Primus ego Aonios illo præeunte recessus Invenies dulci cum conjuge forte sedentem, Versantem, aut veri biblia sacra Dei, 30 35 40 45 Dicere quam decuit, si modo adesset, herum. Hæc quoque, paulum oculos in humum defixa mo Hæc tibi, si teneris vacat inter prælia Musis, Accipe sinceram, quamvis sit sera, salutem; Ast ego quid volui manifestum tollere crimen, Neve moras ultra ducere passus Amor; In tibi finitimis bella tumere locis, 55. The allusion is to a wellknown Epistle of Ovid. 61. Tu modo da veniam fasso,] Ovid, Epist. ex Pont. iv. ii. 23. "Tu modo da veniam fasso." The same combination occurs in Ovid repeatedly. 65. Ovid, Metam. xii. 466. "Macedoniaque sarissa." 74. Et jam Saxonicos arma parasse duces.] About the year 55 60 65 70 1626, when this Elegy was written, the imperialists under General Tilly, were often encountered by Christian, Duke of Brunswick, and the Dukes of Saxony, particularly Duke William of Saxon Wiemar, and the Duke of Saxon Lawenburgh, in Lower Saxony, of which Hamburgh, where Young resided, is the capital. See v. 77. Germany, Te circum late campos populatur Enyo, 75 Et sata carne virum jam cruor arva rigat; 80 85 90 Quos tibi prospiciens miserat ipse Deus, in general, either by invasion, or interior commotions, was a scene of the most bloody war from the year 1618, till later than 1640. Gustavus Adolphus conquered the greater part of Germany about 1631. See note on El. iii. supr. v. 9. 84. Vivis et ignoto solus inopsque solo ;] Ovid, of Achæmenides, Metam. xiv. 217. Solus, inops, exspes. These circumstances, added to others, leave us strongly to suspect, that Young was a nonconformist, and probably compelled to quit England on account of his religious opinions and practice. He seems to have been driven back to England, by the war in the Netherlands, not long after this Elegy was written. See v. 71. seq. and the first note. 86. Sede peregrina quæris egenus opem.] Before and after 1630, many English ministers, puritanically affected, left their cures, and settled in Holland, where they became pastors of separate congregations: when matters took another turn in England, they returned, and were rewarded for their unconforming obstinacy, in the new presbyterian establishment. Among these were Nye, Burroughs, Thomas Goodwin, Simpson, and Bridge, eminent members of the Assembly of Divines. See Wood, Ath. Oxon. ii. 504. Neale's Hist. Pur. iii. 376. Et qui læta ferunt de cœlo nuntia, quique Pressit inassueto devia tesqua pede, 100.-Sidoni dira,] Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, was the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians. Sidoni is a vocative, from Sidonis, often applied by Ovid to Europa the daughter of of Agenor king of Sidon or Syria. Fast. b. v. 610. Sidoni, sic fueras accipienda Jovi. Some of these scriptural allusions are highly poetical, and much in Milton's manner. His friend, who bears a sacred character, forced abroad for his piety and religious constancy by the persecutions of a tyrannic tribunal, and distressed by war and want in a foreign country, is compared to Elijah the Tishbite wandering alone over the Arabian deserts, to avoid the menaces of Ahab, and the violence of Jezebel. See 1 Kings xix. 3. seq. He then selects a most striking miracle, under which the power of the Deity is displayed in Scripture as a protection in battle, with reference to his friend's situation, from the surrounding dangers of war. "You are safe under the radiant "shield of him, who in the dead " of night suddenly dispersed the "Assyrians, while the sound of an unseen trumpet was clearly "heard in the empty air, and "the noises of invisible horses 95 100 " and chariots rushing to battle, " and the distant hum of clashing arms and groaning men, "terrified their numerous army." Terruit et densas pavido cum rege cohortes, &c. See 2 Kings vii. 5. "For the "Lord had made the host of "the Syrians to hear a noise of "chariots and a noise of horses, " even the noise of a great host, " &c." Sionea arx is the city of Samaria, now besieged by the Syrians, and where the king of Israel now resided. It was the capital of Samaria. Prisca Damascus was the capital of Syria. Pavido cum rege is Benhadad, the king of Syria. In the sequel of the narrative of this wonderful consternation and flight of the Syrians, the solitude of their vast deserted camp affords a most affecting image, even without any poetical enlargement. "We came "to the camp of the Syrians, "and behold there was no man "there, neither voice of man; " but horses tied, and asses tied, " and the tents as they were.' Ibid. vii. 10. This is like a scene of inchantment in romance. " 100. Mr. Warton properly refers to 2 Kings vii. for the miracle alluded to in ver. 115-122. But Milton had another miracle Talis et horrisono laceratus membra flagello, At tu sume animos, nec spes cadat anxia curis, Et tua magnanimo pectore vince mala ; also in view, v. 113. the deliverance of Jerusalem, Sionea arx, from Sennacherib, king of Assyria; see 2 Kings xix. 35. "that night, the angel of the "Lord went out and smote in "the camp of the Assyrians, an "hundred fourscore and five "thousand." E. 101. Talis et horrisono laceratus membra flagello, &c.] Whip 105 110 115 120 ping and imprisonment were among the punishments of the arbitrary Star-chamber, the threats Regis Achabi, which Young fled to avoid. 109. At nullis vel inerme latus, &c.] See the same philosophy in Comus, v. 421. 123. Et tu (quod superest, &c.] For many obvious reasons, at is likely to be the true reading. |