ix. 11, i. 9).
5 the persona of the drama, used for the person of the Incarnation.
6 Muse.
7 the Christiad, an epic on the life of Christ by Marco Girolamo Vida, native of Cremona, which Milton praises over similar religious works.
8 A Jacobean printing practice was the use of black title pages with white letters.
9 Ezekiel (Ezek. i. 1–16).
10 Jerusalem was the home of sacred poetry, for David, reputed author of the psalms, reigned there thirty-three years (2 Sam. v. 5).
11 Jer. ix. 10: “For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation.”
Elegia septima
Nondum blanda tuas leges, Amathusia,1 norâm,
Et Paphio vacuum pectus ab igne fuit.
Sæpe cupidineas, puerilia tela, sagittas,
Atque tuum sprevi maxime, numen, Amor.
5
5 Tu puer imbelles, dixi, transfige columbas,
Conveniunt tenero mollia bella duci.
Aut de passeribus tumidos age, parve, triumphos,
Hæc sunt militiæ digna trophæa tuæ.
In genus humanum quid inania dirigis arma?
10
10 Non valet in fortes ista pharetra viros.
Non tulit hoc Cyprius (neque enim Deus ullus ad iras
Promptior), et duplici jam ferus igne calet.
Ver erat, et summæ radians per culmina villæ
Attulerat primam lux tibi, Maie, diem:
15
15 At mihi adhuc refugam quærebant lumina noctem
Nec matutinum sustinuere jubar.
Astat Amor lecto, pictis Amor impiger alis,
Prodidit astantem mota pharetra Deum:
Prodidit et facies, et dulce minantis ocelli,
20
20 Et quicquid puero, dignum et Amore fuit
Talis in æterno juvenis Sigeius2 Olympo
Miscet amatori pocula plena Jovi;
Aut qui formosas pellexit ad oscula nymphas
Thiodamantæus Naiade raptus Hylas;3
25
25 Addideratque iras, sed et has decuisse putares,
Addideratque truces, nec sine felle minas.
Et miser exemplo sapuisses tutiùs, inquit,
Nunc mea quid possit dextera testis eris.
Inter et expertos vires numerabere nostras,
30
30 Et faciam vero per tua damna fidem.
Ipse ego, si nescis, strato Pythone superbum
Edomui Phœbum, cessit et ille mihi;4
Et quoties meminit Peneidos, ipse fatetur
Certiùs et graviùs tela nocere mea.
35
35 Me nequit adductum curvare peritiùs arcum,
Qui post terga solet vincere Parthus eques.5
Cydoniusque mihi cedit venator,6 et ille
Inscius uxori qui necis author7 erat.
Est etiam nobis ingens quoque victus Orion,8
40
40 Herculeæque manus, Herculeusque comes.9
Jupiter ipse licet sua fulmina torqueat in me,
Hærebunt lateri spicula nostra Jovis.
Cætera quæ dubitas meliùs mea tela docebunt,
Et tua non leviter corda petenda mihi.
45
45 Nec te, stulte, tuæ poterunt defendere Musæ,
Nec tibi Phœbæus porriget anguis10 opem.
Dixit, et aurato quatiens mucrone sagittam,
Evolat in tepidos Cypridos ille sinus.
At mihi risuro tonuit ferus ore minaci,
50
50 Et mihi de puero non metus ullus erat.
Et modò quà nostri spatiantur in urbe Quirites
Et modò villarum proxima rura placent.
Turba frequens, faciéque simillima turba dearum
Splendida per medias itque reditque vias.
55
55 Auctaque luce dies gemino fulgore coruscat.
Fallor? an et radios hinc quoque Phœbus habet?
Hæc ego non fugi spectacula grata severus,
Impetus et quò me fert juvenilis, agor.
Lumina luminibus malè providus obvia misi,
60
60 Neve oculos potui continuisse meos.
Unam forte aliis supereminuisse notabam,
Principium nostri lux erat illa mali.
Sic Venus optaret mortalibus ipsa videri,
Sic regina Deûm11 conspicienda fuit.
65
65 Hanc memor objecit nobis malus ille Cupido,
Solus et hos nobis texuit antè dolos.
Nec procul ipse vafer latuit, multæque sagittæ,
Et facis a tergo grande pependit onus.
Nec mora, nunc ciliis hæsit, nunc virginis ori,
70
70 Insilit hinc labiis, insidet inde genis:
Et quascunque agilis partes jaculator oberrat,
Hei mihi, mille locis pectus inerme ferit.
Protinus insoliti subierunt corda furores,
Uror amans intùs, flammaque totus eram.
75
75 Interea misero quæ jam mihi sola placebat,
Ablata est oculis non reditura meis.
Ast ego progredior tacitè querebundus, et excors,
Et dubius volui sæpe referre pedem.
Findor, et hæc remanet, sequitur pars altera votum,
80
80 Raptaque tàm subitò gaudia flere juvat.
Sic dolet amissum proles Junonia12 cœlum,
Inter Lemniacos præcipitata focos.
Talis et abreptum solem respexit, ad Orcum
Vectus ab attonitis Amphiaraus13 equis.
85
85 Quid faciam infelix, et luctu victus? Amores
Nec licet inceptos ponere, neve sequi.
O utinam spectare semel mihi detur amatos
Vultus, et coràm tristia verba loquil
Forsitan et duro non est adamante creata,
90
90 Forte nec ad nostras surdeat illa preces.
Crede mihi nullus sic infeliciter arsit,
Ponar in exemplo primus et unus ego.
Parce, precor, teneri cum sis Deus ales amoris,
Pugnent officio nec tua facta tuo.
95
95 Jam tuus O certè est mihi formidabilis arcus,
Nate deâ, jaculis nec minus igne potens:
Et tua fumabunt nostris altaria donis,
Solus et in superis tu mihi summus eris.
Deme meos tandem, verùm nec deme furores,
100
100 Nescio cur, miser est suaviter omnis amans:
Tu modo da facilis, posthæc mea siqua futura est,
Cuspis amaturos figat ut una duos.
Elegy 7
Not yet did I know your laws, enticing Amathusia,1 / and my breast was free from Paphian fire. / Often Cupid’s arrows, childish weapons, / and especially your divine will I contemned, O Love. / You, boy, I said, pierce peace-loving doves; [5] / gentle battles are becoming to a tender warrior, / or, over the sparrows, little one, achieve your arrogant triumphs; / these are the suitable trophies of your warfare. / Why do you aim your vain darts at mankind? / Against strong men that quiver of yours has no power. [10] / This the Cyprian boy would not bear—and indeed no god is swifter / to anger—and straightaway fierce he burned with double fire. / Spring it was, and beaming through the heights of the village roofs, / the light had brought to you your first day, O May. / But my eyes still were seeking the vanishing night, [15] / nor could they endure the morning radiance. / Love stood by my bed, Love the indefatigable with painted wings; / the moving quiver betrayed the standing god; / his face betrayed him, and his sweetly menacing little eyes, / and whatever else was fitting to youth and to Love. [20] / In like manner did the Sigean youth2 on everlasting Olympus / mix the overflowing cups for amorous Jove, / or rather Hylas,3 who lured the lovely nymphs to his kisses, / son of Theomadas, carried off by a Naiad. / And his anger grew, but you would have thought it to be proper [25] / and his harsh threats increased, not without gall. / “Wretch, you might more safely have learned from example,” he said; / “now you shall be a witness to what my right hand can do. / And you shall be counted among the men who have experienced my powers, / and as a result of your penalty, truly, I shall achieve your faithfulness. [30] / I myself, if you do not know, overcame Apollo, / and he yielded to me, proud from subduing Python,4 / and, as often as he remembers Daphne, he acknowledges / that my arrows harm more surely and more gravely. / The Parthian horseman who is wont to conquer behind his back5 [35] / cannot draw his taut bow more skillfully than I. / And the Cydonian hunter6 yields to me, and he / who was the unwitting author7 of his wife’s death. / Likewise was prodigious Orion8 also vanquished by me, / and the powers of Hercules, and the companion of Hercules.9 [40] / Even if Jove himself hurls his bolts at me / my darts shall hold fast to the side of Jove. / Whatever else you doubt my arrows shall more surely instruct / and your own heart will not be lightly assaulted by me. / Neither will your Muses be able to protect you, fool, [45] / nor will the serpent of Apollo’s son10 extend help to you.” / He spoke, and, shaking an arrow with a golden point, / he flew to the warm bosom of Cypris. / But to me the fierce lad thundered with threatening face laughably, / and to me there was nothing to fear from the boy. [50] / And sometimes places in the city where our inhabitants walk / and sometimes the nearby fields of the villages are pleasing. / A great shining throng resembling the visages of goddesses / come and go through the trodden ways. / And with their added light the day gleams with double splendor.
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