/ Now sings the sentinel cock, the harbinger bird / of the sun, and, watchful, calls everyone to his own affairs. / The flaming Titan2 thrusts his head from the Eastern waves [5] / and scatters his glittering splendor through the joyful fields. / The Daulian3 modulates her melodious song from the oak / and the gentle lark pours forth her perfect notes. / Now the wild rose breathes forth its fragrant perfumes; / now the violets diffuse their scent and the grain grows rapidly. [10] / Behold, the fruitful consort of Zephyr4 clothes the fields with new growth, / and the soil becomes moist with glassy dew. / Lazy one, you are not likely to find such things in your soft bed, / when tranquil sleep weighs down your wearied eyes. / There dreams interrupt dull slumbers [15] / and many griefs disturb your mind. / There the seeds of a wasting malady are generated. / What strength can a listless man be capable of? / Arise, up, arise. Now that it is time, shake off slumbers; / light is appearing; leave the props of your languid bed. [20]

(1624-25)

1 These and the following verses were written on a loose sheet found in Milton’s Commonplace Book with only this title given for the first. Grammar school exercises, they versify a prose theme on early rising found on the reverse of the sheet: “Mane citus lectum fuge” (“Quick, hasten from your bed in the morning”).

2 Hyperion, here identified with the Sun.

3 the swallow.

4 Chloris, wife of the West Wind.

“Ignavus satrapam dedecet …”1

               Ignavus satrapam dedecet inclytum

               Somnus qui populo multifido præest.

               Dum Dauni veteris filius armiger2

               Stratus purpureo procubuit thoro,

5

   5          Audax Eurialus, Nisus et impiger

               Invasere cati nocte sub horrida

               Torpentes Rutilos castraque Volscia:

               Hinc cædes oritur clamor et absonus.…

“Slothful sleep …”1

Slothful sleep is unbecoming to a famous governor / who presides over people divided into many sections of the land. / While the warlike son of old Daunas2 / lay prone on his purple couch, / bold Euryalus and quick Nisus [5] / cunningly attacked in the frightening night / the sleeping Rutilians and the Volscian camp: / hence slaughter arose and discordant shout.…

(Incomplete; 1624–25)

1 The meter is the lesser Aesclepiad (an irregular verse form used by Horace) with a spondee for the first foot.

2 Turnus, king of the Rutili and leader of the Volscians and other Italian tribes who resisted Aeneas’ invasion. When in a drunken sleep, his army was attacked by Euryalus and Nisus (Aen., IX, 314-66).

Elegia prima

AD CAROLUM DIODATUM1

               Tandem, chare, tuæ mihi pervenere tabellæ,

                 Pertulit et voces nuntia charta tuas,

               Pertulit occiduâ Devæ Cestrensis ab orâ

                 Vergivium prono quà petit amne salum.

5

   5          Multùm crede juvat terras aluisse remotas

                 Pectus amans nostri, tamque fidele caput,

               Quòdque mihi lepidum tellus longinqua sodalem

                 Debet, at unde brevi reddere jussa velit.

               Me tenet urbs refluâ quam Thamesis alluit undâ,

10

  10                Meque nec invitum patria dulcis habet.

               Jam nec arundiferum mihi cura revisere Camum,

                 Nec dudum vetiti me laris angit amor.2

               Nuda nec arva placent, umbrasque negantia molles,

                 Quàm male Phœbicolis convenit ille locus!

15

   15        Nec duri libet usque minas perferre magistri

                 Cæteraque ingenio non subeunda meo.

               Si sit hoc exilium patrios adiisse penates,

                 Et vacuum curis otia grata sequi,

               Non ego vel profugi nomen, sortemve recuso,

20

  20                Lætus et exilii conditione fruor.

               O utinam vates nunquam graviora tulisset

                 Ille3 Tomitano flebilis exul agro;

               Non tunc Jonio quicquam cessisset Homero

                 Neve foret victo laus tibi prima, Maro.4

25

   25        Tempora nam licet hîc placidis dare libera Musis,

                 Et totum rapiunt me mea vita libri.

               Excipit hinc fessum sinuosi pompa theatri,

                 Et vocat ad plausus garrula scena suos.5

               Seu catus auditur senior, seu prodigus hæres,

30

  30                Seu procus, aut positâ casside miles adest,

               Sive decennali fœcundus lite patronus

                 Detonat inculto barbara verba foro,

               Sæpe vafer gnato succurrit servus amanti,

                 Et nasum rigidi fallit ubique Patris;

35

   35        Sæpe novos illic virgo mirata calores

                 Quid sit amor nescit, dum quoque nescit, amat.

               Sive cruentatum furiosa Tragœdia sceptrum

                 Quassat, et effusis crinibus ora rotat,

               Et dolet, et specto, juvat et spectasse dolendo,

40

  40                Interdum et lacrymis dulcis amaror inest:

               Seu puer infelix indelibata reliquit

                 Gaudia, et abrupto flendus amore cadit,

               Seu ferus è tenebris iterat Styga criminis ultor

                 Conscia funereo pectora torre movens,

45

   45        Seu mæret Pelopeia domus, seu nobilis Ili,

                 Aut luit incestos aula Creontis avos.

               Sed neque sub tecto semper nec in urbe latemus,

                 Irrita nec nobis tempora veris eunt.

               Nos quoque lucus habet vicinâ consitus ulmo

50

  50                Atque suburbani nobilis umbra loci.

               Sæpius hic blandas spirantia sydera flammas

                 Virgineos videas præteriisse choros.

               Ah quoties dignæ stupui miracula formæ

                 Quæ posset senium vel reparare Iovis;

55

   55        Ah quoties vidi superantia lumina gemmas,

                 Atque faces quotquot volvit uterque polus;

               Collaque bis vivi Pelopis6 quæ brachia vincant,

                 Quæque fluit puro nectare tincta via,

               Et decus eximium frontis, tremulosque capillos,

60

  60                Aurea quæ fallax retia tendit Amor;

               Pellacesque genas, ad quas hyacinthina sordet

                 Purpura, et ipse tui floris, Adoni, rubor.7

               Cedite laudatæ toties Heroides8 olim,

                 Et quæcunque vagum cepit arnica Jovem.

65

   65        Cedite Achaemeniæ9 turritâ fronte puellæ,

                 Et quot Susa colunt, Memnoniamque Ninon.10

               Vos etiam Danaæ fasces submittite Nymphæ,

                 Et vos Iliacæ, Romuleæque nurus.

               Nec Pompeianas Tarpëia Musa columnas11

70

  70                Jactet, et Ausoniis plena theatra stolis.

               Gloria Virginibus debetur prima Britannis,

                 Extera, sat tibi sit, fœmina, posse sequi.

               Tuque urbs Dardaniis Londium structa colonis12

                 Turrigerum latè conspicienda caput,

75

   75        Tu nimium felix intra tua mœnia claudis

                 Quicquid formosi pendulus orbis habet.

               Non tibi tot cælo scintillant astra sereno

                 Endymioneæ turba ministra deæ,13

               Quot tibi conspicuæ formáque auróque puellæ

80

  80                Per medias radiant turba videnda vias.

               Creditur huc geminis venisse invecta columbis

                 Alma pharetrigero milite cincta Venus,

               Huic Cnidon, et riguas Simoentis flumine valles,

                 Huic Paphon, et roseam posthabitura Cypron.14

85

   85        Ast ego, dum pueri sinit indulgentia cæci,

                 Mœnia quàm subitò linquere fausta paro;

               Et vitare procul malefidæ infamia Circes

                 Atria, divini Molyos usus ope.15

               Stat quoque juncosas Cami remeare paludes,

90

  90                Atque iterum raucæ murmur adire Scholæ.

               Interea fidi parvum cape munus amici,

                 Paucaque in alternos verba coacta modos.16

Elegy 1

TO CHARLES DIODATI1

At last, dear friend, your letter has reached me / and its news-filled paper conveyed your words, / conveyed them from the western region of the Dee near Chester, / from which with downward flow it seeks the Irish Sea. / I am greatly delighted, believe me, that remote lands have nurtured [5] / a loving heart, and so faithful a head, / and because the far-off region is indebted to me for a charming comrade, / yet from which it is willing to return him in a short while upon command. / The city holds me which the Thames washes with its back-flowing surge, / but my pleasant native home does not keep me against my will. [10] / At this time neither do I care to see the reedy Cam again, / nor does love of my prohibited quarters distress me just now.2 / Its bare fields are unwelcome, so unyielding are they of mild shadows; / how improperly that place assembles the followers of Phoebus! / It is not pleasant constantly to submit to the threats of a stern tutor [15] / and to other things which are foreign to my nature. / If this be exile, to have gone to the paternal hearth / and, this banishment being free of care, to follow agreeable leisurely pursuits, / neither do I flee that name, nor reject its lot, / and, happy, I delight in the result of exile. [20] / O would that the poet never had borne anything more burdensome, / he, the lamentable exile in the land of Tomis.3 / Then he would have conceded nothing to Ionian Homer, / nor would the foremost renown be yours, vanquished Maro.4 / For I am permitted to dedicate my free time to the gentle Muses, [25] / and books—my life—transport me entirely away. / Here the display of the curved theater captivates me, when wearied, / and the talkative stage calls me to its applause.5 / Sometimes is heard a sly old man, sometimes a prodigal heir, / sometimes a suitor, or a soldier appears with his helmet laid aside, [30] / or an advocate rich from a ten-year lawsuit / thunders his strange discourse at an uncultivated court. / Often a crafty slave runs to the aid of a love-sick son / and, everywhere at once, he deceives the stern father under his very nose. / Often a maiden, astonished by a strange ardor—[35] / she does not know what love is—loves even while she is ignorant. / Or raging Tragedy tosses her sceptre stained with blood / and rolls her eyes under dishevelled hair, / and it is painful; not only do I watch, but I take pleasure in having seen / suffering, and sometimes sweet bitterness lies in tears: [40] / whether an unhappy youth left his joys untasted, / and, separated from his love, dies lamentably, / or whether a fierce avenger of crimes returns from the shades beyond the Styx, / disturbing with his deadly torch hearts conscious of sin, / or whether the house of Pelops is grieving, or of noble Ilus, [45] / or the palace of Creon purges its incestuous sires. / But I am not always living in concealment indoors or in the city, / nor do the hours of spring hasten by without effect on me. / The wood strewn with close-growing elm also possesses me / as well as the celebrated shade of a suburban spot. [50] / Here you may often see bands of maidens, stars / emitting seductive flames, go dancing by. / Ah, how many times have I been stunned by the wonders of a becoming figure / which might refresh even the old age of Jove; / Ah, how many times have I seen eyes surpassing jewels [55] / and even all the flaming stars which either pole rolls round; / and necks which excel the arms of twice-living Pelops,6 / and in which flows the vein dyed with pure nectar, / and uncommon grace of brow, and shaking hair, / by which deceitful Love extends his golden nets, [60] / and seductive cheeks against which the purple of the hyacinth seems / of small account, and the blush of your flower, Adonis, as well!7 / Yield, Heroides,8 so often praised in the past, / and every mistress who subjected capricious Jove. / Yield, Achaemenian9 maidens with towered forehead, [65] / and all that dwell in Susa, or Memnonian Nineveh.10 / You likewise, Greek maidens, acknowledge your inferiority, / and you women of Troy and of Rome; / nor let the Tarpeian Muse vaunt the Pompeian pillars11 / or the theaters filled with Italian robes. [70] / The prime honor is due the young women of Britain; / be satisfied, alien womanhood, to be able to follow after. / And you, London, city built by Trojan colonists,12 / distinguished far and wide for towered height, / exceedingly happy, you enclose with your walls [75] / whatever of beauty the pendant world possesses.