Constabitque tuus tibi honos, longumque vigebit
Inter pastores: Illi tibi vota secundo
Solvere post Daphnin, post Daphnin dicere laudes,
Gaudebunt, dum rura Pales, dum Faunus amabit:
Si quid id est, priscamque fidem coluisse, piumque,
Palladiasque artes, sociumque habuisse canorum.

30

40

Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. 35 Hæc tibi certa manent, tibi erunt hæc præmia, Damon, At mihi quid tandem fiet modo? quis mihi fidus : Hærebit lateri comes, ut tu sæpe solebas Frigoribus duris, et per loca fæta pruinis, Aut rapido sub sole, siti morientibus herbis? Sive opus in magnos fuit eminus ire leones, Aut avidos terrere lupos præsepibus altis; ! Quis fando sopire diem, cantuque solebit? Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. Pectora cui credam ? quis me lenire docebit Mordaces curas, quis longam fallere noctem Dulcibus alloquiis, grato cum sibilat igni

T

r

Σ

45

Molle pyrum, et nucibus strepitat focus, et malus

Auster

Miscet cuncta foris, et desuper intonat ulmo?

Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. 50 Aut æstate, dies medio dum vertitur axe,

Cum Pan æsculea somnum capit abditus umbra,

See also Metam. xi. 670. And Ibis, v. 166. See note on Lycid. v. 14.

46. See note on Sonnet, xx. 3. And El. vi. 12.

52. In Theocritus, the shepherds are afraid to wake Pan, who constantly sleeps in the middle of the day, Idyll. i. 16.

See also Fletcher, Faithf. Shep-
herd. act i. s. i. vol. 3. p. 107.
who imitates Theocritus, with-
out seeing the superstition an-
nexed to the time of noon.

Lest the great Pan do awake,
That sleeping lies in a deep glade
Under a broad beech's shade.

Et repetunt sub aquis sibi nota sedilia nymphæ,
Pastoresque latent, stertit sub sepe colonus;
Quis mihi blanditiasque tuas, quis tum mihi risus, 55
Cecropiosque sales referet, cultosque lepores?

Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni,
At jam solus agros, jam pascua solus oberro,
Sicubi ramosæ densantur vallibus umbræ ;
Hic serum expecto; supra caput imber et Eurus
Triste sonant, fractæque agitata crepuscula sylvæ.

Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni.
Heu, quam culta mihi prius arva procacibus herbis
Involvuntur, et ipsa situ seges alta fatiscit!
Innuba neglecto marcescit et uva racemo,
Nec myrteta juvant; ovium quoque tædet, at illæ
Mærent, inque suum convertunt ora magistrum.

60

65

Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. Tityrus ad corylos vocat, Alphesibœus ad ornos, Ad salices Aegon, ad flumina pulcher Amyntas, " Hic gelidi fontes, hic illita gramina musco, "Hic Zephyri, hic placidas interstrepit arbutus

" undas;"

Ista canunt surdo, frutices ego nactus abibam.

70

Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. Mopsus ad hæc, nam me redeuntem forte notarat, 75

(Et callebat avium linguas, et sidera Mopsus) Thyrsi, quid hoc? dixit, quæ te coquit improbabilis ?

Aut te perdit amor, aut te male fascinat astrum,
Saturni grave sæpe fuit pastoribus astrum,
Intimaque obliquo figit præcordia plumbo.

*80

Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni.
Mirantur nymphæ, et quid te, Thyrsi, futurum est?
Quid tibi vis? aiunt, non hæc solet esse juventæ
Nubila frons, oculique truces, vultusque severi,
Illa choros, lususque leves, et semper amorem
Jure petit: bis ille miser qui serus amavit.

85

Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni.
Venit Hyas, Dryopeque, et filia Baucidis Aegle,
Docta modos, citharæque sciens, sed perdita fastu;
Venit Idumanii Chloris vicina fluenti;
Nil me blanditiæ, nil me solantia verba,
Nil me, si quid adest, movet, aut spes ulla futuri.
Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni.

76. Avium cannot with any Il Pens. v. 43.
authorized licence be contracted
into a dissyllable. Symmons.

79. Planet-struck by the planet Saturn. See Lycid. v. 188. Arcad. Arcad. v. 52. But why is the influence of this planet more particularly fatal to shepherds? Unless on account of its coldness. It is in general called a noxious star: and Propertius says, l. iv. i. 84.

Et grave Saturni sydus in omne caput.

Its melancholy effects are here expressed by its wounding the heart with an arrow of lead. And perhaps our author had a concealed allusion to this Saturnine lead, in making his Melancholy the daughter of Saturn.

90

With a sad leaden downward cast, &c.

79. Lead was called Saturnus by the chymists, who anciently gave the names of the planets to the several metals. E.

89. Docta modos, citharæque sciens,] Horace, Od. iii. ix. 9. Dulces docta modos, et citharæ sciens.

90. The river Chelmer in Essex is called Idumanium fluentum, near its influx into Blackwater bay. Ptolemy calls this bay Portus Idumanius.

92. Doctor Parr suggests that futurum without an adjunct never means future time, but a future event. Symmons.

Hei mihi, quam similes ludunt per prata juvenci,
Omnes unanimi secum sibi lege sodales !
Nec magis hunc alio quisquam secernit amicum
De grege, sic densi veniunt ad pabula thoes,
Inque vicem hirsuti paribus junguntur onagri;
Lex eadem pelagi, deserto in littore Proteus
Agmina Phocarum numerat, vilisque volucrum
Passer habet semper quicum sit, et omnia circum

95

100

Farra libens volitet, sero sua tecta revisens;
Quem si sors letho objecit, seu milvus adunco

Fata tulit rostro, seu stravit arundine fossor,
Protinus ille alium socio petit inde volatu.
Nos durum genus, et diris exercita fatis
Gens homines, aliena animis, et pectore discors;
Vix sibi quisque parem de millibus invenit unum;
Aut si sors dederit tandem non aspera votis,

105

Illum inopina dies, qua non speraveris hora,
Surripit, æternum linquens in sæcula damnum.

110

Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni.

Heu quis me ignotas traxit vagus error in oras
Ire per aëreas rupes, Alpemque nivosam !
Ecquid erat tanti Romam vidisse sepultam,
(Quamvis illa foret, qualem dum viseret olim,
Tityrus ipse suas et oves et rura reliquit ;)
Ut te tam dulci possem caruisse sodale,

115

Possem tot maria alta, tot interponere montes,

gil, which points out that verse.

113. Heu quis me ignotas, &c.] He has parodied a verse in Virgil's Eclogues, into a very natural and pathetic complaint, Et quæ tanta fuit Romam, &c. i. 27. And there is much address in the parenthesis introducing Vir

116. Quamvis illa foret, &c.] Although Rome was as fine a city at present, as when visited by Tityrus or Virgil, Ecl. i. ut supr.

119. He addresses the same

Tot sylvas, tot saxa tibi, fluviosque sonantes ! 120
Ah certe extremum licuisset tangere dextram,

Et bene compositos placide morientis ocellos,
Et dixisse, " Vale, nostri memor ibis ad astra."

Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni...
Quamquam etiam vestri nunquam meminisse pigebit,..
Pastores Thusci, Musis operata juventus,
Hic Charis, atque Lepos; et Thuscus tu quoque

Damon,

126

Antiqua genus unde petis Lucumonis ab urbe.
O ego quantus eram, gelidi cum stratus ad Arni
Murmura, populeumque nemus, qua mollior herba, 130
Carpere nunc violas, nunc summas carpere myrtos,
Et potui Lycidæ certantem audire Menalcam..
Ipse etiam tentare ausus sum, nec puto multum.
Displicui, nam sunt et apud me munera vestra
Fiscellæ, calathique, et cerea vincla cicutæ:
Quin et nostra suas docuerunt nomina fagos
Et Datis, et Francinus, erant et vocibus ambo :

sentiment to T. Young, El, iv. 21. Milton, while in Italy, visited Rome twice.

128. Lucumonis ab urbe.] Luca, or Lucca, an ancient city of Tuscany, was founded by Lucumon or Leumon, an Hetruscan king. See the first note on El. i.

137. Et Datis, et Francinus,] Carlo Dati of Florence, with whom Milton corresponded after his return to England. In a Latin letter to Dati, dated at London, Apr. 21, 1647, Milton speaks of having sent this poem to Dati, and also mentions his intention of sending his book of Latin poems published two years

135