The Complete Poetry of John Milton (40 page)
Read The Complete Poetry of John Milton Online
Authors: John Milton
Tags: #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #Poetry, #European
38
Lines 165-81 are perhaps said by Michael, the redeeming voice, as William G. Madsen argues in
SEL
, III (1963), 1-7.
39
the sun.
40
Christ.
41
inexpressible.
42
Rev. xxi. 4: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.”
43
pastoral.
Nunc mea Pierios
1
cupiam per pectora fontes
Irriguas torquere vias, totumque per ora
Volvere laxatum gemino de vertice rivum;
Ut tenues oblita sonos audacibus alis
5
Surgat in officium venerandi Musa parentis.
Hoc utcunque tibi gratum, pater optime, carmen
Exiguum meditatur opus, nec novimus ipsi
Aptiùs à nobis quæ possint munera donis
Respondere tuis, quamvis nec maxima possint
10
Respondere tuis, nedum ut par gratia donis
Esse queat, vacuis quæ redditur arida verbis.
Sed tamen hæc mostros ostendit pagina census,
Et quod habemus opum chartâ numeravimus istâ,
Quæ mihi sunt nullæ, nisi quas dedit aurea Clio
2
15
Quas mihi semoto somni peperere sub antro,
Et nemoris laureta sacri Parnassides umbræ.
Nec tu vatis opus divinum despice carmen,
Quo nihil æthereos ortus, et semina cæli,
Nil magis humanam commendat origine mentem,
20
Sancta Promethéæ retinens vestigia flammæ.
Carmen amant superi, tremebundaque Tartara carmen
Ima ciere valet, divosque ligare profundos,
Et triplici duros Manes adamante coercet.
Carmine sepositi retegunt arcana futuri
25
Phœbades, et tremulæ pallentes ora Sibyllæ;
3
Carmina sacrificus sollennes pangit ad aras
Aurea seu sternit motantem cornua taurum;
Seu cùm fata sagax fumantibus abdita fibris
Consulit, et tepidis Parcam scrutatur in extis.
30
Nos etiam patrium tunc cum repetemus Olympum,
Æternæque moræ stabunt immobilis ævi,
Ibimus auratis per cæli templa coronis,
Dulcis suaviloquo sociantes carmina plectro,
Astra quibus, geminique poli convexa sonabunt.
35
Spiritus
4
et rapidos qui circinat igneus orbes,
Nunc quoque sydereis intercinit ipse choreis
Immortale melos, et inenarrabile carmeni
Torrida dum rutilus compescit sibila serpens,
5
Demissoque ferox gladio mansuescrit Orion;
40
Stellarum nec sentit onus Maurusius Atlas.
Carmina regales epulas ornare solebant,
Cum nondum luxus, vastæque immensa vorago
Nota gulæ, et modico spumabat cœna Lyæo.
6
Turn de more sedens festa ad convivia vates
45
Æsculeâ intonsos redimitus ab arbore crines,
Heroumque actus, imitandaque gesta canebat,
Et chaos, et positi latè fundamina mundi,
Reptantesque Deos, et alentes numina glandes,
7
Et nondum Ætnæo quæsitum fulmen ab antro.
8
50
Denique quid vocis modulamen inane juvabit,
Verborum sensusque vacans, numerique loquacis?
Silvestres decet iste choros, non Orphea cantus,
Qui tenuit fluvios et quercubus addidit aures
Carmine, non citharâ, simulachraque functa canendo
55
Compulit in lacrymas; habet has à carmine laudes.
Nec tu perge precor sacras contemnere Musas,
Nec vanas inopesque puta, quarum ipse peritus
Munere, mille sonos numeros componis ad aptos,
Millibus et vocem modulis variare canoram
60
Doctus, Arionii
9
meritò sis nominis hæres.
Nunc tibi quid mirum, si me genuisse poëtam
Contigerit, charo si tam propè sanguine juncti
Cognatas artes, studiumque affine sequamur?
Ipse volens Phœbus
10
se dispertire duobus,
65
Altera dona mihi, dedit altera dona parenti,
Dividuumque Deum genitorque puerque tenemus.
Tu tamen ut simules teneras odisse camœnas,
Non odisse reor, neque enim, pater, ire jubebas
Quà via lata patet, quà pronior area lucri,
70
Certaque condendi fulget spes aurea nummi:
Nec rapis ad leges, malè custoditaque gentis
Jura, nec insulsis damnas clamoribus aures.
Sed magis excultam cupiens ditescere mentem,
Me procul urbano strepitu, secessibus altis
75
Abductum Aoniæ
11
jucunda per otia ripæ
Phœbæo lateri comitem finis ire beatum.
Officium chari taceo commune parentis,
Me poscunt majora. Tuo, pater optime, sumptu
Cùm mihi Romuleæ patuit facundia linguæ,
80
Et Latii veneres, et quæ Jovis ora decebant
Grandia magniloquis elata vocabula Graiis,
Addere suasisti quos jactat Gallia flores,
Et quam degeneri novus Italus ore loquelam
Fundit, Barbaricos testatus voce tumultus,
85
Quæque Palæstinus loquitur mysteria vates.
12
Denique quicquid habet cælum, subjectaque cœlo
Terra parens, terræque et cœlo interfluus aer,
Quicquid et unda tegit, pontique agitabile marmor,
Per te nosse licet, per te, si nosse libebit.
90
Dimotàque venit spectanda scientia nube,
Nudaque conspicuous inclinat ad oscula vultus,
Ni fugisse velim, ni sit libâsse molestum.
I nunc, confer opes quisquis malesanus avitas
Austriaci gazas, Perüanaque regna præoptas.
95
Quæ potuit majora pater tribuisse, vel ipse
Jupiter, excepto, donâsset ut omnia, cœlo?
Non potiora dedit, quamvis et tuta fuissent,
Publica qui juveni commisit lumina nato
Atque Hyperionios currus, et fræna diei,
100
Et circùm undantem radiatâ luce tiaram.
Ergo ego jam doctæ pars quamlibet ima catervæ
Victrices hederas inter, laurosque sedebo,
Jamque nec obscurus populo miscebor inerti,
Vitabuntque oculos vestigia nostra profanos.
105
Este procul, vigiles curæ, procul este querelæ,
Invidiæque acies transverso tortilis hirquo,
Sæva nec anguiferos extende, Calumnia, rictus;
In me triste nihil fœdissima turba potestis,
Nec vestri sum juris ego; securaque tutus
110
Pectora, vipereo gradiar sublimis ab ictu.
At tibi, chare pater, postquam non æqua merenti
Posse referre datur, nec dona rependere factis,
Sit memorâsse satis, repetitaque munera grato
Percensere animo, fidæque reponere menti.
Et vos, O nostri, juvenilia carmina, lusus,
Si modo perpetuos sperare audebitis annos,
Et domini superesse rogo, lucemque tueri,
Nec spisso rapient oblivia nigra sub Orco,
Forsitan has laudes, decantatumque parentis
120
Nomen, ad exemplum, sero servabitis ævo.
Now I long for the Pierian
1
fountains / to whirl their watery paths through my breast and to roll / through my mouth the entire stream released from the twin peaks / so that my Muse, her trifling songs forgotten, might rise / on spirited wings in courtesy of my revered father. [5] / However, this grateful song she is meditating for you, dear father, / is a poor attempt; yet I do not know myself / what gifts from me could more aptly / repay your gifts, although my greatest ones could never / repay yours, for by no means can barren gratitude which is paid [10] / with empty words be equal to your gifts. / But notwithstanding, this page exhibits mine, / and I have reckoned up on this paper whatever I possess of abilities, / which to me are insignificant, save those which golden Clio
2
has given, / those which to me slumbers have begotten in the remote cave [15] / and the laurel groves of the sacred wood, Parnassian shadows. /
You should not despise the poet’s task, divine song, / than which nothing commends more completely the offspring of heaven / to their ethereal origins, or the human mind to its lineage, / for song preserves a holy spark of Promethean fire. [20] / The gods love song, and song has power to stir / the trembling depths of Tartarus, and to bind the lower gods; / and it restrains the stern shades with triple adamant. / By song the priestesses of Apollo and the pale lips of the fearful Sibyl
3
/ disclose the mysteries of the distant future. [25] / The sacrificial priest composes songs at altars, / both when he strews about the altar pieces of the bull which shakes its golden horns / and when, sagacious, he consults hidden destinies / in the steaming entrails and seeks out the Fate in the warm viscera. / Besides, when finally we return to our native Olympus [30] / and the everlasting ages of immutable eternity are established, / we shall walk with golden crowns through the temples of heaven, / with a sweet lyre uniting us in soft songs, / to which the stars and the vault of heaven will resound from the twin poles. / And the fiery spirit
4
that circles the swift planets [35] / even now himself is singing with heavenly verses / his immortal melody and indescribable song; / while the glittering serpent
5
checks his burning hisses / and with lowered sword fierce Orion becomes gentle, / and Mauretanian Atlas no longer suffers his burden of stars. [40] / Songs were used to embellish regal banquets, / luxury and the boundless depths of an enormous appetite / were not yet known, and the dinner table foamed forth for temperate Lyaeus;
6
/ then according to custom a poet, sitting at festal banquets, / his unshorn tresses crowned with a garland from the oak, [45] / sang deeds of heroes and emulable achievements / and chaos and the foundations of the far-reaching earth, / the creeping gods and deities feeding on acorns,
7
/ and the thunderbolt not yet sought from the cavern of Etna.
8
/ And lastly what will support the melody of a petty voice, [50] / empty of words and sense, and of expressive rhythm? / Such music is suitable for forest choruses, not for Orpheus, / who restrained the rivers and gave ears to the oaks / by his song, not by his cithara, and singing stirred / the shades of the dead to tears; that fame he owes to his song. [55] /