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

locos,
                    Ecce mihi subito præsul Wintonius astat,
                      Sydereum nitido fulsit in ore jubar;
    55
       55         Vestis ad auratos defluxit Candida talos,
                      Infula divinum cinxerat albu caput.
                    Dumque senex tali incedit venerandus amictu,
                      Intremuit læto florea terra sono.
                    Agmina gemmatis plaudunt cælestia pennis,
    60
      60                  Pura triumphali personat aethra tubâ.
                    Quisque novum amplexu comitem cantuque salutat,
                      Hosque aliquis placido misit ab ore sonos;
                    Nate, veni, et patrii felix cape gaudia regni,
                      Semper ab hinc duro, nate, labore vaca. 15
    65
       65         Dixit, et aligeræ tetigerunt nablia turmæ, 16
                      At mihi cum tenebris aurea pulsa quies.
                    Flebam turbatos Cephaleiâ pellice 17 somnos,
                      Talia contingant somnia sæpe mihi.
Elegy 3
    ON THE DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF WINCHESTER 1
    I was full of sadness, and I was sitting silent with no companion, / and many sorrows were clinging to my spirit. / Suddenly, lo, there arose a vision of the mournful destruction / which Libitina 2 wrought on English soil; / while dire death, fearful with its sepulchral torch, [5] / entered the glittering marble palaces of the nobles, / and attacked the walls laden with gold and jasper, / nor did it hesitate to overthrow hosts of princes with its scythe. / Then I remembered that illustrious duke, and his revered brother, / their bones burned on untimely pyres. 3 [10] / And I remembered the heroes whom the land saw snatched up to the sky, / and all Belgia mourned the lost leaders. / But I lamented chieflyfor you, most worthy Bishop, / and once the great glory of your Winchester; / I dissolved in weeping, and complained thus with sad words: [15] / “Savage death, goddess second to Tartarean Jove, 4 / are you not satisfied that the forest suffers your rages, / that power is given to you over the grassy fields, / and that the blooming lilies wither from your pestilence, / and the crocus, and the rose sacred to beautiful Cypris, 5 [20] / just as you do not allow the oak bordering upon the river forever / to wonder at the fall of the ebbing water? / And the bird succumbs to you, although a prophet, 6 / many a one which is lifted through the liquid air on its pinions, / and the thousand beasts that stray in the dark forests, [25] / and the dumb herd which the caves of Proteus sustain. 7 / Envious one, whenever such power is allowed you, / what delights you to stain your hands with human slaughter? / and to sharpen your unerring arrows against a noble breast, / and to drive a half-divine spirit from its residence?” [30] / While, weeping, I meditated such griefs deep in my heart, / dewy Hesperus 8 rose from the western sea, / and Phoebus sank his chariot in the Tartessian 9 sea, / after measuring his course from the eastern shore. / With no delay, I lay down in cavernous bed to refresh my limbs, [35] / and night and sleep shut my eyes; / when I seemed to be walking in a broad field. / Alas! my senses cannot relate the things seen. / There all things were shining with reddish light, / just as the mountain peaks blush with the morning sun. [40] / But as when the child of Thaumas 10 spreads her riches, / the earth luxuriated in vestment of many colors. / Chloris, 11 the goddess beloved by fleet Zephyr, did not adorn / the gardens of Alcinous with so many various flowers. / Silver rivers washed the verdant field; [45] / the sand was gilded richer than Hesperian Tagus. 12 / Through the fragrant wealth stole the light breath of Favonius, 13 / the dewy breath born under innumerable