Terra parens, terræque et cœlo interfluus aer, Quicquid et unda tegit, pontique agitabile mar mor, Per te nôffe licet, per te, fi nôffe libebit: Dimotâque venit fpectanda fcientia nube, Nudáque confpicuos inclinat ad ofcula vultus, Ni fugiffe velim, ni fit libâffe moleftum. 90 I nunc, confer opes, quifquis malefanus avitas Auftriaci gazas, Perüanaque regna, præoptas. Quæ potuit majora pater tribuiffe, vel ipfe 95 Jupiter, excepto, donâffet ut omnia, cœlo? Non potiora dedit, quamvis et tuta fuiffent, Publica qui juveni commifit lumina nato, Atque Hyperionios currus, et fræna diei, Et circùm undantem radiatâ luce tiaram. Ergo ego, jam doctæ pars quamlibet ima catervæ, Victrices hederas inter laurófque sedebo; Jámque nec obfcurus populo mifcebor inerti, Vitabúntque oculos veftigia noftra profanos. Efte procul, vigiles Curæ, procul efte, Querelæ, Invidiæque acies tranfverfo tortilis hirquo, 106 100 Ver. 93. I nunc, confer opes,] Ovid, Epift. Heroid. xii. 204. "I nunc, Sifyphias, improbe, confer opes." T. WARTON. Ver. 101. Ergo ego, &c.] Hor. Od. I. i. 29. "Me doctarum ederæ præmia frontium Ver. 106. Invidiæque acies tranfverfo tortilis hirquo,] The beft comment on this line, as Mr. Richardfon and Mr. Warton Sæva nec anguiferos extende, Calumnia, rictus; In me triste nihil, fœdiffima turba, poteftis, Nec veftri fum juris ego; fecuráque tutus Pectora, vipereo gradiar fublimis ab ictu. 110 At tibi, chare pater, poftquam non æqua merenti Poffe referre datur, nec dona rependere factis, Sit memorâffe fatis, repetitáque munera grato Percenfere animo, fidæque reponere menti. Et vos, O noftri, juvenilia carmina, lufus, 115 Si modò perpetuos fperare audebitis annos, Et domini fupereffe rogo, lucémque tueri, Nec fpiffo rapient oblivia nigra fub Orco ; Forfitan has laudes, decantatúmque parentis Nomen, ad exemplum, fero fervabitis ævo*. 120 have both remarked, is the following defcription of envy, raifed to the highest pitch, in Par. Loft, B. iv. 502. * Such productions of true genius, with a natural and noble confcioufnefs anticipating its own immortality, are feldom found to fail. T. WARTON. Ad Salfillum, Poetam Romanum, ægrotantem*. SCAZONTES. O MUSA, greffum quæ volens trahis claudum, Nec fentis illud in loco minus gratum, 5 * Giovanni Salfilli had complimented Milton at Rome in a Latin tetraftich, for his Greek, Latin, and Italian, poetry. Milton, in return, fent thefe elegant Scazontes to Salfilli when indifpofed. T. WARTON. Ver. 1. O Mufa, greffum quæ volens trahis claudum,] Mr. Bowle here cites Angelinus Gazæus, a Dutch poet, in Pia Hilaria. Antv. 1629. p. 79. "Subclaudicante tibiâ redi, Scazon." It is an indispensable rule, which Milton has not here always ob ferved, that the Scazon is to clofe with a spondee preceded by an iambus. T. WARTON. Mr. Bowle adds from the Affanie of Ch, Fitz-Geoffrey, L. ii. fign. F. 3. b. 1601. Scazontes. "Adefte Scazon, melleum genus metri, "Suavè claudicans Iambicum carmen." Milton, however regardless of the indifpenfable Latin Canon, might perhaps think himfelf countenanced by the licence admitted into Greek Scazons. See Hephæftion. TODD. Ver. 4. Quàm cùm decentes flava Deiope &c.] As the Mufes fing about the altar of Jupiter, in Il. Penf. v. 47. This pagan theology is applied in Paradife Loft; of the angels, B. v. 161. "and with fongs, "And choral fymphonies, day without night, Ver. 5. Alternat] Compare Par. L.. B. v. 162, and the note on the word alternate. TODD. 10 Adefdum, et hæc s'is verba pauca Salfillo O dulce divûm munus, O Salus, Hebes 15 20 25 Ver. 23. O dulce divûm munus, &c.] I know not any finer modern Latin lyrick poetry, than from this verfe to the end. The close which is digreffional, but naturally rifes from the subject, is perfectly antique. T. WARTON. Ver. 25. five tu magis Pæan Libenter audis,] So, in Epitaph. Damon. 209. "Sive aquior audis Diodatus." He has transferred this claffical expreffion into Par. Loft, B. iii. 7. Where fee the note. TODD. Ver. 27. Querceta Fauni, &c.] Faunus was one of the deities Colles benigni, mitis Evandri fedes, Numa, ubi beatum degit otium æternum, รา 30 35 brought by Evander into Latium, according to Ovid, Faft, B. v. 99. This is a poetical addrefs to Rome. T. WArton. Ver. 28. mitis Evandri fedes,] The epithet mitis is finely characteristick of Evander. T, WARTON, Ver. 33. Ipfe inter atros emirabitur lucos &c,] Very near the city of Rome, in the middle of a gloomy grove, is a romantick cavern with a spring, where Numa is fabled to have received the Roman laws from his wife Egeria, one of Diana's Nymphs. The grove was called nemus Aricinum, and fometimes Lucus Egeriæ et Camanarum, and the fpring Fons Egerie. See Ovid's Faft. iii. 275. And, when Numa died, Egeria is faid to have retired hither, to lament his death. See Qvid, Metam, xv. 487. On these grounds Milton builds the prefent beautiful fiction, that Numa, ftill living in this dark grove in the perpetual contemplative enjoyment of his Egeria, from thence will liften with wonder to the poetry of the neighbouring bard. This place is much frequented in fultry weather by the people of Rome, as a cool retreat. See Montfauc, Diar. Ital. c. xi. p, 152. edit. 1702, Milton might have visited it while at Rome. T. WARTON, Ver. 38, Nec in fepulchris ibit obsessum reges, Nimiùm finiftro luxus irruens loro:] This was Horace's inundation of the Tiber, Od. i. ii. 18. |