Pindaricosque inflat numeros Teumesius Euan,
Et redolet sumptum pagina quæque merum ;
Dum gravis everso currus crepat axe supinus,
Et volat Eleo pulvere fuscus eques.
Quadrimoque madens Lyricen Romanus Iaccho,
Dulce canit Glyceran, flavicomamque Chloen.
Jam quoque lauta tibi generoso mensa paratu
Mentis alit vires, ingeniumque fovet.
Massica fœcundam despumant pocula venam,
Fundis et ex ipso condita metra cado.
Addimus his artes, fusumque per intima Phœbum
Corda, favent uni Bacchus, Apollo, Ceres.
Scilicet haud mirum tam dulcia carmina per te,
Numine composito, tres peperisse Deos.
Nunc quoque Thressa tibi cælato barbitos auro
Insonat arguta molliter icta manu;

23. -Teumesius Euan,] Teumesus, Τευμησος, is a mountain of Basotia, the district in which Thebes was situated; and its inhabitants were called Τευμησιοι, Teumesii. The Grecian Bacchus, the son of Jupiter and Semele, is often denominated Thebanus. But Bacchus had a more immediate and particular connection with this mountain. Pausanias relates a fable, that Bacchus, in revenge for some insult which he had received from the Thebans, nourished a fox in this mountain for the destruction of the city of Thebes; and that a dog being sent from Diana to kill this fox, both fox and dog were turned into stones. The fox was called Τευμησια ή αλωπηξ, Teumesia vulpes. Pausan. ΒΟΙΩ

25

30

35

TIK. p. 296. 10. edit. Francof. 1583. fol. See also Stephanus Byzant. Voc. ΤΕΥΜΗΣΟΣ. And Antoninus Liberal. Metam. p. 479. apud Gal. Histor. Poetic. Script. Poetic. Script. Paris. 1675. 8vo. Milton here puzzles his readers with minute and unnecessary learning. The meaning of the line is this. "The The"ban god Bacchus inspires the "numbers of his congenial Pin"dar, the Theban poet."

37. Nunc quoque Thressa tibi, &c.] The Thracian harp. Orpheus was of Thrace. Ovid, Epist. Heroid. iii. 118.

Threiciam digitis increpuisse lyram. He has "th' Orphean lyre," Par. Lost, iii. 17. See note on Il Pens. v. 105.

Auditurque chelys suspensa tapetia circum,
Virgineos tremula quæ regat arte pedes.
Illa tuas saltem teneant spectacula Musas,
Et revocent, quantum crapula pellit iners.
Crede mihi, dum psallit ebur, comitataque plectrum
Implet odoratos festa chorea tholos,

Percipies tacitum per pectora serpere Phœbum,
Quale repentinus permeat ossa calor,
Perque puellares oculos, digitumque sonantem,
Irruet in totos lapsa Thalia sinus.
Namque Elegia levis multorum cura Deorum est,
Et vocat ad numeros quemlibet illa suos;
Liber adest elegis, Eratoque, Ceresque, Venusque,
Et cum purpurea matre tenellus Amor.
Talibus inde licent convivia larga poetis,
Sæpius et veteri commaduisse mero:
At qui bella refert, et adulto sub Jove cœlum,
Heroasque pios, semideosque duces,

Et nunc sancta canit superum consulta deorum,
Nunc latrata fero regna profunda cane,
Ille quidem parce, Samii pro more magistri,
Vivat, et innocuos præbeat herba cibos ;
Stet prope fagineo pellucida lympha catillo,
Sobriaque e puro pocula fonte bibat.
Additur huic scelerisque vacans, et casta juventus,

Et rigidi mores, et sine labe manus.
Qualis veste nitens sacra, et lustralibus undis,

Surgis ad infensos augur iture Deos.
Hoc ritu vixisse ferunt post rapta sagacem

39. Auditurque chelys suspensa tapetia circum,] See the note on Tapestry halls, Comus, 324.

40

45

50

55

:

60

65

65. -lustralibus undis,] See note on Comus, v. 913.

Lumina Tiresian, Ogygiumque Linon,
Et lare devoto profugum Calchanta, senemque
Orpheon edomitis sola per antra feris;
Sic dapis exiguus, sic rivi potor Homerus

Dulichium vexit per freta longa virum,

Et per monstrificam Perseiæ Phœbados aulam,
Et vada fœmineis insidiosa sonis,

Perque tuas, rex ime, domos, ubi sanguine nigro
Dicitur umbrarum detinuisse greges.
Diis etenim sacer est vates, divumque sacerdos,
Spirat et occultum pectus et ora Jovem.
At tu siquid agam scitabere (si modo saltem
Esse putas tanti noscere siquid agam)
Paciferum canimus cœlesti semine regem,

70

75

80

Faustaque sacratis sæcula pacta libris ; Vagitumque Dei, et stabulantem paupere tecto Qui suprema suo cum patre regna colit; Stelli parumque polum, modulantesque æthere turmas,

Et subito elisos ad sua fana Deos.

Dona. quidem dedimus Christi natalibus illa,

Illa sub auroram lux mihi prima tulit.

69. Virgil and Milton disagree on the subject of Orpheus's age. See Georg. iv. 524.

Decerptum latos juvenem sparsere per agros.

Milton perhaps would insinuate that his diet had a tendency to promote longevity. Virgil of course would not make the women of Thrace tear an old man in pieces for his neglect of them. Symmons.

72. Dulichium vexit, &c.] It is worthy of remark, that Milton here illustrates Homer's poetical character by the Odyssey, and

not by the Iliad.

86

73. Et per monstrificam Perseiæ Phœbados aulam, Circe was the daughter of the sun, and, as some say, of Hecate. Ovid, Metam. vii. 74. "Hecates Perseidos aras." And Remed. Amor. 263. "Quid tibi profu"erunt, Circe, Perseidos herbæ?" And Buchanan has "Circe Perseia." El. vii. 17. p. 44. ut supr. And Ovid mentions Circe's Aula, Metam. xiv. 45.

-Perque ferarum

Agmen adulantum media procedit ab aula.

Te quoque pressa manent patriis meditata cicutis,
Tu mihi, cui recitem, judicis instar eris.*

90

ELEG. VII. Anno Ætatis 19.
NONDUM blanda tuas leges, Amathusia, noram,
Et Paphio vacuum pectus ab igne fuit.
Sæpe cupidineas, puerilia tela, sagittas,
Atque tuum sprevi maxime numen Amor.

Tu puer imbelles, dixi, transfige columbas,
Conveniunt tenero mollia bella duci :

5

Aut de passeribus timidos age, parve, triumphos,

Hæc sunt militiæ digna trophæa tuæ.
In genus humanum quid inania dirigis arma?

Non valet in fortes ista pharetra viros.

10

Non tulit hoc Cyprius, neque enim Deus ullus ad iras

Promptior, et duplici jam ferus igne calet.

Ver erat, et summæ radians per culmina villæ

Attulerat primam lux tibi, Maie, diem :

At mihi adhuc refugam quærebant lumina noctem, 15

89. Te quoque pressa manent

Would sit and hearken even to

ecstasy, &c.

patriis meditata cicutis,]

His English Ode on the Nativity. See Ovid, Epist. Pont. iv. ii. 37.

This he means to submit to Deodate's inspection. "You shall " next have some of my English " poetry."

90. Tu mihi, cui recitem, judicis instar eris.] In Comus, we have supposed the simple "shep" herd lad," skilled in plants, to be the same Charles Deodate, to whom this Elegy is addressed, v. 619. See supr. p. 429. For,

as here,

He lov'd me well, and oft would bid
me sing;
Which when I did, he on the tender
grass

Hic, mea cui recitem, &c.

* The transitions and connections of this Elegy, are conducted with the skill and address of a master, and form a train of allusions and digressions, productive of fine sentiment and poetry. From a trifling and unimportant circumstance, the reader is gradually led to great and lofty imagery.

15. At mihi adhuc refugam quærebant lumina noctem,

Nec matutinum sustinuere jubar.
Astat Amor lecto, pictis Amor impiger alis,
Prodidit astantem mota pharetra Deum :
Prodidit et facies, et dulce minantis ocelli,
Et quicquid puero dignum et Amore fuit.
Talis in æterno juvenis Sigeius Olympo
Miscet amatori pocula plena Jovi;

Aut, qui formosas pellexit ad oscula nymphas,
Thiodamantæus Naiade raptus Hylas.
Addideratque iras, sed et has decuisse putares,
Additeratque truces, nec sine felle, minas.
Et miser exemplo sapuisses tutius, inquit,
Nunc mea quid possit dextera, testis eris.
Inter et expertos vires numerabere nostras,

20

25

F. Q. iii. xii. 7. Dunster.
21. Talis in æterno, &c.] This
line is from Tibullus, iv. ii. 13.

Talis in æterno felix Vertumnus
Olympo.

25. Addideratque iras, sed et has decuisse putares,] Twelfth Night, a. iii. s. 1.

O what a deal of scorn looks beautiful
In the contempt and anger of his lip.

Compare Anacreon's Bathyllus,
xxviii. 12. And Theocritus, EΡΑΣ-
ΤΗΣ, Idyll. xviii. 14.

-Αλλα και ούτως

Ην καλος· εξ οργας ερεθίζετο μαλλον

εραστας.

Or that same dainty lad, which was

And Shakespeare's Venus and
Adonis, edit. 1596. Signat. A. iiij.

so dear

To great Alcides, that, when as he dy'd,

Which bred more beautie in his angrie eyes.

He wailed woman-like with many a tear,

We find also the same idea in his
Anton. and Cleopatr. i. i.