by John Milton
(Oct ? 1626)
* * *
1 Lancelot Andrewes, who died on Sept. 25, 1626.
2 the Italian goddess of the dead. The plague was severe in London in 1625-26.
3 often identified as Duke Christian of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, who died in the Low Countries (Belgia) during the Thirty Years’ War on June 6, 1626, and Count Ernest of Mansfeld, who died on Nov. 29. Adherents of the Protestant cause, they were brothers in arms only. Or perhaps they were King James (died Mar. 27, 1625) and Maurice, Prince of Orange (died Apr. 23, 1625).
4 Pluto, god of hell and brother of Jove.
5 Venus.
6 The belief was the basis of the Roman auspices (avis spicere), originally signs from birds in flight or song, which were prescriptions of conduct and prayer to determine whether the gods were favorable.
7 Proteus, the changeable ancient of the sea, herded the seals of Neptune.
8 the evening star.
9 Spanish, i.e., western.
10 Iris, goddess of the rainbow.
11 goddess of spring and flowers, and wife of the West Wind. The garden of Alcinous is described in Od., VI, 291–94.
12 the river in Spain, noted for its golden sand in the reflected sun.
13 Zephyr.
14 “bearer of light,” the Sun.
15 Rev. xiv. 13: “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me: ‘Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them’.”
16 Rev. xiv. 2: “And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.”
17 Aurora, the dawn.
In obitum Præsulis Eliensis1
Adhuc madentes rore squalebant genæ,
Et sicca nondum lumina
Adhuc liquentis imbre turgebant salis,
Quem nuper effudi pius,
5
Dum mæsta charo justa persolvi rogo
Winstoniensis præsulis;2
Cum centilinguis Fama (proh semper mali
Cladisque vera nuntia)
Spargit per urbes divitis Britanniæ,
10
Populosque Neptuno3 satos,
Cessisse morti, et ferreis sororibus4
Te, generis humani decus,
Qui rex sacrorum illâ fuisti in insulâ
Quæ nomen Anguillæ tenet.5
15
Tunc inquietum pectus irâ protinus
Ebulliebat fervidâ,
Tumulis potentem sæpe devovens deam:
Nec vota Naso6 in Ibida
Concepit alto diriora pectore,
20
Graiusque vates parciùs
Turpem Lycambis execratus est dolum,
Sponsamque Neobolen suam.7
At ecce diras ipse dum fundo graves,
Et imprecor neci necem,
25
Audisse tales videor attonitus sonos
Leni, sub aurâ, flamine:8
Cæcos furores pone, pone vitream
Bilemque et irritas minas.
Quid temerè violas non nocenda numina,
30
Subitoque ad iras percita?
Non est, ut arbitraris elusus miser,
Mors atra Noctis filia,
Erebóve patre creta, sive Erinnye,
Vastóve nata sub Chao:9
35
Ast illa cælo missa stellato, Dei
Messes ubique colligit;
Animasque mole carneâ reconditas
In lucem et auras evocat:
Ut cum fugaces excitant Horæ diem
40
Themidos Jovisque filiæ;10
Et sempiterni ducit ad vultus patris;
At justa raptat impios
Sub regna furvi luctuosa Tartari,
Sedesque subterraneas.
45
Hanc ut vocantem lætus audivi, citò
Fœdum reliqui carcerem,
Volatilesque faustus inter milites
Ad astra sublimis feror:
Vates ut olim raptus ad cœlum senex11
50
Auriga currus ignei.
Non me Boötis terruere lucidi
Sarraca tarda frigore, aut
Formidolosi Scorpionis brachia,
Non ensis Orion tuus.12
55
Prætervolavi fulgidi solis globum,
Longéque sub pedibus deam
Vidi triformem,13 dum coercebat suos
Frænis dracones aureis.
Erraticorum syderum per ordines,
60
Per lacteas vehor plagas,
Velocitatem sæpe miratus novam,
Donec nitentes ad fores
Ventum est Olympi, et regiam Crystallinam, et
Stratum smaragdis Atrium.14
65
Sed hic tacebo, nam quis effari queat
Oriundus humano patre
Amœnitates illius loci?15 mihi
Sat est in æternum frui.
On the death of the Bishop of Ely1
As yet my cheeks were not dry with flowing tears, / and eyes not yet dry, / still were they swollen with the rain of salt liquid, / which lately I, respectful, poured forth, / while I rendered sorrowful obsequies to the esteemed bier [5] / of the bishop of Winchester;2 / when hundred-tongued Fame (alas always / the true messenger of evil and misfortune) / spreads through the cities of affluent Britain / and to the people sprung from Neptune3 [10] / that you had yielded to death, and to the cruel sisters,4 / you, the ornament of the race of men, / who were the prince of saints in that island / which retains the name of Eel.5 / Directly at that time my restless breast [15] / surged with fervid anger, / frequently cursing the goddess powerful in the grave: / Ovid6 in Ibis conceived / no more ominous vows in the depth of his heart, / and the Greek poet, more sparing, [20] / cursed the dishonorable deceit of Lycambes, / and of Neobule, his own betrothed.7 / But lo! while I pour out these harsh curses / and invoke death upon death, / astonished, I seem to hear such sounds as these, [25] / on the gentle breeze beneath the air:8 / “Put away your blind madness; put away your transparent / melancholy and your ineffectual threats. / Why do you thoughtlessly profane deities unable to be harmed / and roused swift to wrath? [30] / Death is not, as you think, deluded wretch, / the dark daughter of Night, / nor sprung from her father Erebus, nor from Erinys, / nor born under desolate Chaos.9 / But she, sent from the starry heaven, [35] / gathers the harvest of God everywhere; / and souls hidden by their fleshy bulk / calls forth into light and air, / as when the flying Hours arouse the day, / the daughters of Themis and Jove;10 [40] / and she leads them into the presence of the eternal Father, / but, just, she sweeps the impious / to the doleful realms of gloomy Tartarus, / to the infernal abodes. / Happy, when I heard her calling, quickly [45] / I left my loathsome prison / and, fortunate, amid the winged warriors / I was borne aloft to the stars, / like the venerable prophet of old,11 snatched up to heaven, / driver of the fiery chariot. [50] / The wain of shining Boötes did not frighten me, / slow from the cold, nor / the claws of fearsome Scorpion, / not even your sword, Orion.12 / I flew past the globe of the gleaming sun, [55] / and far below my feet I saw / the triform goddess,13 whilst she restrained / her dragons with golden reins. / Through rows of wandering stars, / through the milky regions I was conveyed, [60] / often amazed at my strange speed, / until to the shining portals / of Olympus I was come, and the crystalline realm / and the court paved with beryl.14 / But here I shall be silent, for who is able to proclaim, [65] / descended from human father, / the pleasures of that place?15 For me / it is enough to enjoy them through eternity.”
(Oct. ? 1626)
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1 Nicholas Felton (1556-1626), Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, from 1617 to 1619 when he succeeded Lancelot Andrewes as Bishop of Ely. He died on Oct. 6.
2 Lancelot Andrewes, whose death was mourned in El. 3.
3 See Nov. 5, n. 1.
4 the three Fates.
5 the etymological meaning of Ely (“island of eels”).
6 whose poem attacks an unidentified enemy.
7 Archilochus was in love with Neobule, daughter of Lycambes, who at first allowed and then forbade their marriage; to avenge himself he wrote such bitter satires that father and daughter hanged themselves.
8 The following lines, to the end, are spoken by Felton’s spirit.
9 According to Cicero (De Natura Deorum, III, xvii, 44), Death is a child of Night by Erebus, offspring of Chaos (the lower world). Erinys was one of the three Furies.
10 The Hours kept watch at the gates of heaven. Themis personified Justice.
11 Elijah (2 Kings ii. 11).
12 In flight he passes three heavenly constellations: Boötes, lying in the north and meaning “ox herder,” appears to move slowly; it is near the Great Bear, known as the Wain (wagon). Scorpio, lying in the south, is named for its similarity to a scorpion. Orion, lying on the equator, is in the figure of a hunter with belt and sword.
13 The moon (Diana) was triform because she was the virgin moon-goddess, the patroness of virginity, and the presider over child-birth, the chase, and nocturnal incantations. The threefold identification rests upon the phases of the moon: increasing, full, and waning. As goddess of nocturnal incantations she was identified with Hecate. As Davis P. Harding shows (“Milton and the Renaissance Ovid” [Harvard Univ. Press, 1946], p. 50), the dragons of the moon were associated with Hecate because they descended to Medea when she invoked the goddess’ help to flee from Jason’s wrath.
14 Rev. xxi. 19-21: “And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones /… the eighth, beryl… / And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.”
15 1 Cor. ii. 9: “But it is written, Eve hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
In obitum Procancellarii medici1
Parére fati discite legibus,
Manusque Parcæ2 jam date supplices,
Qui pendulum telluris orbem
Jäpeti3 colitis nepotes.
5
Vos si relicto mors vaga Tænaro4
Semel vocârit flebilis, heu moræ
Tentantur incassùm dolique;
Per tenebras Stygis ire certum est.
Si destinatam pellere dextera
10
Mortem valeret, non ferus Hercules
Nessi venenatus cruore
Æmathiâ jacuisset Œtâ.5
Nec fraude turpi Palladis invidæ
Vidisset occisum Ilion Hectora,6 aut
15
Quem7 larva Pelidis peremit
Ense Locro, Jove lacrymante.
Si triste fatum verba Hecatëia8
Fugare possint, Telegoni parens9
Vixisset infamis, potentique
20
Ægiali soror10 usa virgâ.
Numenque trinum fallere si queant
Artes medentûm, ignotaque gramina,
Non gnarus herbarum Machaon
Eurypyli cecidisset hastâ.11
25
Læsisset et nec te, Philyreie,12
Sagitta echidnæ perlita sanguine,
Nec tela te fulmenque avitum
Cæse puer genitricis alvo.13
Tuque O alumno major Apolline,
30
Gentis togatæ cui regimen datum,
Frondosa quem nunc Cirrha luget,
Et mediis Helicon in undis,14
Jam præfuisses Palladio gregi
Lætus, superstes, nec sine gloria,
35
Nec puppe lustrasses Charontis
Horribiles barathri recessus.
At fila rupit Persephone tua
Irata, cum te viderit artibus
Succoque pollenti tot atris
40
Facibus eripuisse mortis.
Colende præses, membra precor tua
Molli quiescant cespite, et ex tuo
Crescant rosae, calthæque busto,
Purpureoque hyacinthus ore.
45
Sit mite de te judicium Æaci,15
Subrideatque Ætnæa16 Proserpina,
Interque felices perennis
Elysio spatiere campo.
On the death of the Vice-Chancellor, a Physician1
Learn to submit to the laws of destiny / and now offer up suppliant hands to the Parca,2 / descendants of Japetus,3 who inhabit / the pendulous orb of the earth. / If doleful death, wandering [5] / from abandoned Taenarus,4 once summon you, alas: delays / and deceptions are essayed in vain; / through the shadows of the Styx one is certain to go. / If the right hand were strong enough / to rout appointed death, the untamed Hercules, [10] /poisoned by the blood of Nessus, / would not have been cast down on Emathian Oeta.5 / Nor would Troy have seen Hector6 slain / by the shameful deceit of envious Pallas, nor / him7 whom the ghost of Achilles killed [15] / with Locrian sword, Jove shedding tears. / If the incantations of Hecate8 could put / sad fate to flight, the parent of Telegonus9 / would have lived in infamy, and / the sister of Aegialeus10 to employ her potent wand. [20] / And if the arts of the physician and unknown herbs / were able to deceive the triple divinity, / Machaon, knowing so much of herbs, / would not have fallen by the spear of Eurypylus;11 / neither would the arrow smeared with the hydra’s blood [25] / have wounded you, son of Philyra,12 / nor the missiles and thunderbolt of your grandfather, you, / boy cut from your mother’s womb.13 / And you, O greater than your pupil, Apollo, / to whom the government of our gowned society was given, [30] / and whom now leafy Cirrha mourns / and Helicon in the midst of its waters,14 / now you would be the happy leader to the Palladian troop, / surviving, not without glory; / nor in Charon’s boat would you traverse [35] / the fearful recesses of hell. / But Persephone broke your thread of life, / angered, when she saw you by your arts / and powerful potions snatch so many / from the black jaws of death. [40] / Reverend Chancellor, I pray your limbs / find peace in the gentle soil, and from your grave / spring roses and marigolds / and the hyacinth with purple face. / May the judgment of Aeacus15 be gentle upon you, [45] / and may Sicilian16 Prosperina smile, / and forever among the fortunate / may you walk in the Elysian field.
(Oct.–Nov. 1626)
* * *
1 Dr. John Gostlin, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge and Regius Professor of Medicine from 1623, died on Oct. 21, 1626.
2 one of the three Fates; specifically, Morta, who controlled the advent of death.
3 As father of Atlas, Prometheus, and Epimetheus, he was considered mankind’s common progenitor.
4 the infernal regions.
5 To win back Hercules’ love, his wife Deianira followed the advice of the dying Nessus to smear a robe with his blood, which Hercules was to wear; but since Nessus’ blood had been stained with the blood of the hydra, also killed by Hercules, the robe caused fatal poisoning. Hercules had himself placed on a pyre on Mt. Oeta in Macedonia.
6 Athena, disguised as Hector’s brother Deiphobus, urged him to fight with Achilles, in which battle he was slain.
7 Sarpedon, son of Jove, who was slain by Patroclus, wearing Achilles’ armor.
8 goddess of enchantments.
9 Circe.
10 Medea, who was learned in magic.
11 Machaon, surgeon to the Greeks at Troy, was a son of Aesculapius.
12 Chiron was wounded by one of Hercules’ arrows poisoned by the hydra’s blood.
13 Aesculapius, so delivered by his father Apollo, was killed by Jove, Apollo’s father, because he saved men from death.
14 In an extravagance Milton has Apollo, god of healing, learning from Gostlin, and Cirrha (near Delphi) and Helicon (the haunt of the Muses) equating Cambridge with its poetic mourners.
15 a judge of the dead, appointed because of his justice in ruling Aegina.
16 Sicilian because she was carried off from Enna in Sicily by Pluto.
In proditionem Bombardicam1
Cum simul in regem nuper satrapasque Britannos
Ausus es infandum, perfide Fauxe, nefas,
Fallor? an et mitis voluisti ex parte videri,
Et pensare malâ cum pietate scelus?