.

VIII. Ad eandem.

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Credula quid liquidam Sirena, Neapoli, jactas,
Claraque Parthenopes' fana Achelöiados;
Littoreamque tua defunctam Naida ripa,
Corpora Chalcidico sacra dedisse rogo ?
Illa quidem vivitque, et amona Tibridis unda
Mutavit rauci murmura Pausilipi.'

Illic, Romulidum studiis ornata secundis,
Atque homines cantu detinet atque deos.

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