The Complete Poetry of John Milton Read Online Free PDF Page A

sæva
                      Mors rapit, officio nec favet ipsa suo.
    5
       5           Candidiora licet fuerint tibi tempora plumis
                      Sub quibus accipimus delituisse Jovem, 3
                    O dignus tamen Hæmonio juvensecere succo,
                      Dignus in Æsonios vivere posse dies, 4
                    Dignus quem Stygiis medicâ revocaret ab undis
    10
      10                  Arte Coronides, sæpe rogante dea. 5
                    Tu si jussus eras acies accire togatas,
                      Et celer a Phœbo 6 nuntius ire tuo,
                    Talis in Iliacâ stabat Cyllenius 7 aula
                      Alipes, æthereâ missus ab arce Patris.
    15
       15         Talis et Eurybates ante ora furentis Achillei
                      Rettulit Atridæ jussa severa ducis. 8
                    Magna sepulchrorum regina, satelles Averni
                      Sæva nimis Musis, Palladi sæva nimis,
                    Quin illos rapias qui pondus inutile terræ?
    20
      20                  Turba quidem est telis ista petenda tuis.
                    Vestibus hunc igitur pullis, Academia, luge,
                      Et madeant lachrymis nigra feretra tuis. 9
                    Fundat et ipsa modos querebunda Elegëia tristes,
                      Personet et totis nænia mœsta scholis.
Elegy 2
    ON THE DEATH OF THE BEADLE OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY 1
    You who, conspicuous with your shining mace, were accustomed / so often to assemble the Palladian band, 2 / beadle as you were, the last of beadles, fierce Death, / has seized, and does not even favor one in its own service. / Although your temples were whiter than the plumes [5] / under which we understand Jove to have been disguised, 3 / O yet were you worthy to grow young again with a Haemonian potion, / worthy to be able to live to an Aesonian age, 4 / worthy to be one whom Coronides should recall from the Stygian waves / by his curative art, at the frequent entreaty of the goddess. 5 [10] /As whenever you were bidden to fetch the gowned ranks / and to go a swift messenger from your Apollo, 6 / in such manner would wing-footed Cyllenius 7 stand in the court of Ilium, / dispatched from the heavenly vault of his father. / And in like fashion Eurybates before the face of angry Achilles [15] / conveyed the stern order of his chief, Atrides. 8 / Great queen of sepulchers, attendant of Avernus, / too cruel to the Muses, too cruel to Pallas, / why do you not seize those who are useless burdens of the earth? / They are the throng that should be attacked by your darts. [20] / Therefore, mourn for him, Academe, in robes of black, / and moisten with your tears the dark bier, 9 / and let lamenting Elegy itself pour forth its sad measures / and let all the schools resound with its sorrowful dirge.
    (
Oct. ? 1626
)
----
    1 Richard Ridding, who died in Oct. (?) 1626, as senior beadle, preceded academic processions bearing the official mace.
    2 Pallas Athena was the goddess of wisdom and the arts.
    3 Jove, in love with the mortal Leda, approached her in the guise of a swan.
    4 Aeson was restored to youth by Medea, whose magic brew was concocted from herbs of the valleys of Haemonia.
    5 At the prayer of Diana, Aesculapius, god of medicine, brought Hippolytus back to life.
    6 the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge.
    7 Hermes, messenger of the gods, born on Mt. Cyllene in Arcadia, met Priam, king of Ilium, on the plain outside Troy (
Iliad
, XXIV, 334-57).
    8 Eurybates and other heralds of Agamemnon were sent to Achilles’ tent to fetch his concubine Briseis (
Iliad
, I, 320-25).
    9 Poetic tributes were customarily pinned to the bier.
Elegia tertia
    IN OBITUM PRÆSULIS WINTONIENSIS