The virgins also shall on feastful days
Visit his tomb with flowers, only bewailing
His lot unfortunate in nuptial choice,
From whence captivity and loss of eyes.
1745 Chorus. All is best, though we oft doubt,
What th’ unsearchable dispose
Of highest wisdom brings about,
And ever best found in the close.
Oft he seems to hide his face,
1750 But unexpectedly returns
And to his faithful champion hath in place
Bore witness gloriously; whence Gaza mourns
And all that band them to resist
His uncontrollable intent;
1755 His servants he with new acquist
Of true experience from this great event
With peace and consolation hath dismissed,
And calm of mind all passion spent.
THE LATIN AND GREEK POEMS
ELEGIARUM LIBER
Elegia Prima ad Carolum Diodatum
Tandem, care, tuae mihi pervenere tabellae,
Pertulit et voces nuntia charta tuas,
Pertulit occidua Devae Cestrensis ab ora
Vergivium prono qua petit amne salum.
5 Multum, crede, iuvat terras aluisse remotas
Pectus amans nostri, tamque fidele caput,
Quodque mihi lepidum tellus longinqua sodalem
Debet, at unde brevi reddere iussa velit.
Me tenet urbs reflua quam Thamesis alluit unda,
10 Meque nec invitum patria dulcis habet.
lam nee arundiferum mihi cura revisere Camum,
Nec dudum vetiti me laris angit amor.
Nuda nee arva placent, umbrasque negantia molles;
Quam male Phoebicolis convenit ille locus!
15 Nee duri libet usque minas perferre magistri
Caeteraque 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 Laetus et exilii conditione fruor.
O utinam vates nunquam graviora tulisset
Ille Tomitano flebilis exul agro;
Non tune Ionio quicquam cessisset Homero
Neve foret victo laus tibi prima Maro.
25 Tempora nam licet hie placidis dare libera Musis,
Et totum rapiunt me mea vita libri.
Excipit hinc fessum sinuosi pompa theatri,
Et vocat ad plausus garrula scena suos.
Seu catus auditur senior, seu prodigus haeres,
30 Seu procus, aut posita casside miles adest,
Sive decennali fecundus lite patronus
Detonat inculto barbara verba foro,
Saepe vafer gnato succurrit servus amanti,
Et nasum rigidi fallit ubique patris;
35 Saepe novos illic virgo mirata calores
Quid sit amor nescit, dum quoque nescit, amat.
Sive cruentatum furiosa Tragoedia sceptrum
Quassat, et effusis crinibus ora rotat;
Et dolet, et specto, iuvat et spectasse dolendo;
40 Interdum et lacrimis dulcis amaror inest:
Seu puer infelix indelibata reliquit
Gaudia, et abrupto flendus amore cadit;
Seu ferus e tenebris iterat Styga criminis ultor,
Conscia funereo pectora torre movens;
45 Seu maeret Pelopeia domus, seu nobilis Ili,
Aut luit incestos aula Creontis avos.
Sed neque sub tecto semper nee in urbe latemus,
Irrita nee nobis tempora veris eunt.
Nos quoque lucus habet vicina consitus ulmo
50 Atque suburbani nobilis umbra loci.
Saepius hie blandas spirantia sidera flammas
Virgineos videas praeteriisse choros.
Ah quoties dignae stupui miracula formae
Quae possit senium vel reparare Iovis;
55 Ah quoties vidi superantia lumina gemmas,
Atque faces quotquot volvit uterque polus;
Collaque bis vivi Pelopis quae brachia vincant,
Quaeque fluit puro nectare tincta via,
Et decus eximium frontis, tremulosque capillos,
60 Aurea quae fallax retia tendit Amor;
Pellacesque genas, ad quas hyacinthina sordet
Purpura, et ipse tui floris, Adoni, rubor.
Cedite laudatae toties Heroides olim,
Et quaecunque vagum cepit arnica Iovem.
65 Cedite Achaemeniae turrita fronte puellae,
Et quot Susa colunt, Mcmnoniamquc Ninon.
Vos etiam Danaae fasces submittite Nymphae,
Et vos Iliacae, Romuleaeque nurus;
Nec Pompeianas Tarpeia Musa columnas
70 Iactet, et Ausoniis plena theatra stolis.
Gloria virginibus debetur prima Britannis;
Extera sat tibi sit femina posse sequi.
Tuque urbs Dardaniis Londinum structa colonis
Turrigerum late conspicienda caput,
75 Tu nimium felix intra tua moenia claudis
Quicquid formosi pendulus orbis habet.
Non tibi tot caelo scintillant astra sereno
Endymioneae turba ministra deae,
Quot tibi conspicuae formaque auroque puellae
80 Per medias radiant turba videnda vias.
Creditur hue geminis venisse invecta columbis
Alma pharetrigero milite cincta Venus,
Huic Cnidon, et riguas Simoentis flumine valles,
Huic Paphon, et roseam posthabitura Cypron.
85 Ast ego, dum pueri sinit indulgentia caeci,
Moenia quam subito linquere fausta paro;
Et vitare procul malefidae infamia Circes
Atria, divini Molyos usus ope.
Stat quoque iuncosas Cami remeare paludes,
90 Atque iterum raucae murmur adiré Scholae.
Interea fidi parvum cape munus amici,
Paucaque in alternos verba coacta modos.
Elegy I
TO CHARLES DIODATI
At last, dear friend, your letter has reached me. The paper messenger has carried your words from the western bank of Chester’s river Dec, where it rushes down to the Vergivian Sea.4 I am delighted, believe me, that distant lands have bred a heart so loving towards me, and a mind so true, and that a remote region owes me a charming companion, and is ready to repay the debt soon, at my bidding.
I am now in the city washed by the tides of the Thames, staying, not unwillingly, in my delightful birthplace. At present I do not care to revisit the reedy Cam; I do not yearn for my rooms, recently forbidden to me. Bare fields devoid of pleasant shade do not please me. How ill that place suits the votaries of Phoebus!14 Nor is it pleasing constantly to have to put up with the threats of a stern tutor,15 and other things besides that my spirit cannot bear. If this be exile – to have returned to my father’s home, where I am free of care and can enjoy delightful leisure – then I reject neither the name nor the lot of an outlaw, but gladly accept the terms of my banishment. Ah, if only that poet21 who was a sad exile in the land of Tomis had had no worse sufferings than this to bear! Then he would have yielded nothing to Ionian Homer,23 and you, O vanquished Maro,24 would have been stripped of the prime glory.
For here I am permitted to devote my spare hours to the gentle Muses, and books (which are my whole life) completely carry me away. When I am tired, the splendour of the round theatre27 draws me out, and the babbling stage invites my applause. Sometimes I listen to a crafty old man, sometimes a spendthrift heir; sometimes a suitor appears, or a soldier with doffed helm. Sometimes a lawyer, grown rich on a ten-year-old case, thunders out his barbarous jargon to an uncouth court. Often a cunning slave comes to the aid of a love-struck son, and cheats the stern father at every turn – right under his nose. There, often, a virgin girl, marvelling at the strange fire within her, does not know what love is, and loves without knowing it.
Sometimes raging Traged
y brandishes her bloodstained sceptre,37 with dishevelled hair and rolling eyes. The sight pains me, but I look, and there is pleasure in the pain. Sometimes there is a sweet bitterness even in tears: as when an unfortunate youth leaves joys untasted, and is torn from his love to perish and be mourned; or when a cruel avenger of crime returns from the shades across the Styx, tormenting guilty souls with a deadly torch; or when the house of Pelops or of noble Ilus45 mourns, or Creon’s palace atones for incestuous forebears.46
But I am not always confined under a roof, or in the city. Springtime does not pass me by in vain. I also frequent a dense grove of elms nearby, and a glorious shady spot just outside the city. Here you may often see groups of maidens passing by – stars breathing out seductive flames. Ah, how often have I been stunned by the miraculous grace of a figure that might rejuvenate the feeble old age of Jove himself! Ah, how often have I seen eyes brighter than jewels or all the heavenly fires that wheel about the celestial poles; necks which outshine the shoulders of twice-living Pelops57 or that [Milky] Way steeped in pure nectar; a brow of surpassing loveliness, and flowing tresses (golden nets spread by deceitful Cupid), and alluring cheeks beside which the crimson hyacinth, and even your rosy flower,62 Adonis, seem paltry. Give way, you heroines63 so often praised of old, and every mistress who captivated inconstant Jove. Give way, you Achaemenian65 girls with turreted foreheads, and all who dwell in Susa or Memnonian Nineveh.66 You also, Danaan67 nymphs, and you of Troy and Rome, submit. Let not the Tarpeian Muse69 boast of Pompey’s colonnade, or the theatre thronged with Ausonian70 robes. The prime glory belongs to British maidens; it is enough for you foreign women that you may follow after. And you, London, city built by Dardanian73 colonists, conspicuous on all sides with your towered head, you (happy beyond measure) enclose within your walls whatever beauty the pendulous globe of the earth contains. The stars that shine from a clear sky – that multitude of handmaidens about Endymion’s goddess78 – are not so numerous as the shining girls that are seen in your streets, radiant with beauty and with gold. It is said that bountiful Venus came here, drawn by her twin doves and attended by her quiver-bearing troops, preferring this place to Cnidos and the valleys watered by Simois, to Paphos and rosy Cyprus.84
But as for me, I intend to leave these fortunate walls as soon as possible, while the blind boy’s85 indulgence permits, and with the help of divine Moly88 to fly far from the infamous halls of faithless Circe. It is also decided that I shall go back to the reedy fens of the Cam, back to the hoarse roar of the University. Meanwhile, accept the small gift of a loyal friend, these few words constrained into alternate measures.92
Elegía Secunda
Anno aetatis 17
IN OBITUM PRAECONIS ACADEMICI CANTABRIGIENSIS
Te, qui conspicuus baculo fulgente solebas
Palladium toties ore ciere gregem,
Ultima praeconum praeconem te quoque saeva
Mors rapit, officio nee favet ipsa suo.
5 Candidiora licet fuerint tibi tempora plumis
Sub quibus accipimus delituisse Iovem,
O dignus tamen Haemonio iuvenescere succo,
Dignus in Aesonios vivere posse dies,
Dignus quem Stygiis medica revocaret ab undis
10 Arte Coronides, saepe rogante dea.
Tu si iussus eras acies accire togatas,
Et celer a Phoebo nuntius ire tuo,
Talis in Iliaca stabat Cyllenius aula
Alipes, aetherea missus ab arce patris.
15 Talis et Eurybates ante ora furentis Achillei
Rettulit Atridae iussa severa ducis.
Magna sepulcrorum regina, satelles Averni
Saeva nimis Musis, Palladi saeva nimis,
Quin illos rapias qui pondus inutile terrae?
20 Turba quidem est telis ista petenda tuis.
Vestibus hunc igitur pullis Academia luge,
Et madeant lacrimis nigra feretra tuis.
Fundat et ipsa modos querebunda Elegeia tristes,
Personet et totis naenia moesta scholis.
Elegy II
At the Age of Seventeen
ON THE DEATH OF THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY BEADLE
Conspicuous with your shining mace,1 you were wont to summon
the flock of Pallas2 with your call; but (beadle though you were)
fierce Death, the last beadle, has seized you, showing no favour to
her own office. Although your brows were whiter than the plumage
in which Jove is fabled to have disguised himself,6 yet you deserved
to be made young again with Haemonian drugs,7 deserved to relive
your life, like Aeson; you deserved to be called back from the waters
of the Styx by the healing art of Coronides,10 at the persistent bidding
of the goddess. If your Phoebus12 commanded you to go as a swift
messenger and summon the gowned battalions, you were like wing-footed
Cyllenius,13 when he was sent from the heavenly heights of
his father, and stood in the palace of Troy. You were like Eurybates15
when in the face of furious Achilles he delivered the stern command
of his lord, Atrides.
Great queen17 of sepulchres, companion of Avernus, too cruel to
the Muses, too cruel to Pallas, why don’t you carry off those who
are a useless burden on the earth? That is the crowd at which to aim
your darts. Mourn this man, therefore, O dark-robed University.
May his black hearse be wet with your tears. May wailing Elegy
herself pour forth sad measures, and the melancholy dirge resound
through all the schools.
Elegia Tertia
Anno aetatis 17
IN OBITUM PRAESULIS WINTONIENSIS
Moestus eram, et tacitus nullo comitante sedebam,
Haerebantque animo tristia plura meo,
Protinus en subiit funestae cladis imago
Fecit in Angliaco quam Libitina solo;
5 Dum procerum ingressa est splendentes marmore turres
Dira sepulcrali mors metuenda face;
Pulsavitque auro gravidos et iaspide muros,
Nee metuit satrapum sternere falce greges.
Tunc memini clarique ducis, fratrisque verendi
10 Intempestivis ossa cremata rogis.
Et memini heroum quos vidit ad aethera raptos,
Flevit et amissos Belgia tota duces.
At te praecipue luxi, dignissime praesul,
Wintoniaeque olim gloria magna tuae;
15 Delicui fletu, et tristi sic ore querebar,
Mors fera, Tartareo diva secunda Iovi,
Nonne satis quod silva tuas persentiat iras,
Et quod in herbosos ius tibi detur agros,
Quodque afflata tuo marcescant lilia tabo,
20 Et crocus, et pulchrae Cypridi sacra rosa?
Nec sinis ut semper fluvio contermina quercus
Miretur lapsus praetereuntis aquae.
Et tibi succumbit liquido quae plurima caelo
Evehitur pennis quamlibet augur avis,
25 Et quae mille nigris errant animalia silvis,
Et quod alunt muturn Proteos antra pecus.
Invida, tanta tibi cum sit concessa potestas,
Quid iuvat humana tingere caede manus?
Nobileque in pectus certas acuisse sagittas,
30 Semideamque animam sede fugasse sua?
Talia dum lacrimans alto sub pectore volvo,
Roscidus occiduis Hesperus exit aquis,
Et Tartessiaco submerserat aequore currum
Phoebus, ab eöo littore mensus iter.
35 Nec mora, membra cavo posui refovenda cubili;
Condiderant oculos noxque soporque meos,
Cum mihi visus eram lato spatiarier agro;
Heu nequit ingenium visa referre meum.
Illic punicea radiabant omnia luce,
40 Ut matutino cum iuga sole rubent.
Ac veluti cum pandit opes T
haumantia proles,
Vestitu nituit multicolore solum.
Non dea tarn variis ornavit floribus hortos
Alcinoi, Zephyro Chloris amata levi.
45 Flumina vernantes lambunt argentea campos,
Ditior Hesperio flavet arena Tago.
Serpit odoriferas per opes levis aura Favoni,
Aura sub innumeris humida nata rosis.
Talis in extremis terrae Gangetidis oris
50 Luciferi regis fingitur esse domus.
Ipse racemiferis dum densas vitibus umbras
Et pellucentes miror ubique locos,
Ecce mihi subito praesul Wintonius astat,
Sidereum nitido fulsit in ore iubar;
55 Vestis ad auratos defluxit candida talos,
Infula divinum cinxerat alba caput.
Dumque senex tali incedit venerandus amictu,
Intremuit laeto florea terra sono.
Agmina gemmatis plaudunt caelestia pennis,
60 Pura triumphali personat aethra tuba.
Quisque novum amplexu comitem cantuque salutat,
Hosque aliquis placido misit ab ore sonos:
Nate veni, et patrii felix cape gaudia regni;
Semper ab hinc duro, nate, labore vaca.
65 Dixit, et aligerae tetigerunt nablia turmae,
At mihi cum tenebris aurea pulsa quies.
Flebam turbatos Cephaleia pellice somnos;
Talia contingant somnia saepe mihi.
Elegy III
At the Age of Seventeen
ON THE DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
Full of grief, I sat silent and alone, my mind gripped by many sorrows, when lo! a vision suddenly arose of the deadly pestilence that Libitina4 brought to English soil, while grim Death – fearful with her sepulchral torch – entered the gleaming marble palaces of the nobility, beat upon massive walls of gold and jasper, and did not shrink from mowing down troops of nobles with her scythe. Then I remembered that famous leader and his revered brother,9 whose bones were burned on untimely fires; and I remembered the heroes whom all Belgia12 saw carried off to Heaven, the lost leaders whom she mourned. But above all I mourned for you, most worthy Bishop, once the great glory of your Winchester. I melted with tears, and thus complained with sad speech: ’Fierce Death, goddess second to Tartarean Jove,16 is it not enough that the forest feels your rage, and that you are given power over the grassy fields, and that the lily, the crocus, and the rose sacred to beautiful Cypris20 all wither before your putrid breath? Is it not enough that you forbid the oak on the river-bank to look forever on the water flowing by it? The multitude of birds that glide on their wings through the bright air submit to you, despite their gift of prophecy, and so do the thousand beasts that wander in dark forests, and the silent herd that feeds in the caves of Proteus.26 Envious goddess, when so much power has been granted to you, what pleasure can there be in staining your hands with human blood? What pleasure is there in sharpening arrows to pierce a noble breast, and driving a half-divine soul from its home?’