by John Milton
(Nov. ? 1638)
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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.
Mansus
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.
Hæc quoque, Manse, tuæ meditantur carmina laudi
Pierides,1 tibi, Manse choro notissime Phœbi,
Quandoquidem ille alium haud æquo est dignatus honore,
Post Galli cineres, et Mecænatis Hetrusci.2
5
Tu quoque si nostræ tantùm valet aura Camœnæ,
Victrices hederas inter, laurosque sedebis.
Te pridem magno felix concordia Tasso
Junxit, et æternis inscripsit nomina chartis.
Mox tibi dulciloquum non inscia Musa Marinum3
10
Tradidit, ille tuum dici se gaudet alumnum,
Dum canit Assyrios divûm 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 chara fefellit amici,
Vidimus arridentem operoso ex ære poetam.
Nec satis hoc visum est in utrumque, et nec pia cessant
Officia in tumulo, cupis integros rapere Orco,
Quà potes, atque avidas Parcarum eludere leges:
20
Amborum genus, et variâ sub sorte peractam
Describis vitam, moresque, et dona Minervæ;4
Æmulus illius Mycalen qui natus ad altam
Rettulit Æolii vitam facundus Homeri.5
Ergo ego te Cliûs6 et magni nomine Phœbi,
25
Manse pater, jubeo longum slavere per ævum
Missus Hyperboreo7 juvenis peregrinus ab axe.
Nec tu longinquam bonus aspernabere Musam,
Quæ nuper gelidâ 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,
Quà Thamesis latè puris argenteus urnis
Oceani glaucos perfundit gurgite crines.
Quin et in has quondam pervenit Tityrus8 oras.
35
Sed neque nos genus incultum, nec inutile Phœbo,
Quà plaga septeno mundi sulcata Trione
Brumalem patitur longâ sub nocte Boöten.9
Nos etiam colimus Phœbum, nos munera Phœbo
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 herbosâ Graiæ de more puellæ
Carminibus lætis memorant Corineïda Loxo,
Fatidicamque Upin, cum flavicomâ Hecaërge
Nuda Caledonio variatas pectora fuco.10
Fortunate senex,11 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 turn sponte tuos habitasse penates
55
Cynthius, et famulas venisse ad limina Musas:
At non sponte domum tamen idem, et regis adivit
Rura Pheretiadæ cælo fugitivus Apollo;12
Ille licet magnum Alciden susceperat hospes;
Tantùm ubi clamosos placuit vitare bubulcos,
60
Nobile mansueti cessit Chironis13 in antrum,
Irriguos inter saltus frondosaque tecta
Peneium prope rivum: ibi sæpe sub ilice nigrâ
Ad citharæ strepitum blandâ prece victus amici
Exilii duros lenibat voce labores.
65
Turn neque ripa suo, barathro nec fixa sub imo,
Saxa stetere loco, nutat Trachinia rupes,
Nec sentit solitas, immania pondera, silvas,
Emotæque suis properant de collibus omi,
Mulcenturque novo maculosi carmine lynces.
70
Diis dilecte senex, te Jupiter æquus oportet
Nascentem, et miti lustrarit lumine Phœbus,
Atlantisque nepos;14 neque enim nisi charus ab ortu
Diis superis poterit magno favisse poetæ.
Hinc longæva tibi lento sub flore senectus
75
Vernat, et Æsonios15 lucratur vivida fusos,
Nondum deciduos servans tibi frontis honores,
Ingeniumque vigens, et adultum mentis acumen.
O mihi si mea sors talem concedat amicum
Phœbæos decorâsse viros qui tam bene norit,
80
Si quando indigenas revocabo in carmina reges,
Arturumque etiam sub terris bella moventem;
Aut dicam invictæ sociali fœdere mensæ,
Magnanimos Heroas, et (O modo spiritus adsit)
Frangam Saxonicas Britonum sub Marte phalanges.
85
Tandem ubi non tacitæ permensus tempora vitæ,
Annorumque satur cineri sua jura relinquam,
Ille mihi lecto madidis astaret ocellis,
Astanti sat erit si dicam, sim tibi curæ;
Ille meos artus liventi morte solutos
90
Curaret parvâ componi molliter urnâ.
Forsitan et nostros ducat de marmore vultus,
Nectens aut Paphiâ myrti aut Parnasside lauri16
Fronde comas, at ego securâ pace quiescam.
Turn quoque, si qua fides, si præmia certa bonorum,
95
Ipse ego
cælicolûm semotus in æthera divûm,
Quò labor et mens pura vehunt, atque ignea virtus,
Secreti hæc aliquâ mundi de parte videbo
(Quantum fata sinunt) et totâ mente serenùm
Ridens purpureo suffundar lumine vultus
100
Et simul æthereo plaudam mihi lætus Olympo.
Manso
John Baptista Manso, Marquis of Villa, man of genius, well-praised already for his study of literature and also for his martial courage, is renowned in the foremost ranks among Italians. A dialogue on friendship written to him by Torquato Tasso is extant; for he was most friendly to Tasso; by whom likewise he is honored among the Campanian princes, in that poem which is titled Jerusalem Conquered, Book 20:
Among magnanimous and courteous cavaliers
Manso is resplendent.
He honored the author sojourning in Naples with the greatest kindness, and granted him many courteous attentions. To whom accordingly before he left that city, the visitor, so that he would not show himself ungrateful, sent this poem.
These verses also, Manso, the Pierides1 are meditating / in your praise; for you, Manso, well-known among the choir of Apollo, / since indeed after the death of Gallus and of Etruscan Maecenas,2 / he deems no other equally worthy in honor. / You also, if the breath of my Muse has power to such a degree, [5] / will sit among the victorious ivy and laurels. / Happy friendship joined you to the great Tasso / long ago, and has inscribed your names in everlasting scrolls. / Soon afterwards the Muse, not without wisdom, committed to you / the sweet-tongued Marini;3 he was pleased to be called your foster-son, [10] / when, prolix, he sang the Assyrian loves of the gods; / and, gentle, he benumbed the Ausonian nymphs with his song. / So that poet, dying, bequeathed his indebted remains to you alone / and his last wishes to you alone. / And your dear affection has not disappointed your friend’s shade; [15] / we have seen the poet smiling from his artfully wrought bronze. / But this was not perceived sufficiently in each one, and your tender services / did not end in the tomb; you wish to seize them unharmed from Orcus, / as well as you can, and to elude the greedy laws of the Fates: / you write the ancestry of both and each one’s life, achieved [20] / under changeable fortune, their traits, and their gifts from Athena;4 / eloquent rival of that man born in high Mycale / who recounted the life of Aeolian Homer.5 / Therefore, in the name of Clio6 and great Apollo, / father Manso, I bid you be well through a long life, [25] / a young pilgrim sent from an Hyperborean7 clime. / You, good man will not scorn a remote Muse, / who, hardly nourished under the frozen Bear, ignorant, / has recently ventured to fly to and fro through the Italian cities. / Furthermore I believe that in the dark shadows of night I have heard [30] / the swans singing on our river / where the silvery Thames with pure urns / widely bathes her gleaming tresses in the abyss of the ocean. / And of a truth Tityrus8 long ago attained these shores. / But we, neither an uncultivated race nor one unserviceable to Apollo, [35] / in the region of the world which is furrowed by the sevenfold Triones, / endure in the long night wintry Boötes.9 / We therefore worship Apollo; we have sent presents to him, / golden ears of grain, and yellow apples in baskets, / and fragrant crocus (unless antiquity bestows vain things), [40] / and choice dances from the race of the Druids. / (The ancient Druid nation, experienced in the sacred rites of the gods, / used to sing the praises of heroes and their emulable deeds.) / So often as the Greek maidens encircle with festive music / the altars in grassy Delos, according to their custom, [45] / they celebrate with happy songs Corinedian Loxo / and prophetic Upis, with flaxen-haired Hecaerge, / painted diversely to their naked breasts with Caledonian dye.10 / Fortunate old man!11 therefore, wherever through the world / the glory and the great name of Torquato shall be celebrated [50] / and the illustrious fame of immortal Marini shall grow anew, / you shall also spring repeatedly into the mouths and applause of men, / and with equal swiftness you shall tread upon the road of immortality. / It shall be said then that Apollo dwelled in your house of his own accord, / and that the Muses came as attendants to your doors: [55] / and yet not freely did that same Apollo, fugitive from heaven, / approach the rural home of King Admetus,12 / although he had been host to great Hercules; / when he wished so much to escape the noisy ploughmen, / he retired to the renowned cave of the gentle Chiron13 [60] / among the moist woodlands and leafy abodes / near the river Peneus: there often under the dark ilex, / to the sound of the cithara, won by his friend’s soft plea, / he would lighten the hard labors of exile by his voice. / Then neither bank nor rocks fixed under the lowest abyss [65] / would stay in place; the Trachinian cliff tottered, / and no longer felt the vast weight in its accustomed forests, / and displaced mountain-ashes hastened from their hills, / and the spotted lynxes were soothed by the strange song. / Old man, beloved of the gods, favorable Jove must have been present [70] / at your birth, and Phoebus must have purified you with his mellow light, / and the grandson of Atlas;14 for no one, unless favored from birth / by the heavenly gods, could have befriended a great poet. / Therefore to you old age blooms with lasting flower, / and, vigorous, gains the spindles of Aeson,15 [75] / preserving the honors of brow not yet falling to you, / and esteeming your talents and mature power of mind. / O if my lot might grant me such a friend, / one who so well knows how to honor the devotees of Apollo, / if ever I shall recall our native kings in songs, [80] / and likewise Arthur waging wars under the earth; / or proclaim the magnanimous heroes of the invincible table / with their convenant of companionship, and (O only let the spirit be present) / shatter the Saxon phalanxes under British Mars. / And when at last, having traversed the hours of a not silent life, [85] / and full of years, I bequeath to the ashes their due, /he should stand by my couch with tearful eyes, / it shall be enough if I might say to him standing there, Would I were in your care; / he would be solicitous for my limbs, relaxed by livid death, / gently to be gathered in a little urn. [90] / And perhaps he might fashion my features from marble, / fastening my locks with a garland of either Paphian myrtle / or Parnassian laurel,16 so I should rest in untroubled peace. / Then also, if to that degree faithful, if certain of the rewards of the good, / I myself, far removed in the upper air of the heaven-dwelling gods, [95] / where labor and a pure mind and fervid virtue lead, / shall see these things from some part of the secret world / (as many as the fates allow), and with my whole heart, / smiling, shall be suffused with brilliant light on my serene face / and at the same time I shall congratulate myself, full of joy, on ethereal Olympus. [100]
(Dec. 1638)
* * *
1 the Muses.
2 Cornelius Gallus (69–26 B.C.) established the elegy as a main form of Latin poetry; Gaius Maecenas was patron of a literary circle which included Virgil, Horace, Propertius, and Varius.
3 Giambattista Marini (1569-1625) was author of Adone (1623), which recounts the love of Venus for Adonis, the sun-god of the Assyrians (l. 11). “Ausonian,” l. 12, means Italian.
4 Manso wrote a biography of Tasso, but one of Marini is unknown except for this reference. The gifts of Athena are wisdom and intellectual pursuits.
5 Herodotus, supposedly born in Mycale, a promontory of Asia Minor.
6 the Muse of history.
7 northern.
8 Chaucer, whom Spenser represented thus in Shepheardes Calendar, Feb., 92; June, 81; Dec., 4. Spenser sang of the swans on the Thames in Prothalamion, 37 ff.
9 See Ely, n. 12. The Triones (ploughing oxen) were the seven principal stars in each of the Bears.
10 Loxo, Upis, and Hecaerge—names for Diana, who was born on Delos—are northern (Corinedian, British) maidens in Callimachus’ Hymn to Delos, 291-94.
11 In Milton’s mind was Virgil’s Ec. I, 46, praising one retired to his farm.
12 Apollo, exiled for vengeance on the Cyclops, served as a serf with Admetus, king of Pherae, for a year. For the visit of Hercules, see Son. 23, n. 2.
13 the centaur, who lived in Thessaly; the Trachinian cliff (l. 66) is Mt. Oeta.
15 Aeson was restored to youth by his daughter-in-law Medea, thus reversing the spindles of the Fates.
16 from Paphos, sacred to Venus, and Mt. Parnassus, sacred to the Muses.
Ad Leonoram Romæ canentem1
Angelus unicuique suus (sic credite gentes)
Obtigit æthereis ales ab ordinibus.
Quid mirum, Leonora, tibi si gloria major?
Nam tua præsentem vox sonat ipsa Deum.
5
Aut Deus, aut vacui certè mens tertia cœli2
Per tua secretò guttura serpit a gens;
Serpit agens, facilisque docet mortalia corda
Sensim immortali assuescere posse sono.
Quòd si cuncta quidem Deus est, per cunctaque fusus,
10
In te unâ loquitur, cætera mutus habet.
To Leonora singing in Rome1
Each person’s own particular angel (so believe, nations) / from the heavenly orders protects us with his wings. / What wonder, Leonora, if a greater glory be yours? / Certainly your voice itself pours forth the presence of God. / Either God or certainly a third mind from the empty skies2 [5] / secretly winds through your throat effectively; / winds effectively and willingly teaches mortal hearts / how they may gradually become accustomed to immortal sounds. / But if God is all things in truth, and through all things diffused, / in you alone he speaks, and holds all others mute. [10]
(Feb. ? 1639)