824-32.
17 The Dee was considered divine since its fluctuations predicted success or failure to the early Britons.
18 Spenser tells the story of Humber, a Scythian king driven into the river where he drowned (FQ, II, x, 14-16; IV, xi, 38).
Elegia quinta
IN ADVENTUM VERIS
In se perpetuo Tempus revolubile gyro
Jam revocat Zephyros vere tepente novos.
Induiturque brevem Tellus reparata juventam,
Jamque soluta gelu dulce virescit humus,
5
5 Fallor? an et nobis redeunt in carmina vires,
Ingeniumque mihi munere veris adest?
Munere veris adest, iterumque vigescit ab illo
(Quis putet?) atque aliquod jam sibi poscit opus.
Castalis1 ante oculos, bifidumque cacumen oberrat,
10
10 Et mihi Pyrenen2 somnia nocte ferunt.
Concitaque arcano fervent mihi pectora motu,
Et furor, et sonitus me sacer intùs agit.
Delius ipse venit, video Penëide lauro
Implicitos crines, Delius ipse venit.3
15
15 Jam mihi mens liquidi raptatur in ardua cœli,
Perque vagas nubes corpore liber eo.
Perque umbras, perque antra feror pentralia vatum,
Et mihi fana patent interiora Deûm.
Intuiturque animus toto quid agatur Olympo,
20
20 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.
25
25 Jam, Philomela,4 tuos foliis adoperta novellis
Instituis modulos, dum silet omne nemus.
Urbe ego, tu sylvâ simul incipiamus utrique,
Et simul adventum veris uterque canat.
Veris io rediere vices, celebremus honores
30
30 Veris, et hoc subeat Musa perennis opus.
Jam sol Æthiopas fugiens Tithoniaque arva,
Flectit ad Arctöas aurea lora plagas.5
Est breve noctis iter, brevis est mora noctis opacæ,
Horrida cum tenebris exulat illa suis.
35
35 Jamque Lycaonius plaustrum cæleste Boötes6
Non longâ sequitur fessus ut ante viâ,
Nunc etiam solitas circum Jovis atria toto
Excubias agitant sydera rara polo.
Nam dolus, et cædes, et vis cum nocte recessit,
40
40 Neve Giganteum7 Dii timuere scelus.
Forte aliquis scopuli recubans in vertice pastor,
Roscida cum primo sole rubescit humus,
Hac, ait, hac certè caruisti nocte puellâ,
Phœbe, tuâ, celeres quæ retineret equos.
45
45 Læta suas repetit sylvas, pharetramque resumit
Cynthia,8 Luciferas ut videt alta rotas,
Et tenues ponens radios gaudere viderur
Officium fieri tam breve fratris ope.
Desere, Phœbus ait, thalamos, Aurora, seniles,
50
50 Quid juvat effœto procubuisse toro?9
Te manet Æolides10 viridi venator in herba,
Surge, tuos ignes altus Hymettus11 habet.
Flava verecundo dea crimen in ore fatetur,
Et matutinos ocyus urget equos.
55
55 Exuit invisam Tellus rediviva senectam,
Et cupit amplexus, Phœbe, subire tuos;
Et cupit, et digna est, quid enim formosius illâ,
Pandit ut omniferos luxuriosa sinus,
Atque Arabum spirat messes, et ab ore venusto
60
60 Mitia cum Paphiis fundit amoma rosis?
Ecce coronatur sacro frons ardua luco,
Cingit ut Idæam pinea turris Opim;12
Et vario madidos intexit flore capillos,
Floribus et visa est posse placere suis.
65
65 Floribus effusos ut erat redimita capillos
Tænario placuit diva Sicana Deo.13
Aspice, Phœbe, tibi faciles hortantur amores,
Mellitasque movent flamina verna preces.
Cinnameâ Zephyrus leve plaudit odorifer alâ,
70
70 Blanditiasque tibi ferre videntur aves.
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.14
75
75 Quòd si te pretium, si te fulgentia tangunt
Munera (muneribus sæpe coemptus Amor),
Illa tibi ostentat quascunque sub æquore vasto,
Et superinjectis montibus abdit opes.
Ah quoties cum tu clivoso fessus Olympo
80
80 In vespertinas præcipitaris aquas,
Cur te, inquit, cursu languentam, Phœbe, diurno
Hesperiis recipit cærula mater aquis?
Quid tibi cum Tethy?15 Quid cum Tartesside lymphâ?
Dia quid immundo perluis ora salo?
85
85 Frigora, Phœbe, meâ melius captabis in umbrâ,
Huc ades, ardentes imbue rore comas.
Mollior egelidâ veniet tibi somnus in herbâ,
Huc ades, et gremio lumina pone meo.
Quáque jaces circum mulcebit lene susurrans
90
90 Aura per humentes corpora fusa rosas.
Nec me (crede mihi) terrent Semelëia16 fata,
Nec Phäetontéo fumidus axis equo;
Cum tu, Phœbe, tuo sapientius uteris igni,
Huc ades et gremio lumina pone meo.
95
95 Sic Tellus lasciva suos suspirat amores;
Matris in exemplum cætera turba ruunt.
Nunc etenim toto currit vagus orbe Cupido,
Languentesque fovet solis ab igne faces.
Insonuere novis lethalia cornua nervis,
100
100 Triste micant ferro tela corusca novo.
Jamque vel invictam tentat superasse Dianam,
Quæque sedet sacro Vesta pudica foco.
Ipsa senescentem reparat Venus annua formam,
Atque iterum tepido creditur orta mari.
105
105 Marmoreas juvenes clamant Hymenæe per urbes,
Littus io Hymen, et cava saxa sonant.
Cultior ille venit tunicâque decentior aptâ,
Puniceum redolet vestis odor a crocum.
Egrediturque frequens ad amœni gaudia veris
110
110 Virgineos auro cincta puella sinus.
Votum est cuique suum, votum est tamen omnibus unum,
Ut sibi quem cupiat, det Cytherea virum.
Nunc quoque septenâ modulatur arundine pastor,
Et sua quæ jungat carmina Phyllis habet.
115
115 Navita nocturno placat sua sydera cantu,
Delphinasque leves ad vada summa vocat.17
Jupiter ipse alto cum conjuge ludit Olympo,
Convocat et famulos ad sua festa Deos.
Nunc etiam Satyri cum sera crepuscula surgunt,
120
120 Pervolitant celeri florea rura choro,
Sylvanusque suâ Cyparissi fronde revinctus,
Semicaperque Deus, semideusque caper.
Quæque sub arboribus Dryades latuere vetustis
Per juga, per solos expatiantur agros.
125
125 Per sata luxuriat fruticetaque Mænalius Pan,
Vix Cybele mater, vix sibi tuta Ceres,
Atque aliquam cupidus prædatur Oreada Faunus,
Consulit in trepidos dum sibi Nympha pedes,
Jamque latet, latitansque cupit male tecta videri,
130
130 Et fugit, et fugiens pervelit ipsa capi.
Dii quoque non dubitant cælo præponere sylvas,
Et sua quisque sibi numina lucus habet.
Et sua quisque diu sibi numina lucus habeto,
Nec vos arboreâ, dii, precor ite domo.
135
135 Te referant miseris te, Jupiter, aurea terris
Sæcla, quid ad nimbos aspera tela redis?
Tu saltern lentè rapidos age, Phœbe, jugales
Quà potes, et sensim tempora veris eant.
Brumaque productas tardè ferat hispida noctes,
140
140 Ingruat et nostro serior umbra polo.
Elegy 5
ON THE COMING OF SPRING
In his perpetual cycle Time, rolling back, / now recalls fresh zephyrs, with warming spring. / And the restored earth is covered with brief youth / and now the ground, free from frost, is becoming delightfully green. / Am I mistaken? or are powers returning to my songs, [5] / and is inspiration present in me by the favor of spring? / It is present by the favor of spring, and again begins to flourish from it / (who may suspect?) and even now demands some work for itself. / The cleft Castalian peak1 hovers before my eyes / and dreams transport Pyrene2 to me in the night. [10] / And my excited breast enflames me with its strange emotion, / and I am made delirious, and a divine sound agitates me from within. / Apollo himself appears—I see his locks entwined / with Daphne’s laurel—Apollo himself is descended.3 / Now my mind is snatched from me into the heights of the liquid sky, [15] / and through the wandering clouds I fly, free from my body. / And through shadows and through caves, the sanctuaries of the poets, / I am borne, and to me the secret temples of the gods are accessible. / My spirit observes all that is done on Olympus, / and the hidden infernal regions do not escape my eyes. [20] / What does my soul sing so sublimely from its full mouth? / What does this madness bring forth, what this sacred rage? / Spring which has furnished me inspiration shall be sung through it; / her returned gifts may have been profitable in this way. / Already, Philomela,4 you are beginning your modulations, hidden [25] / by the young leaves, while all the grove is still. / I in the city, you in the wood, let us both begin together / and together let each sing the coming of spring. / Ho! changes of spring have returned; let us celebrate the hours / of spring, and let the unfailing Muse take this task upon herself. [30] / Now the sun, fleeing the Ethiopians and the fields of Tithonus, / directs his golden reins toward Arctos’ lands.5 / Brief is the journey of night, brief is the delay of dark night; / that dreadful one lives in exile with her shadows. / And now Lycaonian Boötes,6 wearied, does not follow [35] / in his celestial wain over the course as before; / now even few stars keep their accustomed watch / about the courts of Jove throughout the entire sky. / For deceit and slaughter and violence retired with the night; / neither have the gods feared the wickedness of the giants.7 [40] / Perhaps some shepherd, reclining on the top of a cliff / while the dewy earth reddens with the first sunlight, / asserts, “Then, certainly on this night were you deprived, / Apollo, of your love who would delay your swift steeds.” / Delighted, Cynthia8 returns to her forests, and resumes her quiver, [45] / when she sees on high the wheels of Lucifer, / and setting down her feeble beams she seems to be happy / that her task is made short by her brother’s power. / Abandon, Apollo says, your aged wedlock, Aurora; / What is pleasing in having lain stretched out on an impotent bed?9 [50] / Aeolides,10 the hunter, awaits you on the green lawn. / Arise; high Hymettus11 enjoys your fires. / With modest face the blushing goddess confesses her guilt, / and drives her morning horses more swiftly. / The reviving earth shakes off her hated old age [55] / and wishes to submit to your embraces, Apollo. / Not only does she wish them, but she is worthy of them; for what is / more beautiful than she, as, voluptuous, she bares her all-bearing breasts / and breathes the harvests of Arabia, and from her elegant mouth / pours gentle fragrances with Paphian roses? [60] / Behold, her lofty brow is crowned by a sacred wood / just as a piny tower encompasses Idaean Ops,12 / and she twines her dewy locks with various bloom / and with her flowers she is seen able to please, / just as the Sicilian goddess, wreathed round her flowing locks with flowers, [65] / was pleasing to the Taenarian god.13 / Look, Apollo, facile loves are calling you / and vernal winds blow honey-sweet pleas. / Odor-bearing Zephyrus gently claps his cinnamon-scented wings / and the birds seem to carry their flatteries to you. [70] / The thoughtless earth does not seek your loves without dowry, / nor does she beg desired marriage, as if in need; / bounteous, she offers you health-bearing grain for medical uses / and hence she herself supports your titles.14 / Because if money, if glittering gifts impress you [75] / (love is often bought with gifts), / she holds out to you whatever wealth conceals / under the broad sea and under the overthrown mountains. / Ah, how often when, wearied by steep Olympus, / you would sink into the western seas, [80] / does she say, Why should the blue mother receive you, / Apollo, fainting from your daily course into her Hesperian waters? / What have you to do with Tethys?15 with Tartessian streams? / Why do you bathe your divine face in the filthy brine? / You will entrap coolness much better in my shadow, Apollo. [85] / Come hither, moisten your glittering locks in the dew; / a gentler sleep will come to you in the chill grass. / Come hither and place your rays on my bosom; / wheresoever you lie about, a gently murmuring breeze will soothe / our bodies spread on humid roses. [90] / A destiny like Semele’s16 (believe me) does not frighten me, / nor the axle smoking from Phaeton’s horse. / When you, Apollo, use your fire more wisely, / come hither and place your rays on my bosom. / Thus wanton Earth breathes out her loves; [95] / her remaining throng rush to ruin by example of the mother. / For now wandering Cupid runs through all the world, / and sustains his dying torches by the flame of the sun. / The lethal horns of his bow resound with new strings, / the tremulous arrows glitter severely with new iron.
1 comment