by John Milton
Fra cavalier magnanimi, è cortesi
Risplende il Manso…
Is authorem Neapoli commorantem summa benevolentia prosecutus est, multaque ei detulit humanitatis officia. Ad hunc itaque hospes ille antequam ab ea urbe discederet, ut ne ingratum se ostenderet, hoc carmen misit.
Haec quoque Manse tuae meditantur carmina laudi
Pierides, tibi Manse choro notissime Phoebi,
Quandoquidem ille alium haud aequo est dignatus honore,
Post Galli cineres, et Mecaenatis Hetrusci.
5 Tu quoque si nostrae tantum valet aura Camenae,
Victrices hederas inter, laurosque sedebis.
Te pridem magno felix concordia Tasso
Iunxit, et aeternis inscripsit nomina chartis.
Mox tibi dulciloquum non inscia Musa Marinum
10 Tradidit; ille tuum dici se gaudet alumnum,
Dum canit Assyrios divum prolixus amores;
Mollis et Ausonias stupefecit carmine nymphas.
Ille itidem moriens tibi soli debita vates
Ossa, tibi soli supremaque vota reliquit.
15 Nec manes pietas tua cara fefellit amici;
Vidimus arridentem operoso ex aere poetam.
Nec satis hoc visum est in utrumque, et nec pia cessant
Officia in tumulo; cupis integros rapere Orco,
Qua potes, atque avidas Parcarum eludere leges:
20 Amborum genus, et varia sub sorte peractam
Describis vitam, moresque, et dona Minervae;
Aemulus illius Mycalen qui natus ad altam
Rettulit Aeolii vitam facundus Homeri.
Ergo ego te Clius et magni nomine Phoebi
25 Manse pater, iubeo longum salvere per aevum
Missus Hyperboreo iuvenis peregrinus ab axe.
Nec tu longinquam bonus aspernabere Musam,
Quae nuper gelida vix enutrita sub Arcto
Imprudens Italas ausa est volitare per urbes.
30 Nos etiam in nostro modulantes flumine cygnos
Credimus obscuras noctis sensisse per umbras,
Qua Thamesis late puris argenteus urnis
Oceani glaucos perfundit gurgite crines.
Quin et in has quondam pervenit Tityrus oras.
35 Sed neque nos genus incultum, nec inutile Phoebo,
Qua plaga septeno mundi sulcata Trione
Brumalem patitur longa sub nocte Booten.
Nos etiam colimus Phoebum, nos munera Phoebo
Flaventes spicas, et lutea mala canistris,
40 Halantemque crocum (perhibet nisi vana vetustas)
Misimus, et lectas Druidum de gente choreas.
(Gens Druides antiqua sacris operata deorum
Heroum laudes imitandaque gesta canebant.)
Hinc quoties festo cingunt altaria cantu
45 Delo in herbosa Graiae de more puellae
Carminibus laetis memorant Corineida Loxo,
Fatidicamque Upin, cum flavicoma Hecaerge,
Nuda Caledonio variatas pectora fuco.
Fortunate senex, ergo quacunque per orbem
50 Torquati decus, et nomen celebrabitur ingens,
Claraque perpetui succrescet fama Marini,
Tu quoque in ora frequens venies plausumque virorum,
Et parili carpes iter immortale volatu.
Dicetur tum sponte tuos habitasse penates
55 Cynthius, et famulas venisse ad limina Musas.
At non sponte domum tamen idem, et regis adivit
Rura Pheretiadae caelo fugitivus Apollo;
Ille licet magnum Alciden susceperat hospes;
Tantum ubi clamosos placuit vitare bubulcos,
60 Nobile mansueti cessit Chironis in antrum,
Irriguos inter saltus frondosaque tecta
Peneium prope rivum: ibi saepe sub ilice nigra
Ad citharae strepitum blanda prece victus amici
Exilii duros lenibat voce labores.
65 Tum neque ripa suo, barathro nec fixa sub imo
Saxa stetere loco; nutat Trachinia rupes,
Nec sentit solitas, immania pondera, silvas;
Emotaeque suis properant de collibus orni,
Mulcenturque novo maculosi carmine lynces.
70 Diis dilecte senex, te Iupiter aequus oportet
Nascentem, et miti lustrarit lumine Phoebus,
Atlantisque nepos; neque enim nisi carus ab ortu
Diis superis poterit magno favisse poetae.
Hinc longaeva tibi lento sub flore senectus
75 Vernat, et Aesonios lucratur vivida fusos,
Nondum deciduos servans tibi frontis honores,
Ingeniumque vigens, et adultum mentis acumen.
O mihi si mea sors talem concedat amicum,
Phoebaeos decorasse viros qui tam bene norit,
80 Si quando indigenas revocabo in carmina reges,
Arturumque etiam sub terris bella moventem;
Aut dicam invictae sociali foedere mensae,
Magnanimos heroas, et (O modo spiritus adsit)
Frangam Saxonicas Britonum sub Marte phalanges.
85 Tandem ubi non tacitae permensus tempora vitae,
Annorumque satur cineri sua iura relinquam,
Illc mihi lecto madidis astaret ocellis,
Astanti sat erit si dicam sim tibi curae;
Ille meos artus, liventi morte solutos,
90 Curaret parva componi molliter urna.
Forsitan et nostros ducat de marmore vultus,
Nectens aut Paphia myrti aut Parnasside lauri
Fronde comas, at ego secura pace quiescam.
Tum quoque, si qua fides, si praemia certa bonorum,
95 Ipse ego caelicolum scmotus in aethera divum,
Quo labor et mens pura vehunt, atque ignea virtus,
Secreti haec aliqua mundi de parte videbo
(Quantum fata sinunt), et tota mente serenum
Ridens purpureo suffundar lumine vultus,
100 Et simul aethereo plaudam mihi laetus Olympo.
Manso
Giovanni Battista Manso, Marquis of Villa, is one of the most renowned gentlemen in Italy, not only for his famous intellect and literary interests, but also for his military prowess. There is extant a dialogue On Friendship which Torquato Tasso dedicated to him, for he was a close friend of Tasso, who praised him among the Campanian nobles in that poem entitled Jerusalem Conquered, Book XX:
Among magnanimous and courteous knights
Manso shines…
When the present author was staying in Naples, the Marquis treated him with the greatest kindness, and showed him many courteous attentions. Before he left the city, therefore, his guest sent him this poem, so as not to seem ungrateful.
These verses too,1 Manso, the Pierides2 sing in your praise; in praise of you, Manso, so well known to Phoebus’ choir, for the god has deemed hardly anyone worthy of equal honour since the death of Gallus and Etruscan Maecenas.4 You also, if the breath of my Muse has power, will sit among victorious ivy and laurels.6
You were once joined to the great Tasso in a glad friendship that has written your names in the records of eternity. Soon afterwards the Muse – knowing what she did – entrusted the sweet-tongued Marino9 to your care. He delighted to be called your foster-son while he wrote at length of the gods’ Assyrian loves;11 his sweet song entranced the young women of Italy. Dying, this poet left his bones, as was right, to you alone; to you alone he entrusted his last wishes. Nor has your loving devotion failed your friend’s spirit; we have seen him smiling from his sculptured bronze.16 But to you this did not seem sufficient for either poet, and your loyal services did not cease at the tomb. You wished, so far as you could, to snatch them from Orcus18 unharmed and so cheat the voracious laws of the Fates; so you wrote an account of their lineage, the varying fortune of their lives, their characters, and their gifts from Minerva.21 Thus you rival him born on lofty Mycale22 – that eloquent biographer of Aeolian Homer.23 Therefore, father Manso, in the name of Clio24 and of great Phoebus, I, a youthful traveller sent f
rom Hyperborean26 skies, wish you a long and healthy life. You, in your benevolence, will not scorn a remote Muse who, though sparely nourished under the frozen Bear, has recently been rash enough to venture a flight through the cities of Italy. I believe that in the dark shades of night I too have heard swans30 singing on my river, where the silver Thames with pure urns lets her shimmering locks flow in the ocean’s wide flood. Indeed, our Tityrus34 once visited these shores.
But we are no uncultured race, useless to Phoebus, we who suffer long nights under wintry Boötes37 in that region of the world furrowed by the seven-starred Wain. We also worship Phoebus,38 and have sent him our gifts – golden ears of grain, baskets of rosy apples, the fragrant crocus (unless antiquity reports falsely) and choirs selected from the clan of the Druids. The ancient clan of the Druids was well versed in the rites of the gods, and would sing the praises of heroes and their exemplary deeds.43 So now, whenever Greek girls circle the altars of grassy Delos with festive chants, as is their custom, their joyful songs commemorate Loxo, daughter of Corineus,46 prophetic Upis, and flaxen-haired Hecaërge, damsels whose bare breasts were painted with Caledonian woad.
Fortunate old man! For wherever Torquato’s glory and great name will be honoured throughout the world, and wherever immortal Marino’s brilliant fame will spread, your name and fame will also be constantly on men’s lips, and you will enjoy an equal flight in your way to immortality. Men will then say that Cynthius55 was a willing guest in your house, and that the Muses came like maidservants to your door. For Apollo came unwillingly, a fugitive from heaven, to the house and fields of Pheretiades,57 even though that king had received great Alcides as his guest.58 When Apollo wished, as much as possible, to get away from the noisy ploughmen, he would retire to gentle Chiron’s60 famous cave, beside the river Peneus, amid well-watered forest pastures and leafy canopies. There, under the dark oak, yielding to his friend’s flattering entreaty, he often lightened the hard labours of exile by singing to the music of his lyre. Then neither the river banks nor the rocks fixed in the lowest chasm would stay in their places; the Trachinian cliff66 swayed to and fro and no longer felt its great, familiar burden of forests; the mountain ashes, uprooted, hastened from their hills, and spotted lynxes were tamed by the marvellous song.69
Aged man, beloved by the gods, Jupiter must have been favourable to you at birth, and Phoebus and the grandson of Atlas72 must have shed their kindly light on you, for no one could have befriended so great a poet unless he was dear to the gods from birth. That is why your old age is green with lingering blossoms and is still vigorous, with a life-thread as long as Aeson’s;75 your brow preserves its honours76 unwithered, your spirit is strong, and your mind as sharp as it is mature. O may Fate grant me such a friend, who knows so well how to honour the votaries of Phoebus – if ever I shall call back into song the kings of my native land, and Arthur waging war even under the earth,81 or tell of the great-hearted heroes of the Table, made invincible by their fellowship; and (if only I have the inspiration) I shall shatter the Saxon shield-wall84 with British arms! At last, when I have measured out a life in which poetry had not been silent, and when, full of years, I pay my last debt to the grave, that friend would stand by my bedside, with tears in his eyes, and it would be enough for me to say to him, as he stood there, ‘Take care of me.’ He would see to it that my limbs, relaxed in livid death, were gently laid in a small urn. Perhaps he might have my face copied in marble, binding my hair with leaves of Paphian myrtle92 or Parnassian laurel, and I should rest in tranquil peace. Then, if faith has any meaning, if rewards are assured for the righteous, I myself, having been transported to the celestial realms of the heavenly gods, where labour, a pure mind, and ardent virtue lead, shall see these events (so far as the Fates allow) from some part of that secret world, and with a wholly serene mind and my smiling face suffused with rosy light, I shall joyfully clap my hands on heavenly Olympus.
Epitaphium Damonis
Argumentum
Thyrsis et Damon eiusdem viciniae pastores, eadem studia sequuti a pueritia amici erant, ut qui plurimum. Thyrsis animi causa profectus peregre de obitu Damonis nuntium accepit. Domum postea reversus, et rem ita esse comperto, se, suamque solitudinem hoc carmine deplorat. Damonis autem sub persona hie intelligitur Carolus Deodatus ex urbe Hetruriae Luca paterno genere oriundus, caetera Anglus; ingenio, doctrina, clarissimisque caeteris virtutibus, dum viveret, iuvenis egregius.
Himerides nymphae (nam vos et Daphnin et Hylan,
Et plorata diu meministis fata Bionis)
Dicite Sicelicum Thamesina per oppida carmen:
Quas miser effudit voces, quae murmura Thyrsis,
5 Et quibus assiduis exercuit antra querelis
Fluminaque, fontesque vagos, nemorumque recessus,
Dum sibi praereptum queritur Damona, neque altam
Luctibus exemit noctem loca sola pererrans.
Et iam bis viridi surgebat culmus arista,
10 Et totidem flavas numerabant horrea messes,
Ex quo summa dies tulerat Damona sub umbras,
Nec dum aderat Thyrsis; pastorem scilicet ilium
Dulcis amor Musae Thusca retinebat in urbe.
Ast ubi mens expleta domum pecorisque relicti
15 Cura vocat, simul assueta seditque sub ulmo,
Tum vero amissum turn denique sentit amicum,
Coepit et immensum sic exonerare dolorem.
Ite domum impasti, domino iam non vacat, agni.
Hei mihi! quae terris, quae dicam numina coelo,
20 Postquam te immiti rapuerunt funere Damon;
Siccine nos linquis, tua sic sine nomine virtus
Ibit, et obscuris numero sociabitur umbris?
At non ille animas virga qui dividit aurea,
Ista velit, dignumque tui te ducat in agmen,
25 Ignavumque procul pecus arceat omne silentum.
Ite domum impasti, domino iam non vacat, agni.
Quicquid erit, certe, nisi me lupus ante videbit,
Indeplorato non comminuere sepulcro,
Constabitque tuus tibi honos, longumque vigebit
30 Inter pastores: illi tibi vota secundo
Solvere post Daphnin, post Daphnin dicere laudes
Gaudebunt, dum rura Pales, dum Faunus amabit:
Si quid id est, priscamque fidem coluisse, piumque,
Palladiasque artes, sociumque habuisse canorum.
35 Ite domum impasti, domino iam non vacat, agni.
Haec tibi certa manent, tibi erunt haec praemia Damon.
At mihi quid tandem fiet modo? quis mihi fidus
Haerebit lateri comes, ut tu saepe solebas
Frigoribus duris, et per loca foeta pruinis,
40 Aut rapido sub sole, siti morientibus herbis,
Sive opus in magnos fuit eminus ire leones,
Aut avidos terrere lupos praesepibus altis?
Quis fando sopire diem cantuque solebit?
Ite domum impasti, domino iam non vacat, agni.
45 Pectora cui credam? quis me lenire docebit
Mordaces curas, quis longam fallere noctem
Dulcibis alloquiis, grato cum sibilat igni
Molle pirum, et nucibus strepitat focus, at malus Auster
Miscet cuncta foris, et desuper intonat ulmo.
50 Ite domum impasti, domino iam non vacat, agni.
Aut aestate, dies medio dum vertitur axe,
Cum Pan aesculea somnum capit abditus umbra,
Et repetunt sub aquis sibi nota sedilia nymphae,
Pastoresque latent, stertit sub sepe colonus,
55 Quis mihi blanditiasque tuas, quis turn mihi risus,
Cecropiosque sales referet, cultosque lepores?
Ite domum impasti, domino iam non vacat, agni.
At iam solus agros, iam pascua solus oberro,
Sicubi ramosae densantur vallibus umbrae,
60 Hic serum expecto; supra caput imber et Eurus
Triste sonant, fractaeque agitata crepuscula silvae.
Ite domum i
mpasti, domino iam non vacat, agni.
Heu quam culta mihi prius arva procacibus herbis
Involvuntur, et ipsa situ seges alta fatiscit!
65 Innuba neglecto marcescit et uva racemo,
Nec myrteta iuvant; ovium quoque taedet, at illae
Moerent, inque suum convertunt ora magistrum.
Ite domum impasti, domino iam non vacat, agni.
Tityrus ad corylos vocat, Alphesiboeus ad ornos,
70 Ad salices Aegon, ad flumina pulcher Amyntas,
Hic gelidi fontes, hic illita gramina musco,
Hic Zephyri, hic placidas interstrepit arbutus undas;
Ista canunt surdo, frutices ego nactus abibam.
Ite domum impasti, domino iam non vacat, agni.
75 Mopsus ad haec, nam me redeuntem forte notarat
(Et callebat avium linguas, et sidera Mopsus)
Thyrsi quid hoc? dixit, quae te coquit improba bilis?
Aut te perdit amor, aut te male fascinat astrum,
Saturni grave saepe fuit pastoribus astrum;
80 Intimaque obliquo figit praecordia plumbo.
Ite domum impasti, domino iam non vacat, agni.
Mirantur nymphae, et quid te Thyrsi futurum est?
Quid tibi vis? aiunt, non haec solet esse iuventae
Nubila frons, oculique truces, vultusque severi;
85 Illa choros, lususque leves, et semper amorem
Iure petit; bis ille miser qui serus amavit.
Ite domum impasti, domino iam non vacat, agni.
Venit Hyas, Dryopeque, et filia Baucidis Aegle
Docta modos, citharaeque sciens, sed perdita fastu,
90 Venit Idumanii Chloris vicina fluenti;
Nil me blanditiae, nil me solantia verba,
Nil me, si quid adest, movet, aut spes ulla futuri.
Ite domum impasti, domino iam non vacat, agni.
Hei mihi quam similes ludunt per prata iuvenci,
95 Omnes unanimi secum sibi lege sodales,
Nec magis hunc alio quisquam secernit amicum
De grege; sic densi veniunt ad pabula thoes,
Inque vicem hirsuti paribus iunguntur onagri;
Lex eadem pelagi, deserto in littore Proteus
100 Agmina phocarum numerat, vilisque volucrum
Passer habet semper quicum sit, et omnia circum
Farra libens volitet, sero sua tecta revisens;
Quem si fors letho obiecit, seu milvus adunco
Fata tulit rostro, seu stravit arundine fossor,
105 Protinus ille alium socio petit inde volatu.