A 55 60 Hæc tibi, si teneris vacat inter prælia Musis, Mittit ab Angliaco littore fida manus. Fiat et hoc ipso gratior illa tibi. Icaris a lento Penelopeia viro. Ipse quod ex omni parte levare nequit ? Et pudet officium deseruisse suum. Crimina diminui, quæ patuere, solent. Vulnifico pronos nec rapit ungue leo. Sæpe sarissiferi crudelia pectora Thracis Supplicis ad mæstas delicuere preces : Extensæque manus avertunt fulminis ictus, Placat et iratos hostia parva Deos. Neve moras ultra ducere passus Amor; In tibị finitimis bella tumere locis, Et jam Saxonicos arma parasse duces. 65 70 55. The allusion is to a well- 1626, when this Elegy was writknown Epistle of Ovid. ten, the imperialists under Ge61. Tu modo da venium fasso,] neral Tilly, were often encoun. Ovid, Epist. ex Pont. iv. ii. 23. tered by Christian, Duke of “Tu modo da veniam fasso." Brunswick, and the Dukes of The same combination occurs in Saxony, particularly Duke WilOvid repeatedly liam of Saxon Wiemar, and the 65. Ovid, Metam. xii. 466. Duke of Saxon Lawenburgh, in “ Macedoniaque sarissa.' Lower Saxony, of which Ham 74. Et jam Saxonicos urma pa- burgh, where Young resided, is russe duces.] About the year the capital. See v. 77. Germany, 80 Te circum late campos populatur Enyo, 75 Et sata carne virum jam cruor arva rigat; Germanisque suum concessit Thracia Martem, Illuc Odrysios Mars pater egit equos ; Perpetuoque comans jam deflorescit oliva, Fugit et ærisonam Diva perosa tubam, Fugit io terris, et jam non ultima virgo Creditur ad superas justa volasse domos. Vivis et ignoto solus inopsque solo ; 85 Sede peregrina quæris egenus opem. Patria dura parens, et saxis sævior albis Spumea quæ pulsat littoris unda tui, Siccine te decet innocuos exponere foetus, Siccine in externam ferrea cogis humum, 90 Et sinis ut terris quærant alimenta remotis Quos tibi prospiciens miserat ipse Deus, in general, either by invasion, or war in the Netherlands, not long interior commotions, was a scene after this Elegy was written. of the most bloody war from the See v. 71. seq. and the first note. year 1618, till later than 1640. 86. Sede peregrina quæris egeGustavus Adolphus conquered nus opem.] Before and after 1630, the greater part of Germany many English ministers, puriabout 1631. See note on E). iii. tanically affected, left their cures, and settled in Holland, where 84. Vivis et ignoto solus inops- they became pastors of separate que solo ;] Ovid, of Achæmenides, congregations: when matters Metam. xiv. 217. took another turn in England, Solus, inops, exspes. they returned, and were warded for their unconforming These circumstances, added to obstinacy, in the new presbyotbers, leave us strongly to sus- terian establishment. Among pect, that Young was a non- these were Nye, Burroughs, conformist, and probably com- Thomas Goodwin, Simpson, and pelled to quit England on account Bridge, eminent members of the of his religious opinions and prac- Assembly of Divines. See Wood, tice. He seems to have been Ath. Oxon. ï. 504. Neale's Hist. driven back to England, by the Pur. iii. 376. supr. v. 9. re. 95 Et qui læta ferunt de cælo nuntia, quique Quæ via post cineres ducat ad astra, docent? Digna quidem Stygiis quæ vivas clausa tenebris, Æternaque animæ digna perire fame! Haud aliter vates terræ Thesbitidis olim Pressit inassueto devia tesqua pede, Desertasque Arabum salebras, dum regis Achabi Effugit, atque tuas, Sidoni dira, manus : 100 100.--Sidoni dira,] Jezebel, the " and chariots rushing to battle, wife of Ahab, was the daughter 6 and the distant hum of clashof Ethbaal king of the Sidonians. ing arms and groaning men, Sidoni is a vocative, from Sidonis, terrified their numerous army." often applied by Ovid to Europa Terruit et densas pavido cum rege the daughter of Agenor king of cohortes, &c. Sidon or Syria. Fast. b. v. 610. See 2 Kings vii. 5. “For the Sidoni, sic fueras accipienda Jovi. “ Lord had made the host of Some of these scriptural al- " the Syrians to hear a noise of lusions are highly poetical, and “ chariots and a noise of horses, much in Milton's manner. His even the noise of a great host, friend, who bears a sacred cha- “ &c.” Sionæa arx is the city racter, forced abroad for his piety of Samaria, now besieged by the and religious constancy by the Syrians, and where the king of persecutions of a tyrannic tri. Israel now resided. It was the bunal, and distressed by war and capital of Samaria. Prisca Dawant in a foreign country, is mascus was the capital of Syria. compared to Elijah the Tishbite Pavido cum rege is Benhadad, the wandering alone over the Ara- king of Syria. In the sequel of bian deserts, to avoid the menaces the narrative of this wonderful of Ahab, and the violence of Je- consternation and flight of the zebel. See 1 Kings xix. 3. Syrians, the solitude of their vast seq. He then selects a most deserted camp affords a most afstriking miracle, under which fecting image, even without any the power of the Deity is dis- poetical enlargement. “We came played in Scripture as a protec- " to the camp of the Syrians, tion in battle, with reference to " and behold there was no man his friend's situation, from the there, neither voice of man; surrounding dangers of war. “but horses tied, and asses tied, “You are safe under the radiant “ and the tents as they were.' “shield of him, who in the dead Ibid. vii. 10. This is like a scene “of night suddenly dispersed the of inchantment in romance. Assyrians, while the sound of 100. Mr. Warton properly re an unseen trumpet was clearly fers to 2 Kings vii. for the mira“heard in the empty air, and cle alluded to in ver. 115–122. “the noises of invisible horses But Milton had another miracle 105 110 Talis et horrisono laceratus membra flagello, Paulus ab Æmathia pellitur urbe Cilix, Finibus ingratus jussit abire suis. Nec tua concutiat decolor ossa metus. Intententque tibi millia tela necem, Deque tuo cuspis nulla cruore bibet. Ille tibi custos, et pugil ille tibi; Assyrios fudit nocte silente viros; Misit ab antiquis prisca Damascus agris, Aere dum vacuo buccina clara sonat, Currus arenosam dum quatit actus humum, Et strepitus ferri, murmuraque alta virum. Et tua magnanimo pectore vince mala ; 115 120 also in view, v. 113. the deliver- ping and imprisonment were ance of Jerusalem, Sionæa arx, among the punishments of the arfrom Sennacherib, king of As- bitrary Star-chamber, the threats syria; see 2 Kings xix. 35. Regis Achabi, which Young fled " that night, the angel of the to avoid. " Lord went out and smote in 109. At nullis vel inerme latus, “the camp of the Assyrians, an &c.] See the same philosophy “ hundred fourscore and five in Comus, v. 421. " thousand.” E. 123. Et tu (quod superest, &c.] 101. Talis et horrisono lacera- For many obvious reasons, at is tus membra flagello, &c.] Whip- likely to be the true reading. 123 Nec dubites quandoque frui melioribus annis, Atque iterum patrios posse videre lares. ELEG. V. Anno Ætatis 20.* In adventum veris. Jam revocat Zephyros vere tepente novos ; Jamque soluta gelu dulce virescit humus. Fallor? an et nobis redeunt in carmina vires, 5 Ingeniumque mihi munere veris adest? 125. This wish, as we have Fallor? An arma sonant ? non falli: seen, came to pass. He returned: mur, arma sonabant. and when at length his party be- See also Buchanan's Epithalacame superior, he was rewarded mium, Silv, iv, p. 52. edit. ut with appointments of opulence supr. and honour. Fallimur ? an nitidæ, &c. And Comus, v. 221. * In point of poetry, senti- Was I deceiv'd? &c. ment, selection of imagery, facility of versification, and Latin- veris adest ?] See v. 23. 6. Ingeniumque mihi munere There ity, this Elegy, written by a boy, is a notion that Milton could is far superior to one of Bu. write verses only in the spring chanan's on the same subject, entitled Maiæ Calendæ. See his or summer, which perhaps is countenanced by these passages. El. ii. p. 33. Opp. edit. 1715. But what poetical mind does not 1. In se perpetuo Tempus revolubile gyro] Buchanan, De Sphæ- at the return of the spring, at feel an expansion or invigoration ra, p. 133. ibid. that renovation of the face of In se præcipiti semper revolubilis nature with which every mind is orbe. in some degree affected? In one 5. Falior? an et, &c.] So in of the Letters to Deodate he says, the Epigram, Prodit. Bombard. “ such is the impetuosity of my v. 3. temper, that no delay, no rest, Fallor? An et mitis, &c. no care or thought of any thing “ else can stop me, till I come to Again, El. vii. 56. my journey's end, and put a Fallor? An et radios hinc quoque period to my present study Phæbus habet? Prose Works, ii. 567. In the This formulary is not uncommon Paradise Lost, he speaks of his in Ovid. As thus, Fast. b. v. aptitude for composition in the 549. night, b. ix. 20. |