The Complete Poetry of John Milton (54 page)
Read The Complete Poetry of John Milton Online
Authors: John Milton
Tags: #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #Poetry, #European
10
To conquer still; peace hath her victories
No less renown’d then warr, new foes arise
Threatning to bind our souls with secular chains:
3
Help us to save free Conscience from the paw
Of hireling wolves whose Gospell is their maw.
4
(
May 1652
)
1
Luke ix. 62: “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
2
Cromwell was victorious against the Scots at the battle near Preston on the Darwen, Aug. 17-20, 1648; at Dunbar, Scotland, Sept. 3, 1650; and at Worcester, Sept. 3, 1651.
3
Fifteen proposals were offered in Mar. 1652 to the Committee for the Propagation of the Gospel by some of its members, recommending that the clergy be supported by the State. Spiritual matters (“our souls”) would thus be subject to “secular chains.” To maintain freedom of moral action, Milton believed, no excess or undue manner of giving or taking recompense can exist in the church (
Hirelings
, p. 8). The gospel should not be used for remuneration, nor should we listen to those who are thinking only of their own stomachs and pleasures.
4
John x. 12: “But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.”
Vane
,
1
young in yeares, but in sage counsell old,
Then whom a better Senator ne’re held
The helm of
Rome
, when gowns not armes repell’d
The feirce
Epeirot
and th’
African
bold,
2
5
Whether to settle peace or to unfold
The drift of hollow states
3
hard to be spell’d,
Then to advise how warr may best, upheld,
Move by her two main nerves, Iron and Gold
4
In all her equipage; besides to know
10
Both spirituall power and civill, what each means,
What severs each thou hast learnt, which few have don.
The bounds of either sword
5
to thee we ow.
Therfore on thy firm hand religion leans
In peace, and reck’ns thee her eldest son.
(
June ? 1652
)
1
Sir Henry Vane the Younger (1613–1662), councillor of state, one of the commissioners who settled the union with Scotland and its civil government (Dec. 1651–Mar. 1652), and committeeman appointed to establish relations and alliances with European powers.
2
The Roman Senate rejected peace with Pyrrhus of Epeirus despite his victories at Heraclea (280 B.C.) and Ausculam (279 B.C.), and rallied the people in 216 B.C. to stave off Hannibal, the Carthaginian leader, after his successes in 218-217.
3
the United Provinces (the Netherlands); Milton puns on the name “Holland” with its low-lying land and on its alleged insincerity. The Navigation Act of Oct. 1651, aiming at breaking Dutch maritime supremacy, precipitated the first Anglo-Dutch War in 1652. Vane endeavored to maintain peace, but ended negotiations in June when it became evident that the Dutch did not really want peace. Like the Epeirots and the Carthaginians, the Dutch were initially successful.
4
Among others Cicero (
Philippics
, V, 2) called money the nerves of war, and Machiavelli (
Discourses
, II, x) compared armed force as iron sinew. The lines allude to Vane’s activities as member of the committee of defence and as treasurer of the navy.
5
the spiritual sword and the civil sword. Vane advocated broad religious tolerance, arguing against the proposals of the committee for the propagation of faith; in this he showed awareness of the limits and the separation of these powers. His example not followed, it was necessary to counsel Richard Cromwell and Parliament further in 1659: “both commonwealth and religion will at length, if ever, flourish in Christendom, when either they who govern discern between civil and religious, or they only who so discern shall be admitted to govern” (
Treatise of Civil Power
, p. A5
r
).
1
Blest is the man who hath not walk’d astray
In counsel of the wicked, and i’th way
Of sinners hath not stood, and in the seat
Of scorners hath not sate. But in the great
5
Jehovahs Law is ever his delight,
And in his Law he studies day and night.
He shall be as a tree which planted grows
By watry streams, and in his season knows
To yield his fruit, and his leaf shall not fall,
10
And what he takes in hand shall prosper all.
Not so the wicked, but as chaff which fann’d
The wind drives, so the wicked shall not stand
In judgment, or abide their tryal then,
Nor sinners in th’ assembly of just men.
15
For the Lord knows th’ upright way of the just,
And the way of bad men to ruin must.
(
Aug. 7 ?, 1653
)
1
The following eight psalms experiment with various meters, rhyme schemes, and rhythms, perhaps as exercises prefatory to renewed poetic activity. It is probably significant that their run-on lines and frequent full medial stops move close to the continuity of rhythm in the blank verse of
PL;
Hunter (“Sources,” p. 143) remarks that “their syllabic nature is the same as that of
PL.
” These translations were undoubtedly important in the full development of reversed feet (e.g., in No. 7) and the displaced caesura (e.g., in No. 2) which characterize Milton’s mature poetry. Milton makes no attempt in these close translations to maintain the verse structure of either the Hebrew originals or standard English renditions.
Parker (“Date of
SA
,” pp. 161 ff.) calls attention to the anguished entreaty and sense of God’s protection in these psalms, which may reflect personal afflictions.
1
Why do the Gentiles tumult, and the Nations
Muse a vain thing, the Kings of th’ earth upstand
With power, and Princes in their Congregations
Lay deep their plots together through each Land,
Against the Lord and his Messiah dear.
Let us break off, say they, by strength of hand
Their bonds, and cast from us, no more to wear,
Their twisted cords: he who in Heav’n doth dwell
Shall laugh, the Lord shall scoff them, then severe
10
Speak to them in his wrath, and in his fell
And fierce ire trouble them; but I saith hee
Anointed have my King (though ye rebell)
On Sion my holi’hill. A firm decree
I will declare; the Lord to me hath said
15
Thou art my Son; I have begotten thee
This day; ask of me, and the grant is made;
As thy possession I on thee bestow
Th’ Heathen, and as thy conquest to be sway’d
Earths utmost bounds: them shalt thou bring full low
20
With Iron Scepter bruis’d, and them disperse
Like to a potters vessel shiver’d so.
And now be wise at length ye Kings averse
Be taught ye Judges of the earth; with fear
Jehovah serve, and let your joy converse
25
With trembling; kiss the Son least he appear
In anger and ye perish in the way
If once his wrath take fire like fuel sere.
Happy all those who have in him their stay.
(
Aug. 8, 1653
)
1
Here Milton used Dante’s
terza rima
or, as he labeled these stanzas,
terzetti
, but the lines are not end-stopped.
When he fled from
Absalom.
Lord how many are my foes,
How many those
That in arms against me rise.
Many are they
That of my life distrustfully thus say,
No help for him in God there lies.
But thou Lord art my shield my glory,
Thee through my story
Th’ exalter of my head I count;
10
Aloud I cry’d
Unto Jehovah, he full soon reply’d
And heard me from his holy mount.
I lay and slept, I wak’d again,
For my sustain
15
Was the Lord. Of many millions
The populous rout
I fear not though incamping round about
They pitch against me their Pavillions.
Rise Lord, save me my God for thou
20
Hast smote ere now
On the cheek-bone all my foes,
Of men abhorr’d
Hast broke the teeth. This help was from the Lord;
Thy blessing on thy people flows.
(
Aug. 9, 1653
)
Answer me when I call
God of my righteousness;
In straits and in distress
Thou didst me disinthrall
5
And set at large; now spare,
Now pity me, and hear my earnest praier.
Great ones how long will ye
My glory have in scorn,
How long be thus forborn
10
Still to love vanity,
To love, to seek, to prize
Things false and vain and nothing else but lies?
Yet know the Lord hath chose,
Chose to himself apart
15
The good and meek of heart
(For whom to chuse he knows);
Jehovah from on high
Will hear my voyce what time to him I crie.
Be aw’d, and do not sin,
20
Speak to your hearts alone,
Upon your beds, each one,
And be at peace within.
Offer the offerings just
Of righteousness and in Jehovah trust.