Munere veris adest, iterumque vigescit ab illo, (Quis putet) atque aliquod jam sibi poscit opus. Castalis ante oculos, bifidumque cacumen oberrat, Et mihi Pyrenen somnia nocte ferunt; Concitaque arcano fervent mihi pectora motu, Et furor, et sonitus me sacer intus agit. .. . If answerable skill I can obtain 9. Castalis, &c.] Buchanan, From my celestial patroness, who El. 1. 2. p. 31. ut supr. deigns Her nightly visitations, unimplor'd: Grataque Phæbeo Custalis unda And dictates to me slumbering, or choro. inspires He has “ the inspired Castalian Easy my unpremeditated verse. “ spring.” Par. L. iv. 273. . Again, to Urania, b. vii. 28. Buchanan was now in high Not alone, while thou repute as a modern Latin classic, Visit'st my slumbers nightly, or when He is thus characterised by a' morn learned and elegant writer of Purples the east. Milton's early days. “ Of Latin Again, he says that “ he visits “ poets of our times, in the “ nightly the subjects of sacred “ judgment of Beza and the “ poetry,” b. iii. 32. And adds, “ best learned, Buchanan is v. 37. “ esteemed the chiefe. His con. ceipt in poesie was most rich, Then feed on thoughts that voluntary "and his sweetness and facilitie move “ in a verse inimitably excellent, Harmonious numbers. « as appeareth by that masterIn the sixth Elegy, he hints that “ peece his Psalms; as farre he composed the Ode on the “ beyond those of B. Rhenanus, Nativity in the morning, v. 87. “ as the Stanzas of Petrarch the Dona quidem dedimus Christi natali. « Rimes of Skelton: but deservbus illa, « ing more applause if he had Illa sub auroram lux mihi prima “ faln upon another subject : for dedit. “ I say with J. C. Scaliger, IlloThat is, as above, “when morn “ rum piget qui Davidis Psalmos “ purples the east.” In a Letter “ suis calamistris inusios sperato Alexander Gill, he says that he translated the hundred and “ Tragedies are loftie, the style fourteenth Psalm into Greek he “ pure; his Epigrams not to be roics, “subito nescio quo impetu « mended, save here and there, “ ante Lucis exortum." Prose “ according to his genius, too Works, ïi. 567. See also below, “ broad and bitter." Peacham's v. 9. Compleat Gentleman, p. 91. ch. x. Of Poetry, edit. [2d.) 1634. Castalis ante oculos bifidumque ca 4to. Milton was now perhaps cumen oberrat, Et mihi Pyrenen somnia nocte fe too young to be captivated by Buchanan's political speculations. runt. 15 Delius ipse venit, video Peneïde lauro Implicitos crines, Delius ipse venit. Perque vagas nubes corpore liber eo ; Et mihi fana patent interiora Deum ; Intuiturque animus toto quid agatur Olympo, Nec fugiunt oculos Tartara cæca meos. Quid tam grande sonat distento spiritus ore? Quid parit hæc rabies, quid sacer iste furor? Ver mihi, quod dedit ingenium, cantabitur illo; Profuerint isto reddita dona modo. Jam, Philomela, tuos foliis adoperta novellis, 25 Instituis modulos, dum silet omne nemus : Urbe ego, tu sylva, simul incipiamus utrique, Et simul adventum veris uterque canat. Veris io rediere vices, celebremus honores Veris, et hoc subeat Musa perennis opus. Jam sol Æthiopas fugiens Tithoniaque arva, 13. Delius ipse venit, &c.] 30. --hoc subent Musa perennis Milton seems to have thought of opus.] Originally quotannis, edit. the beginning of Callimachus's 1645. Salmasius pretends to Hymn to Apollo. have observed several false quan25. Jam, Philomela, tuos foliis tities in our author's Latin adoperta novellis, poems. This was one, and perenInstituis modulos, dum silet nis appeared in the second omne nemus :) edition, 1673. See Salmas. ReThere is great elegance and spons. edit. Lond. 1660. p. 5. purity of expression in foliis Nicholas Heinsius, in an Epistle adoperta novellis. The whole to Holstenius, complains of these imagery was afterwards trans- false quantities: and, for eleferred into the first Sonnet, v. 1. gance, prefers our author's DeO Nightingale, that on yon bloomy fensio to his Latin poems. See spray Burman. Syllog. ii. 669. But Warblést at eve when all the woods Heinsius, like too many other are still. great critics, had no taste. Flectit ad Arctoas aurea lora plagas. Horrida cum tenebris exulat illa suis. Non longa sequitur fessus ut ante via ; Excubias agitant sidera rara polo : Neve Giganteum Dij timuere scelus. . 40 Forte aliquis scopuli recubans in vertice pastor,,, Roscida cum primo sole rubescit humus, Hac, ait, hac certe caruisti nocte puella, Phæbe, tua, celeres quæ retineret equos. Læta suas repetit sylvas, pharetramque resumit Cynthia, luciferas ut videt alta rotas; Officium fieri tam breve fratris ope. Quid juvat effoto procubuisse toro? . 50 Te manet Æolides viridi venator in herba, 32. Flectit ad Arctoas aurea 46. Cynthia, luciferas ut videt i. 549. Of Bacchus. iii. 180. Tigribus adjunctis aurca lora dabat. Roscida luciferos cum dea jungit equos. The expression is finely trans- Again, Epist. Heroid. xi. 46. ferred. 38. Excubias agitant sidera] Denaque luciferos luna movebat equos. Ode on Nativ. v. 21. See note on El. ii. 49. And all the spangled host keep watch 49. Desere, Phoebus ait, &c.] in squadrons bright. « Leave the bed of old Titho43. Hac, ait, hac certe caruisti “ nus.” Compare the whole connocte puella, text with Ovid, Amor. i. xiii. Phæbe, tua,] 37. And Epist. Heroid. iv. 98. Ovid, Art. Amator. ii. 249. 51. Te manet Æolides, &c.] Sæpe tua poteras. Leandre, carere Cephalus, with whom Aurora puella. fell in love as she saw him VOL. IV. Surge, tuos ignes altus Hymettus habet. Flava verecundo dea crimen in ore fatetur, Et matutinos, ocius urget equos. Et cupit amplexus, Phæbe, subire tuos ; Pandit ut omniferos luxuriosa sinus, Mitia cum Paphiis fundit amoma rosis ! Cingit ut Idæam pinea turris Opim ; Et vario madidos intexit flore capillos, Floribus et visa est posse placere suis. Floribus effusos ut erat redimita capillos, Tænario placuit diva Sicana Deo. hunting on mount Hymettus. have known the full extent of Ovid, Metam. vii. 701. He is the Latin tongue. called, Æolides Cephalus, ibid. 58. Pandit ut omniferos luxuvi. 681. and Æolides simply, ibid. riosa sinus,] See Par. L. b. v. vii. 672. Hence El. ii. 67. 338. Flebam turbatos Cephaleia pellice Whatever Earth all-bearing mother somnos. yields. 53. Flava verecundo dea crimen Milton here thought of Ovid's in ore fatetur,] Ovid, Metam. i. Tellus, who makes a speech, 484. and who lifts her“ omniferos Pulchra verecundo suffunditur ora vultus." Metam. ii. 275. rubore. 62. The head of his person57. -et digna est.] That is, ified Earth crowned with a sapulchra. So above, El. i. 53. cred wood, resembles Ops, or Ah! quoties dignæ stupui miracula Cybele, crowned with towers. formæ! But in pinea turris, he seems to Cicero, de Invent. 1. ii. i. have confounded her crown of “ Ei pueros ostenderunt multos towers with the pines of Ida. “ magna præditos dignitate." Tibullus calls her Idea Ops. El. And afterwards, from the beauty i. iv. 68. of these boys, the dignitas of 66. Tænario placuit, &c.] See their sisters is estimated. Mil- Parad. Lost, b. iv. 268. “ Where ton, at these early years, seems“ Proserpine, &c." And Ovid, to have been nicely skilled in Metam. b. v. 391. the force of Latin words, and to There are touches of the great Aspice, Phæbe, tibi faciles hortantur amores, Mellitasque movent flamina verna preces : Cinnamea Zephyrus leve plaudit odorifer ala, Blanditiasque tibi ferre videntur aves. 70 Nec sine dote tuos temeraria quærit amores Terra, nec optatos poscit egena toros; Alma salutiferum medicos tibi gramen in usus Præbet, et hinc titulos adjuvat ipsa tuos : Quod si te pretium, si te fulgentia tangunt 75 Munera, (muneribus sæpe coemptus amor) Illa tibi ostentat quascunque sub æquore vasto, Et superinjectis montibus abdit opes. In vespertinas præcipitaris aquas, Hesperiis recipit cærula mater aquis ? Dia quid immundo perluis ora salo? Frigora, Phæbe, mea melius captabis in umbra,85 Huc ades, ardentes imbue rore comas. Mollior egelida veniet tibi somnus in herba, Huc ades, et gremio lumina pone meo. Quaque jaces, circum mulcebit lene susurrans poetry in this description or per sonification of Earth. 69. Cinnamea Zephyrus leve plaudit odorifer ala,] See El. iii. 47. Serpit odoriferas per opes levis aura Favoni. Gentle airs their wings spicy shrub. Tritonide pinu mea ? And Comus, v. 989. And west winds with muskie wing About the cedarn allies fling, &c. And Par. Lost, b. viii. 515. |