The Complete Poetry of John Milton (41 page)
Read The Complete Poetry of John Milton Online
Authors: John Milton
Tags: #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #Poetry, #European
Do not continue, I beg, to contemn the sacred Muses, / and do not deem them fruitless and contemptible, by whose favor / you yourself, skillful, compose a thousand sounds to apt numbers, / and are trained to vary the melodious voice with countless modulations, / so that you are deservedly the heir of Arion’s name.
9
[60] / Now since it has fallen to me to have been born a poet, / why is it strange to you that we, so closely joined by dear blood, / should follow related arts and kindred endeavor? / Apollo,
10
wishing to disperse himself between the two, / gave to me certain gifts, to my father others, [65] / and father and son, we possess the divided god. /
Although you may maintain that you hate the similar Muses of poetry, / I believe you do not. For, father, you did not bid me go / where the way lies broad, where the field of wealth is easier / and the golden hope of amassing money glitters sure; [70] / neither do you force me to the laws and the courts of the people, / so poorly overseen, nor do you doom my ears to insipid noises. / But wishing more completely to enrich my cultivated mind, / you permit me to walk by Apollo’s side, his blessed companion, / removed far from city din to high retreats, [75] / for the sake of the pleasant leisures of the Aonian stream.
11
/ I do not recount an esteemed father’s usual kindness; / greater things demand my pen. When at your expense, most honored father, / I was exposed to the eloquence of the language of Romulus / and to the charms of Latin, and the lofty names of the magniloquent Greeks, [80] / which are fitting for the sublime lips of Jove, / you advised me to add the flowers which France boasts / and the language which the modern Italian pours from his / degenerate mouth, witness by his speech to the barbarian wars, / and the mysteries which the Palestinian prophet pronounces.
12
[85] / And finally all that heaven holds and earth, our parent, / bordering upon the sky, and the air flowing between the earth and sky, / and whatever water covers, and the surface of the restless sea, / through you I am allowed to know, through you, if I will be so disposed to know. / From a separated and observing cloud knowledge appears [90] / and, naked, she bends her conspicuous features to my kisses, / unless I should wish to flee, unless it be lamentable to taste. /
Go now, gather riches, fool, you who prefer / the ancient treasures of Austria and the Peruvian lands. / What father could bestow a greater gift, or Jove himself, [95] / with the exception of heaven, if he had given all? / He bestowed no more preferable gifts, however many might have been prudent, / who trusted to his young son the common light, / the chariot of Hyperion, the reins of day, / and the tiara waving about with radiant brightness. [100] / Therefore, now that I am a part of the learned company, however humble, / I shall sit among the ivy and the laurels of the victor. / And now I shall no longer mingle unknown with the indolent rabble / and my steps shall shun profane eyes. / Begone, sleepless cares; begone, complaints, [105] / and the twisted gaze of envy with oblique goatish leer. / And do not open your serpentine jaws, fell Calumny; / you can do nothing disagreeable to me, O most detestable band, / nor am I under your authority, and with heart secure / I shall walk, lifted high from your viperous stroke. [110] /
But to you, dear father, since it is not granted me to be able / to return gifts equal to your due or to repay for your deeds, / let it be enough to have remembered, and with a grateful mind / to enumerate your repeated offices and preserve them in a loyal heart. /
And you, O my juvenile songs and amusements, [115] / if only you dare to hope for immortality / and to remain after your master’s death, and to gaze upon the light, / and if dark oblivion does not carry you beneath dense Orcus, / perhaps you will preserve these praises and the name of the father / sung again and again, as an example to a future generation. [120]
(
Mar. 1638 ?
)
1
See
El.
4, n. 10.
2
See
El.
4, n. 10.
3
the Sibyls at Delphi, and the Cumaean Sibyl who prophesied Aeneas’ wars in Latium and led him through the world of the dead (
Aen.
, VI).
4
Apollo, the Sun, god of poetry and music.
5
For the Serpent (Scorpio) and Orion, see
Ely
, n. 12; for Atlas, see
Idea
, n. 6.
6
See
El.
6, n. 6.
7
the Titans who had not yet learned agriculture.
8
The Cyclops forged Jove’s thunderbolt below Mt. Etna.
9
the semi-legendary poet saved from drowning by a dolphin, who was charmed by his song. Milton’s father had contributed music to various song collections, including settings for psalms.
10
that is, since Apollo was god of both poetry and music.
11
See
El.
4, n. 10.
12
in the Old Testament.
1
O Musa gressum quæ volens trahis claudum,
2
Vulcanioque
3
tarda gaudes incessu,
Nec sentis illud in loco minus gratum,
Quàm cùm decentes flava Dëiope
4
suras
5
Alternat aureum ante Junonis lectum,
Adesdum et hæc s’is verba pauca Salsillo
Refer, camœna nostra cui tantum est cordi,
Quamque ille magnis prætulit immeritò divis.
5
Hæc ergo alumnus ille Londini Milto,
10
Diebus hisce qui suum linquens nidum
Polique tractum (pessimus ubi ventorum,
Insanientis impotensque pulmonis
Pernix anhela sub Jove exercet flabra),
Venit feraces Itali soli ad glebas,
15
Visum superbâ cognitas urbes famâ
Virosque doctæque indolem juventutis,
Tibi optat idem hic fausta multa, Salsille,
Habitumque fesso corpori penitùs sanum;
Cui nunc profunda bilis infestat renes,
20
Præcordiisque fixa damnosùm spirat.
Nec id pepercit impia quòd tu Romano
Tam cultus ore Lesbium condis melos.
6
O dulce divûm munus, O salus, Hebes
7
Germana! Tuque Phœbe, morborum terror
25
Pythone cæso, sive tu magis Pæan
Libentur audis,
8
hic tuus sacerdos est.
Querceta Fauni, vosque rore vinoso
Colles benigni, mitis Evandri sedes,
9
Siquid salubre vallibus frondet vestris,
30
Levamen ægro ferte certatim vati.
Sic ille charis redditus rursùm Musis
Vicina dulci prata mulcebit cantu.
Ipse inter atros emirabitur lucos
Numa, ubi beatum degit otium æternum,
35
Suam reclivis semper Ægeriam spectans.
10
Tumidusque et ipse Tibris hinc delinitus
Spei favebit annuæ colonorum:
Nec in sepulchris ibit obsessum reges
Nimiùm sinistro laxus irruens loro:
40
Sed fræna melius temperabit undarum,
Adusque curvi salsa regna Portumni.
11
1
O Muse who willingly drags along with a limping step
2
/ and is pleased with a halting gait like Vulcan’s,
3
/ and who perceives that in its fitting place it is no less gratifying / than when the flaxen-haired Deiope
4
with well-formed calves / dances before the golden couch of Juno, come hither, [5] / if it pleases you, and carry back these few words to Salzilli, / by whom our poetry is prized so cordially, / and who preferred it, undeservedly, before that of the divine poets.
5
/ These things, therefore, that same Milton, brought up in London, / speaks forth, who lately forsaking his nest [10] / and that region of the northern skies (where the worst of the winds, / with raging and violent lungs, / the one that is so brisk, lets forth his gasping blasts beneath the heavens) / came alone to the fertile soil of Italy / to see its cities known to proud fame [15] / and its men and the talents of its learned youth, / to you that same Milton, Salzilli, wishes many blessings / and a healthy constitution deep within for your weakened body; / whose reins now an excessive bile impairs / and, firmly settled, emits its poison from its seat beneath your heart. [20] / Nor has the accursed thing had mercy although you, / so very cultivated, fashion Lesbian melody
6
with your Roman mouth. / O sweet gift of the gods, O health, Hebe’s
7
/ sister! And you, Phoebus, terror of diseases / as a result of slain Python, or Paean if you more [25] / willingly give ear,
8
this man is your priest. / Oak forests of Faunus, and yon hills rich / with wine-tasting dew, the seats of kindly Evander,
9
/ if any healthful plant grows in your valleys, / let it eagerly speed relief to the ailing poet. [30] / Thus restored anew to his dear Muses he / will delight the neighboring meadows with his sweet song. / Numa himself will marvel among the gloomy woods / where he spends blessed, eternal leisure, / leaning backwards, gazing always at his Egeria.
10
[35] / And the swelling Tiber itself, from this time calmed, / will favor the annual hope of the farmers: / nor will it run, slackened on its left rein / in excess filled, rushing over kings in their tombs; / but it will better control the bridle of its waves [40] / even to the salt realms of curving Portumnus.
11
(
Nov. ? 1638
)
1
Giovanni Salzilli, a minor poet, contributed eleven sonnets and four other poems to
Poesie de Signori Accademici Fantastici
(1637). The two poets met while Milton was touring Italy in 1638-39.
2
Labelled “Scazontes,” these iambic verses employ a reversed final foot (a trochee or spondee), thus producing a “limping” effect.
3
Vulcan was lame from birth.
4
one of Juno’s nymphs.
5
Salzilli’s commendatory epigram printed in the 1645 edition asserts that Milton should be crowned with the triple laurel of poetry, for he surpasses the Greek, Latin, and Etruscan (Italian) poets.
6
poetry apparently imitative of the lyrics of Alcaeus and Sappho, both of Lesbos.
7
goddess of youth.
8
The invocation “Ie Paion” was a part of a song of healing addressed to Apollo, who had slain the dragon Python, personification of the evils of the underworld.
9
The woodland deity Faunus, guardian of crops and king of Latium, the Roman hills, and Evander, founder of a colony on the banks of the Tiber, are called upon since Salzilli lies ill in Rome.
10
Numa, legendary king of Rome, attributed with having written many books on sacred law, would be amazed at a restored Salzilli. Egeria, goddess of fountains, counseled Numa by a sacred spring.
11
The Tiber frequently inundated surrounding areas, particularly those on the lower left bank. Portumnus, the god of harbors, is perhaps called “curving” because of the location of ports at shore indentations and because of the sinuousness of the Italian coast where the Tiber empties into the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Joannes Baptista Mansus, Marchio Villensis, vir ingenii laude, turn literarum studio, nec non et bellicâ virtute apud Italos clarus in primis est. Ad quem Torquati Tassi dialogus extat de Amicitiâ scriptus; erat enim Tassi amicissimus; ab quo etiam inter Campaniæ principes celebratur, in illo poemate cui titulus
Gerusalemme conquistata, lib. 20.
Fra cavalier magnanimi, è cortesi
Risplende il Manso—
Is authorem Neapoli commorantem summâ benevolentiâ prosecutus est, multaque ei detulit humanitatis officia. Ad hunc itaque hospes ille antequam ab eâ urbe discederet, ut ne ingratum se ostenderet, hoc carmen misit.