by John Milton
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
Spiritus4 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, Arionii9 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 Phœbus10 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 Aoniæ11 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.
115
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.
To my Father
Now I long for the Pierian1 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 Clio2 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 Sibyl3 / 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 everlas
ting 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 spirit4 that circles the swift planets [35] / even now himself is singing with heavenly verses / his immortal melody and indescribable song; / while the glittering serpent5 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] /
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.
Ad Salsillum poetam Romanum ægrotantem1
O Musa gressum quæ volens trahis claudum,2
Vulcanioque3 tarda gaudes incessu,
Nec sentis illud in loco minus gratum,
Quàm cùm decentes flava Dëiope4 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, Hebes7
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 re
ges
Nimiùm sinistro laxus irruens loro:
40
Sed fræna melius temperabit undarum,
Adusque curvi salsa regna Portumni.11
To Salzilli, a Roman poet, being ill1
O Muse who willingly drags along with a limping step2 / 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 Deiope4 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 melody6 with your Roman mouth. / O sweet gift of the gods, O health, Hebe’s7 / 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