Seu ferus e tenebris iterat Styga criminis ultor, Conscia funereo pectora torre movens ; Sed neque sub tecto semper nec in urbe latemus, Nos quoque the first instance, Romeo was not torn from joys untasted: although puer and abrupto umore are much in point. The allusions are loose, or resulting from memory, or not intended to tally minutely. 44. Conscia funereo pectora torre movens ;] Mr. Steevens suggests, that the allusion is to Ate in the old play of Locrine, where she enters with a torch in her hand, and where the motto to the Scene is, In pœna sectatur et umbra. 48. Irrita nec nobis tempora veris eunt.] Ovid, Fast. ii. 150. -Primi tempora veris eunt. 49. Nos quoque lucus habet vicina consitus ulmo,] The gods had their favourite trees. So Some time walking not unseen In Arcades, v. 89. By branching elm, star-proof. In Comus, v. 354. Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some Leans her unpillow'd head. 15. -Simul assueta seditque sub ulmo. Ibid. v. 49. -Desuper intonat ulmo. 45 50 The country about Colnebrook impressed Milton with a predilection for this tree. See the next note. 50. Atque suburbani nobilis umbra loci.] Some country house of Milton's father very near London is here intended, of which we have now no notices. A letter to Alexander Gill is dated "E nostro Suburbano "Decem. 4, 1634." Prose Works, vol. ii. 567. In the Apology for Smectymnuus, published 1642, he says to his opponent, "that "suburb wherein I dwell shall 66 Sæpius hic, blandas spirantia sidera flammas, Atque faces, quotquot volvit uterque polus ; Et 569. In an academic Prolusion, written perhaps not far from the time of writing this Elegy, is the following passage, "Testor ipse "lucos, et flumina, et dilectas "villarum ulmos, sub quibus "æstale proximè præterita, si "deorum arcana eloqui liceat, summam cum Musis gratiam "habuisse me, jucunda memoria "recolo, &c." Prose Works, vol. 66 ii. 602. 55. Ah quoties vidi, &c.] Ovid, Epist. Heroid. ix. 79. Ah quoties digitis, &c. Propertius, 55 60 65 Buchanan, El. vi. p. 43. edit. ut Amator. i. 713. supr. -Superantia lumine flammas. 58. Quæque fluit puro nectare tincta via;] Here is a peculiar antique formula, as in the following instances. Virgil, Æn. i. 573. Urbem quam statuo vestra est. Jupiter ad veteres supplex Heroïdas Corripuit magnum nulla puella 65. Cedite Achæmeniæ turrita fronte puellæ,] Achæmenia is a part of Persia, so called from Achæmenes the son of Egeus. Et quot Susa colunt, Memnoniamque Ninon ; The women of this country wear 66. Et quot Susa colunt, Memnoniamque Ninon ;] Susa [Susarum], anciently a capital city of Susiana in Persia, conquered by Cyrus. Xerxes marched from this city, to enslave Greece, "From Susa, his Memnonian "palace high." Par. L. x. 308. It is now called Souster. Propert. ii. xiii. i. Non tot Achæmeniis armantur Susa sagittis. Ninos is a city of Assyria, built by Ninus: Memnon, a hero of the Iliad, had a palace there, and was the builder of Susa. Milton is alluding to oriental beauty. In the next couplet, he challenges the ladies of ancient Greece, Troy, and Rome. 69. Nec Pompeianas Tarpeïa Musa, &c.] The poet has a retrospect to a long passage in Ovid, who is here called Tarpeia Musa, either because he had a house adjoining to the Capitol, or by way of distinction, that he was the Tarpeian, the genuine Roman muse. It is in Ovid's Art of Love, where he directs his votary Venus to frequent the portico of Pompey, or the Theatre, places at Rome, among B. i. others, where the most beautiful Tu modo Pompeii lentus spatiare sub And v. 89. Sed tu præcipue curvis venare theatris, &c. See also, b. iii. 387. Propertius says that Cynthia had deserted this famous portico, or colonnade, of Pompey, ii. xxxii. 11. Scilicet umbrosis sordet Pompeia columnis Porticus, aulæis nobilis Attalicis, Where says the old scholiast, The words Ausoniis stolis imply literally the theatre filled" with "the ladies of Rome." But Stola properly points out a matron. See Note on Il Pens. v. 35. And Ovid, Epist. ex Pont. iii. iii. 52. Scripsimus hæc istis, quarum nec Contingit crines, nec stola longa Turrigerum late conspicienda caput, Endymioneæ turba ministra deæ, Monia quam subito linquere fausta paro; Stat quoque juncosas Cami remeare paludes, 74. Turrigerum late conspicienda caput,] So in L'All. v. 117. Toro' red cities please us then. 88. See notes on Comus, v. 636. 89.-juncosas Cami remeare paludes,] The epithet juncosas is picturesque and appropriated,. and exactly describes this river: hence in Lycidas, "his bonnet sedge," v. 104. Dr. J. Warton. And above, v. 11. Jam nec arundiferum mihi cura revisere Camum. But there is a contempt in describing Cambridge, and its river, by the expression the 75 80 85 90 rushy marshes of Cam. See v. 13, 14. And notes on Lycid. v. 105. 92. The Roxana of Alabaster has been mentioned by Dr. Johnson as a Latin composition, equal to the Latin poetry of Milton: whoever but slightly examines it, will find it written in the style and manner of the turgid and unnatural Seneca. It was printed by the author himself at London, 1632. Yet it was written forty years before, 1592, and there had been a surreptitious edition. It is remarkable, that Mors, Death, is one of the persons of the Drama. Dr. J. Warton. ELEG. II. Anno Etatis 17. In obitum Præconis Academici Cantabrigiensis.† I must add, that among the *The learned Lord Monboddo pronounces this Elegy to be equal to any thing of the elegiac kind, to be found in "Ovid, or even in Tibullus." Ubi supr. b. iv. ii. vol. iii. p. 69. p. + The person here commemorated is Richard Ridding, one of the University-Beadles, and a Master of Arts of Saint John's College, Cambridge. 2. It was a custom at Cambridge, lately disused, for one of the Beadles to make proclamation of Convocations in every College. This is still in use at Oxford. See Ode on Goslyn, v. 33. 2. Superseded by printed notices in Oxford within the last thirty years. E. 5 10 5. Candidiora licet, &c] Ovid, Trist. iv. viii. 1. Jam mea cygneas imitantur tempora plumas. 6. Sub quibus accipimus delituisse Jovem ;] Ovid, Epist. Heroid. viii. 68. Non ego fluminei referam mendacia Nec querar in plumis delituisse 7.-Hæmonio juvenescere succo, 10. Arte Coronides, sæpe rogante dea.] Coronides is Æsculapius, the son of Apollo by Coronis. See Ovid, Metam. xv. 624. But the particular allusion is here to Esculapius restoring Hippolytus to life, at the request of Diana. Fast. vi. 745. seq. Where he is called Coronides. The name also occurs in Ovid's Ibis, v. 407. |