Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/372

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330

��LATIN POEMS

��Ipse ego Sicanio frseuantem carcere ventos

jEolon, et virides sollicitabo Decs, Caeruleamque suis comitatam Dorida Nym-

phis,

Ut tibi deiit placidam per sua regna viam. At tu, si poteris, celeres tibi sume jugales, Vecta quibus Colchis fugit ab ore viri; 10 Aut queis Triptolemus Scythicas devenit in

oras,

Gratus Elcusina missus ab urbe puer. Atque, ubi Germanas flavere videbis are- nas,

Ditis ad Hamburgae incenia flecte graduin, Dicitur occiso quse ducere nomen ab llama, Cimbrica quern fertur clava dedisse iieci. Vivit ibi antiquae clarus pietatis honore

Preesul, Christicolas pascere doctus oves; Ille quidem est animse plusquam pars altera

nostrse;

Dimidio vitae vivere cogor ego. 20

Hei mihi, quot pelagi, quot monies inter-

jecti,

Me faciunt alia parte carere naei ! Charier ille inihi quam tu, doctissime

Graium,

Cliniadi, pronepos qui Telamonis erat; Quamque Stagirites generoso magnus

alumno,

Quern peperit Lybico Chaouis alma Jovi. Qualis Amyntorides, qualis Philyreius He-

ros

Myrmidonum regi, talis et ille mihi. Primus ego Aonios illo prsseunte recessus

Lustrabam, et bifidi sacra vireta jugi, 30 Pieriosque hausi latices, Clioque favente

Castalio sparsi laeta ter ora inero. Flammens at signum ter viderat arietis

JEthon

Induxitque auro lanea terga novo, Bisque novo terrain sparsisti, Chlori, seni-

lem Gramine, bisque tuas abstulit Auster

opes; Need u m ejus licuit mihi lumina pascere

vultu,

Aut linguae dulces aure bibisse sonos. Vade igitur, cursuque Eurum prseverte

sonorum ;

Quam sit opus monitis res docet, ipsa

vides. 40

Invenies dulci cum conjuge forte sedentem,

Mulcentem gremio pignora chara suo; Forsitan aut veterum praelarga volumina

Patrum Versantem, aut veri Biblia sacra Dei,

��pray to 2Eolus, who chains the winds in his Sicilian cave, and to all the green-haired gods, and to cerulean Doris with her nymphs, that they give you a quiet way through their realms. But do you, if possible, get for yourself that swift dragon-team, where- with Medea fled from the face of her hus- band; or that with which the boy Tripto- lemus came into Scythia, a welcome mes- senger from Eleusis. And when you shall see the German sands gleam, turn your course to the walls of wealthy Hamburg, which takes its name, they say, from Haina, slain by the club of the Danish giant. There a minister dwells, skilled to pasture the flocks of Christ. He is the other half of my soul, yea, more; without him I am forced to live a half-life. Ah me, how many seas, how many mountains, interpose to part me from my other self ! Dearer he is to me than wert thou, Socrates, wisest of Greeks, to Alcibiades, who had Telamon for ancestor; dearer than the great Stagy- rite to his generous pupil Alexander, whom Olympias of Chaonia bore to Lybian Jove. As to the king of the Myrmidons was the son of Ainyntor, or Cheiron, son of nymph Philyra, such is this man to me. I fol- lowed his footsteps when I first wandered through the hollows of the Aonian mount, and through the sacred groves of the cloven hill; with him I first drank the waters of the Pierian spring, and under favor of Clio wet my happy lips thrice with wine of Castaly. But flame-clad ^Ethon, the sun- hero, has three times seen the sign of the ram, and clothed the wooly back with new gold; and twice, O Flora, thou hast sprin- kled the old earth with new verdure, and twice has Auster, the South-wind, stolen away thy wealth, since it was granted mine eyes to feast upon this man's face, or mine ears to drink in the sweet tones of his voice. Go, then, and outstrip in your flight the sonorous East-wind. Whatever monitions you need, your eyes and occasion will teach you. Perchance you will come upon him as he sits with his sweet wife, fondling in his breast the dear pledges of their love; or perchance as he turns the tomes of the ancient Fathers, or the sacred books of

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