'Quid tibi vis?' aiunt; 'non hæc solet esse juventæ Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. Nil me blanditiæ, nil me solantia verba, Nil me si quid adest movet, aut spes ulla futuri. 85 90 Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. as 'Quid me fiet' would be an ordinary phrase, as well as 'de me' or 'mihi.' 83 nubila frons] Cf. Hor. Ep. I. xviii. 94 'Deme supercilio nubem.' 86 bis] is certainly short, appears from Ov. Met. xiv. 386, 'Tum bis ad Occasum, bis se convertit ad Ortum,' and from its compounds, as 'bifidus,' 'bimaris,' &c. For the sentiment, Langhorne compares Guarini, Pastor Fido, Act i. Sc. 1: 'Che se t'assale a la canuta etate Amoroso talento, 95 ever from the lines appended to the 7th Elegy, that the charms of the other sex had no great attractions for Milton. (See note on Lycidas, 68, 69.) 89] From Hor. Od. III. ix. 9, 'Dulces docta modos et citharæ sciens.' 90 Idumanii fluenti] the Chelmer, in Essex. Drayton, Polyolbion, 19th Song, 95 foll. 95 secum sibi] perhaps an unnecessary pleonasm (as in 7. 53), but scarcely indistinct,' as Keightley objects. 97 thoes] probably jackals,' Pliny, N. H. viii. 34. Odes, Hom. Il. xiii. 103. 98 onagri] Virg. G. iii. 409. Keightley observes that the onager is not "hirsutus. 99] For the story of Proteus and the sea-calves, see Hom. Od. iv. 402 foll.; Virg. G. iv. 432 foll. Agmina Phocarum numerat, vilisque volucrum Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. 105 socio] can properly only apply to the bird when actually mated; yet this sense would be inconsistent with 'petit,' which describes the object of its flight. 106] Cf. Virg. G. i. 63, 'homines , . . durum genus.' exercita fatis] Virg. Æn. v. 725, 'Iliacis exercite fatis.' So 'exercita curis, ib. 779. 107] By substituting a comma for the semicolon after discors,' the sentence 'nos, &c.' becomes an anacoluthon, continued by 'quisque invenit.' 108 parem unum] 'one kindred mind' (Cowper). 114] According to Milton's own account of his travels (Defensio Secunda pro Pop. Angl.) he did not go into Italy over the Alps, but from Paris into Provence, and thence by ship from Nice to Genoa. 115] Taken (as Warton remarks) from Virg. E. i. 27, 'Et quæ tanta fuit Romam tibi caussa videndi?' The direct reference to that passage in the next line makes this certain ; otherwise the present line is not so closely imitated from Virgil as to warrant Prof. Masson's assertion that it is all but a quotation.' The sense is, Was it so well worth my while to visit Rome in ruins, even if it had been now as great as it was in the days of old?' 116 dum viseret] in his desire to visit,' lit. 'so long as he might visit;' dum dummodo. Cf. Virg. G. iv. 457, 'dum fugeret ;' Æn. i. 5, 'dum conderet urbem.' = 118 sodale] usually sodali,' be Possem tot maria alta tot interponere montes, Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. 120 125 Hic Charis, atque Lepos; et Tuscus tu quoque Damon, O ego quantus eram, gelidi cum stratus ad Arni cause originally an adjective. The 119] Warton compares Eleg. iv. 21 (to Diodati) — 130 as partitive genitives, e.g. uterque nostrum, &c. ; but miserere nostri, &c.' He notes however that vestrum does occur without any partitive meaning, e.g. frequentia vestrum incredibilis,' "Cic. in Rull. ii. 21; but these are exceptional cases.' 66 126] See note on l. 13. 127 Tuscus] See on Diodati's family in the Introduction to Lycidas. 128] Lucca was said to have been founded by Lucumon, an Etruscan king. During his second visit to Florence, Milton visited the place, no doubt on account of its connexion with Diodati (Masson, Life of Milton, vol. i. p. 771). 132 certantem] i. e. at the 'private academies' referred to on 7. 13. 'Lycidas' and 'Menalcas' are of course pastoral names for members of these societies; not unknown,' as Keightley asserts, for Milton, in the sketch of his own life quoted above, enumerates Gaddi, Frescobaldi, Coltellini, Buonmattei, and Chimentelli, besides Dati and Francini, who are mentioned below Ipse etiam tentare ausus sum; nec, puto, multum 135 Et studiis noti, Lydorum sanguinis ambo. Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. Hæc mihi tum læto dictabat roscida luna, 140 6 Ah quoties dixi, cum te cinis ater habebat, Nunc canit aut lepori nunc tendit retia Damon, Vimina nunc texit, varios sibi quod sit in usus ! Arripui voto levis et præsentia finxi; Heus bone! numquid agis? nisi te quid forte retardat, (1. 137). Professor Masson (vol. i. 135 cerea vincla cicuta] = 'cicuta cereis vinculis compacta,' Virg. E. ii. 32, 36. 136 docuerunt, &c.] Cf. Virg. E. i. 5. 138] For the tradition about the Lydian origin of the Etruscans, see Herod. i. 94: Τυρσηνὸν. . . ἀποπλέειν κατὰ βίου τε καὶ γῆς ζήτησιν, ἐς ὃ ἀπικέσθαι ἐς Ομβρικοὺς, ἔνθα ἐνιδρύ σаobaι τoxías. Virg. Æn. viii. 479, ubi Lydia quondam Gens bello præclara jugis insedit Etruscis.' Warton refers to Hor. Sat. I. vi. I. 140 hæc] i.e. the thoughts ex pressed in l. 143 foll. 145 roscida luna] Virg. G. iii. 337. Warton compares Lycidas, 29, and for 'cratibus' the 'wattled cotes in Comus, 345, and Hor. Epod. ii. 45, claudensque textis cratibus lætum pecus.' 142 cinis ater] a confusion between the mould of the grave and the ashes of the dead; for which, however, Milton has the authority of Virgil, Æn. iv. 633. 144] Virg. E. ii. 71: 'Quin tu aliquid saltem potius quorum indiget usus Viminibus mollique paras detexere junco.' Possibly 'paras' in this passage may have induced Milton to write imus' and ' recubamus' (7. 148) where we should expect 'eamus' and 'recubemus,' or else the future; since it is doubtful whether the pres. ind. can be so used without the 'quin.' As, how 'Aut ad aquas Colni aut ubi jugera Cassibelauni? 'Tu mihi percurres medicos, tua gramina, succos, Helleborumque humilesque crocos foliumque hyacinthi, 'Quasque habet ista palus herbas artesque medentum.' Ah pereant herbæ, pereant artesque medentum Gramina, postquam ipsi nil profecere magistro ! Ipse etiam, nam nescio quid mihi grande sonabat Fistula, ab undecima jam lux est altera nocte, ever, ire (like iéva) has in itself the sense of the future, 'imus' might be allowed to stand, and the actual form of its tense may have influenced that of the other verb. 149] The river Colne flows by Horton (see on 7. 3). 'Jugera Cassibelauni' are the district of St. Albans, the dominions of the British king Cassibelaun. Cf. Cæsar, B. G. v. II, 'Cassivellauno, cujus fines a maritimis civitatibus flumen dividit quod appellatur Tamesis.' 150 foll.] in allusion to Diodati's practice of medicine (see Introduction to Lycidas). He is the 'shepherd-lad' in Comus, 619, 'well skilled In every virtuous plant and healing herb.' There is a characteristic passage bearing upon this subject in Milton's letter to Diodati dated Sept. 23, 1637: 'You wish me good health six hundred times, which is as much as I can desire, or even more. Surely you must lately have been appointed the very steward of Health's larder (salutis condum promum), so lavishly do you dispense all her stores, or at least Health should now certainly be your parasite, since you so lord it over her (pro rege te geris), and command her to attend your bidding.' 153] Todd quotes the words of Phoebus to Daphne, Ovid, Met. i. 524, nec prosunt domino quæ prosunt omnibus artes.' 155-178] For a detailed examina 150 155 tion of this interesting passage consult Masson, vol. ii. pp. 93–97. The two main points to be noticed are: (1) That Milton was already (in 1639) forming a plan of writing a British epic, which should extend from the legendary times of the Trojan Brutus to the reign of King Arthur; (2) That he had determined henceforth to write no more in Latin, but in English, so as to be read by all his countrymen from the Thames to the Humber, and from Cornwall to the Orkneys. This idea had occurred to him even while in Italy, and was fostered, if not first suggested, by the compliments of his Florentine friends upon his former productions;-'that by labour and intent study, joined with the strong propensity of nature, I might perhaps leave something so written to aftertimes, as they should not willingly let it die' (Reason of Church Government, B. ii.). He soon afterwards abandoned the project in favour of a poem on a Scriptural subject, which ultimately took the form of the Paradise Lost, the materials he had collected for the British Epic being employed in his History of Britain, about 1649 or 1650. 155 grande, &c.] Cf. the strain of higher mood,' Lycidas, 87. 156] From Virg. E. viii. 39, 'alter ab undecimo tum jam me acceperat annus;' where Conington |