Talibus inde licent convivia larga poetis, Sæpius et veteri commaduiffe mero: At qui bella refert, et adulto fub Jove cœlum, 55 Et nunc fancta canit fuperum consulta deorum, 55. At qui bella refert, &c.] Ovid, Anacreon, Pindar, and Horace, indulged in convivial feftivity: and this alfo is an indulgence which must be allowed to the profeffed writer of elegies and odes. But the epic poet, who has a more ferious and important task, muft live sparingly, according to the dictates of Pythagoras. Milton's panegyrics on temperance both in eating and drinking, refulting from his own practice, are frequent. See PARAD. L. B. v. 5. xi. 472.515.530. IL PENS. 46. And CoмUS, in feveral places. But Milton conceived his argument of Paradife Loft to be of much more dignity and difficulty, than the fubjects of Homer and Virgil, here infinuated. See B. ix. 13. Argument Not lefs, but more heroic, than the wrath Again, B. i. 13. My adventurous fong, That with no middle flight intends to foar Again, B. iii. 3. Above th' Olympian hill I foar, Above the flight of Pegafean wing, &c. And B. iii. 17. With other notes than to th' Orphean lyre, &c. Compare our author's CH. GOVERNM. B. ii. PREF. PROSE-WORKS, vol. i. 60. Ille quidem parce, Samii pro more magiftri, Vivat, et innocuos præbeat herba cibos ; Stet prope fagineo pellucida lympha catillo, Sobriaque e puro pocula fonte bibat. 477 60 Additur huic scelerisque vacans, et casta juventus, Et rigidi mores, et fine labe manus. Qualis vefte nitens facra, et luftralibus undis, 65 Hoc ritu vixiffe ferunt poft rapta fagacem Dulichium vexit per freta longa virum, Et per monftrificam Perfeiæ Phœbados aulam, 65. 67. Luftralibus undis.] See Note on COMUS, V. 912. Lumina Tirefian. -] PARAD. L. iii. 35. Blind Thamyris, and blind Mæonides, And Tirefias, and Phineus, prophets old. 70 Doctor Bentley proposes to reject intirely the fecond of thefe lines. But, to fay no more, this enumeration of Tirefias in company with other celebrated bards of the highest antiquity, would alone ferve for a proof that the fufpected line is genuine. And Tirefias occurs again, DE IDEA PLATONICA, V. 26. 72. Dulichium vexit, &c.] It is worthy of remark, that Milton here illuftrates Homer's poetical character by the Odyffey, and not by the Iliad. 73. Et per monßrificam Perfeie Phabados aulam.] Circe was the daughter of the fun, and, as fome fay, of Hecate. Ovid, METAM. vii. Perque tuas, rex ime, domos, ubi fanguine nigro Diis etenim facer eft vates, divumque facerdos, 76 80 Vagitumque Dei, et ftabulantem paupere tecto Dona quidem dedimus Chrifti natalibus illa, Te quoque preffa manent patriis meditata cicutis, 74. Quid "Hecates PERSEIDOS aras." And REMED. AMOR. 263. "tibi profuerunt, Circe, PERSEIDOS herbæ ?" And Ovid mentions Circe's AULA. METAM. XIV. 45. Perquè ferarum Agmen adulantum media procedit ab AULA. 89. Te quoque prefa manent patriis meditata cicutis.] His English Ode on the Nativity. This he means to fubmit to Deodate's infpection. "You fhall next have fome of my ENGLISH poetry. 90. Ta mibi, cui recitem, judicis inftar eris.] In CoмUS, we have fuppofed the fimple" fhepherd lad," fkilled in plants, to be the fame Charles Deodate, to whom this Elegy is addreffed, v. 619. See fupr. P. 429. For, as here, He lov'd me well, and oft would BID ME SING; See See Ovid, EPIST. PONT. iv. ii. 37. Again, TRIST. iv. i. 18. Sed neque CUI RECITEM, quifquam eft, &c. The tranfitions and connections of this Elegy, are conducted with the skill and address of a mafter, and form a train of allufions and digreffions, productive of fine fentiment and poetry. From a trifling and unimportant circumftance, the reader is gradually led to great and lofty imagery. I will give a fhort and hafty analyfis. You have well defcribed in your verfes the merriments of Chriftmafs. But why do you infinuate, that your poetry is weakened by feafting and wine? Bacchus loves poetry. And Phebus is not afhamed to decorate his brows with ivy-berries. Even the Muses, mixed with Bacchanalian dames, have joined in their fhouts on mount Parnaffus. The worst of Ovid's poetry, is that which he fent from Scythia, where never vine was planted. What were Anacreon's fubjects but the grape and rofes? Every page of Pindar is redolent of wine; While the broken axle-tree of the proftrate chariot refounds, and the rider flies dark with the duft of Elis. It is when warmed with the mellow cafk, that Horace fweetly chants his Glycere, and his yellowhaired Chloe. Your genius has therefore been invigorated rather than depreffed by mirth. You have been facrificing to Bacchus, Apollo, and Ceres. No wonder your verfes are so charming, which have been dictated by three deities. Even now you are listening to the harp, which regulates the dance, and guides the fteps of the virgin in a tapestried chamber. At least give way to this milder relaxation. Such fcenes infuse poetic warmth. Hence elegy frames her tenderest fong. Nor is it only by Bacchus and Ceres that Elegy is befriended: but by other feftive powers, by Erato, and by Love with his purple mother. Yet although the elegiac poet, and those who deal in the lighter kinds of verfe, may enliven the imagination by these convivial gaieties; yet he who fings of wars, and Jove, pious heroes, and leaders exalted to demigods, the decrees of heaven, and the profound realms of hell, muft follow the frugal precepts of the Samian fage, muft quaff the pellucid ftream from the beechen cup, or from the pure fountain. To this philofophy belong, chafte and blameless youth, fevere manners, and unfpotted hands. Thus lived Tirefias, fagacious after the lofs of fight, Ogygian Linus, the fugitive Chalchas, and Orpheus the conqueror of beasts in the lonely caverns. It was thus that the temperate Homer conducted Ulyffes through the tedious feas, the monfter-breeding hall of Circe, and the fhallows of the fyrens, enfnaring men with female voices: and through your habitations, O king of the abyfs, where he detained the flocking ghofts with libations of black blood. For in truth, a poet is facred; he is the pricft of heaven, and his bofom conceives, and his mouth utters, the hidden god. Meanwhile, if you wish to be informed how I employ myself as a poet, &c. ELEG. ELEG. VII. Anno Etatis 19. Ondum blanda tuas leges, Amathusia, noram, Et Paphio vacuum pectus ab igne fuit. Sæpe cupidineas, puerilia tela, fagittas, Aut de pafferibus timidos age, parve, triumphos, 5 10 In genus humanum quid inania dirigis arma? At mihi adhuc refugam quærebant lumina noctem, Aftat Amor lecto, pictis Amor impiger alis, Prodidit aftantem mota pharetra Deum: Prodidit et facies, et dulce minantis ocelli, Et quicquid puero dignum et Amore fuit. 15. At mibi adhuc refugam quærebant lumina noctem, 16 20 Nec matutinum fuftinuere jubar.] Here is the elegance of poetical expreffion. But he really complains of the weakness of his eyes, which began early. |