Ut cum fugaces excitant Horæ diem, Themidos Jovisque filliæ;
Et sempiterni ducit ad vultus Patris :
At justa raptat impios Sub regna furvi luctuosa Tartari,
Sedesque subterraneas."
Hanc ut vocantem lætus audivi, cito
Fædum reliqui carcerem, Volatilesque faustus inter milites
Ad astra sublimis feror; Vates ut olim raptus ad cœlum senex,
Auriga currus ignei. Non me Boötis terruere lucidi
Sarraca tarda frigore, aut Formidolosi Scorpionis brachia; Non ensis, Orion, tuus. Prætervolavi fulgidi solis globum, Longeque sub pedibus deam Vidi triformem, dum coërcebat suos Frænis dracones aureis.
Erraticorum siderum per ordines, Per lacteas vehor plagas, Velocitatem sæpe miratus novam;
Donec nitentes ad fores
Ventum est Olympi, et regiam crystallinam, et
Stratum smaragdis atrium. Sed hic tacebo; nam quis effari queat,
Oriundus humano patre, Amœnitates illius loci? Mihi
Sat est in æternum frui.
NATURAM NON PATI SENIUM *.
HEU, quam perpetuis erroribus acta fatiscit Avia mens hominum, tenebris immersa profundis Edipodioniam volvit sub pectore noctem ! Quæ vesana suis metiri facta deorum Audet, et incisas leges adamante perenni Assimilare suis, nulloque solubile sæclo Consilium fati perituris alligat horis !
Ergone marcescet sulcantibus obsita rugis Naturæ facies, et rerum publica mater Omniparum contracta uterum sterilescet ab ævo? Et, se fassa senem, male certis passibus ibit Sidereum tremebunda caput? Num tetra vetustas, Annorumque æterna fames, squalorque, situsque,
* This was an academical exercise, written in 1628, to oblige one of the fellows of Christ's college, who having laid aside the levities of poetry for the gravity and solidity of prose, imposed the boyish task on Milton, now about nineteen years old.-T. WARTON.
Sien vexabume! Az et insatiabile Tempus Laures pelun, manistone in viscera patrem? SAL me suas imprudens Jupiter arces Bremen mimise nefas, et Temporis isto Ezemes mit gyrosyne dedisse perennes? Logo enrin yumangne sono dlapsa tremendo Cerita ne obvins ictu Sadar merge superaque ut Olympius aula Secur baisyne retecta Gorgone Pallas;
Quen Freum pecies Junonia Lemnon Пестетись на eccit de limine cœli? Тх спорте. Рurbe, ti casas imitabere nati; Predpis suae ferere ruina Promus, et excimera fumalit Lampade Nereus, Ez dues conferalis sibila ponto. Tre visis sedibus Hæmi Dissuali spex toge alisa barathro Terrebant Stygiz dejecta Ceraunia Ditem, In superos quibus usus erat, fraternaque bella. At Pater Omnipotens, fundatis fortius astris, Consuluit rerum summe, certoque peregit Pondere fazerum lances, atque ordine summo Singula perpetuum jussit servare tenorem. Volvitur hine lapsu mundi rota prima diurno; Raptat et ambitos socia vertigine cœlos. Tardior haud solito Saturnus, et acer ut olim Fulmineum rutilat cristata casside Mavors. Floridus æternum Phœbus juvenile coruscat, Nec fovet effetas loca per declivia terras Devexo temone deus; sed semper amica Luce potens, eadem currit per signa rotarum. Surgit odoratis pariter formosus ab Indis, Æthereum pecus albenti qui cogit Olympo, Mane vocans, et serus agens in pascua cœli; Temporis et gemino dispertit regna colore. Fulget, obitque vices alterno Delia cornu, Cæruleumque ignem paribus complectitur ulnis. Nec variant elementa fidem, solitoque fragore Lurida perculsas jaculantur fulmina rupes : Nec per inane furit leviori murmure Corus, Stringit et armiferos æquali horrore Gelonos Trux Aquilo, spiratque hyemem, nimbosque volutat. Utque solet, Siculi diverberat ima Pelori Rex maris, et rauca circumstrepit æquora concha Oceani tubicen, nec vasta mole minorem Ægæona ferunt dorso Balearica cete. Sed, neque, Terra, tibi sæcli vigor ille vetusti Priscus abest, servatque suum Narcissus odorem, Et puer ille suum tenet, et puer ille, decorem,
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Phœbe, tuusque, et, Cypri, tuus; nec ditior olim Terra datum sceleri celavit montibus aurum
Conscia, vel sub aquis gemmas. Sic denique in ævum
Ibit cunctarum series justissima rerum; Donec flamma orbem populabitur ultima, late
Circumplexa polos, et vasti culmina cœli;
Ingentique rogo flagrabit machina mundi.
DE IDEA PLATONICA QUEMADMODUM ARISTOTELES INTELLEXIT *.
DICITE, sacrorum præsides nemorum deæ; Tuque, O, noveni perbeata numinis Memoria mater, quæque in immenso procul Antro recumbis, otiosa Æternitas, Monumenta servans, et ratas leges Jovis, Cœlique fastos, atque ephemeridas deum; Quis ille primus, cujus ex imagine Natura solers finxit humanum genus, Æternus, incorruptus, æquævus polo, Unusque et universus, exemplar Dei? Haud ille Palladis gemellus innubæ a Interna proles insidet menti Jovis; Sed quamlibet natura sit communior, Tamen seorsus extat ad morem unius, Et, mira, certo stringitur spatio loci : Seu sempiternus ille siderum comes Cœli pererrat ordines decemplicis, Citimumve terris incolit lunæ globum: Sive, inter animas corpus adituras sedens, Obliviosas torpet ad Lethes aquas: Sive in remota forte terrarum plaga Incedit ingens hominis archetypus gigas, Et diis tremendus erigit celsum caput, Atlante major portitore siderum. Non, cui profundum cæcitas lumen dedit,
Dircæus augur vidit hunc alto sinu;
Hyacinth the favourite boy of Phœbus, Adonis of Venus: both, like Narcissus, converted into flowers. -T. WARTON.
This poem is replete with fanciful and ingenious allusions: it has also a vigour of expression, a dignity of sentiment, and elevation of thought, rarely found in very young writers.-T. WARTON.
* I find this poem inserted at full length, as a specimen of unintelligible mataphysics, in a scarce little book of universal burlesque, much in the manner of Tom Brown, seemingly published about the year 1715, and intitled "An Essay towards the Theory of the intelligible world intuitively considered."-T. WARTON.
• Haud ille Palladis gemellus innubæ, &c.
"This aboriginal man, the twin-brother of the virgin Pallas, does not remain in the brain of Jupiter where he was generated; but, although partaking of man's common nature, still exists somewhere by himself, in a state of singleness and abstraction, and in a determinate place. Whether among the stars," &c. -T. WARTON.
NUNO mea Pierios cupiam per pectora fontes Irriguas torquere vias, totumque per ora Volvere laxatum gemino de vertice rivum; Ut, tenues oblita sonos, audacibus alis Surgat in officiunı venerandi Musa parentis. Hoc utcunque tibi gratum, pater optime, carmen Exiguum meditatur opus; nec novimus ipsi Aptius a nobis quæ possint munera donis Respondere tuis, quamvis nec maxima possint Respondere tuis, nedum ut par gratia donis Esse queat, vacuis quæ redditur arida verbis. Sed tamen hæc nostros ostendit pagina census, Et quod habemus opum charta numeravimus ista, Quæ mihi sunt nullæ, nisi quas dedit aurea Clio, Quas mihi semoto somni peperere sub antro, Et nemoris laureta sacri Parnassides umbræ. Nec tu vatis opus divinum despice carmen,
d Non hunc sacerdos novit Assyrius. Sanchoniathon, the eldest of the profane historians.-T. WARTON. e Trino gloriosus nomine,
Hermes Trismegistus, an Egyptian philosopher, who lived soon after Moses, as Mr. Suidas says he was so
Warton observes: "Thrice-great Hermes,"- " Il Pens." v. 88. called, because he was a philosopher, a priest, and a king.-TODD.
1 At tu, perenne ruris Academi decus, &c.
"You, Plato, who expelled the poets from your republic, must now bid them return," &c. Plato and his followers communicated their notions by emblems, fables, symbols, parables, allegories, and a variety of mystical representations.-T. WARTON.
According to Aubrey's manuscript "Life of Milton," Milton's father, although a scrivener, was not apprenticed to that trade; he says he was bred a scholar, and of Christchurch Oxford, and that he took to trade in consequence of being disinherited: Milton was therefore writing to his father in a language which he understood. Aubrey adds, that he was very ingenious, and delighted in music, in which he instructed his son John: that he died about 1647, and was interred in Cripplegate-church, from his house in Barbican.
Quo nihil æthereos ortus, et semina cœli, Nil magis humanam commendat origine mentem, Sancta Promethëæ retinens vestigia flammæ. Carmen amant superi, tremebundaque Tartara carmen Ima ciere valet, divosque ligare profundos, Et triplici duro Manes adamante coercet. Carmine sepositi retegunt arcana futuri Phœbadesh, et tremulæ pallentes ora Sibyllæ : Carmina sacrificus sollennes pangit ad aras; Aurea seu sternit motantem cornua taurum; Seu cum fata sagax fumantibus abdita fibris Consulit, et tepidis Parcam scrutatur in extis. Nos etiam, patrium tunc cum repetemus Olympum, Æternæque moræ stabunt immobilis ævi, Ibimus auratis per cæli templa coronis; Dulcia suaviloquo sociantes carmina plectro, Astra quibus, geminique poli convexa, sonabunt. Spiritus et rapidos qui circinat igneus orbes, Nunc quoque sidereis intercinit ipse choreis Immortale melos, et inenarrabile carmen ; Torrida dum rutilus compescit sibila Serpens, Demissoque ferox gladio mansuescit Orion; Stellarum nec sentit onus Maurusius Atlas. Carmina regales epulas ornare solebant, Cum nondum luxus, vastæque immensa vorago Nota gulæ, et modico spumabat cœna Lyæo, Tum, de more sedens festa ad convivia vates, Æsculea intonsos redimitus ab arbore crines, Heroumque actus, imitandaque gesta canebat, Et chaos, et positi late fundamina mundi, Reptantesque deos, et alentes numina glandes, Et nondum Ætnæo quæsitum fulmen ab antro. Denique quid vocis modulamen inane juvabit, Verborum sensusque vacans, numerique loquacis ? Silvestres decet iste choros, non Orphea, cantus, Qui tenuit fluvios, et quercubus addidit aures, Carmine, non cithara; simulacraque functa canendo Compulit in lacrymas: habet has a carmine laudes. Nec tu perge, precor, sacras contemnere Musas, Nec vanas inopesque puta, quarum ipse peritus Munere, mille sonos numeros componis ad aptos; Millibus et vocem modulis variare canoram Doctus, Arionii merito sis nominis hæres. Nunc tibi quid mirum, si me genuisse poetam
The priestesses of Apollo's temple at Delphi, who always delivered their oracles in verse. -T. WARTON.
Such productions of true genius, with a natural and noble consciousness anticipating its own immortality, are seldom found to fail.-T. WARTON.
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