Poemata: Latin, Greek and Italian Poems

Примечания

1

Milton's Preface, Translated.

2

These complimentary pieces have been sufficiently censured by a great authority, but no very candid judge either of Milton or his panegyrists. He, however, must have a heart sadly indifferent to the glory of his country, who is not gratified by the thought that she may exult in a son whom, young as he was, the Learned of Italy thus contended to honour.—W.C.

3

The reader will perceive that the word "Angle" (i.e. Anglo– Saxon) is essential, because the epigram turns upon it.—W.C.

4

Meles is a river of Ionia, in the neighborhood of Smyrna, whence Homer is called Melesigenes. The Mincio watered the city of Mantua famous as the birthplace of Virgil. Sebetus is now called the Fiume della Maddalena—it runs through Naples.—W.C.

5

The muse of History.

6

The portrait of Helen was painted at the request of the people of Crotna, who sent to the artist all their lovliest girls for models. Zeuxis selected five, and united their separate beauties in his picture.

7

A river in Boeotia which took its rise in Helicon. See Virgil Ecl. vi.64

8

Translation of Dryden's Lines Printed Under the Engraved Portrait of Milton in Tonson's Folio Edition of "Paradise Lost," 1688.

9

This shocking outrage took place in 1790 whilst the Church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, was repairing. The overseers (for the sake of gain) opened a coffin supposed to be Milton's, found a body, extracted its teeth, cut off its hair, and left the remains to the grave–diggers, who exhibited them for money to the public.

10

Diodati was a schoolfellow of Milton at St. Paul's, of Italian extraction, nephew of Giovanni Diodati, the translator of the Bible into Italian, and son of Theodore Diodati, a physician of eminence, who married and settled in England. charles Diodati's early death formed the subject of The "Epitaphium Damonis" ("The Death of Damon").

11

The Dee of Chester.

12

The Vergivian Sea, so called by Ptolemy, was the Irish Sea between England and Ireland.

13

Cambridge.

14

Milton had been rusticated (suspended) on account of a quarrel with his tutor, Chappell.

15

Chappell.

16

Ovid.

17

In Thebes—the guilty lords are Eteocles and Polynices the brothers–sons of Oedipus and Jocasta, who fell in their unnatural strife.

18

Troy.

19

London. The Dardanian (i.e. Trojan) hands are those of Brutus, the legendary founder of London.

20

The magical plant by which Odysseus was enabled to escape from Circe. See Homer (Odyssey, x. 370–375).

21

Richard Redding of St. John's College, M.A. He died in October, 1626.

22

The Swan—Jove had turned himself into that bird.

23

i.e. Jason, who was restored to youth by his daughter Medea.

24

Esculapius, the god of medicine.

25

Hermes.

26

One of the heralds sent to Achilles by Agamemnon.

27

i.e. "In my seventeeth year," meaning at the age of sixteen.

28

Lancelot Andrewes, Fuller's "peerless prelate."

29

The plague which ravaged England in 1626.

30

Prince Christian of Brunswick, and Count Mansfelt. They were brothers in arms and the Protestant champions. They both died in 1626.

31

Marine creatures. Proteus was the shepherd of the seas.

32

Flora.

33

See the account of his gardens in the Odyssey.

34

Young was private tutor to Milton before he went to St. Paul's. (Milton's prose letter to Young is included in an appendix below.)

35

Aeolus, god of the east wind. Sicania was a name for Sicily.

36

Mother of the Nereids (sea–nymphs).

37

Drawn by winged dragons.

38

Triptolemus was presented by Ceres with a winged chariot.

39

A Saxon warrior slain by a giant.

40

Socrates.

41

Aristotle.

42

Alexander.

43

Chiron and Phoenix were the tutors of Achilles.

44

Helicon.

45

Alluding to the war between the Protestant League and the Imperialists.

46

The goddess of war.

47

Helicon.

48

The Great Bear, called also Charles's Wain (wagon). "Bootes" is the constellation called "The Waggoner," who is said to be "less fatigued" because he drives the wain higher in the sky.

49

Diana (the Moon).

50

Tithonus, mortal husband to Aurora (the dawn), granted immortality without eternal youth. See Homer's Hymn to Aphrodite (lines 218–238). Cephalus was her lover, unwillingly taken by her from his beloved wife Procris. See Ovid (Met. vii, 700–708).

51

Hades (Pluto).

52

A water goddess—mother of the river gods and wife of Oceanus.

53

The mother of Dionysus. Juno persuaded her to ask to see Jove in all his divine glory, the vision of which struck her dead. See Ovid (Met. iii, 308–309.)

54

The wheels of Apollo's chariot. See Ovid (Met. ii, 19–328.)

55

The goddess of chastity.

56

Hymn to Hymen, the goddess of marriage.

57

The wood god.

58

The goddess of agriculture. Cybele (Rhea) was called the mother of the gods and of men. See Virgil (Aen. x, 252–253.)

59

The god of shepherds.

60

A wood nymph.

61

A poet native to Teios in Ionia.

62

See Horace's Odes (i, 19–23).

63

Cerberus, the guardian of Hades.

64

Pythagoras.

65

A son of Apollo.

66

Tiresias was gifted by Pallas with the power of understanding the language of birds to atone for his loss of sight.

67

The Grecian soothsayer at the siege of Troy.

68

Orpheus.

69

Odysseus.

70

"The Hymn" from "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity."

71

i.e. "In my nineteenth year."

72

Venus (Aphrodite), so called from Amethus in Cyprus, where she had a temple.

73

Cupid, called after his mother's title.

74

Ganymede, whom Jove, in the form of an eagle, spirited away to serve as his cup–bearer. See Ovid (Met. x, 155–161)

75

The friend of Hercules, stolen by nymphs who had fallen in love with him.

76

She fled from Apollo, and was transformed into a laurel.

77

The Roman Crassus was defeated in 53 B.C. by the Parthian cavalry when they fired backwards with devastating effect. The Cydonians were also famed for their skill in archery.

78

Cephalus, who shot his wife Procris by mistake.

79

Hercules.

80

Telemon.

81

Esculapius, who came to Rome in the form of a snake.

82

Vulcan (Hephaestus) was cast down from Olympus to the isle of Lemnos.

83

One of the Argonauts. He was swallowed up by the sea.

84

A later retraction by Milton. The line appears in the original to separate it from what came before it.

85

Diomedes wounded Venus (Aphrodite) at Troy. See Homer (Il. v, 335–343)

86

The Poems on the subject of the Gunpowder Treason (This includes "On the Fifth of November" below.) I have not translated, both because the matter of them is unpleasant, and because they are written with an asperity, which, however it might be warranted in Milton's day, would be extremely unseasonable now.—W.C.

87

Leonora Baroni, celebrated Neapolitan singer. Milton heard her perform at the palace of Cardinal Barberini in 1638.

88

I have translated only two of the three poetical compliments addressed to Leonora, as they appear to me far superior to what I have omitted.—W.C.

89

Leonora d'Este, supposed lover of Torquato Tasso.

90

Adriana Baroni, who accompanied her daughter on the lute.

91

A mad Theban king.

92

One of the Sirens.

93

From Chalcis, whence the Greek colonies of South Italy came.

94

Added to the Elegies in the 1673 edition.

95

Dr. John Goslyn, Regius Professor of Medicine at Cambridge. He died on the 21st October, 1626.

96

A centaur whom Hercules shot with a poisoned arrow. Hercules was later poisoned by the centaur's blood–stained robe, which he was induced to put on.

97

Sarpedon. See Homer (Il. xvi, 477–491).

98

Circe and Medea were enchantresses.

99

Son of Esculapius. He was a healer to the Greeks during the siege of Troy. See Homer (Il. xi, 514).

100

The centaur Chiron was killed by Hercules's poisoned arrows.

101

Esculapius. He was killed by Jove's lightning for having saved too many from death.

102

Nicholas Felton.

103

Dr. Felton died a few days after Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester. See Milton's Third Elegy.

104

Ovid.

105

A Greek poet. He was refused by Lycambes as a suitor to his daughters, and in revenge lampooned the entire family. Lycambes's daughters hanged themselves.

106

Erebus and Erynnis are Furies.

107

See Milton's Fifth Elegy, line 6, and the note thereto.

108

The constellation Scorpio.

109

Pallas Athena (Minerva) had the head of the Gorgon Medusa in her shield; it turned all who looked upon it into stone.

110

Phaeton, who fled from the chariot of the Sun while driving it.

111

Venus.

112

The North–east promontory of Sicily.

113

The Hyacinth, favorite of Apollo. The Anemone, favorite of Venus.

114

Goddess of Memory and mother of the Muses.

115

Pallas Athena.

116

Waters of oblivion and forgetfulness.

117

Tiresins. See Milton's Sixth Elegy, line 68.

118

Hermes (Mercury).

119

Perhaps the legendary Phoenician sage, Sanchuniathon.

120

A legendary Assyrian king. Belus is the Assyrian god Bel.

121

Hermes Trismegistus, author of Neo–Platonic works must esteemed.

122

Plato.

123

A fount sacred to the Muses.

124

The Muse of History.

125

The Serpent, a constellation.

126

Bacchus, or Wine.

127

John Milton Sr. was a fine musician. Arion was a lyric poet of Methymna, in Lesbos, who was saved from drowning by dolphins which he charmed with his song.

128

Aonia is a plain in Boeotia.

129

France.

130

The Old Testament Scriptures.

131

Translated from the Latin, and not Milton's Greek poem. Milton's own English version, presented below, was done, he tells us, "at fifteen years old."

132

See Exodus, chapter 17.

133

Abraham.

134

Egyptian.

135

Greek lines placed by Milton beneath the engraved portrait of himself by William Marshall in the 1645 edition of his poems. The handsome Milton disliked Marshall's picture and took revenge with this epigram, which Marshall, ignorant of Greek, engraved beneath the portrait.

136

The original is written in a measure called Scazon, which signifies limping, and the measure is so denominated, because, though in other respects Iambic, it terminates with a Spondee, and has consequently a more tardy movement. The reader will immediately see that this property of the Latin verse cannot be imitated in English.—W.C.

137

Diopeia was one of Juno's nymphs.

138

The Aventine hill. Evander, great–grandson of Pallas, King of Arcadia, migrated to Italy about sixty years before the Trojan War.

139

Milton's Account of Manso, translated.

140

The Muses.

141

Cornelius Gallus, Roman eleist. See Virgil (Eclogue vi, 64–66, and x). Maecenas. Roman patron of letters. See Horace (Odes, i,1),

142

Author of the Adone, a poem on the story of Venus and Adonis.

143

Herodotus, to whom The Life of Homer is attributed.

144

Chaucer, called Tityrus in Spencer's Pastorals.

145

The maidens who brought offerings to Delos. Loxo, descended from the ancient British hero, Corineus; Upis, a prophetess; and Hecaerge.

146

Admetus was King of Thessaly. Apollo was for a year his shepherd.

147

See Homer (Il. xi, 830–831) and Ovid (Met. ii, 630).

148

Mt. Oeta, between Thessaly and Aetolia.

149

See Ovid (Met. x, 87–106), where the trees crowd the hear Orpheus sing.

150

Hermes.

151

The wreaths of victors, made from the laurel, which grew on Mt. Parnassus, sacred to the Muses, and the myrtle, sacred to Venus, a shrine to whom was at Paphos in Cyprus.

152

A river in Sicily.

153

Subject of Theocritus's Lament for Daphnis (Idyl i) in which Thyrsis is the mourning shepherd. Hylas was taken away by nymphs who admired his beauty and Bion is the subject of Moschus's Epitaph of Bion (Idyl iii).

154

Goddess who was protector of the flocks. Faunus is god of the plains and hills around Rome.

155

Characters in Ovid's Metamorphoses.

156

A river near St. Albans. Cassivellaunus was a British chieftan who opposed Caesar. See Gallic War (v, xi.)

157

Medicine. Diodati took medical training at Cambridge.

158

Milton's planned epic opened with the Dardanian (i.e. Trojan) fleet, under Brutus, approaching England.

159

Brennus and Belinus were kings of Brittany who, according to Spencer's Fairie Queen, "rasackt Greece" and conquered France and Germany. Arviragus led the Britons against Claudius.

160

See Malory's Morte d'Arthur.

161

A river in Oxford.

162

Goddess of the Dawn.

163

This Ode consists of three strophes and the same of antistrophes, concluding with an epode. Although these units do not perfectly correspond in their number of verses or in divisions which are strictly parallel, nevertheless I have divided them in this fashion with a view to convenience or the reader, rather than conformity with the ancient rules of versification. In other respects a poem of this kind should, perhaps, more correctly be called monostrophic. The metres are in part regularly patterned and in part free. There are two Phaleucian verses which admit a spondee in the third foot, a practice often followed by Catullus in the second foot. [Milton's Note, translated—W.C. This Ode is rendered without rhyme, that it might more adequately represent the original, which, as Milton himself informs us, is of no certain measure. It may possibly for this reason disappoint the reader, though it cost the writer more labour than the translation of any other piece in the whole collection.—W.C.

164

Italian.

165

The Muses, who dwelt on Mount Helicon in Aonia.

166

See Euripides' Ion.

167

Translation of a simile in Paradise Lost, "As when, from mountaintops, the dusky clouds Ascending, etc.—"(ii. 488)—W.C.

168

It has ever been thought difficult for an author to speak gracefully of himself, especially in commendation; but Milton, who was gifted with powers to overcome difficulties, of every kind, is eminently happy in this particular. He has spoken frequently of himself both in verse and prose, and he continually shows that he thought highly of his own endowments; but if he praises himself, he does it with that dignified frankness and simplicity of conscious truth, which renders even egotism respectable and delightful: whether he describes the fervent and tender emotions of his juvenile fancy, or delineates his situation in the decline of life, when he had to struggle with calamity and peril, the more insight he affords us into his own sentiments and feelings, the more reason we find both to love, and revere him.—W.C.

169

Written on Cromwell's behalf, this poem was originally attr. to Milton, hence Cowper's inclusion of it. It has since been recognized as the work of Marvell.

170

i.e. The Magpie.

171

Salmasius attempted to do certain English words in his Latin. A "Hundred" was a division of an English shire.

172

The Jacobus was a gold coin named for James I.

173

Salmasius attacked the Pope in "De Primatu Papae" in 1645.

174

A play on "Salmon."

175

Wrongly attr. to Milton, who prefaced these lines with, "Ingenii, hoc distochon" [Some ingenious person wrote this distich]. Milton wrongly believed More to be the author of a libel against him.

176

It is impossible to give a literally exact rendering of this. I have played upon the name as well as I could in English.—R.F.

177

i.e. Cambridge.

178

Ital. "Canzone."

179

Correcting MacDonald's "Certes" (Ital. "Per Certo").

180

[Ital.] "Alba"–I suspect a hint at the lady's name.–G.M.