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LYCIDAS 
 
 AND 
 
 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS 
 
LONDON : PRINTED BY 
 
 SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE 
 
 AND PARLIAMENT STREET 
 
THE 
 
 LYCIDAS AND EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS 
 
 OF 
 
 MILTON 
 
 EDITED, WITH NOTES AND INTRODUCTION 
 
 (INCLUDING A REPRINT OF THE RARE LATIN VERSION OF 
 
 THE LYCIDAS BY WILLIAM HOGG, 1694), BY 
 
 C. S. JERRAM, M.A. 
 
 THIN. COLt.. OXON. 
 
 avpUrav luevai iiiy' vjrelpoxov hi re voimviriv 
 
 iv t' &ix.i)r{\pe(r(n Theocr. IdylL rii. 37 
 
 SECOND EDITION, REVISED 
 
 LONDON 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 1881 
 
 Dvyy 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO 
 
 THE 5EC0ND EDITION. 
 
 The Notes to this edition have been carefully revised, 
 and several inaccuracies corrected. In making these 
 improvements I have had the advantage of consulting 
 ProfTMasson's three- volume edition of Milton's Poetical 
 Works (1874) and Prof. Hales' Longer English Poems, 
 which latter work, though published while my first 
 edition was in progress, I had not then seen. One note 
 (on Lycidas 163) has been entirely recast, a mature recon- 
 sideration of the passage having convinced me that the 
 view I had previously taken is untenable." I have only 
 to add, that the favourable opinions I have received, 
 both publicly and privately, from many eminent English 
 authorities induce me to hope that my book, in its 
 emended form, may be welcomed by all students of 
 Milton as a real contribution to this department of our 
 literature. 
 
 C. S. J. 
 WiNDLESHAM : June 1881. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO 
 
 THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 The two following poems have been selected as the only 
 specimens of Pastoral Elegy that Milton has given to 
 the world. Besides the A rcades and the Comus — which 
 are dramatic ' pastorals — they are his sole contribution 
 to a class of poetry which was in his age most fashion- 
 able, and whose influence is apparent in most of his 
 poems, especially those of earlier date. The origin and 
 history of the Pastoral, and its place in European litera- 
 ture, will form the subject of the first part of the follow- 
 ing Introduction, in which I have endeavoured to give 
 such preliminary information as may enable the reader 
 
 • An attempt was made to dra- ia& Lycidas: 
 
 matise the Lycidas in a piece en- How well could I have spared for thee 
 
 titled LycidaSf A Musical Enter- The Swains, who lean and flashy Songs 
 
 tainment, which appears to have Grate on their Pipes of wretched Straw ! 
 . 'j. J 5 ii- T^u * The sheep look up and are not fed, 
 
 been performed at the theatre But swoln with the rank Mist they draw. 
 Royal, Covent Garden, in 1767, Rot and the foul contagion spread — 
 
 It consists of Recitatives and Airs, Not so thy Flocks, O Shepherd dear ; 
 
 with a couple of Choruses. For Not so thy Songs, O Muse most rare ! 
 
 the Airs the words of the original For the credit of the play-going 
 
 are recast in short lines in a lyrical public of the last century it is to be 
 
 form ; the following is a specimen, hoped that this piece >met with all 
 
 corresponding to II. 113 foil, of the success it deserved. 
 
viii PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 to get some idea of the purpose and character of the 
 Lycidas and the Epitaphium Damonis before entering 
 upon a critical examination of them. With the former 
 of these all Englishmen, who have even a moderate 
 knowledge of the poetry of their own country, are 
 probably more or less familiar ; the latter is perhaps 
 known only by name to many a student of Milton, 
 whose acquaintance with him is confined to the English 
 poems. All such will unite with me in grateful acknow- 
 ledgments to Professor Masson for having rescued this 
 touching elegy from its partial obscurity, by his notice 
 of it as illustrating one of the most affecting passages in 
 the early life of our great poet, and by his admirable 
 translation into English hexameters, which by his kind 
 permission I have been enabled to insert in this volume. 
 And here, while I most gladly admit my many obliga- 
 tions to that eminent biographer of Milton, perhaps it is 
 only fair to myself to say that the idea of including the 
 Epitaphium was conceived by me long before the publi- 
 cation of his second volume. It was added not only 
 because of the similarity of its subject and occasion to 
 those of the Lycidas, but also from a belief that the 
 study of Milton's Latin poetry, considered as a more or 
 less successful imitation of ancient models, would prove 
 eminently useful to those who are far enough advanced 
 in scholarship to be able to translate the classical authors 
 themselves with some degree of ease and fluency. Such 
 a study, by way of occasional exercise, would be no bad 
 training for young scholars in our public schools and 
 elsewhere, if they came to the task furnished with some 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. ix 
 
 previous knowledge of the matter of the poems, such as 
 the present edition suppHes in the case of the Epitaphium 
 Damonis. Here therefore the notes have been made as 
 concise as possible ; since I thought it unnecessary to 
 dwell upon ordinary points of grammar, except where 
 some unusual or doubtful construction might call for 
 remark, and since I had explained many of the allusions 
 in my previous commentary upon the Lycidas. As the 
 greater number of the references are to Virgil and 
 Theocritus, whose works every scholar is supposed to 
 possess, I have not generally cited the passages in 
 extenso ; but in annotating the Lycidas some discretion 
 has been exercised in this matter. Quotations from 
 Latin, Greek; and sometimes from Italian authors, are 
 mostly given in the original. In a few cases I have 
 attempted a translation, where the point of the reference 
 lay in the matter of the extract, and not in the gram- 
 matical form of expression. 
 
 In commenting upon both poems, I have tried to 
 state clearly and without reserve the conflicting opinions 
 of former editors upon disputed passages, fairly balancing 
 the evidence and giving what I considered adequate 
 reasons for choosing or rejecting any particular inter- 
 pretation. In one or two instances I have been un- 
 willingly compelled to leave the question doubtful, and 
 in one at least (see note on Lycidas, 163) it was felt 
 necessary to return to an older explanation, in spite of 
 the fact that all recent editors have adopted the new 
 one.' In every case I have aimed at so much conciseness 
 as was compatible with a thorough examination of each 
 ' See, however, Preface to the Second Edition. 
 
X PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 point under discussion ; for although I quite agree with 
 Mr. Keightley' that brevity in a note is a thing most 
 desirable, I know that it is highly unsatisfactory to the 
 reader to find a difficulty unexamined or passed over, 
 and to be put off with the ipse dixit of a commentator, 
 when he expects, if not a solution of the matter in 
 dispute, at least an impartial statement of diverse views. 
 Besides supplying what is barely necessary for under- 
 standing the author's meaning, I have sought to give 
 collateral information on points of English grammar and 
 - etymology, illustrated by references and quotations, and 
 also to exhibit from certain lines in the Lycidas (espe- 
 cially //. 113 foil.) Milton's relation to the history and 
 religious opinions of his time. To avoid needlessly 
 encumbering the notes, the bulk of such information 
 has been placed in two Appendices at the end of the 
 poem. 
 
 Among the various books consulted, I may mention 
 the following : — 
 
 1. The editions of Milton's poems by Newton, War- 
 ton, and Todd, chiefly useful for references ; also, 
 Keightley's edition of 1859, and that by Mr. Browne, 
 published in the Clarendon Series, 1870. The respective 
 merits of all these are noticed in the Introduction (pp. 
 
 38-9)- 
 
 2. Dictionaries of all kinds, English and foreign (in- 
 cluding the latest edition of Johnson by Latham, and 
 Wedgwood's Dictionary of English Etymology, 1872), 
 
 ' Preface to his Edition of Milton's Poems. 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. xi 
 
 with other works, such as Earle's Philology of the Eng- 
 lish Tongue, Morris's Outlines of English Accidence, 
 Marsh's Lectures on the English Language, &c. &c. 
 
 3. Masson's Life of Milton (to which I have already 
 referred), Hallam's History of Literature, Warton's His- 
 tory of English Poetry, Scott's Critical Essays (1785), 
 and several minor works bearing on the subjects under 
 review. 
 
 As regards the text and various readings, I am 
 greatly indebted t© the courtesy of Mr. Aldis Wright, 
 of Trinity College, Cambridge, who has been good 
 enough to collate for me the MS. of Lycidas with Todd's 
 list of readings and with the first printed editions, veri- 
 fying all, and amending a few which that editor had 
 incorrectly or insufficiently given. 
 
 I have also much pleasure in acknowledging my 
 obligations to my friend, the Rev. James Moore, M.A., 
 late Vicar of All Saints, Liverpool, for his careful re- 
 vision of the MS. while it was in progress, for his help 
 in arranging the materials of my Introduction, and for 
 many valuable suggestions throughout the work. 
 
 Once or twice reference has been made to a certain 
 Epitaph, which (as many readers may remember) was 
 found by Professor Morley written in MS. at the end of 
 a copy of the 1645 edition of Milton's poem.s, preserved 
 in the King's Library of the British Museum. Not 
 wishing to commit myself to an opinion either way upon 
 the authorship of this poem, I have designated it simply 
 as the Miltonic Epitaph. The whole story of its recovery 
 and the arguments on Professor Morley's side of the con- 
 
xii PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 troversy are given in his Introduction to The King and, 
 the Commons, published in 1869. At present the question 
 is generally supposed to be settled against the Miltonic 
 authorship, by the decision of those experts who assert 
 that the handwriting is not Milton's, nor the signature 
 J. M. There is at all events no dispute as to the date, 
 which is 1647, and I have merely cited the poem as the 
 work of a contemporary writer, and as undoubtedly 
 ' Miltonic' in style and expression. 
 
 The Latin paraphrase of the Lycidas, by W. Hogg, 
 is inserted at the suggestion of Mr. F. A. Paley of Cam- 
 bridge, who has recently published a translation of the 
 same poem. In his preface he alludes to Hogg's version 
 of 1694, but regrets that he w£is unable to meet with a 
 copy of it. There is a copy, possibly unique, of this para- 
 phrase in the Library of the British Museum, preserved in 
 a miscellaneous collection of pieces, chiefly of the i8th 
 century. Most of the poems are in English, but one 
 of them is a Latin version of the First Book of the 
 Paradise Lost, by an unknown author, dated 1685. 
 Hogg's translation is preceded by some Latin Elegiacs, 
 In Landem Academice Cantabrigiensis, not worth preserv- 
 ing, with a dedication to the Earl of Mulgrave. There 
 is also an English address 'to the Reader,' explaining 
 the circumstances of King's death, and of the production 
 of the commemoratory verses (see Introduction, p. 2). 
 Part of this address is worth quoting on account of 
 its quaintness. ' Now he [Edward King] was a Person 
 generally beloved in his Life, which made him so much 
 lamented at his Death; which occasioned several Students 
 
PREFACE JO THE FIRST EDITION. xiii 
 
 to pen lamentations on his Death/ among whom was this 
 Milton and Clieveland. I was desired by others to make 
 these two Translations, which was the occasion that I 
 penned them. I was advised to put them in the Press, 
 and that which encouraged me to adventure to do it was 
 hopes that ingenious Gentlemen will communicate tokens 
 of their kindness to me, for at this time my necessity is 
 very great. These Poems will afford a high and innocent 
 Recreation.' A version of Clieveland's elegy is, as the 
 Latin title indicates, included in the volume ; but I have 
 not thought it worth while to reprint this in addition. 
 
 The English translation of the Epitaphium Damonis, 
 by Dr. Symmons, is to be found in the Life of Milton 
 appended to his edition of the Prose Works (1806). It 
 is a fair specimen of the artificial literary style which 
 prevailed during the i8th centurj'; and it may be inter- 
 esting to some readers to compare it with the version by 
 Professor Masson, for the sake of contrast and variety. 
 
 ' The italics are mine. 
 
 WooBcoTE House, Windlesham : 
 May 1874. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface v 
 
 Introduction i 
 
 Lycidas 47 
 
 Idem Latine redditum a Gulielmo Hog^o . . . loi 
 
 Epitaphium Damonis log 
 
 Translated by Dr. Symmons 126 
 
 The Same by Professor Masson 134 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The occasion which led to the production of the Lycidas is 
 stated in the following heading prefixed to the poem by Milton 
 himself I ' In this monody the Author bewails a learned Friend, 
 ■unfortunately drowned in his passage from Chester on the Irish 
 seas, 1637, and by occasion foretells the ruin of our corrupted 
 Clergy, then in their height.' 
 
 This friend was Edward King, son of Sir John King, who was 
 Secretary for Ireland under Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I. 
 He was bom at Boyle, Co. Roscommon ; admitted as a lesser 
 pensioner of Christ's College, Cambridge, at the age of four- 
 teen, with his brother Roger aged sixteen, in 1626, Milton's 
 third year, under the same tutor Chappell {Lye. 36) ; and made 
 Fellow by a royal mandate, dated June 10, 1630 — an honour 
 which Milton himself might well have expected. During his 
 residence at Cambridge he wrote several copies of Greek and 
 Latin verses {Lye. 10) on special occasions, which are of no 
 great merit, and was destined for holy orders {Lye. 113 foil.). 
 It would appear that by his moral worth and gentle bearing he 
 had won the esteem of all his associates, though nothing is 
 known of Milton's relations with, him during their academic 
 career, beyond what we gather from the poem before us. On 
 August 10, 1637, as King was crossing from Chester to Dublin 
 to visit his friends in Ireland (among whom was Chappell, now 
 Dean of Cashel and Provost of Trinity College), the ship 
 struck on a rock off the Welsh coast, and all on board are said 
 to have perished {Lye. 100). Accounts however vary about 
 this, for Todd quotes from a preface by W. Hogg (1694), 
 
2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 (whose Latin version of the Lycidas is included in this volume) 
 a statement that ' some escaped in the boat/ and that they 
 vainly tried to get King into it, so that he and the rest were 
 dtowiied, ' except those only who escaped in the boat.' We 
 do not know whence Hogg got this story: the authorised 
 preface to the Cambridge verses of 1638 says, ' Dum alii vec- 
 tores vit» mortalis frustra satagerent,' which seems to imply 
 that they all perished, though ' alii ' (not being ceieri) does not 
 necessarily mean this. The inscription goes on to say that 
 King was in the act of prayer when the ship went down — a fact 
 which could not have been known unless some one had sur- 
 vived to tell the tale. He was then aged twenty-five. , Milton 
 does not mention King's death in either of his letters to 
 Diodati (Sept. 2 and 23, 1637) ; but" later in Michaelmas Term 
 he joined with other friends of the deceased in writing a series 
 of memorial verses. He was then at Horton, where he also 
 wrote the Sonnet to a Nightingale (1633), JJ Allegro and II Pen- 
 seroso, Arcades and Comus (1634). The Lycidas is signed 
 J. M., Nov. 1637 (but the Cambridge verses appeared early in 
 the next year), and was republished with his full name and the 
 title 'Poems on Several Occasions' in 1645, when the heading 
 ' In this monody, &c.' was for the first time added. The whole 
 collection had twenty-three Latin and Greek pieces and thir- 
 teen English, of which Lycidas came last : the first are entitied 
 ' Edvardo King naufrago ab amicis moerentibus, amoris et 
 fiviiag xapLv,' with the motto Si rede calculum ponas, ubique nau- 
 fragitim est. Among other names are Henry King, brother 
 of Edward, and Beaumont of Peterhouse, afterwards better 
 known. The verses are not worth preserving — a ' poetic 
 canaille^ as Professor Masson calls them. 
 
 The name ' Lycidas ' was a common one with the ancient 
 bucolic poets, but perhaps the Seventh Idyll of Theocritus 
 was especially in Milton's mind when he adopted it. The mon- 
 ody is cast in a form commonly known and designated as the 
 ' pastoral ; ' it is not, however, strictly speaking, a pastoral, but 
 a poem descriptive of college hfe under an allegory drawn from 
 
INTRODUCTION. (3) 
 
 that of shepherds. It is well to make this distiaction at the* 
 outset, in order to have some grounds for defending Milton 
 against the charge of confusion and incongruity which certain 
 critics (and notably Dr. Johnson, in his Lives of the Poets) have 
 laid against him. The exact value of such criticism, as applied 
 to the Lycidas, will be discussed in its proper place ; here it is 
 enough to say that whatever may be the faults of the poem on 
 this score (including the crowning one of all— the introduction 
 of the Christian pastor side by side with the ideal shepherd), 
 confusion of this kind did not begin with Milton, but had been 
 the common practice of his predecessors in a style of composi- 
 tion which had long been degenerating from its primitive state 
 of simplicity, and had how become an allowed medium for 
 expressing opinions upon any sort of subject that might be 
 present in the poet's mind. /A brief review of pastoral poetry 
 in its various stages from the time of Theocritus will best show 
 how this change was brought about. 
 
 There is no reason for refusing the claims of the Syracusan 
 bard to the honour of having originated this kind of poetry, if 
 only we are careful to distinguish the pastoral of real life, such 
 as the shepherds loved to practise in early times, from the artifi- 
 cial drafts of professed poets who made rural themes a vehicle 
 for their imagination. Among these last we do not know for 
 certain that Theocritus had any predecessors whose names can 
 worthily be coupled with his own. Naeke (Qpuscula Philo- 
 iogica, vol. i. p. 162) draws a good distinction between the old 
 pastoral life and manners, which existed in the first ages of the 
 world, and the artificial description of them which we call 
 'pastoral poetry.' He maintains that speculations, such as 
 those prefixed to«the Idylls on the origin of the pastoral,' really 
 
 ' The Scholia on Theocritus (ed. their own fashion ; hence bucolic 
 
 Ziegler, 1867) say that, after some poetry had its begiiming. Also that 
 
 civil discord at Syracuse, the citizens they afterwards continued the custom 
 
 held a festival to Artemis for having and sang for prizes of loaves and 
 
 brought about a reconciliation, and wallets fiill of seeds and skins of 
 
 that thi rustics presented offerings vidne, with crowns on their heads, 
 
 and sang praises to the goddess in and horns on their foreheads, and 
 
4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 concern the olden times ; but that the pastoral itself had no 
 proper existence before Theocritus. He takes no notice of any 
 difference between Theocritus and his successors in their method 
 of treatment ; and his remarks seem to imply that the Idylls of 
 Theocritus were no more a picture of facts than Virgil's Ec- 
 logues or the Italian pastorals. It is indeed very hard to 
 say how much in Theocritus is literal fact ; but there is the 
 plainest evidence that his scenes have been drawn from nature 
 and from the shepherd-life of Sicily, and that they are the 
 direct and first-hand presentation of actual shepherds singing 
 of their flocks and of their loves, poetically but not allegori- 
 cally. At the same time, his Idylls bear the trace of Alexan- 
 drian refinement, and of having been written, as Naeke says, 
 ' non ad priscomm hominum ingenium sensumque,' &&, but 
 for those ' qui tsedio capti aliunde imaginem simpHcitatis re- 
 vocare student.' It was only natural that in those early times, 
 when the conditions of human life were simple and uniform, 
 and the shepherd's calling was followed by nearly all classes, 
 the long hours of leisure should have been beguiled by song ; 
 and, as Lucretius • supposes, the whistling of the wind through 
 the reeds might have suggested the first rude shepherd's pipe. 
 Various degrees of skill would engender competition, and for 
 this the rural festivities of Pan or Ceres would afford grand 
 opportunities of display, which is probably the reason why the 
 oldest theories on the subject ascribe the origin of pastoral 
 poetry to such occasions. In course of time the best specimens 
 would become known beyond the original rustic circle, and so 
 professional poets began to adopt a similar mode of expression; 
 
 crooks in their hands. The above Rhegium to Tyndaris in Sicily, 
 
 is stated as 'the true account'; whereat the inhabitants sang praises 
 
 some, however, maintain that pas- to Artemis in their own rustic style, 
 
 toral poetry arose at Sparta during and thus gave rise to a r^ular 
 
 the Persian war, at a similar festival custom. 
 
 of Artemis and in a similar way ; ' ' Et zephyri cava per calamorum 
 
 while others place its origin as far sibila primum 
 
 back as the time of Orestes, when Agrestes docuere cavas inflare 
 
 he returned from Tauri with the cicutas.' — LucR. 5, 1382 foil. 
 
 image of Artemis and crossed from 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 hence soon arose a distinct school of poetry, in which the poet 
 and his friends are introduced in the dramatic form of shepherds, 
 telling of their flocks and herds, their rustic amours, and the 
 joys of a country life.' 
 
 But pastoral poetry was not destined to remain long in, 
 this state of uniform simplicity. The real and the dramatic! 
 characters soon became blended into one, and the shepherd 1 
 was identified with the poet. Even in Theocritus we see the ' 
 beginnings of this very natural confusion, for in the seventh 
 Idyll the swain Simichidas professes his inferiority to Philetas 
 and Asclepiades, actual poets of the day and the instructors of 
 Theocritus, who, in fact, introduces himself under the name of 
 Simichidas ; but this Idyll is the only one which contains per- 
 sonal allusions to the poet, and in which real and imaginary 
 names are intermingled. Passing on to the 'Efftra^toe B/wvoc 
 of Moschus, we find the same phenomenon more apparent ; for 
 there not only is the deceased bard lamented by name in the 
 midst of a highly allegorical passage, and the real cause of his 
 death by poison nakedly stated, but so transparent is the veil of 
 pastoral allegory which disguises the personality of the poet, 
 that Bion is represented as piping to his flocks and milking his 
 goats at the same time that he is compared with Homer, Hesiod, 
 and Pindar, with his own master Theocritus, and even with 
 Moschus himself, in language which expressly intimates that 
 something like a school of bucolic poetry was even thus early 
 establishing itself in Sicily. Whether such an idea ever had 
 any recognised ' existence, or had- reached any degree of ma- 
 turity during the period of 200 years that intervened between 
 Theocritus and Virgil, is a question we have no means of de- 
 ciding ; suffice it to say that in the time of the latter poet the 
 terms ' Sicilian ' and ' Sytacusan ' had come to be used as dis- 
 tinctive literary epithets of pastoral song (Virgil, Ed. iy. i ; 
 
 • At secura quies et nescia fallere Mugitusque boum tnollesque 
 vita, sub arbore somni 
 
 Dives opum variarum, at latis Non absunt' — ^ViRG. G. ii. 
 otia fundis .... 467. 
 
6 . INTRODUCTION. 
 
 vi. i). This fact of itself shows how conventional the method of 
 treating the subject had now become, and also prepares us for 
 what we actually find when we examine the Eclogues of VirgiL 
 The pastoral, which was at first a true and simple inspiration of 
 nature, was already passing into an artificial stage in which it 
 became the mouth-piece of general poetic utterance, and not 
 seldom a mere toy for tiros in verse, ' as young birdes, that be 
 newly crept out of the nest, by littie first prove theyr tender 
 wyngs, before they make a greater flyght.' ' Such a fate indeed 
 it was only too certain to incur when once it had taken its 
 regular place in literature and lost its original simplicity. The 
 poets who adopted the new fashion, though they assumed the 
 character of shepherds, yet failed to attain the true pastoral re- 
 sult, since neither their own incUnation nor surrounding influ- 
 ences favoured a consistent treatment. But in Virgil first of 
 all the unreality and confusion of subject-matter and the 
 general departure from primitive simpHcity begin to be most 
 conspicuous. His Eclogues are close imitations, often literal 
 translations, of Theocritus ; and in them we find the Greek 
 pastoral applied to Roman life, and the scenery of Sicily trans- 
 ferred to the Mantuan district. Also the persistency with 
 which shepherds bearing Greek names talk of Rome and the 
 things of Rome, and adapt not only the pastoral imagery but 
 even the very circumstances of the Idylls of Theocritus to the 
 every-day occupations of Roman Ufe, seems to prove that 
 Virgil not merely recognised the Greek pastoral as the source 
 of his inspiration, but sought to invest Theocritus himself with 
 a Latin dress. And in numerous passages we cannot help see- 
 ing that he has allowed his excessive fondness of imitation to 
 cramp his native originality, and to close his eyes to the open 
 face of nature. At Rome Greek literature was a beau ideal of 
 excellence, and Greek models were accepted as supreme ; so 
 that an aptness for applying the matter no less than the metre 
 
 ' Spenser, Epistle to Gabriell in his Introduction to Virgil's Bu- 
 Harvey (quoted also by Coningcon celics). , 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 of Greek poetry to Roman uses did not in those days appear 
 to derogate in the least from the character of originality. 
 Nevertheless Virgil, though he lived and breathed so fully in the 
 atmosphere of Greece, and reproduced with such exactness the 
 tastes and impressions he had there imbibed, copied as one 
 who brought with him native insight and vision, and had the 
 power of impressing his own stamp upon much that he had 
 gathered from others. The confusion of the pastoral may be 
 considered as fully developed in the Eclogues, though often- 
 times so perfect is the poet's art, and so exquisite his grace, 
 that we may be led to forget or even to reconcile ourselves to 
 what he has done in this direction. Henceforth pastoral poetry 
 is no more than a particular mode of poetical expression, and 
 has nothing in common with Theocritus beyond its outside' 
 form.' It seems strange indeed that a people like the Romans, 
 claiming descent from a pastoral ancestry and nursed by a 
 regular recurrence of festivals in pastoral recollections, should 
 afterwards have been almost wholly indifferent to the cultivation 
 of this class of poetry ; yet the later Roman bucolic poets, 
 such as Calpurnius and Nemesianus, occupy but a low place 
 among the post- Augustan authors, and need only be mentioned 
 as specimens to show how little regard was paid to the Pastoral 
 for some time after the days of Virgil. Their poetry, which 
 invests political subjects with a pastoral dress, is miserably un- 
 real, and, though obviously Virgilian in its style and aim, is 
 wholly destitute of the master's power and elegance. It may 
 be interesting to notice here in passing an eclogue ( Conflictus 
 Verts et Hiemis, sive Cuculus) by the Venerable Bede, which 
 was one of the few and scattered pastoral reminiscences during 
 the long and dreary period which intervened between the old 
 and the new epochs of literature. 
 
 From what has been said it appears that there may be two 
 kinds of pastoral — one real and the other allegorical : the first | 
 
 ' For a fuller and nearly exhaust- critus, see Conington's Introduction 
 ive criticism of Virgil's Eclogues, in to the Bucolics, in vol, i, of his 
 their relation to the Idylls of Theo- edition of Virgil. 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 gives an actual representation of rural life in any country what- 
 ever, such as we partially find in the Idylls of Theocritus, 
 while among our own poets perhaps Ben Jonson, in his Sad 
 si Shepherd, has approached most nearly to this primitive type. 
 The second class is represented by Spenser and his con- 
 temporaries, its object being to disentangle the poet from all 
 local and surrounding associations, and to place him in such a 
 state of ideal freedom as shall afford full scope for his imagina- 
 tion. For this the fiction of some Arcadia, a kind of visionary 
 land, was most suitable, where the poet, in shepherd guise, 
 could adapt to his purpose as much of pastoral life as he saw 
 fit. And although Spenser, in the opening lines of the Faery 
 Queen, gives notice of changing his ' oaten reeds for trumpets 
 stern,' and for ' knights and ladies gentle deeds,' much of the 
 pastoral nevertheless shows itself even here. Whatever the theme 
 might be, it was thrown by the poetical fashion of the time 
 into an imaginary world, and an ideal scene was fitted to it 
 
 The earliest modem pastorals are Portuguese, ^ in or even 
 before the fourteenth century. They mainly deal with the 
 passion of love in its relation to the ideal felicity of shepherd 
 life. Spain followed in the same course; but the adoption of 
 the fashion by the Italians, whose language was more widely 
 known, started an epoch of great popularity for this kind of 
 composition in Europe. Sannazaro wrote his Arcadia in 1502, 
 and the Piscatory Eclogues^ which are in Latin and very 
 Virgilian, appeared about 1520. Soon afterwards began the 
 regular pastoral drama, of which // Sagrifizio of Beccari, in 
 1554, was the first specimen. This, as Hallam thinks, may 
 have been suggested by the ' Sicilian Gossips ' (Adaniazusce) of 
 Theocritus, where there is the germ of a dramatic action in the 
 dialogue. George de Montemayor, who, by his Diana, made 
 
 ' Except the French pastourelles, toral is narrow, Sannazaro tried to 
 
 which were love dialogues in alter- vary his imagery by depicting the sea 
 
 nate stanzas and in pastoral cha- and fishermen ; but the sea having 
 
 racter, less variety than the land, and being 
 
 ^ Dr. Johnson (Rambler, 1750) less known to the generality of men, 
 
 observes that, as the range of pas- is therefore less fit for pastoral. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 this kind of poetry fashionable in Spain, followed Sannazaro, 
 but improved upon him by giving more variety, more passion, 
 more reasoning, and a more connected story. Then followed 
 Lope de Vega with his Arcadia, about the end of the sixteenth 
 century. Towards 1580 came Tasso's Aminta, and in 1585 
 Guarini's Pastor Fido, containing musical choruses, ' the pro- 
 totypes of the Italian Opera which added recitatives to the 
 choruses.' 
 
 In 1690 the Society of Arcadians was founded at Florence 
 by Crescentini. They assumed all the accessories of Greek 
 pastoral, and took as their device the pipe of seven reeds 
 bound with laurel ; and their president was designated ' custode 
 generale.' ' Their influence was great in purifying the national 
 taste ; and though the poetry rather lacked power of feeling, its 
 natural imagery and pastoral character have invested it with a 
 charm and beauty which to the imaginative reader is quite 
 , irresistible. From Italy the fashion passed to England about 
 the sixteenth century, when travel led the way to knowledge, 
 and translations began to be made. Though the influence of 
 Italian poetry upon English literature goes back at least to 
 Chaucer, who translated many lines from the Italian, and pro- 
 bably borrowed his Palamon and Arcite and his Troilus from 
 the Theseida and Filostrato of Boccaccio respectively, yet it was 
 not till much later that Italian poets and romances were popu- 
 larly known in avowed translations. Ascham, in his Schokmaster 
 (1589), complains of them as ' carrying the will to vanitie and 
 marring good manners.' Boccace's novels were translated by 
 W. Paynter in 1566, and Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, 
 mentions the reading aloud of them as a winter evening's 
 diversion. A translation of Ariosto's Orlatido Furioso by 
 Harvington appeared in 1590, and one of Tasso's Gerusalemme 
 Liberata, probably by Carew, in 1593. 
 
 The first English pastorals were Barkley's Eclogues (1514), v 
 chiefly moral and satirical, with little rural scenery. They were 
 
 ' From HaXiam's History of European Literature, vol. ii. 
 
lo INTRODUCTION. 
 
 modelled on Petrarch's XII. Eclogues (1350), which were the 
 first modem Latin bucolics, and on Mantuan (1402). And 
 these modern Latin pastorals became so much admired that a 
 collection of thirty-eight of them was printed at Basel in 1546. 
 Mantuan was read and taught as a classic : see Shaksp., Lovis 
 Labour Lost, iv. 2, where Holofemes quotes a line of his and 
 says, ' Old Mantuan ! old Mantuan ! who understandeth thee 
 not loves thee not.' In 1563 came Googe's Eglogs,^ Epitaphs, 
 atid Sonnets, and this abundance of pastorals is probably trace- 
 able to the fascination of the Italian poets. Spenser's Eclogue 
 Liecember is a literal rendering from the French of CMment 
 Marot. (Warton's Hist, of English Poetry, and Critique on the 
 Faery Queen.) 
 
 In the Elizabethan age pastoral poetry was a popular 
 delight. Bishop Hall, Prologue to Satires, 1597, exclaims — 
 
 Would ye but breathe within a wax-bound quill, 
 Pan's sevenfold pipe, some plaintive pastoral ; 
 
 and in his first satire he complains that he cannot 
 
 Under everie bank and everie tree 
 Speak rimes unto mine oaten minstrelsie. 
 
 In his History of English Poetry Warton remarks : ' This fami- 
 liarity with the pagan story was owing to the numerous English 
 versions of them. Translations occupied every pen, and 
 acquired a general notoriety. Learned allusions were no 
 longer obscure * to common readers; but their extravagances 
 
 ' Petrarch introduced the form afterwards given to the poems which 
 y^glogue for Eclogue, imagining the Virgil himself called by the de- 
 word to be derived from a7| (turiii), scriptive name Bucolica. 
 'a goat,' and to mean 'the con- " The chief translations of the 
 versation of goatherds.' But, as dassics after 1550 are Virgil's 
 Dr. Johnson observes in his Life of j^jieid, by Phaier (1558) ; by Stani- 
 A. Philips, it could only mean ' the hurst (1583) ; the Culex, by Spenser 
 talk of ^oa/j.' Such a compound, (1591) ; Ovii's Metamorpkosa, by 
 however, could not even exist, as it Golding (1565) ; Epistles, by Tur- 
 would be 0170-^07(0, if anything. berville (1567) ; Tmrio, by Church- 
 Ecloga {4K-\ayai) of course mean yard (1580); Horace's Epistles and 
 simply Selected Pieces, a name Satires, by Drant (1567) ; Homer 
 
INTRODUCTION. ii, 
 
 were imitated, and not their naturalbeauties.' Again : ' When 
 the queen paraded through a country town, almost every 
 pageant was a pantheon. When she paid a visit at the house 
 of any of her nobility, on entering the hall she was saluted by 
 the PenateSj and conducted to her privy chamber by Mercury. 
 . . . At dinner select transformations of Ovid's Meta- 
 morphoses were exhibited in confectionery. . . . When 
 she condescended to walk in the garden, the lake was covered 
 with Tritons and Nereids ; the pages of the family were con- 
 verted into wood nymphs, who peeped from every bower, and 
 the footmen gambolled over the lawns in the figure of satyrs.' 
 . . . When her majesty hunted in the park, she was 
 met by Diana, who, pronouncing our royal prude to be the 
 brightest paragon of unspotted chastity, invited her to groves 
 free from the intrusions of Actseon. ... In one of the 
 fulsome interludes at court, the singing boys of her chapel pre- 
 sented the story of the three rival goddesses on Mount Ida, to 
 which her majesty was ingeniously added as a fourth ; , and 
 Paris was arraigned in form for adjudging the golden apple to 
 Venus, which was due to the queen alone.' (Warton's Hist, of 
 Eng. Poetry, ed. 1824, vol. iv. p. 323.) 
 
 Besides the classics and the ItaUan tales, Gothic romance 
 still held its ground. ' Giants, dragons, and enchanted castles,| 
 borrowed from the magic storehouse of Boiardo, Ariosto, and 
 Tasso, began to be employed by the epic muse. The Gothic 
 and pagan fictions were blended and incorporated ' {ib.) ; and 
 we find in Sidney's Arcadia an application of the Italian pas- 
 toral to feudal manners, and so fashionable did pastoral | 
 writings soon become that the language of courtiers with all its 
 false and tawdry finery was put into the mouths of simple 
 shepherds. Spenser, whose ShephearcFs Calendar (1579) is the ' 
 masterpiece of all pastorals in that age, brought his treatment 
 nearer to the truth of nature ; yet the Doric rusticity of the dia- 
 
 by Chapman (1604-14). Queen ' See account of the pageant at 
 
 Elizabeth herself translated Seneca's Kenilworth in Scott's novel of that 
 Hercules CEtaus. name. 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 logue is somewhat repulsive to modem ears ; and this, which 
 was native to Theocritus, is borrowed, not always ' correctly, by 
 his English imitator. 
 
 In 1590 appeared Sidney's Arcadia, one of the most beau- 
 tiful efforts of English fancy in that age — not exactly a pastoral, 
 since it has far less to do with shepheids than with courtiers 
 and knights, though the idea might have been suggested by the 
 popularity of the Dia/ta of Montemayor, to which allusion has 
 been already made. In the preface of his edition of the Ar- 
 cadia (1867) Mr. Friswell says : ' The scene is laid in a fabulous 
 and semi-pagan Greece, where young people wander in woods, 
 kill lions and bears, fall in love, believe in Christianity and 
 heathen gods, wear armour like the Tudor knights, and fight 
 with Helots and Lacedaemonians, in a most confiising way.' 
 It would now, perhaps, be thought very tedious, but it is less 
 pedantic than most books of that time, and its popularity was 
 great in the days of Shakspere and for years afterwards 
 (Hallam, vol. ii. p. 216). Early in the seventeenth century 
 appeared the Faithful Shepherdess of Fletcher (the forerunner 
 of Comus), Browne's Britannids Pastorals (1613), also well 
 known to Milton, and the Sad Shepherd of Jonson. 
 
 Touching the influence of Spenser on succeeding poetry. 
 Professor Masson (vol. i. p. 410 foil.) remarks that about 1630 
 there was ' a distinct Spenserian School,' partly of professed and 
 partly of unconscious disciples. As the poetry of Spenser is 
 ' as nearly poetry in its essence as any that ever was,' a resem- 
 blance to him was thought a warrant of poetic quality. This 
 is seen in Chapman, Jonson, Drayton, and others, Shakspere 
 being an exception, sui generis, and of no school. But there 
 were also those who purposely studied Spenser, made him their 
 avowed model, and cultivated his forms of poetry — the pastoral 
 and the descriptive allegory ; and among these W. Browne 
 and Giles and Phineas Fletcher stand most prominent. 
 
 ' For the mistakes which Spenser by Skeat on the two concluding 
 has made as to the meaning of some eclogues of the ShepheartTs Calendar. 
 of the old words he uses, see notes 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 Browne's Brit Pastorals (1613-1616) are cast very closely 
 in pastoral form, and are a story of shepherds amid scenes of 
 English country life, full of luxuriant natural descriptions, with 
 only an occasional flight to higher subjects. Spenser is acknow- 
 ledged several times by name, but traces of other poets 
 (especially of Du Bartas ') may be discerned. The Shep- 
 heris Pipe, of seven eclogues (1614), is a simpler poem, and 
 one of equal skill. Of Giles Fletcher there only remains 
 Chrisfs Victory over Death (1610), which is very Spenserian. 
 Phineas Fletcher's two great poems are the Piscatory Eclogues, 
 where fishermen take the place of shepherds, and the Purple 
 Island, a poem describing the anatomy of the human body 
 under an image indicated by that name. Both were published 
 at Cambridge soon after 1632. 
 
 The old criticisms on what the pastoral ought to be may be 1 
 divided into two classes, each of which failed, though in a dif- ) 
 ferent way, of hitting the mark. Those who insisted upon a 1 
 * golden age,' simple manners, mean sentiments, and the like, ( 
 confused the pastoral of real life, which had long ceased to 
 exist (if it ever did exist after Theocritus), with the changed 
 artificial growth which had sprung out of it. Those on the 
 other hand who avoided this particular mistake, but forbade I 
 all allusions to politics or religion as foreign to the nature of the 
 pastoral, forgot that all pastoral poets after Virgil's time had 
 admitted such allusions, and by so doing had, as it were, legal- 
 ised them ; and these same critics fell into the totally distinct 
 error of allowing too wide a definition of this sort of poetry, as 
 if any rural poem whatever were ipso facto a pastoral. Having 
 briefly drawn this distinction, let us now examine by way of 
 
 ' Sylvester translated the Divine days or cantos. The Second Week 
 
 Weeks and Works of Du Bartas in contains the Bible history as far as 
 
 1605, which was very popular till the Kings and Chronicles, also 
 
 1650, but afterwards ceased to be divided into days, each correspond- 
 
 read. When Milton was a boy, ing to an epoch and headed with a 
 
 everybody was reading' it. The first name (Adam, Noah, &c.). Four 
 
 part of the poem is called ' The days are complete j the rest are un- 
 
 First Week,' or 'Birth of the finished. 
 World,' and it is divided into seven 
 
H INTRODUCTION. 
 
 illustration a few of the opinions of successive critics, remarking 
 upon them as we proceed. 
 
 In the Preface to John Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess we 
 read : ' A pastoral is a representative of shepherds and shep- 
 herdesses with their actions and passions, which must be such 
 as may agree with their natures ; at least, not exceeding former 
 pictures and vulgar traditions. They are not to be adorned with 
 any art but such as nature is said to bestow, such as singing and 
 poetry, or such as experience may teach them, as the virtues of 
 herbs, &c.' Again, Drayton, in his Preface to the Pastorals, 
 observes : ' The subject of pastoral, as the language of it, ought 
 to be poor, silly, and of the coarsest woof in appearance, yet the 
 highest and noblest matters of the world may be shadowed forth 
 in them. The chief law of pastoral is decorum, and that not to 
 be exceeded without leave, or, at least, fair warning.' Pope, 
 in the Introduction to his Pastorals (1704), gives a rksumk of 
 the opinions of preceding critics, the chief of which are that 
 ' Pastoral is an image of the golden age,' so that ideal and not 
 actual shepherds have to be described. The principal points 
 to be observed are ' simplicity, brevity, and delicacy.' ' The 
 fable simple, the manners not too polite nor too rustic, the 
 thoughts plain — the expression humble, yet as pure as the 
 language will afford, neat but not florid, easy yet lively.' The 
 joyous side of shepherd life and not the miseries should be 
 shown. The Eclogues should be various, each having its own 
 particular beauties. In the Guardian (1713) pastoral poetry 
 is spoken of as describing a state of early innocence and joy, 
 ' where plenty begot pleasure, and pleasure begot singing, and 
 singing begot poetry, and poetry begot pleasure again.' Sim- 
 plicity must be pourtrayed, but troubles should be concealed, 
 except such small annoyances as merely set off the general 
 happiness of the state. The shepherds need not, however, be 
 ' dull and stupid ;' they may have 'good sense and even wit, 
 provided it be not too gallant and refined ;' but they must not 
 ' make deep reflections,' which are to be left to the reader. 
 The reasons why we are pleased with pastoral are threefold 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 ' love of ease,' ' approbation of innocence and simplicity,' and 
 ' love of the country ; ' and all these are natural to man. Theo- 
 critus is the great master of pastoral ; Virgil sacrifices simplicity 
 to nobleness and sublimity, and some of his Eclogues are not 
 properly pastorals at all. The Italians are ' fond of surprising 
 conceits and far-fetched imaginations,' as is shown in Tasso's 
 Aminta and Guarini's Pastor Fido. ' The French are so far from 
 thinking abstrusely that they often seem not to think at all ; ' ' they 
 fall into the manner of their country, which is gallantry,' and the 
 dresses and manners of their shepherds are like those of a court 
 and ball-room. The English have too servilely copied the Greek 
 and Roman pastorals ; Spenser and A. Philips have succeeded 
 best, since they have 'not only copied but improved the 
 beauties of the ancients.' The manner of the ancients should 
 be followed, but deviations as to climate, customs, and the soil 
 and its products, are to be recommended. The theology of 
 the Pagan pastoral may be retained, where 'universally known; 
 and all else should be made up of our own rustical superstition 
 of fairies, goblins, &c. — since no man can be delighted with the 
 imitation of what he is ignorant of On April 27, 1713 
 (Guardian, No. 40), appeared a mock comparison of Philips's 
 with Pope's Pastorals, really written by Pope himself, in which 
 he gave the palm of superiority to his own poems under pre- 
 tence of preferring those of his rival. The whole production is 
 ironical, and it ends by asserting of Pope's Pastorals that ' they 
 are by no means pastorals, but something better.' Here we ( 
 must not omit to notice Gay's burlesque pastorals, entitled the 
 Shepherd's Week, both because many of his remarks, though 
 ironically uttered, really bear on the matter before us, and 
 because there has been from time to time so much ludicrous 
 misconception as to their object and character. We make the 
 following extracts from the Proeme to the Shepherd's Week, 
 which appeared in 17 14: 'Great marvel hath it been that in 
 this our island of Britain no poet hath hit on the right simple 
 eclogue after the true ancient guise of Theocritus before this 
 mine attempt . . . My love to my country much pricketh me 
 
i6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 forward to describe aright the manners of our own honest 
 ploughmen ; albeit not ignorant am I what a rout and rabble- 
 ment of critical gallimawfry hath been made by certain young 
 men concerning I wist not what Golden Age and other out- 
 rageous conceits to which they would confine pastoral. This 
 idle trumpery unto that ancient Doric shepherd Theocritus 
 was never known. It is therefore my purpose to set forth 
 before thee a picture of thy own country. . . . Thou wilt not 
 find mv shepherdesses idly piping on oaten reeds, but milking 
 the kine, tying up the sheaves, &c. Spenser I must acknow- 
 ledge a bard of sweetest memorial ; yet hath his shepherd's 
 boy at times raised his rustic reed to rhjrmes more rumbling 
 than rural. Diverse grave points hath he also handled of 
 churchly matter, to great clerks only appertaining. His names 
 [are] indeed right simple and meet for the country (Lobbin, 
 Cuddy, &c.), some of which I have made bold to borrow. . . . 
 The language of my shepherds is such as is neither spoken by 
 the country maiden nor the courtly dame, having too much of 
 the country to be fit for the court, too much of the court to be 
 fit for the country. . . . But here again much comfort ariseth 
 in me from the hopes that some lover of simplicity shall arise 
 who shall render these mine eclogues into such more modem 
 dialect as shall be then understood.' ' 
 
 In the pieces which follow, Gay's object was to ridicule pas- 
 toral itself by presenting a homely and often coarse picture of 
 rustic life as a set-off against the ' golden age ' view we have 
 mentioned ; and in doing so he claims simply to be going back 
 to Theocritus, the fountain-head of all bucolic poetry, who 
 was himself faithful to nature. Nor can it be denied that Gay 
 
 ' Dr. Johnson [Life of Gay) says tation of obsolete language. But 
 
 that Pope ' is supposed to have the effect of reality and truth be- 
 
 incited Gay to write the Shepherd's came conspicuous, even when the 
 
 Week, to show that, if it be neces- intention was to show them grovels 
 
 sary, to copy nature with minute- ling and degraded. These Pastorals 
 
 ness, rural life must be exhibited became popular, and were read with 
 
 such as grossness and ignorance have delight by those who had no interest 
 
 made it. The Pastorals are intro- in the rivalry of the poets, nor 
 
 duced by a Proeme, written in imi- knowledge of the critical dispute.' 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 does in this respect present us with a superficial copy of his 
 alleged model in almost everything but the ridiculous names 
 (Blowselinda, Bowsybaeus, &c.) he gives to some of his charac- 
 ters, which are not at all after the style of those adopted by 
 Theocritus. How then is it that Gay's pastorals are on the 
 whole an evident burlesque, while those of Theocritus are as 
 evidently real ?• It cannot be merely a question of coarseness 
 as contrasted with refinement, for there are indecencies in some 
 of the Idylls to which no parallel can be found in the Sh^- 
 kerd's Week. As a poet of course Theocritus has the ad- 
 vantage ; but this does not make all the differeface between 
 them. The solution seems to be in some way as fol- 
 lows. Both poets described actual facts of rural life and in 
 homely language ; but the kind of rural life Theocritus had to 
 describe was very different from that which came under the 
 notice of Gay. ' Thou wilt not find my shepherdesses idly 
 piping on oaten reeds, but milking the kine, tying sheaves,' &c. 
 Just so ; but the shepherds of Theocritus did pipe as well as 
 milk and bind sheaves ; and if they had not piped, or if no 
 shepherds had ever done so, the production which we call 
 Pastoral Poetry would never have existed. This does not con- 
 sist merely in a description of rustic manners.' To us it is 
 purelyartificial, and has been so in all countries ever since Virgil's 
 time ; but to Theocritus and his contemporaries it was a reality 
 — 3, substantially correct reproduction of the doings, feelings, 
 occupations, and utterances of the Sicilian shepherds — and 
 afterwards but too often an ungainly mimicry of what once had 
 
 ' From not observing this fact, From Truth and Nature shall we 
 Crabbe made the genuine mistake widely stray 
 
 embodied in the following lines from Where Virgil, not where Fancy, 
 his poem The Village (1783) : — leads the way ? 
 
 ' On Mincio's banks in Cesar's Yes, thus the Muses sing of happy 
 
 bounteous reign, swams, 
 
 If Tityrus found the golden age Because the Muses never knew their 
 
 agam. 
 
 pains 
 
 Must sleepy bards the flattering By such examples taught I paint 
 dreams prolong, ^^ 1°' .„ . . , . . 
 
 Mechanic echoes of the Mantuan As Truth will pamt it, and as bards 
 
 Bong ? 
 
 will not.' 
 
i8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 life and reality. The shepherd's pipe, which was at first real, 
 became afterwards a sham ; and the poetry met with much the 
 same fate. Owing to the nature of its climate and its manners, 
 England is not a country in which shepherds could practise 
 piping and singing like the Dorian swains ; and perhaps neither 
 the genius nor the language of the EngUsh race would ever have 
 fostered anything like the true ancient pastoral amongst us.' 
 
 Of those critics, who fell into the error of identifying the 
 pastoral with rural poetry in general, Dr. Johnson may be 
 fairly taken as the representative. In the Rambler he remarks, 
 j ' The true definition of a pastoral is a poem in which any action 
 I or passion is represented by its effects upon a country life, and 
 I has nothing peculiar but its confinement to rural imagery, with- 
 'jout which it ceases to be pastoral.' Hence he thinks those 
 Writers are wrong who insist upon a golden age, meanness of 
 sentiment and language, and confinement to persons of low 
 rank.^ Still the interest should be centred in rural life, and 
 therefore should not contain allusions to the Church or State, 
 or ' lamentations on the death of some illustrious person, whom 
 when once the poet has called a shepherd he has no longer 
 any labour upon his hands, but can make the lilies wither and 
 the sheep hang their heads, without any art or learning, genius 
 or study.' On the misconception involved in refusing to admit 
 political allusions into the pastoral we have already remarked 
 (p. 13) ; that there is the essence of truth in the last quoted 
 sentence {nimus the .sarcasm) every reader will allow. We will 
 close this part of our subject by citing a still more sarcastic 
 
 ' ' In England every poet who mangled dialect which no human 
 
 has tried to play on the Doric pipe being could' ever have spoken," and 
 
 has sounded a false note. There is quotes the opening of the gth 
 
 nothing in our damp island atmo- Eclogue, — 
 
 sphere, or in our own character, to < T>Kggtia. Davie ! I bidde her god 
 
 favour that easy, contented, grass- daye ■ 
 
 hopper life which still marks the Or Diggonheris, orImissaye,'&c. 
 
 peoples of the SiOMtb.' —Quarterly ^^ ' ' ' . 
 
 Kcjiew July 1873. — which Pope aifected to admire in 
 
 2 He instances ' the Dorick' of l^'s ironical essay in the Guardian, 
 
 Spenser's Shepheard's Calendar, ' a ^°- 4°- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 utterance of the same critic, in his life of A. Philips (1781), 
 which nevertheless gives us a perfectly true account of the 
 reasons why the writing of pastorals became so fashionable. 
 'At the revival of learning in Italy, it was soon discovered 
 that a dialogue of imaginary swains might be composed with 
 little difficulty; because the conversation of shepherds excludes 
 profound or refined sentiment, and for images and descriptions 
 satyrs, fauns, &c., were always within call ; and woods, rivers, 
 &c., supplied variety of matter, which having a natural power to 
 soothe the mind did not quickly cloy it.' Add to this the well- 
 known charms of the country and its associations, and the 
 relief which these afford from the turmoils of life, to the 
 imagination at least, if not always in reality, and we shall cease 
 to wonder at the vitality of a species of composition which 
 held its ground for so many centuries, though it has now, 
 perhaps for ever, passed away. 
 
 Hence it will appear that even if Lycidas were a formally ■, 
 cast Pastoral, ample license by precedents would be allowed 
 for the method in which Milton has treated his subject. We 
 are now in a position to consider a few of the criticisms which 
 have been passed upon the poem itself. That of Dr. Johnson 
 in his Lives of the Poets is the best known and the ^ost 
 unfavourable of all. In his Life of Milton he writes :-pThe 
 diction is harsh, the rhymes uncertain, and the. numbers un- 
 
 pleasing not the effusion of real passion, 
 
 which runs not after remote allusions and obscure opinions. 
 
 Where there is leisure for fiction there is little 
 
 grief No nature, for there is no truth; no 
 
 art, for there is nothing new. Its form is pastoral, easy, vulgar, 
 
 and therefore disgusting When Cowley tells 
 
 Hervey that they studied together, it is easy to suppose how 
 much he rnust miss the companion of his labours; but what 
 image of tenderness can be excited by these lines : " We drove 
 
 afield, &c."? Though the representation 
 
 may be allegorical, the true meaning is so uncertain and 
 remote that it is never sought, because it cannot be known 
 
 c 2 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 when it is found. Among the flocks, &c., appear the heathen 
 deities, Jove, &c. He who thus grieves will excite no sym- 
 pathy ; he who thus praises will confer no honour.' Again — 
 ' With these trifling fictions are mingled the most awful and 
 
 sacred truths The shepherd is now a feeder of 
 
 sheep, and afterwards a superintendent of a Christian flock — 
 an approach to impiety of which, however, I believe the writer 
 
 not to have been conscious No man could 
 
 have fancied that he read Lycidas with pleasure had he not 
 known the author.' It should in the first place be understood 
 that in Milton's day Enghsh poetry had not been brought 
 under the kind of criticism to which it has since been sub- 
 ^ jected, and that therefore we must view the Lycidas in relation 
 to its age. But whatever incongruities a harsh and prosaic 
 test may elicit, other critics even of Dr. Johnson's own time 
 have held very different opinions respecting the melody, ten- 
 derness, and grandeur of this charming poem.' Thyer (17 81;) 
 \ I ''observes that ' what gives the greatest grace to the whole poem 
 ' is the natural and agreeable wildness and irregularity which 
 \ \ runs through it, than which nothing could be better suited to 
 ' express the affection which Milton had for his friend. Grief 
 is eloquent, but not formal.' Hurd, though he sees ' no extra- 
 ordinary wildness and irregularity in the conduct of this little 
 poem,' remarks, ' There is a very original air in it, owing not 
 to disorder in the plan, but to the variety of the metre. Milton's 
 ear was a good second to his imagination.' On Johnson's com- 
 parison of Lycidas with Cowley's Elegy, Scott (Critical Essays, 
 1785) says, * Cowley speaks of Hervey in propria persona; 
 Milton is pro tern, a rustic poet.' Hence the images of the one 
 are drawn from the study, those of the other from the field. 
 ' Whatever pathos there is in either results from the recollection 
 of friendship terminated by death.' The comparison of Milton 
 with Cowley is about as unfortunate as any that could have 
 
 ' See collection of criticisms in touching the alleged insincerity of 
 \ the editions of Warton and Todd. Milton's sorrow is given further on 
 I The an5.wer of Professor Masson (p, 30). 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 been made, either as regards true feeling or true poetry. The 
 reader may judge for himself by contrasting the following 
 extract from the elegy on the Death of. Hervey with any corre- 
 sponding passage in Lycidas he may choose to select : — 
 
 •Ye fields of Cambridge, our dear Cambridge, say, 
 Have ye not seen us walking every day ? 
 Was there a tree about, which did not know 
 
 The love betwixt us two ? 
 Hencf forth, ye gentle trees, for ever fade^ 
 
 Or your sad branches thicker join, 
 
 And into darksome shades combine. 
 Dark as the grave wherein my friend is laid. 
 
 Or again — 
 
 Wondrous young man, why wert thou made so good 
 To be snatched hence, ere better understood? &c. &c. 
 
 But enough of this. We know that Dn Johnson had no 
 genuine appreciation of poetry ; yet his shrewd intelligence 
 and the soundness of his judgment on most literary points 
 might have enabled him to write a fairer critique of Milton's 
 early poems, had not the marked opposition of his religious and 
 political principles to those of our author prejudiced his mind 
 against the man, and thus prevented his forming an impartial 
 estimate of ^&poet, even where the conflict of their respective 
 opinions was not concerned. Hallam notes it as remarkable 
 that Johnson had before 'selected Virgil's loth Eclogue for 
 peculiar praise, which belongs to the same class of allegory and 
 requires the same sacrifice of reasoning.' As to the second 
 objection, it may be urged that though Milton has brought 
 together in the same poem heathen and Christian images, he 
 has not grouped them confusedly together, nor united them in 
 action, but. dealt with them in proper succession. The passage 
 which treats of the corruption of the clergy in Lycidas is as 
 copipletely isolated as that about the Syrian shepherdess in the 
 Epitaph on tfie Marchioness of Winchester. So in the Nativity 
 Hymn the epithet ' Great Pan ' is applied to the new-bom child, I 
 
 
 
22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 just as our Lord is spoken of as ' Pan,' in Spenser's sth and 
 7 th eclogues — the sense in which the early Church loved to 
 express such words as those of St. John x. li, when on the , 
 walls of the catacombs the first Christians pictured the Good I 
 Shepherd. The mingling of sacred and profane allusions; 
 appears in a more glaring form in such passages as Spenser,; 
 F. Q. I. X. 53, where Mount Sinai and the Mount of Olivesl 
 are placed with Mount Parnassus ; or in Surrey's Translation ■ 
 of ^neid IV., where we have ' holy water stocks ' in Dido's 
 temple, and ' nun ' commonly used of a pagan priestess (cf. 
 Drayton, Eel. 5, ' Diana's nuns ') ; and Shakspere's Midsummer 
 Night's Dream, i. i, where 'nun' and 'cloister' are mentioned 
 along with Diana, Venus, &c. ' Church ' is used of heathen 
 temples (cf. Acts xix. 37), e.g. 'Church of Jove' in Marlowe's 
 Lucan,^zxA 'Church of Pallas' in Chaucer, who also calls 
 Amphiaraus, priest of Apollo, a ' bishop.' It is therefore unfair 
 to say that Milton is alone and conspicuous in these irregulari- 
 ties. The early Italian poetry also affords frequent instances 
 of the intrusion of strictures on the clergy ; the introduction 
 of St. Peter in company with Triton and Neptune reminds us 
 of Dante's making Cato Uticensis porter of Purgatory, and the 
 excuse which has been offered for the one poet may fairly 
 enough be urged for the other — ' Per veritk fe un gran capriccio, 
 ma in cib segue suo stile.' ' 
 
 The Lycidas may therefore be described as an allegoric 
 pastoral representina; College life and friendship , and is cast 
 mamly in the form of Greek and Latin pastorals, though the 
 scenery is transferred to the British ijgles. Nowhere is the 
 student brought in as such ; nor is the pastoral disguise ever 
 fdropped, except i n the digression up ogL Fame and in the isolated 
 passage about the cler^ wher e another kind of shepherd ap- 
 
 pears upon the scene. Virgil's 10th Eclogue is in most points 
 similar, even including those few lines (44-!^) in which he 
 describes Gallus as an actual soldier of the camp in Italy. 
 
 ' See Neve's Cursory Remarks on some English Poets (1789). 
 
INTRODUCTION. %3 
 
 There is really the same confusion in Lyeidas, though its cir- 
 cumstances are not quite so incongruous. Lyeidas, as a shep- 
 herd, had no more to do with a shipwreck than Gallus, as a 
 shepherd, with the army ; but in the former instance the 
 pastoral fiction passes more easily into the actual circumstances 
 of King's death than in the case of Gallus. The allegory 
 proper extends only to King's life and to Milton's connection 
 with him, while the catastrophe is given as it actually occurred. 
 So in Virgil Lycoris is not represented as an actual shepherdess, 
 but is supposed to have literally gone away to the Alps with a 
 rival. What gives Milton more license in his treatment is the 
 fact that Lyeidas is not an avowed pastoral, forming one of a 
 series of the same kind ; whereas Virgil's loth Eclogue does 
 occur in such a connexion and cannot well be separated from 
 the rest. Virgil was ostensibly engaged in pastoral compositions 
 and introduced the story of Gallus among them ; Milton how- 
 ever not being previously thus occupied, but starting with a 
 desire to celebrate his lost friend's memory, availed himself of a 
 form of poetry which was at the time most in vogue. The 
 opening lines ' show that Milton had not meant to write verse 
 again until he had attained the full maturity of that poetic power 
 which he had long felt within him ; yet the tribute due to his • 
 deceased friend overcame this resolution, and thus the expres- 
 sion of his grief is the pervading thought of the whole. It may 
 even be that the fact of King's having been intended for holy 
 orders was the starting point whence sprang those well-known 
 lines on the English clergy which eventually became the most 
 significant part of the poem, and the heading added in 1645 
 is an express intimation that Milton intended to give special' 
 prominence to lines which were originally suggested by his im- 
 mediate subject, and in fact only came in by way of digression. 
 There are two such digressions in Lyeidas (see notes on //. 
 85 and 132) — one on Fame, the other on the corruptions of 
 the clergy. Touching the first, the consideration of a Ufe 
 
 ' See note on ' Once more,' /. i. 
 
24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of youthful promise, so suddenly cut short, leads to the reflec- 
 tion that after all there may be no use in human labour and 
 striving after fame ; but he turns from all this to the lofty truth, 
 that the power of faultless discernment and the final meed 
 of fame are in the hands of an all-wise and supreme Judge. 
 Here Milton has lighted upon a grand fact of humanity which 
 cannot be better expressed than in the words of a recent 
 writer in the Contemporary Review (April 1872): — 'The 
 desire for fame is the craving to be judged fairly ... an 
 universal instinct of mankind. Man has a right to a just 
 judgment, which is to be welcomed as a privilege. . . . 
 Real reputation is the reflection of the gloiy of God upon 
 the lives of men ; but when men feel they are not appreciated, 
 they make their appeal to another life, and claim to stand 
 before the eternal judgment- seat.' 
 
 The second digression is probably his first definite expression 
 of feeling on Church matters, not as yet decidedly anti-episco- ■ 
 palian. He simply laments the state of things existing ; but it 
 was not till 1641 that he directly ascribed it to the influence of 
 prelacy {Reason of Church Government). The papists ceased 
 to be troublesome after the death of Mary of Scotland (1587), 
 and the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588); but now the 
 ultra-Protestant party ' began to desire an advanced reformation, 
 having already (1563) attacked the vestments and ceremonies 
 of the Reformed Church. Episcopacy was denounced on the 
 ground of not being expressly ordered in Scripture, while 
 government by elders was held to be divinely appointed.^ In 
 1 593 an Act was passed against Romanists and Puritans equally, 
 for non-acceptance of the Liturgy was made equivalent to 
 
 •• Walton (Life of Hooker') notices to the government and especially to 
 
 three parties then in England : 'the the bishops.' 
 
 active Romanists, the restless Non- ' On this point see remarks of 
 
 conformists, and the passive, peace- Mr, M. Arnold, in the Comkill 
 
 able Protestants.' The first lost Magazine for Feb. 1870, on the 
 
 power after the death of Mary ; and difference between the Puritan theory 
 
 the second he chaises with ' an innate and that of the Established Churches 
 
 restless pride and malice — opposition upon Church Govenunent 
 
INTRODUCTION. 25 
 
 disloyalty. This identification by statute soon led to some 
 disaffection, though in Elizabeth's reign the political side of 
 Puritanism did not strongly appear, as all parties felt that their ' 
 strength was bound up with the safety of her person and her 
 throne.' But the character of James I. secured no such 
 esteem ; and the Puritans began to assume a more decided 
 antagonism, both political and religious. The Hampton Court 
 Conference (1604) was on the whole unfavourable to their 
 party ; the doctrine of the divine right of kings was gratifying 
 to James, and the two maxims — Le roy s'avisera, and No bishop, 
 no king— -went together. The Millenary Petition was rejected, 
 and the 141 Canons " enforced conformity with great rigour. 
 The ' King's Letters ' of 1623, for restraining extravagant 
 preaching on both sides, fell perhaps more heavily on the Puri- 
 tans, with whom a lengthy exposition of doctrine was a sine 
 qua nofi, than on the Prelatists who made this a matter of less 
 vital importance, and who were, moreover, content that cate- 
 chising on the Sunday afternoons should take the place of 
 sermons (see note on /. 125-^. Charles I. (1625) united the 
 pretensions of absolute monarchy with those of a powerful 
 hierarchy, and thus Crown and Church were opposed ,to 
 People and Puritans. Church and State questions were more 
 closely related than ever ; and the influence, first of Bucking- 
 ham, and then of Strafford and Laud, tended to the same 
 result. The Star Chamber and High Commission Courts went 
 hand in hand ; and the resistance of Hampden to an unjust 
 impost was almost coincident with the outcry against the new 
 Liturgy in Scotland. On March 10, 1629, Charles dissolved the 
 parliament, and seemed intent on ruling without one. Now 
 the struggle began in earnest. For some time there had been 
 ' an anti-Calvinistic spirit in the English Church, which was 
 now spreading among the younger clergy ' (see Masson's Life of 
 
 ' See Macaulay, Hist, of England, nods, Episcopacy, Established Order 
 
 vol. I. ch. i. of Services, and condemn all im- 
 
 ' The Canons assert Royal Su- pugners of Church order and disci- 
 
 premacy, Authority of Church Sy- pline as hereby established. 
 
26 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Milton, i. p. 309, and also the account of the consecration of 
 St. Katharine Cree Church in Fuller). Laud was Bishop of 
 London, and virtually Primate ; the death of Buckingham had 
 given him paramount influence with the king, and the patron- 
 age of Church benefices was largely in his hands. He was a 
 man of small intellect, but of great tenacity of purpose ; and 
 'his nature if not great was very tight' (Masson, i. p. 361). 
 All his views centred in divine right of bishops and uniformity 
 in the Church; and he was of opinion that 'unity cannot 
 long continue in the Church when uniformity is shut out at 
 the church-door ' (Laud's Diary). In 1633 the period of 
 ' Thorough ' began ; Wentworth ruled despotically in Ireland, 
 Laud was made Primate, great strictness of Church discipline 
 was enforced, and Prynne was imprisoned for his Histriomas- 
 tix. In 1637 Prynne, Burton, and Bastwick were pilloried, 
 the question of ship-money was decided against Hampden 
 (June 12), a placard designating Laud 'the arch-wolf of Can- 
 terbury ' was posted at Cheapside,' and Williams, Bishop of 
 Lincoln, a friend of the Puritans, was imprisoned (July 11) for 
 alleged libel. On July 23 a tumult arose in Edinburgh about 
 the New Liturgy, which lasted for many weeks, and issued 
 finally in the signing of the New Covenant (Feb. 28 or March i, 
 1638). Then the Scotch bishops were deposed, and the 
 Covenanters prepared for war. 
 
 As to Milton's own religious sentiments, we know that from 
 his father he inherited strict Puritan principles, yet accompanied 
 with refined aesthetic tastes. His early surroundings were 
 Puritan, and Richard Stock, ' a zealous Puritan,' was pastor of 
 ihe parish in which he lived. The time of his birth (1608) was 
 that in which the Puritan party was gaining strength, though 
 still in the minority. His early training was under his father 
 (cf. Epist. ad Patrem), who doubtless exercised much influence 
 upon his opinions. Next he was under the care of Young, a 
 Puritan minister {Ep. Fam. i. El. 4), and afterwards at St 
 
 ' See beginning of Appendix II. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 27 
 
 Paul's School, under the two Gills {Ep. Fam. 2, 3, 5). His 
 reading was very wide, including, besides the classics, French, 
 Italian, Hebrew, and the mass of English literature then exist- 
 ing.' His early versions of Psalms cxiv. and cxxxvi. show 
 extensive reading. In February 1625 he entered Cambridge, 
 where there was a strong Puritan element, Dr. Preston of 
 Emanuel being the leader. Christ's College was less impreg- 
 nated with these principles, and Chappell himself was in Laud's 
 interest, who afterwards made him Bishop of Cork. The Latin 
 elegies on Bishops Andrewes and Felton (1626) show that 
 Milton was not then an anti-Prelatist, and the Ods z'/; Ouintum 
 Novembris of the same year is laudatory of the 'pious James. 
 In 1627 his Elegy to Young, who had fled to Hamburg probably 
 because of his non-conformity, expresses affection tor him and 
 sympathy with his doctrines. In July 1628 he writes to 
 A. Gill, deploring the ignorance of the clergy ; and in the same 
 year he wrote the Academic Prolusion on ' the compatibility of 
 sportive exercise with the study of philosophy' (Masson, i. p. 250 
 foil.), which contains specimens of outrageous license and 
 even of coarse obscenity, for which, however, he apologises on 
 the ground of long-standing custom. He there designates the 
 students generally as 'calf-heads,' 'rams,' ' Irish birds,' &c. &c., 
 and by other titles quite unmentionable ; all which shows that 
 he could at times throw off his habitual seriousness. The 
 general idea we gather of Milton's University life is that he 
 was serious and earnest, reading with unusual vigour, but, being 
 thrown among companions for the most part uncongenial, he 
 had little affection for the place. ^ In the Apol. Smect. (1642) 
 
 ' The chief authors Milton pro- Greene, Marlowe, Shakspere, Hey- 
 bably read are — Chaucer (ending wood, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and 
 1400), Lydgate, Ascham, Skelton, Fletcher, Massinget and Ford. 
 Surrey, W^tt, &c. (1400-1580) ; » See ist Elegy (to Diodati) : 
 and the Elizabethans (1580-1625) 'Quam male Phoebicolis convenit 
 Sidney, Hooker, Raleigh, Bacon, ille locus ; ' also in his letter to Gill 
 Spenser, Sackville, Daniel, Dray- (1624) he writes: 'Atque ego pro- 
 ton, Chapman, Sylvester's i)u fecto cum nullos fere studiorum con- 
 Bartas, Donne, Davies, the two sortes hie rejicriam, Londinum recta 
 Fletchers, Wither, Carew, Browne, respicerem, nisi per justitium hoc 
 
28 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 he says of the University — ' In the time of her better health 
 and mine own younger judgment I never greatly admired (her), 
 so now much less.' 
 
 In 1629 he took his B.A., and subscribed the Articles (a 
 ceremony which he repeated in 1632 on taking his M.A.); and 
 in the same year he wrote his 6th Elegy to Diodati, in praise of 
 wine and mirth, though he says that the higher poesy demands 
 pure life and spare living. The Nativity Ode contains a 
 decided opinion in favour of Church music, and thfs is ex- 
 pressed again in the ode At a Solemn Musick and towards the 
 end of the Penseroso ; but in the later treatise on Christian 
 Doctrine, bk. ii. c. 4, he inveighs against all external worship, 
 quoting Amos vi. 5, ' Woe to them... that chaunt to the sound 
 of the viol,' &c. 
 
 In a letter to a friend, December 163 1, inclosing the 7th 
 sonnet, he declares his unwillingness to take holy orders, chiefly 
 on the ground of unfitness ; but in the Reason of Church 
 Government (1641) he stated his objections more clearly thus — 
 ' I thought it better to prefer a blameless silence before the 
 sacred office of speaking, bought and begun with servitude and 
 forswearing;' L Allegro and // JPenseroso, written in or near 
 1632, are both far from Puritanical — the one being a joyous 
 outburst of mirtli and fancy, free from the least sensuous taint, 
 and the other expressing the melancholy of a studious mood 
 without sourness or austerity. The Masques of Arcades and 
 Comus (1634) represent a kind of anlusement which he after- 
 wards, in his Free Commonwealth, disapproved because of its 
 licentiousness. But Comus is itself a protest against this very 
 thing, and thereby, instead of inveighing at the immorality of 
 the stage after the usual Puritanical manner, he showed practi- 
 cally how to turn such things to good account. 
 
 By birth and education tlien Milton was in every respect a 
 Puritan, notwithstanding his classical learning and his genuine 
 
 aestivum {the Long Vacation) in tarem, et quasi claustris musarum 
 otium alte literarium recedere cogi- delitescere.' (See note on /. 34.) 
 
INTRODUCTION. 29 
 
 love for the beautiful. He was a man of few convictions, but 
 these were strong and lasting, the uppermost feeling of his 
 mind being that a ceaseless and determined struggle must be 
 maintained against the evil that is in the world. In both his 
 prose and his poetry liberty stands forth as the ideal ; and this 
 yearning after freedom fostered in him a resolute dislike of that 
 religious and civil formality, which had displaced the healthy 
 and genial life of the preceding Elizabethan times. Moreover 
 the impulse of an indwelling poetic life, and an exalted idea of 
 human duties and responsibilities, ' as ever underneath the great 
 Taskmaster's eye,' would often bear him beyond the narrow range 
 of party conflict. His mission was to be a poet first, and a / 
 statesman or theologian afterwards. He had also a power of 
 foresight and of self-discipline, which imparted a kind of set ' 
 purpose to all his works, and caused an absence of those 
 ' strains of unpremeditated art,' which he was himself foremost 
 to appreciate in Shakspere.' All along he seems to have con- 
 sciously nursed his inborn powers, unwilling before the full 
 growth of his genius to begin the lofty poetic task of which he 
 felt himself capable, ' though of highest hope and hardest 
 attempting.' 
 
 It may be that the self-consciousness of the student ever 
 accompanying the poet in Milton has produced an artificial 
 semblance in some of his poetry which may reasonably lead to 
 the question — ' Hmv fnr is Tycidas nn ■s^tpressinn nf ^exmr\p 
 sorrow?* 
 
 liTreply to Dr. Johnson's coarse criticism, that it is ' not the 
 effusion of real passion, which runs not after remote allusions 
 and obscure opinions,' that 'where there is leisure for fiction 
 there is little grief,' that ' there is no nature, for there is no 
 truth,' and that ' no image of tenderness can be excited by the 
 lines "we drove afield,"' &c. — the opinions of some other 
 critics have already been quoted,* to which may be added 
 
 ' VAilegro, 133 — Warble his native wood-notes 
 
 •And sweetest Shakspere, Fancy's wild.' 
 
 child, ' See p. 20. 
 
30 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Hallam's remark (Hist, of Eng. Lit. vol. iii. p. 46), that ' it has 
 been said fairly that ,Lycidas is a good test of real feeling in I 
 poetry.' But no better or more comprehensive answer could I 
 be given than the following, which we take the liberty "6t 
 quoting from Masson's Life of Milton, voiwji p. 84 : It is 'a 
 finer monument to the memory of King — to let the fact of his 
 death originate a whole mood of the poet's mind — than if he 
 had merely registered the fact in a \jnc of direct regret _ So 
 poets honour the dead : they let his image intertwine itself with 
 all else that arises in their minds ; and out of the best choosing 
 still the best, they lay that on the tomb, saying, " This belongs 
 X.Q you.^" ^ Yet Dr. Johnson, notwithstanding his prejudice, 
 forgot certain facts which he might with a little ingenuity have 
 pressed into his service. First, we know npdiing whatever of 
 Milton's relations with Edward King, except what we gather 
 from this poem. There is no mention of any kind of associa- 
 tion between them during their college career. Secondly, we 
 do know that King gained the fellowship over Milton's head ; 
 and thirdly, Milton does not notice King's death to Diodati, 
 though writing only a month afterwards. As to the disappoint- 
 ment about the fellowship, we have no right to suppose that it 
 led to any coldness between the two friends, and it would not 
 have been like Milton to allow this. The first and third points 
 are purely negative, so that after all we must look to the 
 [ Lycidas to speak for itself. The mere form of the poem can 
 prove nothing against the genuineness of Milton's regret, for 
 grief, like all deep feeling, will reflect the tendency or mental 
 habit of the patient. Thus Cicero philosophised grief when 
 his daughter died; and Marmontel, the dramatist, wrote the 
 play of Penelope on the death of his child ; to which we may 
 add the example of our own poet laureate in his exquisite In 
 
 ' Of the Lycidas it may be truly are shed with artistic precision and 
 
 said (to use the language of one of griefs meted out in strict accordance 
 
 our public journals), that it is not to with the canons of the schools.' — 
 
 be classed among ' the coldly- correct Daily Telegraph, on death of Charles 
 
 Jeremiads, in which at the grave of Dickens, June 20, 1870. 
 academical renown rhetorical tears 
 
INTRODUCTION. 31 
 
 Memoriam. It was, therefore, only natural that Milton should 
 give vent to his grief in verse, and in that kind of verse which 
 was then most usual on such occasions. But we must be care- 
 ful lest the pathos and intrinsic beauty of much of 'the poem 
 should leadua- ir"> an exaggerated idea of the extent of his 
 sorrow. We may safely conclude with Professor Masson that' 
 King was really a friend, but not the friend of his youth. For 
 both. the evidence of Milton's correspondence with Diodati, 
 and the intense and passionate grief of some portions of the 
 Epitaphium Damonis, prove that he and not King was deepest 
 in his affections. Yet the elegy in which he laments the loss 
 of Diodati is a pastoral, cast in a form more artificial than even 
 the Lycidas, and written not in English but in Latin. We will 
 now proceed to give some account of this other poem. 
 
 The subject of it, Charles Diodati (see the Argument), was 
 bom in 1608, and was therefore about the same age as Milton. 
 His father, Theodore Diodati, was an Italian by descent, but 
 married an English lady of'good fortune, and was appointed 
 physician to Prince Henry and the Princess Elizabeth, afterwards 
 Queen of Bohemia : his uncle, Giovanni Diodati, was the author 
 of the Italian translation of the Bible, known by his name. He 
 formed a close intimacy with Milton at St. Paul's School, which 
 he left in 1621 for Trinity College, Oxford, where Alexander 
 Gill, son of the head-master of St. Paul's, had also been 
 educated. The friendship between the two young men con- 
 tinued throughout their university career, though they could 
 only meet in London during the vacations, and correspond by 
 letters at other times. Two of Diodati's epistles are extant, 
 written in Greek, probably in 1625 and 1626, and bearing the 
 headings QioaluTu^ MiXrwvi tixjupaiveaOai and x^V"" respect- 
 ively. The first name is, of course, a literal rendering of the 
 Italian Dio-dati, 'God-given' (see note on Epit. Dam. 210). 
 To this letter Milton appears to have replied ih the elegiac 
 poem which stands first in the collection entitled Elegiarum 
 Liber, the third line of which shows that his friend was then 
 residing in Cheshire, somewhere on the banks of the Dee. 
 
32 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 From the heading prefixed to the 6th elegy of the same series 
 we learn that Diodati had on Dec. ,15, 1629, sent Milton a 
 copy of verses, describing the Christmas festivities he was then 
 enjoying, and pleading these by way of excuse if his poetry 
 were found to be ' less good than usual ' (' sua carmina excusari 
 postulasset, si solito minus essent bona '). Milton's answer is 
 that conviviality and poetry, ' Bacchus and the Muse,' are not 
 hostile to one another, but go well in company ; only that he 
 who would sing of high and holy themes, ' of heaven and pious 
 heroes and leaders half divine' — he must live soberly and 
 severely, with chaste morals and stainless hands. The elegy 
 concludes with a mention of the Hymn on Christ's Nativity, 
 upon which the poet was at that time engaged, and which he 
 promises to submit to his friend for criticism (see on Epit. 
 Dam. 180). 
 
 After this we have no more direct information about Diodati 
 until Sept. 2, 1637, when Milton addressed to him a Latin 
 epistle, complaining of his long silence, and expressing a hope 
 that they might shortly meet in London. From this and the 
 following letter (dated Sept 23 of the Same year) we gather 
 that Diodati was now in full medical practice, probably in 
 Cheshire, — ' among the Hyperboreans,' as Milton jocosely 
 terms the natives of those parts, — that he made occasional 
 journeys for visiting and recreation, and that he had a regular 
 lodging in town, where Milton once expected to find him, but 
 was disappointed. Part of the second letter will presently be 
 quoted (in translation) in the note on /. 150 oi Xht Epitaphium ; 
 and towards the end of it Milton intimates his intention of 
 taking chambers in one of the Inns of Court for the purpose of 
 study ; but this plan appears to have been abandoned in favour 
 of the continental tour which took place early in the following 
 year (Masson, vol. i. p. 601). It was during this journey (in 
 the summer or autumn of 1638) that Diodati died suddenly. 
 The place and circumstances of his death are alike uncertain ; 
 but we know that the sad news did not reach Milton till some 
 time afterwards, as the third Italian sonnet (beginning Diodati^ 
 
INTRODUCTION. 33 
 
 e ie 'I dirh con maraviglia) must have been addressed to his 
 friend from Italy about, or more probably after, the actual time 
 of his decease (ib. p. 775). Prof. Masson argues very 
 plausibly that Milton heard the tidings first from John DiodMi, 
 Theological Professor at Geneva, with whom he was staying in 
 June 1639, on his way back to England. But however this 
 may have been, we are sure that grief for the loss of so dear a 
 friend possessed the poet's mind to the temporary exclusion 
 even of those political anxieties which had been the cause of 
 his sudden return. Of this we have evidence not only in the 
 Epitaphium Damonis itself, which, notwithstanding its artificial 
 form and its pastoral conceits, is as true an outburst of the 
 bitterest sorrow as anything of the kind we know, but also in / 
 Milton's own words forming part of a letter in 1647 to Carlo/ 
 Dati, one of his former friends at Florence (Epit. Dam. 13 7). I 
 After recalhng the recollection of their former intimacy, and 
 assuring Dati of his continued affection, he suddenly refers to 
 the memory of the deceased Diodati, and to the grief he had 
 felt at his death, which only the thought of the unmixed joy he 
 had tasted in the society of his Florentine companions could in 
 any way alleviate. We give the extract : — ' Testor ilium mihi 
 semper sacrum et solenne fiiturum Damonis tumulum, in cujus 
 funere ornando cum luctu et moerore oppressus, ad ea quae 
 potui solatia confugere cupiebam, non aliud mihi quicquam 
 jucundius occurrit quam vestrum omnium gratissimam mihi 
 memoriam revocasse. Id quod ipse jamdiu legisse debes, 
 siquidem ad vos illud carmen pervenit, quod ex te nunc primum 
 audio.' The ' carmen ' referred to is in fact the Epitaphinvi 
 Damonis, a copy of which Milton had sent to Dati as a token 
 of his regard, on account of his name being mentioned therein 
 (137 1. c). 
 
 Of the poem itself we have already spoken incidentally in 
 our observations on the Lycidas, and much of what has been 
 said pf the one applies with equal force to the other. It is, 
 however, more of a direct and avowed pastoral, and was evi- 
 dently Suggested by the 'En-trd^wc B/idi'os of MoScnus, whence its 
 
34 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 title is taken. We have had occasion to mention and partly to 
 examine that poem as a specimen of Greek pastoral (see p. 5), , 
 and we then noticed how the real circumstances of the life and 
 death of Bion appear from time to time through the veil of 
 allegory under which the poet has chosen to disguise his per- 
 sonality. The same fact is observable in several passages of 
 (Milton's Epitaphium, in which the poet's actual self is blended 
 with the character of the ideal Thyrsis, and the person of the 
 real Diodati with that of the shepherd Damon. Nor is this 
 surprising ; the image of his lost friend was too vividly im- 
 pressed upon Milton's soul, and his grief (like that of Moschus 
 foi" Bion) too sincere to allow him to sustain with absolute con- 
 tinuity his assumed disguise, which, be it remembered, he had 
 adopted merely in deference to the then prevailing fashion, and 
 would not, even on purely critical grounds, have felt himself 
 bound to keep with undeviating precision. Yet he never allows 
 this liberty to degenerate into a license : the strain of the poem 
 is pastoral throughout — far more so than in the case of the 
 Lycidas, whose variations and digressions have already been 
 discussed in detail. It is this very freedom of treatment which 
 gives the Epitaphium Damonis its real value and interest, claim- 
 ing for it recognition as a record of one period in the life of a 
 great and distinguished man, about which we should otherwise 
 have had but scanty information. The following remarks by 
 Warton, in answer to some rather disparaging criticism of Dr. 
 Johnson on this poem, are very much to the point : ' The pas- 
 toral form is a fault of the poet's times.' The poem ' contains 
 some passages which wander far beyond the bounds of buco- 
 hck song, and are in his own original style of the more subUme 
 poetry. Milton cannot be a shepherd long. His native powers 
 often break forth, and cannot bear the assumed disguise;' We 
 subjoin a list of those passages, in which the pastoral allegory 
 is for the moment abandoned. 
 
 In /. 13, Thyrsis is described as sojourning Tusca in urbe, 
 i.e. at Florence, where Milton was actually staying at the time 
 for literary purposes — ' aniroi causa ' as the Argument expresses 
 
INTRODUCTION. 35 
 
 it. As a shepherd he would have no business there, so far 
 away from home and for such an object. 
 
 LI. 46-49 may be applied either way, but seem to convey 
 the idea of a student's rather than of a shepherd's fireside. 
 
 The ' Attic salt ' of /. 56 admits of only one application. 
 
 U. 113 folL describe Milton's actual journey to Italy, which 
 has nothing to do with his assumed pastoral character. (Com- 
 pare the parallel instance of Callus, in Virgil's loth Eclogue, 
 see p. 23 of this Introduction.) 
 
 In //. 126-138 the accidental circumstance of Diodati's 
 Tuscan origin is mentioned in the middle of an imaginary 
 description of Tuscan swains, among whom the actual names 
 of Dati and Francini occur, not under a classical designation 
 (like Lycidas and Menalcas, /. 132), but just slightly Latin- 
 ised. 
 
 LI. 162-178. Here the poet is confused with the shepherd 
 — the intention of the real Milton to write a real British epic 
 being stated partly in plain language, partly under a pastoral 
 figure (168-171). 
 
 L. 181. The name of Manso, Milton's Neapolitan host, is 
 introduced with scarcely any disguise, and the description of 
 the chased goblets which follows, though probably real (see 
 note ad loc), is at any rate not drawn from the circumstances of 
 bucolic life. 
 
 LI. 209-219. The pastoral imagery now entirely disap- ^ 
 pears ; the name Diodatus is substituted for that of Damon, I 
 and his present state of bliss among the saints in heaven is 
 described in Scriptural language, which is in the last line 
 curiously varied by a Pagan but not distinctively pastoral 
 metaphor — ' bacchantur ' — ' orgia ' — ' thyrso.' 
 
 The scene is laid in England, as appears from the mention 
 of the Chelmer (/. 90 note) and of the Colne (/. 149), but the 
 associations are necessarily classical, owing to the form in which 
 the poem is cast. Those who adopt what we have endeavoured 
 to represent as the right view of the requirements of a modern 
 pastoral will not blame Milton for this, but will transfer their 
 
 D 2 
 
36 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 censure to the Roman poet, who by blending Sicilian with 
 Italian scenery originated the confusion. Still the introduction 
 of lions and wolves in //. 41, 42 would better have been 
 avoided, though a similar mistake is made by Virgil in his 5 th 
 Eclogue (/. 26) without equal excuse for it 
 
 The Epitaphium Damonis has been rendered into English 
 by Symmons (about 1804) in the Life of Milton appended to 
 his edition of the Prose Works ; also by Langhome (1760), as 
 far as /. 138 ; and again by Cowper. A new translation into 
 English hexameters is given by Professor Masson, in the second 
 volume of his Life of Milton, which, by the courtesy of the 
 author, I am enabled to reprint entire. 
 
 Of detached pieces of criticism on the Lyddas the follow- 
 ing are given by Todd in his edition of Milton's poetical 
 works : — 
 
 1. Peck's Explanatory and Critical Notes, &=(., printed with 
 his JVm' Memoirs of Milton (1740). 
 
 2. Remarks in Dr. Johnson^ Lives of tJie Poets (life of 
 Milton) (1781). 
 
 3. Critical Essay on Lyddas by John Scott (1785). 
 
 4. Cursory Ranarks on some ancient English Poets, particularly 
 Milton, by P. Neve (1789). To theSe we need only add the 
 complete account and examination of this poem and the 
 Epitaphium Damonis in vols. i. and ii. of Professor Masson's 
 Life of Milton (1859 and 1871). 
 
 The Lycidas was translated into I^tin by William Hogg 
 (Hogaeus) in 1694, and into Greek by Plumptre, Canon of 
 Worcester, in 1797. Both these translations have been made 
 use of in the notes to this edition ; the former is reprinted 
 at the end of the volume. 
 
 As might be expected, the poem has found many imitators. 
 The first 'imitations, or rather open plagiarisms from Milton' 
 (as Warton says), were made in 1647 by Robert Baron in a 
 poetical romance, entitled the Cyprian Academy (see Todd, 
 Appendix to vol. vi.). Into this he transferred whole lines 
 and phrases ftom nearly all Milton's early poems, then lately 
 
INTRODUCTION. 37 
 
 published ; and from Lycidas was borrowed the greater part of 
 the floral description in //. 135-151. Samuel Boyse, in his 
 Vision of Patience (1741), laments the death of a Mr. Gumming, 
 lost at sea, under the name ' Lycidas,' but does not otherwise 
 imitate Milton's monody. In 1760 Robert Lloyd published 
 the Tears and Triumph of Parnassus, containing an ode on the 
 death of the king (George II.), in which occur the lines we have 
 quoted on /. 75, beginning, 'Where were the Muses,' &c. In 
 the same note reference is made to a similar passage from Lord 
 Lyttleton's monody on the death of his wife. Michael Bruce, 
 in Daphnis (a monody on Mr. Arnot), has these lines : — 
 
 So may I snatch his lays, who to the lyre 
 Wailed his lost Lycidas by wood and rill, &c. ; 
 
 and further on — 
 
 Where were the Muses, when the leaden hand 
 Of death remorseless closed your Daphnis' eyes ? 
 
 Fair was thy thread of life. 
 But quickly by the envious sisters shorn j 
 So Daphnis died, long ere his prime he fell. 
 Nor left he on these plains a peer behind. 
 
 The metre is arranged in long and short Knes at irregular 
 intervals, like those in the Lycidas. We may also notice a 
 monody on the death of Queen Adelaide by Julian Fane, 
 among the Cambridge Prize Poems for 1850, which is closely 
 modelled (as the heading intimates) upon that of Milton. A 
 few extracts are subjoined as examples of the imitation : — 
 
 For she no more upon the dawning day 
 
 Listening their joyous lay, 
 Shall bend her wistful eyes for ever closed .... 
 Where were ye nymphs upon that fatal mom ? . . . . 
 Alas, what boots it to enquire your place "i 
 For what could ye have done f . . . . 
 Last reverend Camus, as he footed slow, &c. 
 
 Besides these and more of the same kind, we have detached 
 
38 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 expressions undique decerpta, such as ' melt with ruth,' ' but not 
 the wise,' &c. (speaking of Care tormenting the great and 
 proud), 'hence with the blazing clarion of renown' (cf. Lye. i8, 
 and for the sentiment 76 foil.), &c. The monody ends with 
 an apotheosis of the queen which nearly resembles that of 
 Lycidas — ' Cease, Albion, cease to weep,' ' She shall arise,' &c., 
 ' Now Albion weeps no more,' &a The latest reminiscence 
 appears in the London Lyrics by Mr. Locker (1872): — 
 
 And still the woodland rings, and still 
 The old Damoetas listens — 
 
 speaking of the youthful glow of life as compared to a laughing 
 leaping rill. 
 
 Among the various editions of Milton's poems, which in- 
 clude the Lycidas, we select the following : 
 
 1. The Cambridge Verses of 1638, already referred to 
 (p. 2). The English poems succeed the Latin, and are sepa- 
 rately entitled Obsequies to the Memorie of Mr. Edward King, 
 Anno Domini 1638.' The Lycidas is dated J. M., November 
 1637, in the MS. preserved in the library of Trinity College, 
 Cambridge. It has no title in this first edition. 
 
 2. Poems of Mr. John Milton, both English and Latin, 
 composed at several times, collected and republished in 1645. 
 Here the heading, ' In this Monody,' &c., is for the first time 
 prefixed. 
 
 3. Poems, GfC, upon several Oaasions (1673, the year before 
 Milton died). This is a reprint of the former, with some addi- 
 tions, and containing the Hardib Tractate on Education. 
 
 4. Successive editions for Tonson (1695-1747). 
 
 5. Baskerville's Poetical Works of Milton (1758-1760). 
 
 6. Newton's editions (1752-1790). Of these Keightley 
 observes in his own preface that they are ' the first English 
 instance of a Variorum edition, from MS. notes by Jortin, 
 Warburton, Thyer, Peck, Sympson, &c. Very respectable for 
 those times, when criticism was imperfect, and knowledge of 
 earlier English literature and language slender.' 
 
INTRODUCTION. 39 
 
 7. Warton's editions of the smaller poems, except the 
 Paradise Regained, with notes (1785 and 1791). 
 
 8. Hayley's Poetical Works of Milton (i 794-1 797). 
 
 9. Todd's Poetical Works, cs^c, with the Principal Notes of 
 various Com?nentators (3801, 1809, 1826). Here the sub- 
 stance of Warton's notes is reproduced, with many additions by 
 the editor; they consist of a mass of materials, for the most 
 part undigested and ill-arranged, and are chiefly useful for their 
 collection of parallel passages, though these (as Masson truly 
 remarks, vol. i. p. 534) ' are pushed to the verge of the ridicu- 
 lous — interesting only as illustrations of similarity of thought 
 and expression among poets of a particular age.' 
 
 10. Keightley's Poetical Works, &c. (1859). The poems 
 are arranged chronologically, the spelling is modernised, except 
 in the case of a few words, such as ' sovran,' ' highth,' &c., and 
 the punctuation carefully amended. There are no introduc- 
 tions to the separate pieces, the references in the notes are 
 given with the initials of those editors who first observed them, 
 though many of these, as Keightley tells us in his preface, were 
 noticed by himself independently. For the notes he claims 
 the especial merit of terseness and compression, and con- 
 sequently fails to give us the arguments on both sides in many 
 disputed passages, presenting merely his own conclusions or 
 those of others, without examination in detail, and often with- 
 out any reasons whatever. 
 
 11. English Poems by yohn Milton, edited by R. C. 
 Browne, King's College, London (1870). This edition comprises 
 much useful information within a small space, but does not 
 profess to enter upon a detailed investigation of mooted points. 
 The introduction has a great deal of original matter, well con- 
 sidered and clearly expressed. The editor frequently adopts 
 the conclusions of Mr. Keightley, to whom he specially acknow- 
 ledges his obligation in a short preface prefixed to the notes. 
 
 A new and complete edition of Milton is promised by Pro- 
 fessor Masson, and is expected shortly to appear.* 
 
 ' See Preface to Second Edition. 
 
40 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The original MS. of Lycidas (together with those of the 
 Arcades, Comics, and some of the minor poems) is preserved in 
 the library of Trin. Coll., Cambridge. These were collected 
 by Charles Mason and Thomas Clark, Fellows of Trinity, in 
 1 736, having been found among MSS. formerly given to the 
 College by Sir H. Newton Puckering, who was educated there, 
 and who died in 1 700 (Masson, vol. ii. p. 104). From them 
 Todd, in 1801 collected his various readings in the three poems 
 above mentioned ; but as his copy of them is not quite 
 accurate, we append the following corrected Hst : — 
 
 /. 10. 'Who would not sing for Lycidas? he weWknevr.' 
 
 22. ' To bid faire peace,' &c. {To erased and And substituted.) 
 
 26. Glimmering corrected to opening. 
 
 30. 'Oft till the ev"!! starre bright,' (altered to that rose in 
 
 Eifning bright.") 
 
 31. 'his burnisht weele,' (altered to westring weele.) 
 
 47. 'Their gay buttons weare.' (beare is then written and 
 erased, and ivardrope weare substituted.) 
 
 51. 'yor (/o«r erased) lov'd Lycidas.' 
 
 58. ' What could the golden-hayrd Calliope 
 For her inchaunting son. 
 When shee beheld {the godsfarre sighted bee) 
 His goarie scalpe rowle downe the Thracian lee! 
 
 After /. 59 is written in the margin — 
 
 ' Whome universal nature might lament. 
 And heaven and hel deplore, 
 
 When his divine head downe the streame was sent' 
 {Head is first altered to visage, and then divine to 
 goarie^ 
 
 69. ' Hid in the tangles,' (changed to Or with, &c.) 
 85. ' . . . . thou smooth flood,' (altered to famd, and then 
 to honoured.) ' .S'(2/?-sliding Mincius,' (altered to smooth- 
 sliding.) 
 105. ' ScrauVd ore with figures dim,' (changed to Inwrought^ 
 no. ' Tow massy keys,' &c. (also ' ^flw-handed ' in /. 130.) 
 114. ' Anough of such,' &c. 
 
 129. '. . . . little seA.' («o/^z'«g is first written, but erased.) 
 138. '. . . . stintly (.') looks.' (First sparely, which is erased 
 and then replaced.) 
 
INTRODUCTION. 41 
 
 The first correction is obscured by the tail of the / in the 
 superscribed sparely coming down in front of the first letter 
 (which may be either / or /). Mr. Aldis Wright, to whose 
 courtesy I am indebted for these amended readings, believes 
 the word to be faintly and not stintly. 
 
 I. 139. '.Swzg- hither,' &c., (corrected to Throw hither, &c.) 
 142 foil, originally stood thus : — 
 
 ' Bring the rathe primrose that unwedded dies, 
 Colouring the pale cheeke of uninjoyd love. 
 And that sadflmire that strove 
 To write his own woes on the vermeil graine ; 
 Next adde Narcissus yt still weeps in vaine, 
 The woodbine and ye pancie freakt wtl> jet, 
 The glowing violet.' 
 
 Afterwards Milton inserted the garish columbine, but altered 
 it to the well attir' d woodbine. 
 
 ' The cowslip wan that hangs his pensive head. 
 And every bud that sorrows liverie weares.' 
 
 (First changed to sad escutcheon beares, then to im- 
 broidrie, and beares to weares^ 
 ' Let Daffadillies fiUe thire cups with teares, 
 Bid Amaranthus all his beautie shed.' 
 
 (These two lines were transposed, and the let was altered to 
 and^ The whole of the above passage is struck through with 
 the pen, and the substituted hues are written below. 
 
 /. 153. ' Let our sad thoughts,' &c., (changed to fraile.) 
 154. '. . . . Yejloods,' &c., {cYangtA to shoars.) 
 160. '. . . . Corineus old.' (^e//^r«j substituted.) 
 176. 'Z/j/£«/»^ the unexpressive nuptial song,' (altered to and 
 heares, &c.) 
 
 The unsettled state of orthography ' in Milton's time makes 
 
 ' In an article on English ortho- that it was settled by those who 
 
 graphy in the Philological Museum, were more or less ignorant of the 
 
 the writer remarks that the uniform antecedents of our language,, and 
 
 System now in vogue came in about maintained by compositors, by whose 
 
 the middle of the 17th century ; influence certain modes of spelling 
 
42 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 it unnecessary to notice in detail the varieties of spelling 
 which occur in various editions of this poem. We shall presently 
 (on /. 129) remark upon sed and blew (I. 192) as illustrating 
 the habit of writing to suit the eye as well as the ear ; in /. 130 
 doore is changed to dore in the MS. to coincide with more in the 
 next line. For those who are curious in such matters we ap- 
 pend a few selected words from the four editions of 1638, 1645, 
 1673, and 1695 (Tonson's), from which it will be seen that 
 in many instances the earlier ones had the modem ortho- 
 graphy, which afterwards got altered ; but this is purely acci- 
 dental. 
 
 
 1638 
 
 1645 
 
 1673 
 
 1695 
 
 /. 37 
 
 gone 
 
 gon 
 
 gon 
 
 gon 
 
 47 
 
 wardrobe 
 
 wardrop 
 
 wardrop 
 
 wardrobe 
 
 S3 
 
 lie 
 
 ly 
 
 ly 
 
 ly 
 
 57 
 
 been 
 
 bin 
 
 bin 
 
 bin 
 
 82 
 
 perfect witnesse 
 
 perfet witnes 
 
 perfet witnes 
 
 perfect witness 
 
 112 
 
 mitred 
 
 miter'd 
 
 miter'd 
 
 miter'd 
 
 114 
 
 enough 
 
 anow 
 
 anow 
 
 anow 
 
 128 
 
 wolf 
 
 woolf 
 
 woolf 
 
 woolf 
 
 129 
 
 said 
 
 sed 
 
 sed 
 
 sed 
 
 140 
 
 turf 
 
 terf 
 
 terf 
 
 •terf 
 
 'Zs 
 
 oazie locks 
 
 oozy Lock's 
 
 oozy Lock's 
 
 oozy Locks 
 
 'f5 
 
 perillous 
 
 perilous 
 
 perilous 
 
 perillous 
 
 186 
 
 oaks 
 
 Okes 
 
 Okes 
 
 Okes 
 
 192 
 
 blew 
 
 blew 
 
 blew 
 
 blew 
 
 '. 
 
 In Milton's MS. the preterites and past participles in -ed 
 are almost uniformly spelt with the apostrophe, as destirid, 
 kotiour^d, &c. ; even mttre'd is thus given, where no vowel 
 is omitted. Honied seems to be the only instance in Lycidas 
 to the contrary. The forms in -/ are sometimes with and 
 sometimes without the apostrophe, as nurs't, dandt, &c., by the 
 
 became established as the general 
 usage. He further observes that no 
 usage can make a blunder right, and 
 that the right spelling is that which 
 
 agrees best with pronunciation, ety- 
 mology, and the analogy of a word 
 to others of the same d^ss to which 
 it belongs. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 43 
 
 side of askt, freakt, &c. It should be noted that the use cf 
 the apostrophe began nearly about Milton's time, and continued 
 to be usual till quite lately. Spenser very seldom employs it ; 
 he generally omits the e altogether, as joyd, doyd, &c., some- 
 times placing it at the end, as spide, obeyde,&ic. After k, n, p, 
 s, &c., the letter i is used, as pluckt, learnt, topt, tost, pusht, 
 some of which forms are still to be met with. Originally, as 
 in Chaucer, whenever -ed was written, it was meant to be 
 sounded ; hence arose these various contrivances to show when 
 it was mute. 
 
 Lycidas is the last poem, excepting the Sonnets, which 
 Milton wrote in rime. In the preface, added in 1668 to 
 Paradise Lost, he speaks of ' rime ' as being nothing but ' the 
 invention of a barbarous age to set off wretched matter and 
 lame metre,' and congratulates himself upon having in that 
 poem set the first example in English ' of ancient liberty re- 
 covered to heroic poem from the troublesome and modem 
 bondage of riming.' Yet the skilful arrangement of rimes in 
 Lycidas, and the exquisite cadences which his fine musical ear 
 enabled him to produce, without rule and apparently without 
 effort, are an evidence of how much may be done by means of 
 an expedient which he afterwards so unsparingly denounced ; 
 and there is perhaps no poem which exhibits these qualities in 
 equal profusion. The idea of the system, in which the rimes 
 occur sometimes alternately, but more often at longer and 
 irregular intervals, the ten-syllabled lines being now and then 
 varied by shorter ones of six syllables, is derived from the 
 Italians. The following extracts from choruses in Tasso's 
 Aminta and Guarini's Pastor Fido will show what the originals 
 were like, but it will be seen that Milton has made considerable 
 variarions upon his models. 
 
 I. From Aminta, Act iv. Scene 2 : — 
 
 Cio che morte rallenta, Amor, restringi, 
 Amico tu di pace, ella di guerra ; 
 
44 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 E del suo trionfar trionfi e regni, 
 / E mentre due bell' alme annodi e cingi, 
 Cosl rendi sembiante al ciel la terra, 
 Che d' abitarla tu non fuggi o sdegni. 
 Non son vie Ik su ; gli umani ingegni 
 Tu placidi ne rendi, e 1' odio intemo 
 Sgombri, signor, da' mansueti cori, 
 Sgombri mille furori, 
 E quasi fai col tuo valor superno 
 Delle cose mortali un giro etemo. 
 
 2. From Pastor Fido, Act iv. Scene 9 : — 
 
 O bella eta dell' oro, 
 
 Quand' ^ra cibo il latte 
 
 Del pargoletto mondo, e culla il bosco 
 
 E i c^ri pirti loro 
 1 Godean le gregge intatte, 
 1 Nfe temea '1 mondo ancor ferro nfe tosco. 
 ■ Pensier torbido e fosco 
 
 Allt^ non facea velo 
 
 Al sol di liKe eterna 
 
 Or \i ragidn, che verna 
 
 Tra le nubi del seinso, ha chiuso il cielo. 
 
 Ond' 6'^ che '1 peregrfno 
 
 Va 1' altrui terra, e '1 mar turb£mdo il pino. 
 
 Peck, in his New Memoirs of Milton (1740), fancifully com- 
 pares the Lycidas to a piece of music, consisting of so many 
 bars, which are represented by the paragraphs; each rime 
 being a chord, and the lines without any answering rime being 
 discords. He cites the Pindaric odes of Cowley as examples 
 of similar irregularity in riming, only that in these there are no 
 discords or lines without rimes. The distinction between 
 ' chords ' and ' discords ' (as if they were two different things 
 in music) is of course erroneous ; but, substituting phrases for 
 ' bars ' and concords for ' chords ' in the above comparison, we 
 may allow that the effect upon the ear of an occasional unrimed 
 
INTRODUCTION. 4S 
 
 line bears some analogy to that produced by an unresolved 
 discord in harmony. Nevertheless so artistic is the whole 
 metrical arrangement of this charming monody that the sensa- 
 tions experienced by the most fastidious reader can never be 
 otherwise than agreeable, and to the judgment of such we con- 
 fidently leave the decision of the question, whether (as Dr. 
 Johnson will have it) ' the diction is harsh, the rhymes uncer- 
 tain, and the numbers unpleasing.' 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 Yet once more, O ye laurels, and once more 
 Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere, 
 
 I] ' Onoe more, amid my various 
 occupations, do I return to poetry, 
 that I may offer a tribute to the 
 memory of my deceased friend.' ' It 
 seems better to understand the allu- 
 sion thus than to restrict it (as Peck 
 and Newton have done) to ' poems 
 on like occasions' with that of the 
 Lycidas, such as the Ode on the 
 Death of a Fair Infant, the Epi- 
 taph on the Marchioness of Win- 
 chester, and the four I^atin Elegies 
 of 1626. Since the production of 
 Cotnus in 1634, the poet's pen had 
 been unemployed, and we know 
 from his letter to Diodati of Sept. 
 23, 1637, that he was now study- 
 ing ancient and mediaeval history, 
 in preparation for his Italian tour, 
 lyhich took place in the following 
 spring. Warton properly observes 
 that the plants specified in this and 
 the next line are not peculiar to 
 elegy, but 'symbolical of general 
 poetry.' As evergreens they are 
 also emblems of immortality, which 
 is perhaps the teading idea intended 
 to be conveyed. Cf. Drayton, 6th 
 Pastoral Eclogice : — 
 ' Nor mournful cypress nor sad 
 
 widowing yew 
 About thy tomb to prosper shall 
 
 be seen : 
 
 But hay and myrtle, which is ever 
 
 new, 
 In spight of winter flourishing 
 
 and green.' 
 
 There seems to be no sufficient 
 ground for the distinction which 
 Newton draws between the laurel, 
 myrtle, and ivy, as representing the 
 poetic talent of the deceased, his 
 ripeness for love, and his learning 
 (Hor. Od. I. i. 29) respectively. 
 IJrayton, however, in his 3rd Ec- 
 logue, speaks pf 'bays that poets 
 do adorn, And myrtle of chaste 
 lovere worn.' 
 
 2 brown] dark and sombre (It. 
 bruruj) ; ' the pulla myrtus of Hor. 
 Od. I. XXV. 18. 
 
 ivy never sere] Cf. Sylves- 
 ter, Du Bartas, 70, ' immortal bays 
 never unleaved.' Sere (O. E. seir, 
 verb sedrian) occurs only twice 
 elsewhere in Milton, P. L. x. 1071 
 and Psalm ii. 27. Cf. Macbeth, 
 V. 3, ' the sear the yellow leaf ; ' 
 Spenser, Eel. i. 37, 'My lustfuU 
 leaf is dry and sere,' where it is 
 explained in the Glossary as an 
 antiquated word, like guerdon, fqr- 
 lom, and others, , which have now 
 returned into use. Newton's state- 
 ment that ' there are more obsolete 
 words in this than in any other of 
 
48 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude, 
 i And with forced fingers rude 
 Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. 
 Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear, 
 
 Milton's poems ' may well be dis- 
 puted. (See note on /. 189.) 
 
 3-8] Those who imagine an allu- 
 sion to the untimely death of Mr. 
 King in the premature gathering of 
 the laurels, &c. , seem to overlook 
 the fact that these plants represent, 
 not the lost friend, but the verses 
 offered to l)is memory. The meta- 
 phor by which an early death is 
 compared to the plucking of unripe 
 fruit (as in Cic. De Senectute, ' Quasi 
 poma ex arboribus,' &c., quoted by 
 Dunster) has therefore no applica- 
 tion here, the reference being ob- 
 viously to the poet's efforts in verse, 
 which were, in his own opinion, yet 
 ' harsh and crude,' but whose time 
 of maturity a pious duty compelled 
 him to forestall. Six years pre- 
 viously, in the Sonnet written at 
 the age of twenty-three, he had 
 expressed his resolution not to hasten 
 the time of his 'inward ripeness;' 
 and in the accompanying letter he 
 says, 'I take no thought of being late, 
 so it give advantage to be more fit.' 
 4 forced] i.e. unwilling, as ex- 
 plained in //. 6, 7- 
 
 5] Cf P. L. X. 1066. Shatter is 
 a modem softening of scatter, like 
 shave and scab, sharp and scarp, &c. 
 mellowing] {mollis) would strictly 
 apply to fruit, not to leaves or 
 flowers. But the sense probably is, 
 ' before the advancing year, which 
 ripens the fruit, causes your leaves 
 to fall.' Keightley remarks that 
 ' these plants all shed their leaves 
 during the year, but gradually. ' Cf. 
 Marlowe, Taniburlaine, ii, I, ' And 
 fall like mellowed fruit with shakes 
 of death.' 
 6] Plumptre's translation (1797), 
 
 iro9iiv6p, probably gives the right 
 sense of this line, i.e. an occasion 
 sad in itself, but concerned about a 
 dear object (Spens. F. Q. I. i. 53). 
 But dear may mean 'important,' 
 from its primary sense of 'costly' 
 (O. E. deifre, G. theuer), an inter- 
 pretation which is slightly favoured 
 by the occurrence of the word with 
 the same meaning and connexion 
 in Sidney's Arcadia, where Time is 
 addressed as ' the father of occasion 
 deare.' Hence arose the peculiar 
 use of ' dear ' in a sense apparently 
 contradictory to its usual one, as in 
 Shakspere's 'dearest foe,' 'dear 
 peril,' &c., which is to be explained, 
 not (as Home Tooke supposes) from 
 derian, ' to hurt,' but by a natural 
 transition from the original notion 
 of importance into that of strong 
 interest or emotion, whether of love 
 or hatred* (See Dyce's Glossary to 
 Shakspere, pp. 119, 120.) 
 
 The position of the noun betweep 
 the two epithets is very conamon in 
 Milton. Out of numberless in- 
 stances which occur, Peck quotes 
 P. L. V. 3, ' temperate vapours 
 bland;' ix. 1003, 'mortal sin ori- 
 ginal.' Cf. also /. ^ supra. Arcades, 
 49, 51, to which may be added 'the 
 two-topt mount divine' of the 
 supposed Miltonic Epitaph — an ex- 
 pression which Dean Stanley in his 
 letter to Prof Morley (Introd. to 
 King and Commons, p. xxxii.) pro- 
 nounced to be 'Milton all over.' 
 This order of words is imitated from 
 the Greek (cf Hes. Theog. 811, 
 X<^Ak6os ouS^sacrTe/i^^s ; Eur. Pheen. 
 234, vi^6$oKoi> Spot lp6v). InLatm 
 the adjectives are usually placed to- 
 gether, either with a conjunction, as 
 ' Fatalis incestus^? judex,' Hor, Od. 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 49 
 
 Compels me to disturb your season due ; 
 For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime, 
 Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer. 
 Who would not sing for Lycidas ! he knew 
 
 III. iii. 19, or without one, as 'do- 
 musexilis Plutonia,' Hor. Od. I. iv. 
 17.; 'suavis daedala tellus,' Lucr. 
 i. 7. 
 
 7 compels] instead of compel, 
 the ' bitter constraint' and ' sad occa- 
 sion' being" so nearly identical as to 
 form one idea. Cf Hor. Od. I. 
 xvii. 12, 'dis pietas mea £t musa 
 cotdi est! But, even without any 
 such connexion of meaning, the 
 Elizabethan writers and their imme- 
 diate successors commonly made 
 the verb agree in number with the 
 nearest preceding noun. Many in- 
 stances occur in the Bible, e.g. Prov. 
 i. 27 (where Luther's version also 
 has 'Angst und Noth kommt'), ib. 
 ii. 6 ; Luke v. 10. Paul Bayne, in 
 one of his Letters (circ. 1600), says, 
 'You will be desirous of knowing 
 how my wife and her place agreeth ;' 
 Bacon, Essay on Masques, observes 
 that ' double masques . . . addeth 
 state and variety,' where no singular 
 noun precedes the verb. Even Mr. 
 Tennyson, in a recent volume of 
 Poems, has the construction, 'I 
 should know what God and man is. ' 
 But many verbs apparently singular 
 are really examples of the Northern 
 plural in -J, — e;g. Shakspere, Corio- 
 /anus, iv. i, 'fortune's blows . . . 
 craves a noble cunning,' &c. &c. 
 James I. constantly uses this form 
 in his letters to Queen Elizabeth, as 
 ' my articles desyrw, ' ' your subjectis 
 preferir,' &c. 
 
 8 ere his jfrinie] Being only 
 twenty-five years old. 
 
 9] Milton probably had in his 
 mind Spenser's Astrophel, 7, 8. 
 There is a similar repetition of the 
 name, with marked effect, in the 
 ode on Death of a Fair Infant, 
 
 26. The present line is imitated by 
 Samuel Boyse (1741) in his Vision 
 of Patience, ' Young Lycidas the 
 learned and the good.' 
 
 peer] i. c. ' equal,' from par. 
 Milton has used the word only 
 twice elsewhere in this original 
 sense, in/". Z. i. 39, v. 812, though 
 he often applies it to the rebel 
 angels as a title of nobility — e.g. 
 'the grand infernal peers,' &c. — 
 which is also its usual meaning in 
 Shakspere. , With the present pas- 
 sage cf P. Fletcher, Pise. Eel. vi. 
 I, 'A fisher boy that never knew 
 his^fw-;' Cowley, Death of Hervey, 
 'My sweet companion and my gentle 
 peer.' This is another of the words 
 (see note on sere, I. 2) explained as 
 obsolete in the Glossary to the 
 Shepheard's Kalendar ; it must have 
 been familiar in the 14th century, 
 as Wicklif, in his translation of Matt. 
 xi. 16, has 'children that crienunto 
 hsr peeris,' i.e. 'fellows.' For the 
 history of the word see Du Cange, 
 Glossarium, s. v. Pares. 
 
 10] Peck compares Virg. E. a. 3, 
 ' neget quis carmina Gallo ? ' 
 
 he knew to sing] Cf Comus, 
 87. These and similar expressions 
 are evidently intended as jmitation.s 
 of the Latin and Greek verb-noun 
 infinitive — e.g. faK«/r callebat, ^SeH/ 
 T/iriffraTO, &c. In Spenser's Ruines 
 of Time occurs the well-known 
 
 ' Not to have been dipped in Lethe's 
 
 lake 
 Could save the son of Thetis yJ-OOT 
 to die,' 
 
 (Cf Eur. Alcestis, II, liv imiiiv €/i^u. 
 trd/iiii'.) But this construction is 
 unnecessary and even inaccurate in 
 
5° 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 Himself to sing, and build the lofty rim gi 
 He must not float upon his watery bier 
 Unwept, and welter to the parching wind, 
 
 English : first, because the infin. in 
 -ing (O. E. -an) is the real equiva- 
 lent of the classical phrase ; and 
 secondly, because the sign ' to ' was 
 properly used with the gerund in 
 -anne or -ewie to denote a pur- 
 pose. Probably our English poets, 
 not knowing that the form in -ing 
 was really an infinitive, and con- 
 founding it with the present par- 
 ticiple, which it accidentally re- 
 sembles, thought that the only way 
 of reproducing the Latin and Greek 
 construction was by the use of the 
 sign ' to ' with the verb. 
 
 How far this estimate of King's 
 poetry is supported by facts we have 
 no adequate means of ascertaining, 
 since only a few copies of his Latin 
 verses are extant (see Masson's 
 Life of Milton, vol. i. pp. 603, 604), 
 which show a fair amount of scho- 
 larship, but are of no great poetical 
 merit. Milton may here be using 
 the language of exaggeration, or he 
 may have had other and more suf- 
 ficient grounds for his opinion than 
 such compositions as these would 
 afford. 
 
 build the lofty rime] Todd 
 compares Spenser, Ruines of Rome, 
 stanza xxiv. — 
 
 ' To build with levell of my loftie 
 
 style 
 That which no handes can ever- 
 moie compyle ;' 
 
 also Eur. Supp. 998, aoiSar eirup- 
 7,ii«rf, to which we mayadd Aristoph. 
 Rants, 1004, Tvpydxyas ^fiara trefivd. 
 The Latin ' condere carmen ' (Lucr. 
 V. 2 ; Hor. A. P. 436, Episf. I. iii. 
 24) is probably here imitated ; but 
 the original expression does not ne- 
 cessarily contain any metaphor from 
 building, since condere simply means 
 
 'to put together,' and is therefore 
 applied to any sort of operation 
 which might come underthat general 
 notion, such as building, composing, 
 laying in the tomb, &c. ; it is more- 
 over used of prose writing as well as 
 of poetry. Gray, Death of Hoel, fol- 
 lowing Milton, has ' build the lofty 
 verse,' and Merrick (circ. 1700), in 
 his Ode to Fancy, ' build the rhyme.' 
 Rime = ' verse, ' as in /". Z. i. 16. 
 Elsewhere in Milton the word occurs 
 only in the Preface to Paradise Lost, 
 where 'rime' is distinguished from 
 blank verse. Since it is there written 
 rime, but rhyme \a P. L.'x. 16, Bp. 
 Pearson suggested that Milton pur- 
 posely varied the spelling to signify 
 thedifference of meaning. This idea 
 is at any rate not supported by the 
 present passage, since our poet ori- 
 ginally wrote ,rime in his MS., 
 though the printed editions of 1638 
 and 1645 both have rhyme. Hence 
 I have adopted in the text what is 
 now known to be the proper ortho- 
 graphy. (See Appendix I.) 
 
 12 bier] (O. E. bch-, L. fer- 
 etrum), because the waves bear the 
 body on their surface. Cf. Fletcher, 
 Purple Lsland, i. 210, "The dying 
 swan . . . tides on her vratrie hearse.' 
 
 13 welter] properly 'to roll' 
 (waj^-loWjCiBoZ-tzen, L. vol-wo, Gr. 
 eOi-u). It was formerly used in a 
 wider sense than at present. Cf. 
 Od. Nat. 124 ; P. L. i. 78 ; Spens. 
 Eel. vii. 197, 'These wisards wel- 
 ter in wejth's caves.' Keble, 
 Christian Year (4th S. after Tri- 
 nity), speaks of ' the deep weltering 
 flood.' For a very early use of the 
 word see the King's Qiihair, by 
 James I. of Scotland, 1423, where 
 tlie turning of Fortune's wheel is 
 called ' the sudayn zveltering of that 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 51 
 
 Without the meed of some melodious tear. ^^"-^ 
 / Begin then, Sisters of the sacred well, ^ 
 
 15 
 
 That from beneath the s eat (rfyTby ^doth spring 5 ^ ^(v. 
 Begin, and somewhat loudly sweSp the stffngT \ a '-.'•■•."< 
 
 re 
 »,4 
 
 Hence with denial vain, and coy excuse — - 
 ^So may some gentle Muse 
 
 ;C C ' 
 
 -r. 
 
 
 ilk quhele.' Cf. Pope, Odyssey, 
 xiv. 15s, 'he welters on the wave.' 
 
 FaTcMng] describes generally the 
 effect of exposure to the weather, 
 and is used of cold as well as of beat, 
 P. L. ii. 594, where Newton corap. 
 Ecchts. xliii. 21, ' The cold north 
 wind . . . burneth the wilderness. ' 
 Cf. Virg. G. i. 93, ' Borese pene- 
 trabile frigus adurat ; ' Xen. Anab. 
 IV. V. 3, where the wintry wind is 
 said c^voKaic ij/ 7ret;/Ta. 
 
 meed] {O.E. mid, G. miethe, akin 
 Xa ikia&is). . Cf. /. 84, the only other 
 instance of the word in Milton. 
 Shakspere uses it frequently. Cf. 
 Spens. F. Q. 11. iii. 10, ' honour 
 virtue's meed ;' Browne, Brit. Fast., 
 'bayethe learned shepherd 'smeede.' 
 
 melodious tear] = ' mournful 
 strain ; ' imitated by Mason in his 
 Monody on Pope, ' the loan of some 
 poetick woe.' Cooper, 7om6 of 
 Shakspere, 'the gurgling notes of 
 her melodious woe ; ' Shelley, Ado- 
 nais, 'the lorn nightingale Mourns 
 not her mate witit such melodious 
 pain.' Hurd comp. Eur. Suppl. 
 454, Sf^Kpua 5' iroLfid^ovfft ( = ' a 
 dirge'). Cf. Viig. ySn. ii. 145, 'his 
 lacrimis vitam damus,' i.e. 'to this 
 sorrowful appeal.' In the Epitaph 
 on the Marchioness of Winchester 
 Milton speaks of his verses as ' tears 
 of perfect m&n,' and Spenser en- 
 titles his elegy on Sir P. Sidney 
 Tears of the Muses. 
 
 15] The customary invocation of 
 the Muses is studied from the opeur 
 ing lines of Hesiod's Theogony. 
 The ' sacred well ' is Aganippe on 
 
 Mount Helicon (upoi ^ryo xt ii,6fiv 
 re), and not, as Keightley supposes, 
 ' a fount of the poet's own creation,' 
 and the ' seat of Jove ' is the altar 
 upon the same hill (/Swjibj' ifia9(vios 
 Kpovlams). Cf. // Penseroso, 47, 
 48 ; Spenser, Eel. iv. 41, where the 
 name of the mountain is transferred 
 to the spring. ' Well ' in the sense 
 of a natural fount occurs only here 
 and in P. L. xi. 416 (from Psalm 
 xxxvi. 9). 
 
 17 somewhat loudly] i.e. make 
 no uncertain answer to my appeal 
 (see next line). Todd quotes from 
 Drummond's Elegy on Gusta-mis 
 Adolphus — 
 
 ' Speak it again, and louder louder 
 
 yet; 
 Else while we hear the sound we 
 
 shall forget 
 What it delivers.' 
 
 18 coy] (Fr. coi, Lat. quietus), 
 formerly said of things as well as of 
 persons (P. L. iv. 310). Warton 
 instances from the Apology for Smec- 
 tymnuus ' a coy flurting style,' i.e. 
 one which deals in quibbling and 
 subterfuge, and thus eludes the 
 grasp of the understanding ; also 
 Drayton, Past. Eel. vii., 'these 
 things are all too coy (i.e. difficult) 
 for me.' Chaucer, Romaunt of the 
 Rose, has the verb acoie, ' to caress.' 
 Cf. Turberville (of Jupiter' and 
 Danae), ' when he coyde the closed 
 nunne in a towre. ' 
 
 19 so may, &c.] probably sug- 
 gested by the ' sic tibi,' &c. of Virg. 
 Eel. X. 4. Cf. Eel. ix. 40 ; Hor. 
 
52 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 With lucky words favour my destined urn, 
 And as he passes turn, 
 And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud — 
 For we were nursed upon the self-same hill, 
 
 20 
 
 Od. I. iii. I. The sense is, 'As 
 the Muses enable me to lament my 
 lost friend, so may some kindly 
 poet honour my memory when I 
 am dead.' For Muse in the sense 
 of 'poet,' cf. Spenser, Prothala- 
 tiiion, 159, ' Some brave Muse may 
 sing ;' Dryden, Abs. and Achit. I. 
 'Adriel .... himself a Muse;' 
 Chapman, Ham. 0</. viii. 499, 'This 
 sung the sacred Muse.' Newton's 
 reference to Sams. Ag. 973 is not 
 quite apposite, as Fame is there in- 
 troduced in her proper character as 
 a divinity, though her gender is 
 changed on the poet's own responsi- 
 bility. There is some awkwardness 
 here in the use of ' muse ' for the in- 
 spired poet immediately after the in- 
 vocation of the Muses as the inspirers 
 of the song, but the sense is clear. 
 In an Italian translation by T. 
 Mathias (18:2) 'Muse' is properly 
 rendered ' cantor. ' 
 
 20 favour] ho\afavere\^^v^}t.^v) 
 in its technical sense. Hor. Od. 
 III. i. 2. 
 
 my destined nm] i.e. the tomb 
 destined for me. For ' urn ' in this 
 sense cf. Shaksp. Cor. v. 5 — 
 
 ' The most noble corse that ever 
 
 herald 
 Did follow to his urn.' 
 
 Dyce, Glossary, p. 477i quotes from 
 Fortiguerra's Ricciardetto, ' aprir la 
 porta dell' urna ' ( = tombci). 
 
 22] Thereseems to be no necessity 
 for rejecting the usual interpretati' m 
 of ' shroud ' in the sense of grave- 
 clothes. Dunster indeed observes 
 that it is ' the Miltonic word for 
 harbour, recess, hiding-place,' and 
 t\jces it here to mean ' tomb ; ' but 
 as Milton's use of the wdrd (as a 
 
 noun) is confined to this and three 
 other passages (Comus, 147 ; Od. 
 Nat. 218 ; />. Z. X. 1068), in all of 
 which the context shows that it is 
 employed metaphorically, these re- 
 ferences prove nothmg as to its 
 meaning here. It may, however, 
 mean the black pall that covers the 
 cofiSn. Mallet, in his iVilliam and 
 Margaret, has the lines — 
 
 ' And clay-cold was her lily hand 
 That held her sable shroud,' 
 
 but the phrase is probably copied 
 from Milton. Todd's citations from 
 Sylvester are still less to the point, 
 since two of them do not contain 
 the word at all, and in the third it 
 unquestionably means ' dress of 
 mourning,' in its primary accepta- 
 tion (O. E. scrud) of clothes or 
 covering. Cf. Shaksp. L. Lab. 
 Lost, v. 2, 'A smock shall be your 
 shroud,' and (for the secondary 
 sense) Ezek. xxxi. 3, ' a cedar with 
 a shadowing shroud.' Pennant, in 
 his London, mentions 'a 'place 
 called the shrowds, a covered space 
 on the side of [Paul's] church.' 
 
 23] The poem now passes into 
 the pastoral form ; the new para- 
 graph should begin at /. 25, the 
 present line being connected with 
 I. 18, ' I would fain sing for Ly- 
 cidas, for he was my companion, 
 &c.' Masson, Life of Milton, p. 6li, 
 says, ' The hill is Cambridge, the 
 joint feeding of the flocks is com- 
 panionship in study, the rural ditties 
 are academic iambics and elegiacs, 
 and old Damcetas is either Mr. 
 Chappell or some more kindly fel- 
 low of Christ's' (see on I. 36). 
 Among these college poems were 
 the Elegiacs to T. Young, 1626; the 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 S3 
 
 Fed the same flock by fountain, shade, and rill. 
 Together both, ere the high lawns appeared 
 Under the opening eyelids of the Morn, 
 We drove a-field, and both together heard 
 
 H 
 
 Vacation Exercise, 1628 ; and the 
 Nativity Ode, 1629. King's Latin 
 verses have been already noticed 
 (/. 10). P. Fletcher, in his ist 
 Piscatory Eclogtte, describes his fa- 
 ther's ejirly life under a similar alle- 
 gory drawn from the fisherman's 
 trade : — 
 
 'When the raw blossom of my 
 youth was yet 
 
 In my first childhood's green en- 
 closure bound, 
 
 Of Aquadune I leamt to fold my 
 net . . . 
 
 And guide my boat where Thames 
 and Isis heire, 
 
 By lowly Eton slides and Windsor 
 proudly faire. 
 
 But when my tender youth gan 
 
 fairly blow, 
 I changed large Thames for Ca- 
 mus' narrower seas ; 
 There as my years, so skill with 
 
 years did grow, 
 And now my pipe the better sort 
 
 did please ; 
 So that with Limnus and with 
 
 Belgio 
 I durst to challenge all my fisher 
 
 peeres, 
 That by leam'd Camus' banks did 
 
 spend their youthfull yeares. ' 
 
 25 lawns] P. L. iv. 252 ; V Al- 
 legro, 71 ; Od. Nat. 85. 'A lawn 
 is a plaine among trees ' (Camden). 
 Cf. L. saltus^ The restriction of 
 meaning to grass kept smooth in a 
 garden is comparatively modern 
 (Wordsworth, White Doe of Ryl- 
 stone, canto iv. 45 ; Tennyson, In 
 Mem. 94, &c.). The word is va- 
 riously written lawnd, laund, lande 
 in Piers Plowman, Chaucer, Surrey, 
 
 Shakspere, &c. ; it is the Old Fr. 
 lande, Sp. landa, Welsh Han, which 
 comes from the older Celtic Ian, ' a 
 place,' and originally meant an 
 area or open space, hence a church- 
 yard and a church, as in Llan- 
 dudno, &c. 
 
 26] Milton's habit of early rising 
 is illustrated in the Apology for 
 Smectymnuus (quoted by Warton), 
 where he describes himself as ' up- 
 stirring in winter often before the 
 sound of any bell awakens men to 
 labour or devotion ; in summer as 
 oft as the bird that first rouses, or 
 not much tardier.' Cf. V Allegro, 
 41 foil.; P. L. v. 1-25; ix. 192- 
 200. 
 
 opening] altered from ' glimmer- 
 ing ' in ed. 1638, from the MS. first 
 draft ; the improvement is obvious. 
 The phrase is partly imitated by M. 
 Bruce in his Daphnis, when he 
 speaks of ' the closing lids of light.' 
 Cf. Crashaw, Music's Duel, ' the 
 eyelids of the blushing day. ' War- 
 ton cites Job iii. 9 (margin) ; xli. 
 18 ; Soph. Antig. 103, aiiepas /SXe- 
 <papov ; Middleton, Game of Chesse 
 (1625), 'the opening eyelids of the 
 mom.' 
 
 27 drove] probably means 'drove 
 our flocks,' like 'drive the team 
 afield' in Gray's Elegy; but the 
 word is often used intransitively 
 (like i.yav, agere), as in Gay's 3rd 
 Pastoral (Shepherds Week), 'Now 
 the sun drove adown the western 
 road.' The a in 'afield' is a dia- 
 lectic form an of the preposition 
 on (Wyatt, Abused Lover, 'now off, 
 now an '), of which the n was natu- 
 rally dropped before a consonant ; 
 before h it was sometimes omitted 
 (' ahead,' &c.), sometimes retained 
 
r 
 
 ^^1)^u^^- 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 , c>^"r 
 
 (/ 
 
 What timejhejjay'fly winds her sultry horn, 
 
 Battening ouj-flocks with the fresh dews of night, 
 
 Oft till the(stay that rose at evening bright 
 
 Toward heaven 's descent had sloped his westering wheel. 
 
 ( ' an hunting, ' &c. ) • 'Fell on sleep ' 
 occurs in Acts xiii. 36 ; in Cran- 
 mer's Bible the reading was 'a 
 building' in John ii. 20, but it is 
 now 'in building.' 
 
 heard what time, &o.] a con- 
 densed expression for 'heard the 
 horn of the gray-fly at the time 
 ' when she sounds it.' Compi oKoii- 
 em Stc, audire quum. 
 
 28] ' The gray-fly or trumpet-fly ' 
 ( Warton) . This cannot be the cock- 
 chaffer, as some assert, since that 
 insect flies only in the evening. 
 Scott, Critical Essays, observes that 
 the three parts of the day, morning, 
 noon, and evening, are clearly in- 
 tended. A writer in the Edinburgh 
 Rmlew (July 1868) suggests that 
 the ' gray-fly ' may be the grig or 
 cricket, O. E. grmg-hama, i. e. 
 'gray-coat,' from its colour. For 
 ' horn ' cf. Collins, Ode to Evening, 
 ' where the beetle winds his small 
 but sullen horn.^ 
 
 sultry horn] according to the 
 classical usage by which an epithet 
 is employed for an adverbial phrase 
 denoting time. Farrar, Greek Syn- 
 tax, p. 81, instances (tkotoios ^\Ber, 
 ' ^neas se matutinus agebat,' com- 
 paring them with Dryden's ' gently 
 they laid them down as evening 
 
 30 
 
 29 battening] usually intransi- 
 tive, 'to grow fat,' as in Shaksp. 
 J/amlei, iii. 4, 'batten on this 
 moor.' It is used transitively in 
 J. Philips' Cider, bk. i., 'the mea- 
 dows here with battening ooze en- 
 riched,' and in Brown's Brit. Pas- 
 torals, bk. ii. 1st song, ' the batning 
 earth.' The original root is ia/-, 
 whence also iet-ter and O. E. bit-an 
 (see ssa. I. 64). There was an older 
 
 fonn, battel (cf. Holland's Plu- 
 tarch, ' battel! soil '), whence the 
 college term 'battels.' Batful= 
 ' rich ' occurs often in the Poly- 
 olbion. 
 
 fresh dewa, &c.] Cf. Virg. G. 
 iii. 324—326; Eel. viii. 15. 
 
 30] See Various Readings, Keight- 
 ley remarks that the evening star 
 * appears, not rises, and it is never any- 
 where but on ' ' heaven's descent," ' 
 and he endeavours to save Milton 
 from the charge of astronomical in- 
 accuracy by interpreting the allusion 
 of any star that rose about sunset. 
 But the passage from the Faery 
 Qaeene, HI. iv. 51 ('the golden 
 Hesperus was mounted high in top 
 of heaven sheen '), which Keightley 
 himself quotes in his note on Comus, 
 I. 93, shows that another poet was 
 in fact guilty of the same error. 
 Probably both remembered the ou- 
 \tbt axTTijp of Apollonius (Argonau- 
 tica, iv. 1630), which is the same as 
 Hesperus ; and it is no necessaiy 
 imputation of ignorance against Mil- 
 ton to suppose that he meant this 
 star both here and in the Comus, 
 since he was fer more likely to have 
 erred in company with the ancients 
 than to have corrected their mis- 
 takes by the light of modem dis- 
 covery (see on /. 168). The 
 amended line, inferior perhaps to 
 the original on account of its difiiise- 
 ness, is just such an expansion as a 
 poet might easily produce, if he 
 wished to lengthen the verse with- 
 out recasting the whole passage. 
 
 31 westering] originally 'bur- 
 nisht,' which, as Todd observes, is 
 a common epithet of the sun in 
 older poetry. Milton, however, 
 has not so applied it elsewhere.^ 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 55 
 
 Meanwhile the rural ditties were not mute, 
 Tempered to the oaten flute ; 
 
 Between 1638 and 1645 ^^ ""^y 
 have recollected Chaucer's line in 
 Troilus and Cresseyde, ' the sonne 
 gau westrin fast,' &c. A corre- 
 spondent in Notes and Queries (Feb. 
 1873) quotes from Whittier, ' the 
 glow of autumn's westering day.' 
 'Wested' occurs in Spenser's In- 
 troduction to the Faery Queene, 
 I. 8, 'westing' in Cook's Voyages. 
 Cf. Dryden, Virg. G. iv. 577, 'the 
 southing sun.' The northern Eng- 
 lish form ' westling ' is used by 
 Allan Ramsay, Gentle Shepherd, ii. 
 4, and often by Bums. 
 
 32] Imitated by R. West, Death 
 of Q. Caroline — 
 
 ' Meantime thy rural ditty was not 
 
 mute. 
 Sweet bard of Merlin's cave.' 
 
 'Ditty' (dictum, Fr. dicte) means 
 properly the words of a song as dis- 
 tinguished from the tune. Cf. 
 Shaksp..^.r You Like It,v. 3, 'Though 
 there wa? no great matter in ia& ditty, 
 yet the note was very untuneable.' 
 Hence it was applied to a short 
 pithy-poem, generally on love and 
 its sorrows. Milton has ' amorous 
 ditties,' P. L. i. 449 ; xi. 584. 
 Cf. Comus, 86. 
 
 33 tempered] = ' attuned,' P. L. 
 vii. 598. Warton compares Fletch- 
 er, Purple Island, ix. 20, ' temper- 
 ing their sweetest notes unto thy 
 lay,' and Spenser, Eel. vi. 7. Gray, 
 Progress of Poesy, has — 
 
 ' Thee the voice, the dance obey. 
 Tempered to thy warbled lay.' 
 
 Cf. Petrarch, Sonnet xxxviii. 2, 
 ' Temprar potess' io in si soavi note 
 I miei sospiri.' The Latin tempe- 
 rare is similarly used, Hor. Od. iv. 
 -iii. 18. Milton employs the word 
 •teirper' in several senses, e.g. of 
 sword metal, P. L. ii. 813; vi. 
 
 322; of mental constitution, P. R. 
 iii. 27 ; of climate, P. L. xii. 636 
 (cf. Chaucer, Assembly of Fcfwles, 
 stanza 30, ' the aire ... so at- 
 tempre was ') ; of mixing in propor- 
 tion (cf Ezek. xlvi. 14; Exod. 
 xxix. 2). All these come from the 
 general notion of dividing (perhaps 
 in rin-v-u, /em-p-us, &c.), the pre- 
 vailing idea being that of regular 
 distribution and order. 
 
 oaten flute] Cf /. 88 ; Comus, 
 345 ; Spenser, Eel. i. 72 ; x. 8 &c. , 
 &c. ; Collins, Ode to Evening, I. i. 
 'Pipes of corn' are mentioned in 
 Shaksp. M. N. Dr. ii. 2 ; Spenser, 
 Eel. ii. 40. Although the oaton 
 pipe has been chosen by English 
 poets as the representative of pas- 
 toral music, the classical authority 
 for such usage is more than doubt- 
 ful. Theocritus speaks only of 
 reeds (/ct^Xajuos, auA^s, Swi-'o^), 'or of 
 the Pan's pipe (o-upl^l). Lucretius 
 in the celebrated passage, v. 1382 
 foil., adds the hemlock pipe [cicuia) 
 to the calamus and tibia. Perhaps 
 the earliest instance of avena in this 
 sense is in Virg. Eel. i. 2 (cf. Ov. 
 Met. viii. 191 ; TibiiU. m. iv. 71) ; 
 but it is a question whether the word 
 may not there mean any reed or 
 hollow stalk ; Pliny, N. H. xix. i , 
 uses it of the flax-plant, ' tam gra- 
 cili avena.' No argument can of 
 course be drawn from the stipula 
 of Virg. Eel. iii. 27, where the de- 
 signation is purposely disparaging. 
 So in an Elegy to Dr. Donne by 
 R. B.— 
 
 ' all indeed 
 Compared to him, piped on an oaten 
 
 reed ;' 
 
 and in Tickell's mock-heroic poem, 
 'Kensington Gardens, ' the shrill 
 corn-pipes ' are a substitute for mar- 
 tial trumpets in a battle of fairies. 
 
56 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 Rough Satyrs danced, and Fauns with cloven heel 
 
 From the glad sound would not be absent long, 35 
 
 And old Damcetas loved to hear our song. 
 
 But oh ! the heavy change, now thou art gone, 
 Now thou art gone, and never must return ! 
 Thee, Shepherd, thee the woods and desert caves. 
 With wild thyme and the gadding vine o'ergrown, 40 
 
 In this country the oaten pipe seems 
 to have been common among rus- 
 tics, and may still be met with. 
 Burns, in a letter to Mr. Thompson 
 (No. Ixiv.), speaks of 'an oaten 
 reed cut and notched like that you 
 see every shepherd boy have,^ but the 
 sound is described as 'abominable.' 
 Probably, therefore, our older poets 
 took the expression from an over- 
 literal rendering of arena in pass^es 
 where it ought to have been under- 
 stood in a wider sense. 
 
 34] Cf. Virg. Eel. vi. 27, ' Turn 
 vero in numerum Faunosque feras- 
 que videres Ludere ; ' Pope, Pasto- 
 
 arrant, doltish clown.' If Milton 
 had this Damoetas in mind, the 
 allusion to Chappell under that name 
 may possibly show that he had not 
 quite forgotten the old disagreement 
 with his tutor which led to his tem- 
 porary 'rustication' in 1626 (see 
 Eleg. i. 11-20, Masson'sZj^, vol. i. 
 
 141). 
 
 37-49] Scott in his Critical Es- 
 iays remarks that there is ' a peculiar 
 languid melody in these lines,' and 
 that Milton has here used 'the 
 poetical licence by which sense is 
 attributed to inanimate existence to 
 great advantage.' Cf. Virg. Eel. 
 
 rals, ii. 50. Newton comp. alsoX^x. 13, v. 62, for the sympathy of 
 Spenser, Fast. j£gl. 116 — ""'' ' -'----'^- — -"- '- 
 
 'Ye Sylvans, Fawns, and Satyrs 
 
 that emong 
 These thickets oft have daunced 
 after his pipe.'' 
 
 If Damoetas is Mr. Chappell, the 
 Satyrs and Fauns may represent the 
 wilder and less studious under- 
 graduates of Christ's. We know 
 from a letter to Gill, 1628, that 
 Milton had to complain of uncon- 
 genial companions at Cambridge 
 ( ' cum nuUos fere studiorum con- 
 sortes hie reperiam, &c. '), and he 
 may have intended to pay them a 
 passing compliment. 
 
 36 Old Damoetas] is a character 
 in Sidney's Arcadia, the master of 
 the young shepherd Dorus, and 
 described as a ' suspicious uncouth. 
 
 natural objects with human sorrow 
 and joy. 
 
 38 never most] = art destined 
 never to return. Cf. Od. Nat. 151, 
 ' This must not yet be so.' 
 
 39] Dunster cites Ovid, Met. xi. 
 43, where the beasts, woods, and 
 rocks are said to mourn for Orpheus. 
 For the structure of the line cf., 
 Virg. G. iv. 465, • Te, dulcis con- 
 junx, te solo in litore secum, &c. ; ' ■ 
 Spenser, F. Q. iv. x. 44, ' Thee, 
 goddesse, thee the winds, the clouds 
 doe feare.' 
 
 40 wild thyme] not mentioned 
 elsewhere by Milton. Prof. Morley 
 quotes this line in defence of the ex- 
 pression ' thymy wood ' in the Epi- 
 taph, against theobjection raised that ' 
 thyme does not grow in a wood. 
 He adds a reference to Hor. Od. i. 
 xvii. 5, and to Shaksp. M. N. ^ 
 
 ' Faunus was represented with goat's feer, 'semicaper,'Ovid, Fast. v. loi. 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 57 
 
 . And all their echoes mourn. 
 
 The willows, and the hazel-copses green, 
 AShall now no more be seen 
 
 Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays. 
 ' As killing as the canker to the rose, 
 V Or taint- worm to the weanling herds that graze, 
 
 45 
 
 Dream, ii. 2, where the scene is 
 laid in a forest. 
 
 Gadding] here simply describes 
 the straggling nature of the vine 
 (Cic. de Senect., 'multiplici lapsu 
 et erratico'), without any allusion 
 to her desertion of the marital elm, 
 as Warburton suggests (Hor. Od. 
 IV. V. 30 ; Epod. ii. 10 ; Catullus, 
 Ixii. 49). Gad, from sb. gad, 'a 
 goad ' (cf. ' gad-&y '), Icel. gaddr, 
 meant ' to drive about, ' and was 
 once common. Warton quotes from 
 a Norfolk Register of 1534 'the 
 Gadynge with S. Marye Songe,' i.e. 
 the going about with a carol to the 
 Virgin. Gadlyng = ' vagrant ' in 
 Chaucer, Wyatt, &c. Cf. P. Fletcher, 
 Pise. Eel. i. 21, ' the gadding winde ;' 
 Bacon, Essays, ' Envy is a gadding 
 poison.' The word is however 
 specially used of wives roving from 
 home, as in Ecclus. xxv. 25 ; xxvi. 
 8, &c. A poet of the sixteenth 
 century (probably John Heywood) 
 speaks thus in praise of his lady — 
 
 ' At Bacchus' feast none her shall 
 meet, 
 Ne at no wanton play ; 
 Nor gazing in the open street, 
 Noi gadding as astray.' 
 
 41] Cf. Moschus, Epit. Bion. 
 30, 'Ax^ S' 4v irerppffip odiperai &tti 
 cianrp, Shelley, ^donais, St. xv. — 
 
 ' Lost Echo sits among the voiceless 
 
 mountains, 
 And feeds her grief with thy re- 
 membered lay.' 
 
 44 fanning] i.e. 'moving like a 
 
 fan,' as in /*. L. iv. 156, ^gentle 
 gales, fanning their odoriferous 
 wings.' Spenser, E. Q. 1. i. 17, 
 has, ' threatening her angry sting,' 
 i.e. moving in a threatening manner. 
 
 45 canker] a crab-like tumour 
 (' cancra') in the rose, caused by a 
 caterpillar feeding on the blossom. 
 Here it is used for the insect itself. 
 Cf. Joel, i. 4, ii. 25 ; 2 Tim. ii. 17 ; 
 James v. 3. Warton gives several 
 references from Shakspere — e.g. 
 Two Gent, of Verona, i. I, ' In the 
 sweetest bud the eating canker 
 dwells ;' K. John, iii. ^-.M.N. Dr. 
 ii. 3, &c. &c. It is the same word 
 as caneer. 
 
 46] SirT. Browne, Vulgar Errors, . 
 says : ' There is found in the summer a 
 
 spider called toW, ofared colour 
 
 This is accounted a deadly poison 
 unto cows and horses. It is most 
 unlikely that Milton should have 
 called this insect a ' worm.' He 
 probably refers either to the maggots 
 or ' flukes ' which infest the livers of 
 sheep, or to the parasitic worm 
 (Strongylus micrurus) which, finding 
 its way into the bronchial tubes of , 
 young lambs, is a frequent source of . . 
 disease. 
 
 weanling] a diminutive oiweanel, 
 fiomwean. In Spenser, Eel. ix., ' a 
 weanell waste ' = a weaned lamb ; 
 Beattie translates defulsos a lacie 
 (Virg. Eel. vii. 15) 'my weanling 
 lambs.* This must not be con- 
 founded with 'eanling' (Mereh. of 
 Ven. i. 3), which means 'just dropt,' 
 from ean or yean (O. E. edcnian, 
 •to conceive in the womb'). 'Wean' 
 
S8 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 Or frost to flowers that their gay wardrobe wear 
 When first the white-thorn blows ; 
 Such, Lycidas, thy loss^Q^epherd's ear. 
 
 Where were ye, NjOTfBnS|when the remorseless deep 
 Closed o'er the head of your loved Lycidas ? 
 For neither were ye playing on the steep, 
 Where your old bards, the famous Druids, lie, 
 
 50 
 
 is O. E. Tvenian, G. ge-wohiun, 
 to accustom to do without the 
 breast. 
 
 47] Soott thinks ' simplicity is 
 violated by making flowers wear 
 their wardrobe.' It is difficult to 
 see the point of this criticism. For 
 the original reading 'buttons,' cf. 
 Shaksp. Hamlet, i. 3 ; Browne, 
 Brit. Past, ii, 3, ' Flora's choice 
 buttons of a russet dye. ' Hence the 
 name of the flower called ' bachelor's 
 buttons. ' 
 
 50-55] This form of appeal to 
 the Nymphs, complaining of their 
 absence from the scene of their vo- 
 tary's distress, has been a favourite 
 one with poets ever since Virgil 
 (Eel. X. 9) copied it from Theocritus 
 (i. 66). Milton has here borrowed 
 something from both _; from the latter 
 in making the locality of the Nymphs 
 suit that of the catastrophe (whereas 
 Virgil speaks of their usual haunts, 
 T'amassus, Pindus, and Aganippe), 
 and from the former in identifying 
 the Nymphs with the Muses, whose 
 lavourites both Gallus and Lycidas 
 are imagined to be. Keightley 
 refers to Aristoph. Nub. 269 foil., 
 as the original source of the idea, 
 but the resemblance is hardly close 
 enough to warrant the supposition 
 that Theocritus was thinking of that 
 passage, the circumstances and lead- 
 ing .sentiment being quite different. 
 The form of address (eft-f — rfre, 
 &c.) might better, be compared with 
 that in //. 156 foil, of the present 
 poem. The lines which Warton 
 
 quotes from Spenser's Astrophel, 
 127 foil., are not much more than an 
 echo of the Greek and Latin ori- 
 ginals, since the remonstrance is 
 there addressed, not to the Nymphs, 
 but to shepherds and shepherdesses, 
 who were the actual companions of 
 Astrophel ; the office of stanching 
 the wound being in fact performed 
 by some strange shepherds, but too 
 late to save his life. Lord Lyttelton 
 on the Death of his Wife imitates 
 more closely : — 
 
 'Where were ye. Muses, when re- 
 lentless Fate 
 
 From these fond arms your fair 
 disciple tore ? 
 
 Nor then did Pindus and Castalia's 
 stream. 
 
 Or Aganippe's fount your steps 
 detain, . . . 
 ^Nor where Clitunmus rolls his 
 gentle stream.' 
 
 Cf. Shelley, Adonais, — 
 
 ' where was lorn Urania, 
 When Adonais died ?' 
 
 Ossian, Dar-thuia, ' Where have ye 
 been, ye southern winds, when the 
 sons of my love were deceived ?' 
 
 52] 'The steep,' according to 
 Richardson, is the hill Ceryg y 
 Druidian in Denbighshire, the re- 
 puted sepulchre of the Druids. 
 Keightley suggests the Pemnaen- 
 mawr (between Conway and Ban- 
 gor), but the mention of the Druids, 
 in the absence of any special legend 
 connecting them with that locality, 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high, 
 
 Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream. 
 
 Ay me, I fondly dream ! 
 
 Had ye been there — for what could that have done ? 
 
 59 
 55 
 
 seems to favour the former supposi- 
 tion. 
 
 54 shaggy top] Cf. P. L. vi. 
 645 ; Comus, 429. Drayton, Po- 
 lyolMon, 12th Song, speaks of 
 ' shaggy heaths.' This description 
 of Anglesey was true only of the 
 olden time ; it was then called ' the 
 Dark,' as Drayton tells us in the 
 9th Song of his Polyolbion, where 
 Mona is made to say — ' my brooks 
 ... Of their huge oaks bereft 
 to heaven so open lie. That now 
 there's not a root discerned by any 
 eye.' We do not know whether Mil- 
 ton had any personal acquaintance 
 with these parts ; Masson thinks he 
 may possibly have visited his friend 
 Diodati's residence on the Dee 
 {Eleg. i. 3). 
 
 55] Cf. Vac. Ex. '98 ; Spenser, 
 F. Q. IV. xi. 30 ; an& the 'AkiSos 
 Uphv llSap of Theocr. i. 69. Dray- 
 ton calls the Dee the ' ominous ' and 
 the 'hallowed' flood in Polyolb. 
 loth Song ; this superstition was 
 based on the fact of its being the 
 boundary between England and 
 Wales, whence-T- 
 
 ' the changing of his fords 
 The future ill or good of either 
 country told.' 
 
 In the nth Song the epithet 'wi- 
 sard ' is applied to the Weever, of 
 which it is said that — 
 
 ' oft twixt him and Dee 
 Much strife arose in their prophetick 
 skill.' 
 
 Hence probably arose the notion, 
 mentioned by Camden, that the 
 word meant 'God's water,' and the 
 Roman name Deva may have been 
 
 partly owing to a similar association 
 of ideas. Col. Robertson, Topo- 
 graphy of Scotland, p. 141, derives it 
 from die Gaelic da-abh (dav) = 
 'double water' or confluence, and 
 this is fiirther confirmed by its 
 Welsh name Dyfr-dwy, signifying 
 the same thing. 
 
 56 Ay me !] = ' Ah me,' as in 
 /. 154; P. L. iv. 86, &c. It is 
 probably the Spanish Ay de mi, and 
 is to be distinguished from the 
 affirmative Ay (G. jd). A cor- 
 respondent of Notes and Queries 
 observes that 'oh ja' is used in 
 Southern Germany as an expression 
 of woe^rather a curious coinci- 
 dence. The Italians also say 
 Ahimi. 
 
 fondly] =s foolishly, from the p. p. 
 of the old verb fonne, 'to make 
 foolish.' The modem sense of ' in- 
 dulgent' obviously arose from the 
 idea of excessive love blinding the 
 eyes of reason. For the primary 
 use cf. P. L. iii. 470; xi. 59; 
 Shaksp. Coriolanus, iv. I, "Tis 
 fond to wail;' Spenser, F. Q. III. 
 viii. 25, ' rudenes fond.' 
 
 57] These words will hardly bear 
 Newton's proposed construction — 
 ' I dream of your having been 
 there.' Warton would supply the 
 ellipse after ' there ' — ' but why 
 should I suppose it, for what, &c. ; ' 
 a construction resembling the Greek 
 aAAa •yh.p (dxV ou 7tip oISo, &c. ), but 
 hardly admissible in English. A 
 simpler way would be to refer the 
 'for,' &c., to the words 'I fondly 
 dream,' i.e. 'I fondly dream k/^«« 
 I say Had ye been there, &c. ;' the 
 question in /. 50 being of course 
 equivalent to a wish 'that the Muses 
 had been present. 
 
6o 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 What could the Muse herself that Orpheus bQre, 
 The Muse herself for her enchanting son. 
 Whom universal Nature did lame nt, 
 When, by the rout that made the hideous roar, 
 His gory visage down the stream was sent, 
 Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore I 
 
 60 
 
 58-63] A comparison with the 
 various readings of the original 
 MS. will show that this passage is 
 the result of most careful revision. 
 Having first substituted the more 
 poetical description of Calliope as 
 ' the Muse that Orpheus bore ' for 
 the direct designation of her by 
 name, and having got rid of the 
 somewhat prosaic parenthesis, ' the 
 gods farsighted bee,' Milton first 
 introduced in the margin the words 
 ' and heaven and hel deplore ; ' but 
 afterwards erased them. ' Divine 
 head' (of the margin) was then 
 changed to ' goary visage,' suggested 
 by the ' goarie scalp ' of the first 
 draft, and a final line was added to 
 close the paragraph and to complete 
 the rime. For the sentiment 
 compare an epitaph by Antipater 
 Sidonius, translated by Major Mac- 
 gregor from the Greek Anthology — 
 
 ' No longer, Orpheus, shalt thou 
 charmed oaks lead ; 
 
 For thou art dead ! and much the 
 Muses grieved ; 
 
 Calliope, thy mother, most be- 
 reaved. 
 
 Why mourn we our dead sons, 
 since e'en their own 
 
 To save from death no power to 
 gods is known? ' 
 
 59 enchanting son] Cf. P. L. 
 'x. 353, 'his fair enchanting daugh- 
 ter.' For the story see Ov. Met. 
 xi. I-S5, 61. This passage is partly 
 repeated in P. L. vii. 34 foil. Rout 
 — ' company ' is a favourite word 
 with Milton (Cotnus, 542 ; i'. A. 
 
 443 ; P. L. i. 747, &c.). Shak- 
 spere has ' rout of rebels,' ' merry 
 rout,' and similar expressions. C£ 
 Spenser, F. Q. VI. ix. 8, 'the 
 shepheard swaynes sat in a rout' 
 This word has the same derivation a.s 
 «>a^= ' defeat,' and r«<fe='path,' 
 all of which come in diiferent ways 
 firom the Latin rupta. The simi- 
 larity in sense has suggested an 
 imaginary connexion with the Welsh 
 rhawd, which has both mean- 
 ings. [H. Wedgwood, according 
 to his favourite theory of deriva- 
 tion from the sound of words 
 (see Introduction to his Dictionary 
 of Etymology), refers it to the 
 Swedish rjota, 'to bellow,' com- 
 paring the O. E. hrutan, 'to 
 snore ;' a su^estion which the cri- 
 tical reader may examine for him- 
 self] 
 
 63] Milton has been blamed for 
 following the reading ' volucrem 
 Hebrum' in Virg. ./£». i. 317, 
 which was altered to 'Eurum' on 
 the strength of Servius' remark, 
 'nam quietissimus est (Hebrus).' 
 But Wagner and Forbiger defend 
 the MS. reading, and compare Sil. 
 Ital. ii. 73, ' cursuque fatigant 
 Hebrum.' Conington observes that 
 the same unnecessary alteration of 
 ' Hebro ' into ' Euro ' was attempted 
 in Hor. Od. 1. xxv. 20. The ra- 
 pidity of this particular river has 
 little to do with the matter ; swift- 
 ness was a general attribute of 
 rivers, and therefore became a com- 
 monplace poetical epithet of then'. 
 Thus in Virg. ^». iii. 76 .Myconus 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 i 
 
 Alas ! what boots it with incessant care 
 ^o tend the homglj^shghted shepherd's trad^-^^^ 
 And strictly meditate the thankless Muse ? 
 Were it not better done, as others use, 
 
 '-QJ-C /"y^ 
 
 7 
 
 65 
 
 is called • * celsa, ' but ' humilis ' in 
 Ov. Met. vii. 463, and the low- 
 lying Prochyta is designated 'alta,' 
 JEn. ix. 715, because this was a 
 general epithet of islands. Todd 
 comp. Davison, Poetical Rapsodie, 
 ' Swift-flowing Hebrus staid all his 
 streames in a wonder ; ' and Mr. 
 Darby, in a letter to Warton (1785), 
 quotes a statement of the Jesuit 
 Catrou that the Hebrus is 'un 
 fleiive d'une grande rapidite,' in 
 direct contradiction to the assertion 
 of Servius. 
 
 the Lesbian shore] Ov. Met. xi. 
 5 5 , /. c. , ' Methymnsei potiuntur litore 
 Lesbi.' According to common tra- 
 dition the head of Orpheus was 
 carried by the waves to Lesbos, and 
 there buried, for which pious office 
 the Lesbians were rewarded with 
 the gift of preeminence in song. 
 
 64-84] The pastoral landscape 
 now disappears, and the shepherd 
 merges into the poet (see Intro- 
 duction). ' What use is there in 
 all this laborious pursuit of learn- 
 ing, when life is so uncertain ? ' 
 Phoebus interposes with ' a strain of 
 higher mood,' reminding the ques- 
 tioner that fame, which is the re- 
 ward of noble deeds, lives on after 
 death in heaven. The rural muse, 
 though momentarily recalled at /. 
 85, does not permanently reappear 
 till /. 132. 
 
 what boots it] Cf. Richard II. 
 i. 3 ; Winter's Tale, iii. 2, &c. 
 ' Boot ' is O. E.' bot, whence betan, 
 ' to improve,' from same rofit as 
 batten {I. 29). 
 
 incessant] in ed. 1638 '««ces- 
 sant. ' The two forms seem to have 
 been used indiscriminately about 
 this period; we find ' unexpressive,' 
 
 /. 176, Od. Nat. 116; 'ingratefiil,' 
 R. L. V. 407 ; ' increate,' ib. iii. 6. 
 Shakspere has ' unpossible,' ' un- 
 effectual,' 'unperfect' (see Bible 
 version of Ps. cxxxix. 16) along 
 with 'ingratefiil,' ' infortunate,' &c. 
 
 65] Cf Spenser, Eel. vi. 67, 
 ' homely shepherd's quill.' 
 
 66 meditate the Muse] a literal 
 translation of Virgil, Eel. i. 2, 
 ' Musam meditaris ' (^leAeTSi/). This 
 is one instance among mfujv of 
 Milton's habit of verbally adopt- 
 ing classical phrases (cf. 11, 20 
 supra). Perhaps the most remark- 
 able cases are the ' thick drop se- 
 rene' (P. L. iii. 25), from gutta 
 Serena, and the 'happy-making 
 sight' (Ode on Time, 18), from 
 Visto Beatifica. Virgil meant sim- 
 ply 'compose a song,' a meaning 
 which ' Muse ' will not bear in 
 English, although it cannot go with 
 ' meditate ' in any other sense. It 
 is therefore doubtful whether Milton 
 intended ' thankless ' to be intransi- 
 tive, i.e. 'the poetry which, gets 
 no thanks,' or transitive, i.e. 'the 
 Muse who though courted with 
 pains yet proves ungrateful.' For 
 the former sense cf. Surrey, Transl. 
 of Virg. jSn. ii. 113, 'these thank- 
 less tales,' and the two meanings of 
 ingratus, 'ungrateful' and 'unre- 
 quited.' 
 
 67] The reading of 1638, ' do ' for 
 ' use,' is an error of the press, caused 
 by the word 'done,' preceding. 
 
 as others nse] alluding to the 
 fashionable erotic poetry of the day ' 
 (as represented by Herrick, Wither, 
 Lovelace, &c., /. 69 note"), with which 
 -Milton's severer taste did not accord. 
 From his 7th Elegy, however, we 
 learn that he had once yielded to a 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 .To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, 
 0r with the tangles of Neaera's hair ! 
 Fame is the spur that the clear spi rit doth raise- 
 That last infirmity of noble mind — 
 
 70 
 
 softer passion, which the more seri- 
 ous pursuits of college life soon dis- 
 pelled — 
 
 'Donee Socraticos umbrosa Aca- 
 demia rivos 
 Prsebuit, admissum dedocuitque 
 jugum.' 
 
 It has been plausibly argued that 
 there is in the next two lines a spe- 
 cial reference to two Latin poems 
 by G. Buchanan (who was one of 
 Milton's favourite authors), address- 
 ed to Amaryllis and Nesera respec- 
 tively. As regards the latter, the 
 allusion seems highly probable ; 
 since the poet distinctly describes 
 himself as a prisoner bound by 
 Cupid with a lock of Neaera's hair — 
 
 ' Deinde unum evellens ex aurico- 
 mante capillum 
 Vertice captivis vincla dedit ma- 
 nibus.' 
 
 It is true that the Amaiyllis of Bu- 
 chanan represents the city of Paris, 
 and not an actual lady ; but Milton 
 may easily have overlooked or ig- 
 nored this fact. The probability of 
 the reference is strengthened by the 
 first MS. reading, ' Hid in the tan- 
 gles, &c. ;' since our poet would 
 hardly have committed the absurdity 
 of representing a lover sporting with 
 one mistress, and at the same time 
 being entangled in the hair of 
 another, unless some such literary 
 association had confiised the two 
 names in his mind. The present 
 passage is imitated by Soame Jenyns 
 in his Immortality of the Soul — 
 
 ' Were it not wiser far, supinely laid. 
 To sport with Phyllis in the noon- 
 tide shade ? ' 
 
 68] Amaryllis and Nesera are two 
 
 of the common representative names 
 ill ancient pastoral song. Cf. Virg. \ 
 Ed. i. 31 ; ii. 14; iii. 3, 81 ; ix. 
 22. 'A/tipuA\is (iiMpiffirw), the 
 ' sparkling beauty, ' is the subject of 
 Theocritus' 3rd Idyll. Both names 
 occur together in Ariosto, Orl. Fur. 
 xi. 12. 
 
 69] Cf. Lovelace, To Althea, 
 ' When I lie tangled in her hair.' 
 
 70] This sentiment is common in 
 the classics. Newton instances Cic. 
 Pro Archia, c. 10, ' trahimur omnes 
 laudis studio, et optimus qnisque 
 maxime gloria ducitur.' Cf. Spen- 
 ser, Tears of tJie Muses ^ 454, ' due 
 praise that is the spur of doing well.' 
 It is vividly illustrated in the Faery 
 Queene, n. vii. 46 foil., where Philo- 
 
 tinig iV H.aa(-r;VicA 1.^ Vinlfl jp^ a' gnlrtpn 
 
 chain reaching to heaven, '"eVgg ^ 
 linclc wggtgnfcSaSXsRj Tia Qignit^ 
 anSHby which the crowd were striv- 
 ing ' to climb aloft.' It reappears 
 \nthe Paradise Regained, iii. 24 foil., 
 in an enlarged form fix>m the mouth 
 of Satan tempting our Lord to am- 
 • bltlon . where the phrase ■ erectea 
 spirits ' {/. 27) may perhaps explain 
 the 'clear spirit' of this passage, 
 i.e. purified by elevation into a 
 clearer atmosphere. Keightley takes 
 it to mean ' illustrious,' It. chiaro. 
 The identical expression ' clear 
 spirit ' is cited by Todd from Mil- 
 ton's Fh'ose Works, vol. i. p. 161. 
 
 Scott (Critical Essays) doubts the 
 correctness of representing Fame 
 ' both as a motive and as a reward.' 
 But surely the desire of Fame acts 
 as a motive during the toil of action, 
 and when realised in attainment be- 
 comes its final reward. 
 
 71] Athenseus in his Deipnoso- 
 phistcs (xi. 15, g 116) represents Plat? 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 63 
 
 To scorn delights, and live laborious days ; ' 
 But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, 
 And think to burst out into sudden blaze, 
 Comes the blind Fur)f with the abhorred shears, 
 And slits the thin-spun life. ' But not the praise,' 
 Phoebus replied, and touched my trembling ears, 
 ' F ame is no plant that grows on mortal soil, 
 
 0.-- 
 
 75 
 
 as saying %ii-)(arov rbv rrjs S6^ris 
 j^iruya 4v T^ davArtfi air^ inroSvd- 
 fuBa. Cf. Tacitus, J/ist. iv. 6, 
 'etiam sapientibus cupido glorise 
 novissima exuitur,' of which the line 
 quoted by Warton from Massinger's 
 Very Woman, ' though the desire of 
 fame be the last weakness wise men 
 put off,' is nearly a literal transla- 
 tion. Of i>ride Bp. Hall says, 
 ' Pride is the inmost coat, which we 
 put on first and put off last.' 
 
 73 guerdon] This word is not 
 elsewhere found in Milton's poems, 
 but is common in Spenser {/^. Q. i. 
 vii. 15 ; II. vi. 28, &c.). Though 
 it occurs at least as early as Chaucer, 
 it seems to have become obsolete in 
 the sixteenth century, being ex- 
 plained in the Glossary to the S/iep- 
 /leard's Kalendar (see on /. 2) ; and 
 even as late as 1730 it was thought 
 to require a note in a poem by West 
 on Education. Most readers will re- 
 member the scene in Love's Labour's 
 Lost, iii. i, where Costard the clown 
 exclaims, ' O sweet guerdon, better 
 than remuneration,' taking each 
 word to mean a sum of money. 
 (For the derivation see Appendix 
 I.). 
 
 74] Cf. P. S. iii. 47, /. c.; Chap- 
 man's Homer's fl. xvii. 177, 'that 
 frail blaze of excellence that neigh- 
 bours death.' Pindar {Nem. a. 4) 
 uses ^Kiyeatai in the same sense. 
 
 75 blind Fury] Cf. Spenser, 
 Ruines of Rome, st. 24. Milton 
 here purposely in indignation calls 
 Atropos a Fury, and not without 
 
 classical authority ; for in an Orphic 
 Hymn (quoted by Sympson) the 
 0eal iLotfM are styled o^toTrXtiica^oi, 
 which is a proper ep'thet of the 
 Furies. Langhorne in his Elegy on 
 the Death of Handel speaks of ' the 
 grim fury's breast.' Cf Lloyd, 
 Tears and Triumph of Parnassus — 
 
 ' Where were ye Muses (/. 50 supra) 
 when the fatal shears 
 
 The Fury raised to close his reve- 
 rend years ? ' 
 
 For the ' shears of destiny ' see 
 Shaksp. K. John, v. 2. 
 
 76] According to the old verse— 7 
 
 ' Clotho colum retinet, Lachesis net, 
 et Atropos occat.' 
 
 For ' slit ' in the sense of cutting 
 across, mstead of lengthwise, Keight- 
 ley cites Golding's Ovid. Met. xii. 
 248— 
 
 ' Like one that with an ax doth slit 
 An ox's neck in sacrifice.' 
 
 But not the praise] i.e. ' the 
 praise is not intercepted ' (Warton). 
 This is a kind of zeugma, the verb 
 •slits' being strictly applicable to 
 the thread alone, but suggesting 
 another verb of similar meaning to 
 govern 'praise.' 
 
 77] From Virg. Eel. vi. 3, where 
 Conington remarks that touching 
 the ear was a symbolical act, the 
 ear being the seat of memory. 
 
 78] Cf Pindar, Nem. vii. 45, 
 Ti|iia Se y'v^ufTOi, &c. , i.e. ' true 
 honour is theirs whose glorious famf 
 
64 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 Nor in the glistering foil 
 
 Set off to the world, nor in broad rumour lies, 
 
 But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes 
 
 80 
 
 the god exalteth, an aid to their 
 memory after death' {TtSvaKdrav 
 
 79, 80] Thus translated by Plump- 
 tre (1797)— 
 oiS" 4vi Hi;3S4\ais iptray (aXiiiuurt 
 
 Keirai 
 ivTiva. Tuv iroAASc 9dfi.$ei xa) oiyd- 
 
 And by Mathias (see note on /. 
 19)- 
 
 ' Non mai d' orpel fallace 
 Con mentito splendor sfavilla al 
 
 mondo, 
 Dello spanto romor nemica, Fama.' 
 
 Milton's words admit of a twofold 
 construction. The first is — 'Nor 
 is it (Fame) set off to the world in 
 (i.e. fy) the glistering foil, nor does 
 it lie (consist) in a wide reputation.' 
 In this case ' foil ' must be under- 
 stood in a sense which It often bears 
 elsewhere, of a dark substance 
 (originally a thin leaf of metal), in 
 which jewels were placed to ' set off' 
 their lustre. Cf Shaksp. /iicA. 
 
 n. i. 3- 
 
 ' 2. foil vvfterein thou art to set 
 The precious jewel of thy home re- 
 turn ;' 
 
 I Hai. IV. i. 2 (quoted by Warton), 
 ' And like bright metal on a sullen 
 ground, &c.' In Rich. III. v. 3 
 the stone of Scone set in the oak 
 chair of Edward I. is called 
 
 ' a base foul stone, 
 Made precious by the foil of Eng- 
 land's chair.' 
 
 Chr. Brook in an Epitkalamium 
 (speaking of a newly wedded bride) 
 says — 
 
 ' Then let the dark foyle of the ge- 
 niall bed 
 
 Extend her brightness to his in- 
 ward sight.' 
 
 But this mode of taking the words 
 fails to give a suitable meaning to 
 the passage. It is not Fame itself 
 which is ' set off to the world,' but 
 the life and actions of the man, the 
 display of which before the eyes of 
 the public constitutes fame — at least 
 according to the vulgar notion which 
 Milton is here combating. The 
 true sense seems to be this : ' Nor 
 does it (true Fame) consist in the 
 specious appearance which is dis- 
 played to the world, nor in a wide- 
 spread renown.' ./^a«^ will then be 
 the subject of the verb lies, and set 
 off a participle agreeing with foil ; 
 the preposition in before ' glistering 
 foil ' will have the same construc- 
 tion and sense as the in before 
 ' broad rumour,' both phrases being' 
 constructed after lia. And the 
 meaning of 'foil' will be, not ex- 
 actly 'leaf-gold,' as Newton takes 
 it (comparing the 'golden foile' of 
 Spenser, F. Q. 1. iv. 4), but ti/isel, 
 i.e. some baser metal which glitters 
 like gold, and makes a feir show to 
 the eye. Scott doubts 'whether 
 the metaphor of "plant" is con- 
 tinued to this line or not,' and- 
 imagines ' a plant with leaves artifi- 
 cially gilded.' Perhaps the idea of 
 ' foil ' (folium) was suggested by 
 the word ' plant,' but the metaphor 
 itself is not resumed till /. 81 in the 
 words 'lives and spreads,' which 
 describe the growth of a tree. 
 
 81 by] probably = 'near,' i.e. 
 'in presence of Shaksp. Ta/^i^/i 
 Night, iii. i, • Thou mayest say the 
 king lives fy a beggar, if a beggar 
 dwell near him.' So we still say 
 'hard*y.' This seems better than 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 1 perfect witness of all-ju dging (J ove , y 
 tie pronounces lastly on each dee^^ 
 so much' fame in Heaven__expect thy meed.' 
 ) fountain Arethuse, and thou honoured flood, 
 )oth-sliding Mincius, crowned with vocal feeds, 
 Lt strain I heard was of a higher mood, 
 now my oat proceeds, 
 i listens to the herald of the sea, 
 
 65 
 
 8S 
 
 fhtley's explanation, ' by means 
 
 ! lastly] in the somewhat un- 
 1 sense of ' finally ' or ' decisive- 
 ' a literal rendering of ulti- 
 i. Cf. Hor. Od. I. xvi. 19, 
 ,s urbibus ultimcz Stetere causae, 
 ' i.e. the final (ultimate) cause 
 leir ruin. 
 
 \ meed] See on /. 14, and cf. 
 iser, F. Q. III. x. 31, 'Fame is 
 need and glory, virtue's pay.' 
 1-102] The return after the di- 
 iion is marked by an invocation 
 he pastoral fotmtain Arethusa, 
 
 of Virgil's native river, the 
 cius — a practical recognition of 
 Sicilian and Roman pastorals 
 lilton's own originals (see In- 
 action). For the story of Are- 
 1 see Ovid, Mei. v. 579 foil, 
 [oschus, Epitaphium Bionis, 83, 
 1 is said to have ' drunk of 
 husa's fount,' and in Theocr. Id. 
 7 the dying Daphnis exclaims, 
 
 'ApiBovira. Vii^il {£cl. x. I) 
 kes her as a Muse inspiring 
 ong. 
 
 inoured flood] imitated by West 
 is Motwdy on Q. Caroline, ' O 
 lured flood with reeds Pierian 
 ned, Isis ! ' Here the epithet 
 .-en to the river because of its 
 liation with Virgil. 
 J C£ Sylvester, Du Bartas, 
 
 ' the crystal of smooth-sliding 
 s.' This and the 'vocal reeds ' 
 rom Virgil, Georg. iii. 14, 'tardis 
 
 ubi flexibus errat Mincius, et tenera 
 praetexit arundine ripas.' The epi- 
 thet 'vocal' is best illustrated by 
 the passage in Lucretius, v. 1383 
 foil., alluded to on /. 33. 
 
 87] An apology to the rural muse 
 for departing from the pastoral 
 strain, under the irresistible influ- 
 ence of Phoebus. A similar device 
 is adopted after the next digression 
 (/. 132). 
 
 mood] (B. L. i. 550 ; J". A. 661) 
 = ' character,' from modus, signify- 
 ing a particular arrangement of in- 
 tervals in the musical scale, tJiQ 
 study of which formed so important 
 an element in the Greek system of 
 education (Plato, Republic, B. iii. ; 
 Aristotle, Folitics, B. viii.). The 
 word has nothing to do with a 
 * mood ' or slate of mind, which is 
 O. E. mSd, G. muth, 'impulse,' 
 though the similarity of meaning 
 might easily cause confusion. 
 
 88] See on /. 33. Here the in- 
 strument, of course, stands for the 
 poem. A still bolder expression 
 occurs in the 6th Elegy, /. 89, where 
 patriis meditata cicutis means ' com- 
 posed in my native tongue.' In 
 Landor's Imaginary^ Conversations 
 (Southey and Landor) this line is 
 curiously misquoted, 'now my oar 
 proceeds ; ' upon which Southey is 
 supposed to remark, ' Does the oar 
 listta?' 
 
 89 listens] i.e. like a pupil 
 ((iicpaaT^s), to learn what he is to say 
 
66 LYCIDAS. 
 
 io That came in Neptune's plea. 
 
 He asked the waves, and asked the felon winds, 
 What hard mishap hath doomed this gentle swain ? 
 And questioned every gust of rugged wings 
 That blows from off each beaked promontory. 
 
 T" They knew not of his story ; 
 And sage Hippotades their answer brings, 
 
 95 
 
 upon the subject. The ' herald ' is 
 Triton, the son of Neptune ; his 
 instrument was the concha or spiral 
 shell (Virg. jEn. vi. lyi ; x. 209), 
 and his office of herald is illustrated 
 in Ovid, Met. i. 333 foil., where he 
 is ordered to sound a retreat for the 
 waters of the deluge ('cecinit jussos 
 receptus'). 
 
 90] Keightley understands 'Nep- 
 tune's plea' to mean the judicial 
 enquiry which Neptune deputed 
 Triton to hold ; and he instances 
 the ' Court of Common Pleas,' &c., 
 as examples of the word in this sig- 
 nification. But it seems better to 
 take it in its usual sense of a state- 
 ment made by the defendant to sa- 
 tisfy (placer^ the court ; here the 
 excuse offered by Neptune and con- 
 veyed by Triton. Milton probably 
 intended to represent Neptune him- 
 self as involved in the blame, and 
 desirous to clear himself by a strict 
 enquiry appUed to his subordinates. 
 Plumptre adopts this view when he 
 translates no(r€i5owviis i^vvr-tip. 
 
 91 felon] (MS. ' fellon ') = 
 ' cruel,' if it comes from /eil, with 
 the additional sense of ' criminal,' 
 the winds being introduced as cul- 
 prits about to be tried. For the 
 etymology see Appendix I. 
 
 93 wings] misprinted 'winds' 
 in Tonson's edition of 1705, and in 
 Newton's of 1 785, probably on ac- 
 count of 'winds' in /. 91. 'Gust 
 of wings' is the gen. of quality = 
 'winged gusts,' and ' rugged ' = 
 'ragged,' i.e. broken by intervening 
 
 obstacles. Rugged and ragged seem 
 to have been used indiscriminately 
 about this period (L' Allegro, 9; 
 Isaiah ii. 21), but they are dis- 
 tinct words, the former being allied 
 to the O. E. riih, 'rough, 'the latter 
 to Swed. ragg= ' sha^ hair.' 
 
 94] Warton compares P. L. xi. 
 746 ; Drayton, Polyolbion, tst Song, 
 'the utmost end of Comwal's fur- 
 rowing ieak.' Pliny, Nat. Hist. ». 
 49, uses 'rostrum' for the promon- 
 tory of an island in the Nile. 
 
 95 his story] i.e. how to give 
 any account of hiin. 
 
 96] Warton observes that Hip- 
 potades is not a common name of 
 jEolus, and does not occur in Virgil. 
 He quotes Homer, Od. x. 2 ; Ovid, 
 Met. iv. 66i ; xiv. 86, &c., and 
 passages from the Argonautua of 
 Apoll. Rhodius and' Val. Flaccus. 
 The epithet ' sage ' implies authority 
 and responsibility. Dunster thinks 
 there is a special allusion to ' sciret ' 
 in Virg. ^n. i. 63, which is how- 
 ever there qualified by the addition 
 of 'jussus' and of 'fcedere certo.' 
 Homer, Od. x. 21, represents 
 ^'Eolus as acting by his own discre- 
 tion (TrauE/iepat ^jy opv^fity Sc k' 48e- 
 ^V"^')- Richardson understands 
 ' sage ' of his foreknowledge of the 
 weather; but this is a later and 
 rationalised form of the story, and 
 one which Milton as a poet is not 
 likely to have chosen, since even 
 when writing history he professes 
 himself unwilling to give up the 
 myths entirely, rejecting only those 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 67 
 
 'hat not a blast was from his dungeon strayed ; 
 
 'he air was calm, and on the level brine 
 
 leek Panopfe with all her sisters played. 
 
 t was that fatal and perfidious bark, 
 
 Juilt in the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark, 
 
 That sunk so low that sacred head of thine. 
 
 Next Camus, reverend sire, went footing slow, 
 lis mantle hairy and his bonnet sedge,' 
 
 100 
 
 fhich are ' impossible and absurd ' 
 Hist, of Britain, c. t, and see 
 irote, ffist. of Greece, vol. i. c. 17). 
 
 98 level brine] imitated bjr J. 
 Varton in his Enthusiast (1740), 
 the dolphin dancing o'er the level 
 irine.' 
 
 99 Fanope] one of the fifty 
 laughters of Nereus and Doris 
 Hesiod, Theog. 250 foil.). The 
 lame Ilayiiirij, denoting a wide view 
 iver a calm expanse of water, is 
 ignificant here, as also in Virg. 
 "ieorg. i. 437, j^n. v. 240, 823. 
 ipenser (apparently on his own au- 
 hority) introduces her as an ' old 
 lymph ' who kept the house of Pro- 
 eus (F. Q. III. viii. 37). 
 
 100] See the inscription prefixed 
 o the Cambridge Verses of 1638, 
 navi in scopulum allisa, et rimis 
 t ictufatiscente.' 
 
 loi] Warton comp. Shaksp. 
 Macbeth, iv. I — 
 
 ' slips of yew, ^ 
 51ivered (cut) in the moon's eclipse,' 
 
 ised by the witches for their incan- 
 ations. The superstition about 
 jclipses as portents of impending 
 alinity is an old one (Virg. Georg. 
 . 465 foil., and cf - P. L. i. 597 
 oil.); hence might naturally arise 
 he belief that work done during an 
 :clipse was likely to fail of success ; 
 Dut there seems to be no evidence 
 ;o show that the ancients actually so 
 :^arded it. 
 
 102 sacred] consecrated by friend- 
 ship, and therefore inviolable. Cf. 
 Tennyson, In Memoriam, xiv. 10, 
 'the man I held as half divine.' 
 
 103 Camus] So in Spenser's 
 Pastorall ^glogue the Thames, 
 Humber, Severn, and other rivers 
 mourn for their favourite bard Phil- 
 lisides. Cowley, Complaint, I. 6, 
 speaks of ' reverend Cam.' ' Sire ' 
 is the usual mythological designa- 
 tion of a river, as a presiding and 
 protecting power. Cf Livy, ii. 10, 
 ' Tiberine pater ; ' Virg. jSn. viii. 
 31. What follows is an adaptation 
 of the natural features of the locality 
 to the circumstances of mourning, 
 but without the unpleasant associa- 
 tions which appear in the 'nuda 
 arva' and 'juncosas Cami paludes' 
 of the 1st Elegy, //. 13, 89. That 
 Milton had no great affection for 
 Cambridge is clear (see on//. 34, 36), 
 but this was not a fit occasion for 
 expressing any such feeling. With 
 ' footing slow ' Keightley compares 
 P. Q. I. iii. 10, ' A damsel spied 
 slow footing her before.' Cf Dun- 
 combe, Ode to C. P. — 
 
 ' where sedgy Cam 
 Bathes with slow pace his acade- 
 mic grove.' 
 
 Those who are acquainted with the 
 locality will recognise the appro- 
 priateness of these descriptions ; it 
 may not be out of place to mention 
 the fact, that in a report addressed 
 
68 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge 
 Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe. 
 ' Ah ! who hath reft,' quoth he, ' my dearest pledge ? ' 
 '^ .Last came, and last did go, 
 
 "S 
 
 to the Cambridge Improvement 
 Commissioners (Oct. 1871) by Mr. 
 Ji B. Denton, 'the sluggish nature 
 of the river' is expressly noted as 
 one of the main difficulties in the 
 way of the proposed operations. 
 
 105J In the 'figures dim' War- 
 burton sees a reference to the ' fabu- 
 lous traditions of the high antiquity 
 of Cambridge.' Perhaps we need 
 hardly look for any such precise ap- 
 plication of the expression, which 
 may very well be a part of the 
 general picture of desolation. Dun- 
 ster's remark that ' on sedge-leaves, 
 when dried, there are certain dim, 
 indistinct, and dusky streaks on the 
 edge,' is worth noticing, and the ori- 
 ginal reading ' 'scrauled ore ' seems 
 to favour the probability of such an 
 allusion. 
 
 106] For the legend of Hyacin- 
 thus (to which Milton also alludes 
 in the Ode on the Death of a Fair 
 In/ant, 25 foil.) see Ovid, Met. 
 X. 210 foil. ' Ipse suos gemitus 
 foliis inscribit et Ai Ai Flos habet 
 inscriptum' (z^. 215). Hence Theo- 
 critus, X. 28, calls the flower a 
 7pairTi ucJ/civflos, aiadMoschus, Epit. 
 Bioii. I. 6, exclaims vvv vdHivBe 
 \d\ei Ti irck ypimiara. Cf. Drum- 
 mond, £pit. vn Prince Henry — 
 
 ' that sweet flower that bears 
 In sanguine spots the tenour of our 
 woe.' 
 
 107 reft] (O. E. refian, to rob) 
 now commonly appears in its com- 
 pound be-reave. The simple verb 
 occurs nowhere else in Milton, but 
 is frequently used by the Elizabe- 
 than poets, e.g. Shakspere, Much 
 Aclo,iv. I, AlPs Well, v. 3, &c.; 
 Surrey, passim ; Spenser, F. Q. 
 L iii. 36, 41, &c. Sir W. Ra- 
 
 leigh, Cynthia, says of the moon, 
 ' she tliat from the sun reaves power 
 and might.' 
 
 pledge] = offspring, considered 
 as a security of conjugal fidelity. 
 Pignus in this sense is very com- 
 mon, cf. Propert. iv. xi. 73, 'com- 
 munia pignora natos.' Milton has 
 'pignoracara,' £/i5f. iv. 42. War- 
 ton quotes from the Rime Spirituali \ 
 of Angelo Grillo * mio caro pegno^ \ 
 Cf P. L. ii. 818 ; Ode At a Solemn \ 
 Musick, I. I; Spenser, F. Q. i. x.4 ; 
 Bacon, Essay on Marriage, 'their 
 dearest pledges ; ' Lord Lyttelton, 
 on the death of Lady L. — 
 
 ' Nor did she crown our mutual 
 
 flame 
 With pledges dear, and vrith a 
 father's tender name.' 
 
 108] Neve in his Cursory Re- 
 marks on some English Poets (1789) 
 observes that ' as Dante has made 
 Cato of Uttca keeper of the gates 
 of Purgatorio, Milton has here in 
 return placed St. Peter in company 
 with Apollo, Triton, &c.,' and that 
 ' for the intrusion respecting the 
 clergy of his time the earliest 
 Italians have set plentiful example.' 
 See for instance St. Peter's animad- 
 versions upon the degeneracy of his 
 successors in Paradiso, Canto 27, 
 which closely resembles the present 
 passage. Dante does not however 
 make Cato the ' keeper of the gates' 
 (that office being given to an angel, 
 Purgat. ix. 78, 105), but the guar- 
 dian of certain wandering spirits 
 outside the place itself For the 
 charge of irreverence urged against 
 Milton for his alleged confiision of 
 things sacred and profane see Intro- 
 duction, p. 22. 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 c- — ■ 
 
 69 
 
 The pilot of the Galilean lake ; ''' 
 
 Two massy keys he bore of metals twain — 
 
 The golden opes, the iron shuts amain. 
 
 He shook his mitred locks, and stern bespake ; 
 
 109 Pilot] is an addition to the 
 gospel narrative (Luke v. 3), where 
 there is no intimation that Peter 
 acted in that capacity towards the 
 others. He was doubtless the 
 steersman of his own ship, a sense 
 in which ' pilot ' is often used (P. L. 
 i. 204 ; 5. A. 198). In /. 1044 of 
 the latter poem the ' pilot ' and 
 ' steersmate ' are distinguished. 
 
 no] Originally from Matt. xvi. 
 19, where the number of keys is 
 not mentioned. From the earliest 
 times St. Peter was represented 
 with two keys ; hence P. Fletcher 
 in his Locusts (quoted by Todd) says 
 of the Pope — 
 
 ' In his hand two golden keys he 
 
 beares, 
 To open heaven and hell and shut 
 againe ; ' 
 
 and in the Purple Island, vii. 421, 
 Dichostasis (Schism) is invested with 
 the same authority. Dante (Inferno, 
 xxvii.) makes Pope Boniface say — 
 
 ' Lo ciel poss' io serrare e disser- 
 
 rare, 
 Come tu sai ; pero son due le 
 chiavi.' 
 
 In the ode In Quintum Nwembris 
 Milton sjpeaks merely of 'Apo- 
 stolicse custodia clavis.' The dis- 
 tinction between the two metals — 
 one denoting the value of the bene- 
 fits secured by admission, the other 
 stern severity in exclusion^is our 
 poet's own ; in the parallel passage 
 of Dante, Purg. ix. 120 foil., both 
 a golden and a silver key are used 
 by the angel to open the gate. The 
 Italian proverb quoted by Mr. 
 Bowles, ' Con le chiavi d' oro s' apre 
 
 ogna porta,' alludes to the influ- 
 ence of money, and has therefore 
 nothing to do with the ' power of 
 the keys.' 
 
 in amain] = 'firmly,' lit. ' with 
 might,' from O. E. magen, a de- 
 rivative of magan, 'to be strong.' 
 For the prefix a see on /. 27. 
 
 112] It would be unfair to con- 
 strue this admission of the mitre 
 into a precise statement of Milton's 
 religious views at this period, or to 
 suppose with Warburton that ' it 
 sharpened his satire to have the 
 prelacy condemned by one of their 
 own order.' As St. Peter here 
 speaks with episcopal authority, he 
 is made to wear the distinctive dress 
 of his order. So in the 3rd Elegy 
 (1626) on the Bishop of Winchester, 
 the glorified prelate is represented 
 with Ihe ' infula 'or mitre upoiL his 
 Tiea3~(Z \S). In the Reason of 
 Church Government, c. vi. (1641) 
 Milton indeed uses very different 
 language, when he speaks of 'the 
 haughty prelates with their foiked 
 iiaitres, fhe"T5adge of schismj^]^; but 
 fhe"events'of the three intervening 
 years had produced a considerable 
 change in his attitude towards the 
 clergy, or at least had emboldened 
 him in the expression of opinions, 
 which had been long lurking in his 
 mind, and of which the present in- 
 vective is perhaps the earliest inti- 
 mation. 
 
 bespake] here used absolutely, as 
 in P. R. i. 43 ; Ode Nat. 76. Cf. 
 Spens. F. Q. I. ii. 32, ' he thus 
 bespake.' The prefix ie- is the 
 same asij/ ( = ' near ' or ' to '), with 
 the addition of the person ad- 
 dressed. P. L. iv. 1005, ' Gabriel 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 How well could I have spared for thee, young swam, -^ 
 2now of such as, for their bellies' sake, -^ 
 Ilreep, and intrude, and climb into the fold !«- 115 
 
 Df other care they little reckoning make, A^ 
 
 . . thus bespake the fiend.' At the 
 jresent day it usually = 'speak 
 "br,' i.e. 'secure beforehand,' and 
 iometimes 'declare' or 'show,' as 
 nCowper's Task, ii. 702, 'His head 
 . . bespoke him;' Poems by Jane 
 Taylor, 'the cheerful chimes be- 
 speak the hour of prayer.' 
 
 113-131] Three grounds of com- 
 plaint are here alleged — (l) the 
 covetousness and moral corruption 
 of the clergy, (2) their false or im- 
 perfect doctrine, (3) another evil, 
 distinct fiom the former, but not 
 expressly defined, which is most 
 probably to be understood of the 
 increasing perversions to Romanism 
 so frequent at this period. (See Ap- 
 pendix II.). 
 
 H4 enow] printed 'anow' in 
 ed. 164s (in the MS. 'anough'). It 
 is spelt both ways in the Areopagi- 
 tica (1644). So ' emong ' and 
 ' among,' &c. In Shaksp. Merck, 
 of Venice, ii. 2, we find ' aleven' for 
 ' eleven,' (see Dyce adloc). 
 
 ioT their bellies' sake] Cf. Ezek. 
 xxxiv. 2,3. On what follows War- 
 ton remarks that Milton has copied 
 from Spenser's 5th Eclogue the 
 sentiments of Piers the Protestant 
 shepherd, which are quoted at full 
 length in the Animadversions on the 
 Remonstrant's Dejence (\(>^i). Our 
 author's prose works abound with 
 specimens of similar language ; e.g. 
 in the Apology for Smectymnuus he 
 speaks of 'the prelate, who being a 
 pluralist may under one surplice 
 hide four benefices ; ' and many 
 similar passages might be quoted. 
 Compare also the following lines, 
 addressed to the clergy in the 
 tragedy of BapHstes, translated from 
 the Latin of G. Buchanan in 1637, 
 
 and sometimes, but without sufficient 
 reason, attributed to Milton — 
 
 ' Then like dumb dogs that bark not 
 
 here, you fret 
 And fume about your sheepcotes ; 
 
 but the wolves 
 Which of you drive away ? The 
 
 wolves, said I ? 
 You are the wolves yourselves, 
 
 that flay your flocke. 
 Clothed with their wool^ their 
 
 milk don't slack your thirst, 
 Their flesh your hunger. Thus 
 
 yourselves you feed, 
 But not your flock.' 
 
 115] Cf. P. L. iv. 193. T. 
 Becon, chaplain to Cranmer (about 
 1540), says in his Policy of War— 
 ' They come into their benefices non 
 per ostium sed aliunde, for the desire 
 of filthy lucre' (St. John x. i). By 
 intrusion into the fold Milton does 
 not imply absence or invalidity of 
 orders ; his matured views concern- 
 ing a minister's credentials were 
 afterwards clearly set forth in the 
 treatise on Christian Doctrine, 
 c. 29, 31. These are 'spiritual 
 knowledge and sanctity of life,' to 
 be tested by previous trial, and the 
 choice is to belong to the people 
 collectively ; a mode of proceeding 
 which Hooker (Eccl. Pol. vii. 14) 
 argues to be a mere pretence, since 
 the eldei-s 'allow not their own 
 previous choice to, be set aside by 
 their [the people's] disapprobation ; ' 
 and he ludicrously compares it to 
 the way of 'nurses with infants, 
 whose mouths they besmear witl\ 
 the backside of the spoon, as 
 though they had fed them, when 
 they themselves devour the food.' 
 
 116, 117] Cf. Becon, Jewel of 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 Than how to scramble at the shearers' feast, ^ 
 
 And shove away the worthy bidden guest, d- '• 
 
 Bhnd mouths ! that scarce themselves know how to hold *" 
 
 A sheep-hook, or have learned aught else the least c^- i: 
 
 71 
 
 yay — ' Our spiritual men are led 
 with no care of feeding Christ's 
 flock. . . Christ's threefold J'asce is 
 turned into the Jews' double Talk. 
 They feed nothing' except them- 
 selves, they toll and catch what- 
 soever they may.' 
 
 118 the worthy bidden guest] 
 Matt. xxii. 8. Milton here allows 
 the principle of emolument for 
 ministerial services, since ' the 
 shearers' feast ' is the due reward 
 of honest shepherds ; latterly his 
 opinions on this subject were some- 
 what modified. In the Treatise en- 
 titled The Likeliest Means to remme 
 Hirelings and in the Christian Doc- 
 trine, while barely admitting that 
 ' the labourer is worthy of his hire,' 
 he restricts it to voluntary contribu- 
 tions, adding that ' it is more de- 
 sirable to serve gratuitously,' and to 
 support themselves (if need be) ' by 
 the exercise of some trade or call- 
 ing' i^C.D. c. 31). 
 r 119] The phrase ' blind mouths ' 
 may be illustrated from the classical 
 usage of transferring to one bodily 
 sense the functions of another ; e.g. 
 Soph. (Ed. T.yjl, rvip^hs TO. Sra, 
 Val. Flacc. ii. 461, 'csecus clamor,' 
 Plin. jV. ff, xxxvii. 18, ' surdus 
 color,' &c. The sh e pherds a re 
 emphatically termed ' m onths, ' fi rst 
 for their (jfattu ii'V, aeEond l y m reter- 
 mice-ttrlhdr preaching. As regards 
 the former cf.,Hesiod, Theog. 26, 
 where the Heliconian swains are 
 said to be yaffrepes olov, ' nothing 
 but bellies.' Cf yaffrepis apyci 
 ('lazy gluttons'), St. Paul to 
 Titus, i. 12 ; Pliny, JV. H. ix. 17, , 
 30, ' proceres gulae ' ( ' noble glut- 
 tons '). Hogg (1694) translates the 
 
 present passage ' O caci ventres, qui 
 vix comprendere dextra Pastorale 
 pedum, aut aliquid didicere, &c.' 
 Next by a bold figure of speech the 
 ' mouths ' are said ' to hold a sheep- 
 hook,' with which Newton aptly 
 compares Hor. Sat. 11. ii. 39 — 
 
 ' Porrectnm magno magnum spectare 
 
 catino 
 Vellem ait Harpyiis gula digna 
 rapacibus ;' 
 
 also P. L. V. 711, ' the eternal eye 
 ...saw. ..and smiling said! As to 
 the relative importance of preach- 
 ing, Milton places it foremost 
 among ministerial duties, even 
 above the administration of sacra- 
 ments (C D. c. 29). ToaPimlan 
 'a non-preaching ministfy'^was a 
 Tcrymg evil, and eveiT'James ITat 
 thirrHfeinptiJn'Court Conference of 
 1604 gives his opinion tfiat ' a 
 preaching ministry is best,' though 
 he orders ' that praying be attended 
 to as well. ' At the same Conference 
 the daily use of the Book of Homi- 
 lies, originally set forth in 1562 to 
 remedy the defects of the clergy on 
 this head (see Preface to Homilies), 
 was strictly enjoined ; and some 
 twenty years later the Kin^s 
 ■Letters were issued for the express 
 purpose of restraining extravagances 
 in the pulpit (Fuller, Church Hist. 
 X. vii. 4). 
 
 120 sheep-hook] KopiJi'Ti, Theocr. 
 Id. vii. 43; ' pedum;' Virg. Eel. V. 
 88. Cf. Treatise on Reformation 
 in England, B. ii., ' the pastorly 
 rod and sheep-hook of Christ' 
 (Psalm xxiii. 4). Of unlearned 
 ministers Becon remarks in his Pre- 
 face, 'They leap into the pulpits 
 
72 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 That to the faithful herdman's art belongs ! -^' 
 
 What recks it them ? What need they ? They are sped f ^ 
 
 And, when they list, their lean and flashy songs J^ 
 
 without shame, when they under- 
 stand not what pulpit matters mean. 
 The^^teadiJjfiibreJiiey learn. ' Mil- 
 ton's eariier opinions were in favour 
 of a learned clergy, as might have 
 been expected from the circum- 
 stances of his education. In a letter 
 to the elder Gill from Cambridge, 
 1628, he deplores the ignorance of 
 those ' who without any acquaint- 
 ance with criticism or philosophy 
 engage in the study of theology' 
 (Epist. Fam. 3). But in the Like- 
 liest Way &'c. (1651) he contemp- 
 tuously designates all such learning 
 as ' scholastical trash,' adding that 
 every requisite ' may be easily at- 
 tained, and by the meanest capaci- 
 ties, if they seek the guidance of 
 the Holy Spirit,' an opinion which 
 is further developed in the Christian 
 Doctrine, c. 31. 
 
 121 herdman's] ( ' heardraians ' 
 in the MS.), here = 'shepherd's.' 
 The originaljQeaimi^is.siinpljt-ione 
 wKSTendFOTwatches ' (G. Heide, 
 /«Vfe«, ""ficTy either lEeep or larger 
 cattle, and the modern distinction 
 was not always observed. Spenser, 
 F. Q. VI. xi. 37, 39, uses ' heards ' 
 and ' heardgroomes ' for keeper of 
 sheep, though he elsewhere {id. ix. 
 10) makes a' difference — 'ne was 
 there Aear(i,ne was there shepheard's 
 swayne. ' In the Bible the spelling 
 is always 'herdman' (Gen. xiii. 
 7 ; xxvi. 20 ; Amos i. I ; vii. 14, 
 &c.) 
 
 122 recks i^hem] (O. 
 'care.') Cf. S»2»j, 401 
 Confessio Amaniis, B. v 
 recketh not.' The verb is generally 
 personal, as in P. L. ii. 50 ; ix. 
 173; Spens. Ed. vii. 34, 'thou 
 rekes much of thy swincke (toil).' 
 
 they are sped] i, e. ' are provided 
 
 E. rec, 
 Cower, 
 'him 
 
 for ' (Keightley). So in the Mer- 
 chant of Venice, ii. 9, the Prince of 
 Arragon, reading his fortune on the 
 scroll in the .silver casket, finds the 
 words ' Begone, you are sped.' In 
 Judges v. 30 the mother of Sisera, 
 awaiting the return of her son whom 
 she supposed victorious, exclaims 
 ' Have they not sped ? ' The same 
 sense of the word lingers in the ex- 
 pression ' God speed you.' Of the 
 luxurious habits of prelates Milton 
 speaks in the Apology for Smectym- 
 imus, ' They let hundreds of fami- 
 lies famish in one diocese, while 
 they themselves enjoy that wealth 
 that would furnish all those dark 
 places with ample supply.' 
 
 123 when they list] i.e. even 
 this miserable pittance is doled out 
 to the flock only at such time as is 
 convenient to the shepherds. That 
 the ' lean and flashy songs ' repre- 
 sent unsound oral instruction is 
 plain from the context ; but in the 
 pastoral prototype singing and 
 piping are the recreation, not the 
 business of shepherds, and the 
 meaning ought simply to be that 
 the spiritual pastors amuse them- 
 selves instead of tending their 
 flocks. In that case however there 
 would be no point in the allusion 
 to the wretdied quality of the 
 music, which could in no way siffect 
 the welfare of the sheep. The con- 
 fusion of metaphor thus involved 
 needs simply stating to be apparent; 
 the true analogy lies in the im- 
 healthiness of pasture, to which a 
 sudden transition is made in /. 126. 
 
 flashy] Todd quotes from Mil- 
 ton's Colasterion, in which he calls 
 his opponent's ailments ' Hor flashi- 
 est, the fustiest that ever corrupted 
 such an unswilled hogshead,' Diy- 
 
LYCIDAS. 73 
 
 Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw ji*' 
 
 The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, V 125 
 
 But, swollen with wind and the rank mist they draw, jf-x. 
 
 den, Transl. of Penius, Sat. i., has 
 'flashy wit,' and Bacon, Essay on 
 Studies, says 'distilled books are 
 flashy things. ' 
 
 124] Imitated from Virg. Eel. iii. 
 26, ' strident! miserum stipula dis- 
 perdere carmen.' Plumptre trans- 
 lates (keeping the alliteration) — 
 
 0( Ka\ajua7s, eSr* i.v 7* 46e?tjovTi, ttowj- 
 
 pais 
 Kov<pa jueXi} rplffSovres &<rapi^ dn-($- 
 
 fjiovffa KpeKOvTt, 
 
 The word ' scrannel ' does not seem 
 to have been used by any previoM 
 writer ; Newlon does not remember 
 to have seen it elsewhere at all. He 
 might however have found it in 
 Langhorne's Fables of Flora (pub- 
 lished shortly before his own edition 
 of Milton in 1784), where it is .said 
 of an unearthly sound issuing from 
 a cave — 
 
 ' But grinding through some scran- 
 nel frame 
 Creaked from the bony lungs of 
 death.' 
 
 No doubt Langhome copied the 
 word from Lycidas, since he is 
 known to have been a student of 
 Milton, and a translator of the Epi- 
 taphium Damonis and the Italian 
 poems. In the Lancashire dialect 
 it means ' thin ' or ' meagre,' and it 
 is a question whether Milton was 
 aware of its existence there, or 
 whether he coined it to express the 
 sound, after the analogy of crane, 
 screech (G. schreien), &c. The 
 former hypothesis is more probable, 
 considering the extent of his infor- 
 mation, and the improbability of 
 his indulging in a license, which 
 would be questionable in point of 
 taste, and of which there would be 
 
 no other instance in his poems. It 
 has also been suggested that the 
 word may be connected with cranny, 
 and that if so, it would well express 
 the squeaking noise produced from 
 a pipe not perfectly air-tight. But 
 this is doubtful. 
 
 125] C£ Epit. Dam. 67, where 
 the sheep mourn in sympathy, 
 ' inque suum convertunt ora magis- 
 trum.' 
 
 are not fed] Cf Reason of Church 
 Gov., cui fin., ' The swelling mood 
 ^f a p roud cleijy, willu will nut 
 serve — of-lfe ed vour soillS -^W TOr 
 j T^rittraHiro d.' One of the objec-" 
 tions to the n.in^s Letters of 1623 
 (see on/. 119) ran thus — 'This is 
 the way to starve souls, by confining 
 them to one meal a day, or at best 
 by giving them only a mess of milk 
 for their supper ' (in reference to the 
 substitution of catechising for after- 
 noon sermons). To which it was 
 answered that ' milk is best for 
 babes, which make up more than a 
 moiety of every congregation.' 
 
 126] Peck compares Dante, 
 Paradiso, Canto 29 — 
 
 ' SI che le pecorelle, che non 
 
 sanno. 
 Toman dal pasco fasciute di 
 vento, ' 
 
 Cf. Virg. Georg-. iii. 504 (of the 
 cattle-plague), 'imaque longo Ilia 
 singultu tendunt,' and the Afiyf Kevri 
 in Thucydides' description of the 
 pestilence at Athepg (ii. 49) . Here 
 of course there isw direct allusion 
 to the ' windy ' words of the 
 preacher, which may be illustrated 
 by the Homeric phrase ove/itiXia 
 0iCeiv (II. iv. 355), and the Ger- 
 man windreden ' to talk vainly. ' 
 For the 'rank mist' cf. Song of 
 
74 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread ; 
 Beside what the grim wolf with privy paw 
 Daily devours apace, and nothing said. ' 
 
 the Priest of Pan in Fletcher's 
 Faithful Shepherdess — 
 
 ' Mists unsound, 
 Damps and vapours fly apace, 
 Hovering o'er the wanton face 
 Of these pastures, where they 
 
 come 
 Striking dead both bud and 
 bloom.' 
 
 127] Milton may here have re- 
 membered Lucretius, vL 1 129 (of a 
 vitiated atmosphere) — 
 ' Et cum spirantes mixtos hinc duci- 
 
 mus auras, 
 ' Ilia quoque in corpus pariter sor- 
 
 bere necessest ; ' 
 
 also ii. 1235— 
 
 ' nuUo cessabant tempore apisci 
 Ex aliis alios avidi contagia morbV 
 
 Becon in his Supplication uses simi- 
 lar language of popish pastors, 
 
 t^iey feed thy shee^with vilejtink- 
 ing devilish massesj arid mto these, 
 xinwhqlesome_and Tpestjisst: jiaSfures 
 they drive the sheep.' 
 
 1 28] Those who with Pearce and 
 Newton believe Abp. Laud to be 
 the 'wolf here alluded to may 
 compare the continuation of the 
 passage just quoted — 'and if any 
 refuse to taste of these pestilent 
 poisons, him they accite to appear 
 before that great wolf [Bp. Gar- 
 diner], whose lijs are full of deadly 
 poison.' Reasons against this in- 
 terpretation will be found in Ap- 
 pendix II. ; here it may be noticed 
 that the simile of wolves and sheep 
 assumes three distinct forms in the 
 New Testament — (i) tlie wolf in 
 sheep's clothing (Matt. vii. 15), who 
 enters the fold under false pretences ; 
 (2) the shepherd who for his rapacity 
 
 is said to devour the sheep (Acts 
 XX. 29) ; (3J-M^ real wolf, prow ling 
 outside the teia'ahd seeking Jien- 
 trance. The last appears'to be the 
 one here-intended: 
 
 privy pawl So Di^on in Spen- 
 ser's 9th Eclogue, /. 160, designates 
 popish priests as wolves ' prively 
 proUing to and froe.' ' Privy ' as an 
 adjective, though not used elsewhere 
 by Milton, was common in his time, 
 and occurs in the Bible and Apo- 
 crypha (Ezek. xxi. 14; Susanna, 18; 
 Bel and Dragon, 13, 21) ; also in the 
 Litany, 'privy conspiracy.' Bacon 
 in his Essay on Building speaks 
 of 'privy lodgings and privy gal- 
 leries.' 
 
 1 29 J The spelling ' sed ' of the 
 MS. (cf V Allegro, loi), altered to 
 ' said ' in ed. 1638, was replaced 
 in the editions of 1645 and 1673. 
 Warton in his History of English 
 Poetry observes that in the Elizabe- 
 than period the spelling of final 
 syllables was changed to satisfy the 
 eye as well as the ear. Hence in 
 Spenser we find such forms as 
 'bight,'- 'spight,' to rime with 
 'delight,' 'dore' with 'restore,' 
 &c. , &c. In the MS. of Lycidas 
 the last word of /. 193 Is written 
 ' blew ' for the same reason, and in 
 the 7th Sonnet ' yeere ' and ' neere ' 
 are made to rime with ' careere.' 
 Even in Pope's Essay on Man, 148 
 (ed. 175^)* J^'w^ is spelt 'sowr' to 
 rime with ' pow'r.' tn the present 
 passage some later editors, in ig- 
 norance of this custom, or mis- 
 taking the f for f, altered ' sed ' to 
 ' fed,' to the destruction of the 
 sense. ' Nothing ' was also changed 
 to 'little' in 1638, but replaced in 
 the next edition. On the facts of 
 the case see Appendix II. 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 But that two-handed engine at the door -^' 
 Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more.' ■ 
 //Return, Alpheiis, the dread voice is past 
 
 75 
 130 
 
 130] If the 'wolf is not any 
 individual but a system, neither is 
 the ' two-handed engine ' the axe 
 by which Laud was to lose his 
 head ; an event which no one could 
 easily have predicted in 1637. Mil- 
 ton is merely using the familiar 
 simile of ' the axe laid to the root 
 of the tree' (Matt. iii. .10), which 
 denotes a thorough and sweeping 
 reformation. Elsewhere he speaks 
 more explicitly of ' the axe of God's 
 reformation hewing at the old and 
 hollow trunk of papacy,' and of the 
 duty of cutting away ' the noisome 
 and diseased tiJmour of prelacy ;' 
 here he names neither institution 
 precisely, but alludes in general 
 terms to the religious corruptions of 
 the £^e and their speedy abolition ; 
 — 'it is near, even at the doors' 
 ' (Matt. xxiv. 33). 
 
 Two other interpretations may 
 be dismissed as improbable — (l) 
 that the 'engine' is the drawn 
 sword of St. Michael standing on 
 the Mount (1. 161), and the 'wolf 
 Satan; (2) that it refers to the 
 executioner Death with his scythe. 
 Warburton supposes that ' St. 
 Peter's sword is turned into the 
 two-handed sword of romance,' 
 and compares P. L. vi. 251 ; but 
 this idea was probably suggested by 
 the identity of the epithet ' two- 
 handed ' in that passage, with 
 which the present has nothing else 
 in common. Keightley compares 
 the afL^ihiiiov tridrtpov of Eurip. 
 I/iJipoi. 780? 
 
 engine] (ingenium) commonly 
 denotes a machine more or less 
 elaborately constructed. In P. L. 
 B. vi. the term is often used of 
 artillery in war (cf. Ezek. xxvi. 9) ; 
 Butler in Hudibras Applies it also to 
 
 a telescope, a fiddle, and to edged 
 tools ; horses are called ' live en- 
 gines,' according to a theory that 
 they are machines made by geo- 
 metry. Its application to a mere 
 instnmient wielded by the hand, as 
 here, is less frequent. Cf Pope, 
 Rape of the Lock, \\\. 132 — 
 
 ' he takes the scissars and extends 
 The little engine on his fingers' 
 ends.' ^— - 
 
 131 smite no more] Newton 
 compares I Sam. xxvi. 8. The 
 blow is to be sudden and decisive. 
 
 132] As the return from the for- 
 mer digression (/. 85) was marked 
 by the invocation of Arethusa, so 
 now the poet addresses Alpheus, 
 her legendary lover (Moschus, Id. 7; 
 Ovid, Met. V. 576 foil.) The stern 
 invective, which had scared away 
 the pastoral Muse, is now over, and 
 Milton reverts lovingly and enthusi- 
 astically to a strain more congenial 
 to his feelings. Scott in his Cxitkal 
 Essays finds fault with the follow- 
 ing lines, chiefly on the ground that 
 ' too many flowers are specified, 
 and spring flowers are injudiciously 
 blended with summer ones — the 
 primrose, cowslip, &c., with the 
 pink and rose.' Milton at least 
 must have thought otherwise, for 
 no passage in the whole poem has 
 been so carefully retouched as this 
 (see Various 'headings). Masson, 
 vol. i. p. 614 note, remarks, ' Mil- 
 ton hovered over this passage with 
 fastidious fondness, touching every 
 colour and fitting every word, till 
 he brought it to its present perfec- 
 tion of beauty.' Of these two 
 pieces of criticism utrum mavis 
 acci; 1 ! 
 
 t' .e dread voice, &c.] a passing 
 
76 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 That shrunk thy streams ; return, Sicilian Muse, 
 And call the vales, and bid them hither cast 
 Their bells, and flowerets of a thousand hues. 
 Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use 
 Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks ; 
 On whose fresh lap the swart-star sparely looks : 
 
 I3S 
 
 recognition of the superior power of 
 Christianity over Paganism. The 
 voice of St. Peter represents that of 
 Christ himself speaking to the 
 Church. Dunster cites Psalm civ. 
 6. 
 
 133] The ' Sicilian Muse' is the 
 muse of Theocritus. Cf Virg. Ed. 
 iv. I ; vi. I. Bion and Moschus 
 make a similar acknowledgment in 
 "XiKeKhv fi^hos and 2(/cEAiKa' MoTirai. 
 So Milton speaks of ' Himerides 
 Nymphae ' and ' Sicelicum carmen ' 
 in the opening lines of the Efita- 
 p^ium Damonis. It may be observed 
 that Theocritus himself does not 
 thus localise his muse ; he simply 
 says &px^T^ jduKoA iKas^ MSitrat <pi- 
 Aat, dpx^T^ doiScis. In Virgil the 
 ' Sicilian' epithet implies a pro- 
 fessed imitation of his Greek origi- 
 nal ; with Milton it has become a 
 general literary designation of pas- 
 toral poetry. (See Introduction.) 
 
 134 hither] i.e. on the hearse of 
 Lycidais, as if his body were actually 
 present (//. 152, 153). On the 
 custom of pinning verses to the 
 hearse see note on /. 151. 
 
 1361186] = 'haunt.' Cf. Spen- 
 ser, E. Q. B. VI., Introd. ii. 17, 
 ' where never foot did use.' May 
 translates Virg. Georg. iii. 418, 
 ' Snakes that use within the house 
 for shade ' (' tecto adsuetus coluber '), 
 quoted by Newton and Todd. The 
 reverse order of meaning appears in 
 'wont,' which first signified ' dwell- 
 ing ' (G. wohnen), and then ' cus- 
 tom.' Cf P. L. vii. 457, ,' the 
 wild beast where he wons.' 1 oth 
 
 verb and noun in this sense are 
 common in Spenser. Compare fjBea 
 ( ' haunts '), from ?9or (' custom '), in 
 Homer and Hesiod. 
 
 137 wanton winds] i.e. roving 
 at will (see Appendix I.). Cf. Ar- 
 cades, 47, ' wanton windings ;' F. L. 
 ix. 517, 'many a wanton wreath.' 
 Taken in its usual sense, the epithet 
 may remind us here of the mytho- 
 logical amours of the winds with 
 nymphs, such as that of Boreas with 
 Orithyia (Ovid, Met. vi. 677 ; Plato, 
 Phtedrus, c. i), and of Zephyrus 
 with Aurora {L' Allegro, 19). 
 
 138 swart-star] the dog-star, 
 
 ' Sirius ardor ' (Virg. ./Sn. x. 273), j 
 alluding to the effect of heat on vege- 
 tation. Newton quotes Hor. Od. m. 
 xii. 9, ' Te flagrantis atrox hora Cani- 
 culse Nescit tangere ; ' he does not 
 say (as Warton alleges) that ' Mil- 
 ton had an eye to Horace here,' but 
 merely compares the two passages. 
 For 'swart' (O. E. sweart, G. 
 Schwartz) cf Comus, 436 ; Shaksp. 
 I Hen. VI. i. 2, 'I was black and 
 swart before;' Keats, Endymioti, 
 B. ii., 'some fa/ar/ abysm.' Csed- 
 mon speaks of 'the swart hell, 
 a land void of light and fall of 
 flame. ' 
 
 sparely] the original MS. read- 
 ing restored by Milton's own hand. 
 (See list of Various Readings. ) 
 
 The simple occurrence of the 
 word ' looks ' is perhaps hardly suf- 
 ficient to justify Warton's conjecture 
 that the astrological ' aspect ' of a 
 star is here intended ; yet such an 
 allusion is possible (cf. Arcades, 5 1 ; 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 77 
 
 Throw hither all your quaint-enamelled eyes, 
 That on the green turf suck the honied showers, 
 And purple all the ground with vernal flowers. 
 
 140 
 
 P. L. vi. 313). We know that 
 astrology was much in vogue at this 
 period, the most famous professor 
 of the art being W. Lilly, who died 
 in 1 68 1, and was satirised in Hudi- 
 bras under the name of Sidrophel. 
 
 139 quaint] in its usual Miltonic 
 sense of ' curious ' or ' fantastic' 
 Cf P. L. ix. 35 ; Arc. 47 ; Od. 
 Nat. 194. In Spenser, F. Q. IV. 
 vii. 45, ' usage quaint ' = odd be- 
 haviour. As applied to character 
 it means 'ingenious' or 'artful.' 
 Shaksp. 2 Hen. VI. iii. 2, 'how 
 quaint an orator you are ; ' Merch. 
 of Ven. iii. 4, ' quaint lies.' Its 
 primary meaning is ' neat ' (of dress 
 or personal appearance), as in Much 
 Ado, iii. 4, ' quaint graceftil fash- 
 ions,' from the Old French coint, 
 which is usually considered to re- 
 present the Latin comptus. Cf. 
 Du Cange, Gloss, s.v., ' Galli coints 
 dicebant cultos, elegantes, comptos.' 
 But Wedgwood properly follows 
 Diez in deriving it from cognitus, the 
 idea being that of ' amenities arising 
 from civilised intercourse. ' The va- 
 rious stages of derivation are clearly 
 shown in the case of acquaint from 
 adcognitare, which latter word be- 
 came in Old French aj:ointer, and 
 then ac{c)omte}; whence followed in 
 due order acoint, acqueynt, and ac- 
 quaint. Compare the different 
 senses of 'couth' and 'uncouth' (/. 
 186 and note). 
 
 enamelled] painted as on enamel, 
 a favourite word with the older 
 poets. Cf. P. L. iv. 149 ; ix. 525 ; 
 Arc. 84. Chaucer, , Assembly of 
 Ladies, 'flowers of right fine en- 
 amaile.' Drayton, Muses' Elysium, 
 ' the enameled bravery of the beau- 
 teous spring.' 
 
 140 honied] like its Latin equi- 
 valent, mellitus, is one of the many 
 instances of adjectives formed with 
 the termination of a past participle, 
 without the intervention of an ac- 
 tually existing verb. Milton seems 
 to have been very fond of this for- 
 mation. Cf. 'mitred,' supra, 112. 
 The Nativity Ode alone contains 
 seven or eight examples, as ' helm- 
 ed,' 'sworded,' 'mooned,' &c. It 
 is therefore strange that Dr. John- 
 son, writing in 1780, should con- 
 demn the practice in Gray's Ode to 
 Spring as unscholarlike, or speak of 
 it as having then but lately arisen. 
 Peck also is mistaken in his mention 
 of ' honied ' and ' roseate ' among 
 the new words coined by Milton, for 
 the former occurs in Shakspere, ffen. 
 Fl i. I ('honeyed sentences'), and in 
 P. Fletcher's Piscatory Eclogues, iii. 
 14 (' thy honied tongue'), the latter 
 in Drayton's Muses' Elysium ('ro- 
 seate anadem'), in Harlow's Trans- 
 lation of Ovid Eleg. iv. ('roseate 
 buds'), and in a poem ascribed to 
 Sir W. Raleigh, The Shepherd and 
 the Flowers, written about 1590. , 
 
 141 purplej usually 'empurple,' 
 P. L. iii. 364. The uncompounded 
 verb occurs P. L. vii. 30. Cf. 
 Purple Island, x. 81, 'Purpling 
 the scarlet cheek with fiery red.' 
 Here, like purpurezis, it denotes 
 any bright colour, from a dazzling 
 white (Hor. Od. iv. i. 10) to a deep 
 red (Virg. JSn. ix. 349). Cf. 
 P. L. iv. 764, ' his purple wings ; ' 
 Spenser, F. Q. v. ji. 16, 'the mor- 
 row next appeared with purple 
 haire ; ' Gray, Ode on Poesy, ' the 
 purple light of love' (Virgil's 'lu- 
 men juventoe purpureum,' .iSn. i. 
 594)- 
 
78 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies, 
 The tufted crow- toe, and pale jessamine, 
 
 142] Milton may ormay not have 
 remembered the list of flowers in 
 Spenser, Ed. iv. 136 foil., of which 
 Mr. Bowles remarks that 'here is 
 an undoubted imitation,' but he 
 was certainly quite capable of in- 
 venting the following description 
 for himself Many instances of a 
 similar enumeration occur in the 
 classics, e.g. the elegy of Ruiinus in 
 the Greek Anthology, beginning 
 Tre/ATTM (Toi, 'Po5(iKXeta, TiiSe o-re^os, 
 &c. (where the Kuovauy^sfoi' is named 
 among others), and the list of 
 flbwers gathered by Proserpine and 
 her maidens in Ovid, Fast. iv. 435 
 foil. When strewn upon the hearse 
 each had its own fancied signifi- 
 cance : — 
 
 ' Here fresh roses lie, 
 Whose ruddy blushes modest 
 
 thoughts descry. 
 The spotless lillies shew his pure 
 
 intent ; 
 The flaming marigolds his zeale 
 
 present ; 
 The purple violets his noble minde, 
 Degenerate never from his princely 
 
 kinde ; 
 And last of all the hyacinths we 
 
 throw. 
 On which are writ the letters of 
 our woe ' (/. 106 note). 
 
 (Elegy on Edward, son of Lord 
 Stafford, by Sir J. Beaumont.) Cf. 
 Purple Island, ix. 319, ' And strewed 
 with dainty flowers the lowly 
 hearse.' 
 
 rathe] (0. E. hrat), 'early;' one 
 of the really antiquated words in / 1 - 
 cidas (see on /. 189). Spenser has 
 ' too rathe,' F. Q. III. iii. 28 ; 
 'rather ( = earlier) lambs,' Eel. xii. 
 98. Cf. Wither, Shepheard' s Hunt- 
 ing, 4th Eel. (1614), 'so rathe a 
 song.' Warton quotes 'the rathe 
 and timely primrose ' from Eng- 
 land's Helicon (1614). Dryden 
 
 gives ' rathe ripe ' as the translation 
 aiprecia (Virg. Georg. ii. 95), which 
 Servius explains by prcecoqua, 
 'early ripe.' Trench (English 
 Past and Present, p. 98), lamenting 
 the loss of this word, observes that 
 it is ' embalmed in the Lycidas of 
 Milton ; ' he also quotes an instance 
 of the superlative ' rathest ' in Bp. 
 Sanderson's Sermons. It is worth 
 noticing that rathe is still a common 
 word for early in certain districts of 
 South Wales. 
 
 forsaken] The first reading ' un- 
 wedded,' followed by the somewhat 
 obscure line, 'Coloring the pale 
 cheek of uninjoy'd love,' contained 
 an allusion to the fabled amours of 
 the Sun vrith certain flowers, and 
 was doubtless su^ested by the 
 passage in Shakspere's Winter's 
 Tale, iv. 4 — 
 
 'pale primroses 
 
 That die unmarried, ere they can 
 behold 
 
 Bright Phoebus in his strength ; — 
 a malady I 
 
 Most incident to maids' 
 
 But no such idea is involved in the 
 epithet as it now stands, which 
 merely su^ests the modest nature 
 of the flower, blooming in retired 
 spots, and often fading unnoticed. 
 
 143 foil.] See original reading, 
 and cf. Quarles" Emblems, v. 2— 
 
 ' The purple vi'let and the pale-fac'd 
 
 lily, 
 The pansy and the organ columbine. 
 The flow'ring thyme, the gilt-breast 
 
 diaffodilly. 
 The lowly^BjS, the lofty eglantine ; 
 The blushing rose, the queen of 
 
 flowers and best 
 Of Flora's beauty ; but above the 
 
 rest 
 Let Jessis soVreign flower perfiime 
 
 my qualming breast.' 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 The white pink, and the pansy freaked with jet, 
 
 The glowing violet, 
 
 The ttiusk-rose, and the well-attired woodbine, 
 
 With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head, 
 
 And every flower that sad embroidery wears ; 
 
 Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed. 
 
 And daifadillies fill their cups with tears, 
 
 79 
 145 
 
 ISO 
 
 The last is a play upon ' jessamine,' 
 the real etymology of which is the 
 Persian j&smin, 'fragrant.' The 
 ' crowtoe ' is perhaps the same as 
 ' crowfoot,' a ranunculaceous plant, 
 the name being applied to those 
 species which have divided leaves. 
 It is also called the 'kingcup.' 
 Spens. Ed. iv. 138 (Lattiam's 
 Johns. Diet. s. v.). Richardson 
 identifies it with the hyacinth, the 
 ' sad flower, &c. ' of the first draft, 
 which was- probably discarded be- 
 cause of the previous allusion to the 
 same story in /. 106. A simple 
 enumeration of the flowers is now 
 substituted for the learned descrip- 
 tions originally introduced. More- 
 over, three additional flowers — ^jes- 
 samine, pink, and musk-rose — are 
 put in the place of the one {nar- 
 cissus) which is lost. 
 
 144] Cf. Comus, 851. The 
 ' pansy ' is the flower of thought 
 (pensie), as Ophelia says in Hamlet, 
 iv. 5 ; it is also called ' Ibve-in- 
 idleness ' {Mids. JV. Dream, ii. i), 
 and commonly 'heartsease.' 
 
 freaked] ='£reckled,'Gael.*?-/af. 
 Cf Thomson, Winter, 826, ' freaked 
 with many a mingled hue,' Fraknes 
 in Chaucer = freckles. 
 
 145] Plumptre translates %mv Ki/a- 
 cairyes iarov fi-om Rufinus, quoted 
 on /. 142 above. 
 
 146 well-attired woodhlne] al- 
 tered from 'garish columbine.' 
 'Garish' now occui's only in // 
 Pmseroso, 14I. Keightley com- 
 pares Cowper, Task, 167, ' Meze- 
 
 reon too. Though leafless, well- 
 attired. ' 
 
 148 emhroidery] from Old French 
 broder, to ornament with needle- 
 work (Gael, brod, a needle) ; whence 
 the Low Latin brodare=' s.ca pin- 
 gere,' Ducange, Gloss. In P. L. 
 iv. 700, it is used to describe a 
 field set with'flowers. Cf. Chaucer, 
 Prologue to Cant. Tales (of the 
 Squire) — 
 
 ' Embrouded was he as it were a 
 
 mede, 
 AUe ful of freshe floures white and 
 rede.' 
 
 The usual derivation from border 
 is probably incorrect. Wedgwood, 
 however, considers brod and bord to 
 be identical, both meaning the ex- 
 tremity of a thing. He observes 
 that the Icelandic brydda signifies 
 both ' to sharpen ' and ' to sew on 
 an edging.' The first reading, 
 'sorrow's liverie,' is illustrated by 
 Todd from Wither's Juvenilia and 
 Habington's Castara. Cf. Fletcher, 
 Purple Island, viii. 5, ' night's sad 
 livery, ' also V Allegro, 62. \aP.L. 
 i''- 599> Milton speaks of the ' sober 
 livery' of twilight. 
 
 149 amarantliTis] (i^&favTos), 
 the unfading (i Peter i. 4), an em- 
 blem of immortality. It is placed 
 in Eden 'fast by the tree of life,' 
 P. L. iii. 354. 
 
 150] Keats, Endymion, B. iv., 
 ' brimming the water-lily cups with 
 tears.' ' Daffodil ' is properly ' aflbdil ' 
 from M^iZiKas through Med. Latin 
 
8o 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 To strew the laureate herse where Lycid lies. — 
 For so, to interpose a little ease, 
 Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise ; 
 -I' Ay me ! whilst thee the shores and sounding seas 
 
 affodillus ; the origin of the d is 
 doubtful. It is really a species of 
 narcissus. The form 'daffodilly' 
 occurs in the Song to Pan in 
 Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess ; 
 Spenser, F. Q. Itl. iv. 29 ; £cl. iv.6o; 
 'daffadowndillies' in Ed. iv. 140. 
 
 151] 'The herse -was a platform, 
 decorated with black hangings, and 
 containing an effigy of the deceased. 
 Laudatory verses were attached 
 to it with pins, wax, or paste.' 
 (Stanley, Memorials of Westminster 
 Abbey, p. 341.) Cf. King's Elegy on 
 Doniie — 
 
 ■ Each quill can drop his tributary 
 
 verse. 
 And pin it like the hatchments to 
 the herse.' 
 
 For the word see Appendix I. 
 
 laureate] 'decked with laurel' 
 (kmreatus), cf. /. i. Plmnptre's 
 rendering, ta^vivav, would mean 
 ' made of laurel ' {laiireus), a sense 
 in which ' laureate ' is sometimes 
 used, e.g. 'laureat wreath,' Sonnet 
 xvi. 19. Laureatus is applied both 
 to persons and things, but usually 
 to the former, as a mark of honour ; 
 hence the title 'poeta laureatus,' 
 first officially conferred on B. Jon- 
 son in 1619. 
 
 Lycid] Cf. Keats, Sonnet -sX. — 
 
 ' Of fair-haired Milton's eloquent 
 
 distress, 
 And all his gentle love for Lycid 
 drowned.' 
 
 The older poets were fond of short- 
 ening classical names thus. Chau- 
 cer has Creysyd, Pandare, Adon, 
 &c. ; in Surrey we find Aige, Ide, 
 Sichee, &c. ; in Spenser, Archimag, 
 Acidale, Melibee, &c. Milton does 
 
 not so frequently avail himself of 
 this license, excepting in a few 
 commoner forms, such as Dian, 
 Hecat", Ind, &c. ; otherwise the 
 name 'Erymanth' va. Arcades, 100, is 
 almost a solitary instance. 
 
 152] 'For' connects this line 
 with tie preceding mention of the 
 hearse of Lycidas ; 'for let us sup- 
 pose his body to be lying here 
 before us, though really it is &r 
 away.' The structure of the next 
 sentence (placing a semicolon after 
 ' surmise ') must be as follows : 
 ' Let our thoughts dally, &c. [prin- 
 cipal verb], while the seas wash 
 thee far away, where'er thy bones 
 are hurled — whether beyond the 
 Hebrides (where thou visitest, &c.), 
 or whether thou sleepest, &c. (where 
 the great vision looks towards Na- 
 mancos and Bayona).' On the per- 
 son addressed in /. 163 see note 
 there. 
 
 153 dally] i.e. ' play ' or ' trifle,' 
 akin to G. tdndeln and dahlen, to 
 trifle. Cf Shaksp. Hamkt, v. 2, 
 'you do but dally.' In the Apo- 
 cryphal Book of Wisdom, xii. 26, 
 God's judgments upon the Canaanites 
 are spoken of as 'that correction 
 wherein he dallied with them . . . 
 as children without the use of rea- 
 son.' Skeat connects dcUly with 
 M.E. dalien, "tc be loolish. ' 
 
 surmise] here=' fancy,' usually 
 'conjecture.' 
 
 154 Ay me!] See on /. 56. 
 Scott, Critical Essays, notices the 
 
 following lines as an instance of 
 poetical imagination of the right 
 kind, which 'should not produce 
 impossible fictions, but explore real 
 existence, and select from it cir- 
 cumstances as occasion requires.' 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 8i 
 
 Wash far away,-^where'er thy bones are hurled, 
 Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides, 
 Where thou peih i'vp';Minfi°rY]ir ivhHminj^ tidr 
 Visitest thd^o ttom dftKe monstrous world : 
 Or whether thou, to Our moist vows denied, 
 ^eepfi^t by the fable of Bellems old, 
 
 the shores — wash, &c.] This ex- 
 TO'ession, though strange, is not the 
 iesult of oversight, since Milton de- 
 iiiberately substituted ' shoars ' for 
 ' floods ' in his MS. The obvious 
 meaning is that the corpse visited 
 different parts of the coast in its 
 wanderings, and was not out at sea 
 all the time. The word shore does 
 however literally mean ' that which 
 divides the water from the land,' 
 and therefore includes the portion 
 sometimes covered by the tide. So 
 Celsus defines litiis, 'quousque 
 maximus fluctus a mari pervenit.' 
 Newton cites Virg. ^n. vi. 362, 
 ' Nunc me fluctus habet, versantque 
 in litore venti,' which is a case in 
 point only on the assumption that 
 the latter clause cannot mean ' cast 
 up on the shore ; ' a' sense which 
 Heyne and Conington both adopt, 
 comparing Eur. Hec. 28, (tei^noi & 
 cTf' OKToiSj iAAoT* iv irSyTou trd\tfi. 
 (In with the ablative occasionally 
 denotes motion, as in Phosdrus, 
 Fab. V. i. 15, 'in conspectu meo 
 audet venire. ') 
 
 155 far away] here (according 
 to Nevrton) ='a^a great distance,' 
 not to it. Keightley notes the ex- 
 pression as ' ambiguous. ' It pro- 
 bably means ' far from the scene of 
 the shipwreck.' 
 
 156 whether, &c.] Cf. Ode on 
 Death of a Fair Infant., 38 foil.; 
 Aristoph. Nubes, 269 foil., referred 
 to on /. 50. 
 
 157] The first reading, 'hum- 
 ming,' for ' whelming,' was inappro- 
 priate to the case of a dead man, 
 who could not hear the sound of 
 
 155 
 
 160 
 
 the waves. But Shakspcre com- 
 mits the same error when he makes 
 Pericles (Hi. i) apostrophise his 
 dead queen with the words, 'And 
 humming water must o'erwhelm ' 
 thy corpse.' Warton compares 
 Virg. Ceorg. iv. 365, where Arif- 
 taeus, in his mother's ocean cave, is 
 said to be ' ingenti motu stupefactus 
 aquarum. ' 
 
 158 monstrous] i.e. ' fiiU of 
 monsters,' the proper sense of the 
 Latin ending -osus, as in saxostis^ 
 &c. Monstruosus itself, however,, 
 never bears this meaning, e g. 
 'monstniosa bestia,' &c.; and Mil- 
 ton elsewhere employs ' monstrous ' 
 in its usual acceptation, P. L. ii. 
 625 ; Comus, 605, &c. Here he 
 seems to have remembered Hor. 
 Od. I. iii. 18, and Virg. ^n. vi. 
 729. Cf. Hem. Od. iii. 158, in- 
 yoK-iyrea tt&vtov. 
 
 159 moist vows] i.e. 'vows ac- 
 companied with tears ' (Warton). 
 Vota humida would be a correct 
 expression in Latin, though it does 
 not seem to occur. Martial, Epigr. 
 X. Ixxviii. 8, has 'udogaudio,' mean- 
 ing 'joy mingled With weeping.' 
 Plumptre's translation, iypois ti- 
 Xois, is questionable. 
 
 160 fable of Bellerus] ==' fabled 
 abode of Bellerus' (sedes fabulosa) ; 
 something like 'fabulae Manes,' Hor. 
 Od. I.iv. 16 (for Manes fabulosi), ' the 
 ghosts of olden story.' The name 
 is coined from Bellerium, now the 
 Land's End. Cf. Cowley, F/an- 
 tarum Liber, vi., 'Belerii extremis 
 a comibus Orcadas usque ; ' Pope, 
 Windsor Forest, 315, 'From old 
 
82 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 .Where the great Vision of the 
 Looks toward Namancos and 
 Look homeward, Angel, now , 
 
 Belerium to the northern main.' The 
 original reading was 'Corineus,' 
 whom Milton mentions in his His- 
 tory of Britain, B. i. , as a giant who 
 came over with Brute the Trojan, 
 and from whom Cornwall took its 
 name, being 'assigned to him by 
 lot,' or, as Drayton says (Polyolb. 
 1st Song), given him for his victory 
 over Gogmagog the Cornish giant. 
 The change of reading may have 
 been made for rhythmical reasons, as 
 ' Bellerus ' runs more smoothly in 
 the line than ' Corineus.' 
 
 A writer in the Edinburgh Pe- 
 ■uiew, 1 82 1, has the following re- 
 marks on Milton's treatment of 
 early British legends : — ' Milton was 
 perhaps the first who dared dis- 
 avow his belief of the legends which 
 for centuries had been placed at 
 the head of the early history of 
 England. [See Hiit. of Britain, 
 B. i.] Yet he deigns to relate them, 
 because the very belief in them was 
 characteristic of a nation ; because 
 they might contain some traces of 
 ancient tradition, and be an evidence 
 of manners, if not of events" ; and 
 lastly as themes for the poet, on 
 which he had himself once medi- 
 tated to build a monument to the 
 glory of his country. ' [See Epist. ad 
 Mamum, I. 78; Epit. Dam. I. 162.] 
 
 161] The 'guarded (fortified) 
 Mount ' is a steep rock opposite 
 Marazion near Penzance, accessible 
 from the land at low water. On it 
 are the ruins of a fortress and a mo- 
 nastery, with a church dedicated to 
 St. Michael ; at the summit is a 
 craggy seat called St. Michael's 
 chair, in which several apparitions 
 of the archangel are reported to 
 have been seen ; hence the ' great 
 Vision ' in the text. Carew, in his 
 
 guarded Mount 
 Bayona's hold : — 
 and melt with ruth, 
 
 Survey of Cornwall, alludes to the 
 Mount as a favourite resort of pil- 
 grims, quoting the lines — 
 
 ' Who knows not Mighel's Mount 
 
 and Chaire, 
 The pilgrim's holy vaunt ?' 
 Cf. Spenser, Eel. vii. 41 — 
 ' St. Michael's Mount who does 
 
 not know, 
 That guards the westerne coast ? ' 
 
 162] The question as to the lo- 
 cality of Namancos puzzled com- 
 mentators not a little, until Todd 
 (1809) referred to Mercator's Atlas 
 of 1636, in which the place is 
 clearly marked rather to the east 
 of Cape Finisterre, with the Castle 
 of Bayona on the south. Naman- 
 cos also appears in Ojea's map of 
 Galicia (1650), but seems to have 
 been afterwards omitted, as it is 
 not found In Nolin's map (1762), 
 nor in that of Lopez (1784), nor in 
 the Atlas N'ocional de Espana of 
 1838. Todd in his edition of i8oi 
 had suggested Numantia, and Dun- 
 6ter, adopting this view, took Bayo- 
 na to be the French Bayonne ; but 
 it is plain that ^o one could • look 
 towards ' both these places at once 
 in a direct line from St. Michael's 
 Mount. Cf. Drayton, Polyolb. 
 23rd Song — 
 
 ' Then Comwal creepeth out into 
 
 the western maine. 
 As lying in her eye she pointeth 
 still at Spaine.' 
 
 163] The obvious and striking 
 contrast between the • look home- 
 ward ' of this line and the looking 
 'towards Namancos, &c.' of the 
 one preceding clearly justifies War- 
 ton's supposition that St. Michael, 
 and not Lycidas, is the person here 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 S3 
 
 And, O ye dolphins, waft the hapless youth. 
 
 addressed. Still, the arguments in 
 favour of the contrary interpretation 
 ought to be fairly stated. It has 
 been objected that if a full stop be 
 placed at ' surmise,' the present line 
 is required to complete the sentence 
 begiiming at 'whilst thee, &c.,' 
 which would otherwise be unfinished, 
 and of which Lycidas is the subject 
 throughout ; and that, even with the 
 semicolon there (see on /. 152), 
 St. Michael's apparition is merely 
 introduced parenthetically, as part 
 of a local description, and never 
 directly apostrophised. This is 
 perhaps strictly true ; but a poet is 
 not always bound by the strict laws 
 of grammatical construction, and the 
 sudden turn of address from Lycidas 
 to the archangel (who is now a 
 prominent figure in the description) 
 strikes powerfully upon the reader's 
 imagination. Another argument 
 (which at first sight appears plausible) 
 is founded upon the coincidence of 
 the present passage and of //. 183 
 foil, in structure, language, and 
 sentiment, with certain lines in 
 the 1st Eclogue of Sannazaro (cwr. 
 1520), in which a drowned man is 
 thus addressed by his mourning 
 friends } 
 ' At tu, sive altum felix colis asthera, 
 
 seu jam 
 " Elysios inter Manes, &c. . . . 
 Aspice nos mitisque veni, tu numen 
 
 aquarum 
 Semper eris, semper latum piscanti- 
 
 bus omen.' 
 
 But even admitting, as we surely 
 may (cf. especially /. 184), that 
 Milton had thftabove passage gene- 
 rally in view, we need not assume 
 that he copied his original with 
 such exactness, as to make the sub- 
 ject of his ' look homeward ' corre- 
 spond with that of ' aspice ' in San- 
 nazaro. We do not however agree 
 
 with Warton's further objection, 
 that an address to the departed 
 spirit would be in itself inappro- 
 priate. A few instances out ot 
 many will suffice to show that the 
 sentiment is both natural and com- 
 . mon. Spenser in his Elegy on Sir 
 P. Sidney invokes the ' happy 
 sprite ' to ' look down awhile ' 
 upon his friends ; Donne makes a 
 similar appeal to the soul of Lord 
 Harrington, and Habington en- 
 treats the spirit of George, Earl of 
 Surrey, to ' look down with pro- 
 pitious eyes and $mile upon this 
 sacrifice. ' The language of Cowley 
 in his Death of Hervey still more 
 closely resembles that of Milton, 
 when he imagines 'the glorious 
 saints' as beholding their friends 
 ' with holy pity ; ' and Voung, in 
 his Night Thoughts, says of the 
 dead, ' They live . . . and from an 
 eye of tenderness let heavenly pity 
 faU.' 
 
 TUth] Cf. Chaucer, Troilus and 
 Creyseyde, 'have routh upon my 
 pain^;' Sidney, Arcadia, B. i. Eel. 
 I, 'thou my dog whose ruth (pity 
 for the flock) and valiant might, 
 &c.' Primarily the word means 
 ' sorrow,' from ' rue ' (O. E. hreow- 
 an, G. reuen). Cf. B. Jonson, 
 Epitaph on his Daughter, ' her pa- 
 rents' ruth.' 'Pity and ruth' are 
 joined in Milton's 9th Sonnet, I 8, 
 and in Spenser, F. Q. I. vi. 12. 
 For the verb in i's secondary sense 
 cf. Wyatt, 51st Psalm, 'rue on me. 
 Lord;' Watson (1593), 41st ioBwrf, 
 ' rew and pittie my vexations.' 
 ' Ruthful ' occurs in Shaksp. i ffen. 
 VJ. v. 5, and elsewhere ; ' rueful ' 
 and ' ruthless ' still survive. 
 
 164] Richardson refers to Pau- 
 sanias' statement about Palsemon, 
 ' that a dolphin took him up and 
 laid his body on the shore at Co- 
 Tii\th, where he was deified ' (cf. 
 
84 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 L 
 
 Weep no more, woful shepherds, weep no more, 
 For Lycidas, your sorrow, is not dead, 
 
 i6S 
 
 //. 183-185). Stories of the amia- 
 bility of dolphins were common in 
 ancient times. Besides the familiar 
 legend of Arion (Herod, i. 24 ; Ov. 
 Fast. ii. 105 foil), we have the one 
 quoted from Apion by Gellius, 
 Nod. Att. vii. 8, of a dolphin who 
 carried a boy on his back daily from 
 Baiae to Puteoli, and on the death 
 of the boy pined away with grief. 
 Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. 8, describes 
 the animal as 'maxime homini 
 amicum' (cf. Arist. De Animalibtis, 
 ix. 35), and especially notices its 
 care of its own species, when dead 
 or wounded. Some of these tales 
 about dolphins may (as Liddell and 
 Scott suppose .r. v. SeAiJifs) be due 
 to the fact of their playing in 
 stormy weather, and so warning 
 mariners of danger ; the ' curved 
 back' (Ov. /. c. 137) might sug- 
 gest the idea of carrying a burden. 
 Cf. Sl^ksp. Ant. and Cleop. 
 V. 2 — 
 
 ' his delights 
 Were dolphin-like ; they showed 
 
 his back above 
 The element they lived in.' 
 
 165-185] ' The common conclu- 
 sion of a funeral elegy is the beati- 
 fication of the deceased ' (Scott, 
 Critical Essays). Here the classi- 
 cal apotheosis forms an additional 
 feature in the description (see on 
 /. 183, and the concluding lijifsof 
 the Efit. Damonis). What foUqws 
 may be compared with Spenser, 
 Eel. xi. 169 foil.— 
 'Dido is dead, but unto heaven 
 
 bent ; . . . 
 She reignes a goddess now^ among 
 
 the saintes ; . . . 
 There drinckes she nectar with 
 
 ambrosia mixt, &c.' 
 Cf. Watson, Eclogue on the Death 
 
 of Meliiaus (Sir F. Walsingham), 
 
 1590— 
 
 ' Injustlie judge we Melibceus' death. 
 
 As though his worth was buried 
 in his fate ; 
 
 Now MeliboEus in comparelesse 
 place 
 
 Drinkes nectar, eates divine am- 
 brosia.' 
 Contrast the sentiment of Moschus, 
 Bpit. Bionis, 112-141, of a portion 
 of which we offer the following 
 paraphrase : ' Alas ! the herbs wi- 
 ther and grow again ; while we the 
 mighty and the wise, all speechless 
 in the tomb, sleep the long endless 
 slumber that knows no waking 
 (drep/toya viyypiTov vtrvov). . . . But 
 tune thou thy lay before the queen of 
 Hades, if haply thy music may win 
 a guerdon for thee, and thou mayest 
 return to earth once more.' On 
 the other hand, see Virgil's apotheo- 
 sis of Caesar, under the name of 
 Daphnis, Eel. v. 56 foil., only ob- 
 serving that the glory which he 
 reserves for an extraordinary hero, 
 Milton, as a Christian, claims for 
 all pious souls. For 'wofiil,' ap- 
 plied to persons, cf. Sidney's Ar- 
 cadia, B. ii., 'the woefiilGynecia;' 
 Daniel, Civil Wars, ' How many 
 woefiil maidens left to moum ! ' 
 
 166 your sorrow] i.e. the object 
 of your sorrow, vester dolor. Cf. 
 Propert. I. xiv. 18, ' Ilia etiam 
 duris mentibus (potest) esse dolor.' 
 So mea desideria, 'my love,' Cic. 
 .Sptfh Earn. 
 
 • nai iea.i'\,(T^ Death 0/ Fair In- 
 fant, I. 29. Warton quotes from 
 the Lay of Clorinda (attributed to 
 Spenser) the lines beginning 'Ah 
 no, it is not dead ne can it die.' 
 Cf. Epitaph on Sir W. Drury, by 
 Bamabe Ritche, in the Paradise 
 of Dayniie Devises, 1579 : — 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 Sunk though h e pg beneath the jvatery floor. 
 
 So sinks the^y-star 
 And yet anon 
 
 tHel)cean~Fed, 
 'rs nis drooping nead,~ 
 
 And tricks his beams, and with^new-spangled_ore 
 
 8S 
 
 170 
 
 ' Your Drury is not dead ! 
 He liveth he amongst the blessed 
 
 route. . . . 
 Wherefore, you worthy wightes, 
 
 leave of to wayle.' 
 
 167 floor] (G. Flur) is any level 
 surface (aqtior). Cf. Arcadia, B. i., 
 'the morning did strew roses and 
 violets in the heavenly floor.' 
 Schiller, in his poem entitled Das 
 Ideal und das Leben, has 'des 
 Lichtes Fluren,' 'fields of light.' 
 
 168] The 'day-star' may pos- 
 sibly, as Newton thinks, be the sun, 
 which is called the ' diurnal star ' in 
 P. L. X. 1069. Cf. Pindar, Olymp. 
 i. 9; fviiKeff aAi'ou aK6Tiei iXKo SaK- 
 itv6Tc^ov. '. .iarpov ; Ovid, Fast, 
 vi. 718, where 'stella Serena' is 
 said of Phoebus ; also Met. i. 429 ; 
 TibuU. II. i. 47, where ' sidus ' is 
 similarly used. The chief advan- 
 tage of this interpretation would be 
 to save Milton from the astronomi- 
 cal blunder involved in making the 
 same planet a morning and an even- 
 ing star in one day ; but here, as in 
 /. 30 (see note), he is most likely 
 to have followed the usage of the 
 ancients, who commonly speak of 
 Lucifer and Hesperus in this way. 
 Catullus, Ixii. 34, describes the 
 evening star as returning next morn- 
 ing, ' mutato nomine ; ' Horace, 
 Od. II. ix. 10, measures a night's 
 duration by the rising and setting of 
 Hesperus ; aaid Virgil, Eel. viii. 
 17 and 30, makes Lucifer and Hes- 
 perus appear during the same day. 
 Moreover, the present passage is 
 evidently copied from Virg.^«. viii. 
 589, ' Qualis ubi Oceani perfiisus 
 Lucifer unda, &c.,' compared with 
 the original in Horn. //. v. 6, thus 
 
 translated by Lord Derby : — 
 
 ' like autumn's star, that 
 brightest shines 
 When newly risen from his ocean 
 bath.' 
 
 Compare also the closely similar 
 language in Giles Fletcher's Christ s 
 Triumph after Death, II. 89 foil. — 
 
 ' So fairest Phosphor, the bright 
 
 moming-star. 
 But newly washed in the green 
 
 element. 
 Before the drowsy night is half 
 
 aware, 
 Shooting his flaming locks with 
 
 dew besprent. 
 Springs lively up into the orient.' 
 
 169 anon] =in one (moment), 
 immediately. The word is com- 
 mon in Shakspere ; see Especially 
 the scene at the Boar's Head Ta- 
 vern, I Hen. IV. ii. 4. It occurs 
 twice only in the authorised version 
 of the Bible, Matt. xiii. 20, Mark 
 
 i- 3°- 
 
 repairs] 'refreshes,' from repa- 
 rare, to get n fr2sh supply in place 
 of what is lost or damaged. Hor. 
 Od. IV. vii. 13, 'Damna tamen 
 celeres ?-^a?'a«^caelestia lunae.' The 
 line in Gray's Bard, I. 137 (of the 
 sun), 'to-morrow he repairs his 
 golden flood,' quoted by Warton, 
 is probably a reminiscence of Milton. 
 
 170 tricks] sets in order, adorns. 
 Cf. // Penseroso, 123 ; Shaksp. 
 Merry W. of Windsor, iv. 4, ' trick- 
 ings for our fairies.' Todd on // 
 Pens. I. c. quotes from Sandys' 
 Travels, B. i. (of a Turkish bride), 
 ' they trick her in her richest or- 
 naments.' (On the etymology and 
 
86 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 ^■ 
 
 Flames in the forehead of themoming sky : / 
 
 So Lycldas sunkjbw^but mountedSgh^^ ^ 
 
 ThroiSgr die-deai-mig]lt of Him fhat walked the waves, 
 Where, other groves and other streams along, 
 With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves. 
 
 j^X^ 
 
 175 
 
 senses of the word see Appen- 
 dix I.) 
 
 spangled] from Gaelic sfang, a 
 metal plate. Cf, Spenser, F. Q. 
 IV. xi. 45, 'glittering spangs.' It 
 is rather a favourite word with 
 Milton (P. L. vii. 384, Od. Nat. 
 21, Psalm cxxxvi. 35, &c.); like 
 tinsel (Comus, 877) and others, it has 
 now lost somewhat of its dignity. 
 See Trench, Study of Words, p. 52 ; 
 Eng. Past and Present, p. 130. 
 ' Spangled heavens ' occurs in Addi- 
 son's well-known paraphrase of the 
 , 19th Psalm. 
 
 ore] =' golden radiance,' as in 
 Keats' Endymion, B. ii., 'a golden 
 splendour with quivering ore.'' For 
 ' ore ' in the distinctive sense of 
 ' gold ' (probably owing to an erro- 
 neous derivation from auruTri) cf 
 Conms, 932 ; Shaksp. Hamlet, iv. 
 I, 'like some ore among a mineral 
 of metals base.' It is applied to 
 other metals, iron or copper, in 
 P. L. xi. 570. The word properly 
 signifies a veiii of metal in the mine 
 (Dutch aare, G. ader). P. Fletcher, 
 Purple Island, ix.251, has the line — 
 ' And round about was writ in 
 golden ore,'' 
 
 171] Crashaw, Weeper, st. 2, 
 ' Whatever makes Heaven's fore- 
 head fine.' Tennyson, Pelleas and 
 Etarre, ' the virgin forehead of the 
 dawn.' Cf. 'the eyelids of the 
 day,' supr. /. 26, and see note 
 there. 
 
 173] See Malth. xiv. 22-23. 
 Warton aptly observes that this is 
 'a designation of our Saviour by 
 a miracle which bears an immediate 
 reference to the subject of the poem.' 
 
 174 other giroves, &c.] i.e. in 
 another and a better world. Todd 
 comp. Drummond's Maliades, I. 
 17s— 
 
 ' other hills and forrests, other 
 towers. 
 Amazed thou find'st excelling our 
 poor bowers.' 
 
 Cf. Italian poems, Canzotie, I. 8, 
 '■altri rivi, altri]l&\ t' aspettan, &c., 
 i. e. the streams and shores of his 
 native land, as contrasted with those 
 of Italy. 
 
 along] = beside, amidst, without 
 the usual idea of motion. So in the 
 Circumcision Ode, I. 4, ' sung your 
 joy the clouds along. ' 
 
 175] Cf. Ode on Fair Infant, 49, 
 'thy nectared head.' Nectar with 
 ambrosia is said to have been used 
 by way of ablution to preserve im- 
 mortality, as well as for the food 
 and drink of the gods. Horn. //. 
 xiv. 1 70 ; xix. 39. In Comus, 836 
 foil., the deification of Sabrina is 
 effected by ' nectared- lavers ' and 
 'ambrosial oils.' 
 
 oozy locks] Since ' ooze ' pro- 
 perly means moisture of any kind 
 (O.E. ivos, 'juice'), it would be 
 possible to understand ' oozy ' of the 
 effect of the nectar, according to 
 the common classical figure called 
 prolepsis ; like Virgil's ' spicula 
 lucida tergunt,' i.e. 'they scour 
 their lances so as to make than 
 bright.' But as the word is gene- 
 rally, if not invariably, used of 
 slime or mud, it probably here re- 
 fers to the sea water which is washed 
 away by the nectar, and may be 
 compared with Horn. //. xiv. /. c. 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 87 
 
 And hearsthejinexpressive nuptial song, 
 Tn theJjkst-yngdomilmieFof joy~^d love. 
 There entertain him all the saints ^oveT ) 
 In solemn troops and sweet societies, 
 That sing, and singing in their glory move, 
 And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes. 
 Now, Lycidas, the s hepherd s weep no more ; 
 Henceforth thou art the Geniui of TEe" shore. 
 
 180 
 
 
 AtJ/uara ircicTO Ka6^f>Ei'. Cf. Pope, 
 Odyssey, iv. 543, ' His oozy 
 limbs.' 
 
 176 and hears] originally ' list'n- 
 ing,' with an ellipse of the preposi- 
 tion, common in Elizabethan writers. 
 Cf. Shaksp. Macbeth, ii. 2, 'listen- 
 ing their fear. ' 
 
 unezpressive] not to be express- 
 ed, ' inenarrabile carmen, ' Od. Ad 
 Patrem, 37. Cf. Od. Nat. 116. 
 Shakspere has 'plausive,' 'insup- 
 pressive,' 'directive,' &c., used 
 passively for ' plausible,' &c. New- 
 ton instances ' the unexpressive 
 she' {As You Like It, m. 2). The 
 grammatical terms ' derivative,' 
 'adjective,' &c., are also cases in 
 point. For the ' nuptial song ' 
 Newton refers to Rev. xiv. 3, 4 ; 
 the reference should rather be Rev. 
 xix. 6, 7, the>'Song at ' the marriage 
 supper of the Lamb. ' 
 
 177] This line was omitted, pro- 
 bably by a printer's error, in the 
 edition of 1638 ; it is inserted in 
 Milton's handwriting in his own 
 copy of that edition, preserved' in 
 the Cambridge University Library. 
 'Meek,' i.e. peaceful, is a sflitablc 
 epithet of ' kingdoms,' and need not, 
 as Thyer supposes, be referred by 
 transposition to ' joy and love.' 
 Nor is this interpretation supported 
 by the passage which Newton quotes 
 from P. L. ix. 318, where the epi- 
 thet 'domestic' belongs quite natu- 
 rally to Adam as a loving spouse, 
 
 and does not require to be taken 
 with ' care.' 
 
 178] Warlon's remark that 'even 
 here Milton does not make Lycidas 
 an angel,' ought not to have been 
 used by way of argument in support 
 of his explanation of /. 163. One 
 of Drummond's elegies is addressed 
 'to the Angel Spirit of the most 
 excellent Sir Philip Sidney,' and 
 the expression is amply justified by 
 popular usage. 
 
 179] There is no necessary allu- 
 sion in this line to the 'angelick 
 system,' which is set forth with 
 some minuteness in the Reason of 
 Church Gauernmeni, B. I. c. i. 
 (cf P. L. V. 601 ; xi. 80), as 
 ' saints ' and not angels are here 
 specified. The Christian doctrine 
 of the Communion of Saints needs 
 no illustration. 
 
 181] Rev. vii. 17 ; xxi. 4 ; Isai. 
 XXV. 8, where the act is attributed 
 to God Himself 
 
 183] See quotation from San- 
 nazaro on /. 1 63, and cf Blacklock's 
 Monody, Philantlies : — 
 
 ' Still he, the genius of our green 
 retreat. 
 Shall with benignant care our 
 labour cheer.' 
 
 Many will agree with Todd in wish- 
 ing that ' after the sublime intima- 
 tion of angels wiping the tears from 
 the eyes of Lycidas [he] had not 
 been converted into the classical 
 
88 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 In thy large recompense, and shalt be good 
 
 To all that wander in that perilous flood. 
 
 // Thus sang the uncoutl) swain to the oaks and rills, 
 
 185 
 
 incoutl) 
 
 Genius of the shore.' For although 
 the individual Genius is a concep- 
 tion in many points similar to that 
 of the guardian angel, the Genius 
 Iqfii can have no counterpart in 
 modern rel'gious belief, being a 
 product of that localising tendency 
 of Pagan theology which it viras one 
 special aim of Christianity to abolish 
 (John iv. 21 foil. ). The mention of 
 him here serves, somewhat inartis- 
 tically, to mark a return to the 
 pastoral form in which the poem i$ 
 chiefly set. Newton supposes an 
 allusion to the story of Melicerta, 
 told in the 6th book of Ovid's 
 Fasti, and referred to by Virgil, 
 Georg. i. 436 ; but the language in 
 the text is perhaps hardly definite 
 enough to make this reference cer- 
 tain. 
 
 184 in thy large recompense] 
 i.e. 'by way of ample requital to 
 thee (for thy sufferings).' The 
 phrase is doubtful English, but it 
 represents such Greek forms of ex- 
 pression as b trhs iriSoi = ' regret 
 for thee,' where the possessive 
 stands for an oblique case of the 
 personal pronoun. See note on /. 
 166. 
 
 shalt be good, &c.] Thyer com- 
 pares Virg. £cl. V. 64, ' Sis bonus 
 o, felixque tuis,' addressed to the 
 deified Daphnis. 
 
 185 perilous] pronounced as a. 
 dissyllable everywhere in Milton, 
 except in P. L. ii. 420. Of. Spen- 
 ser, F. Q. II. vi. 38, 'that perlous 
 shard ; ' Keats, Endymion, bk. ill., 
 ' in peHlous bustle.' Hence the 
 colloquial form 'parlous,' Shaksp. 
 Mids. N. Dream, iii. I, 'a parlous 
 fear,' especially in the sense of 
 alarmingly clever, ' a parlous boy,' 
 A'. /?ieA. III. ii. 4. 
 
 
 1 86- 1 94] 'The shepherd elegi- 
 ast, who has not yet been formally 
 introduced, is now set before us 
 among his oaks and rills' (Scott, 
 Critical Essays). Keightley, in his 
 Life and Opinions of Milton, ob- 
 serves that these last eight lines 
 form a perfect stanza in ottava rima, 
 which is imitated by Mason in his 
 
 MilStBUS. 
 
 186 uncouth] It is doubtful 
 whether this word is to be taken in 
 its literal sense of ' unknown ' (O.E. 
 t!<S, p. part, of cunnan), or in the 
 usual modem acceptation of ' rude,' 
 'uncultivated.' The former would 
 be a natural expression of a yotmg 
 poet just entering upon a career of 
 fame (cf. /. 3 and note), but Milton 
 does not seem to have vised the 
 term elsewhere of persons with this 
 meaning. In P. L. iL 407 Satan's 
 journey towards this world is called 
 'his uncouth way,' and in vi. 361 
 'uncouth pain' means 'unusual.' 
 Cf. Spenser, F. Q. I. xi. 20. In 
 P. L. V. 98, and probably in V Al- 
 legro, 5, this sense is combined 
 with the secondary one of ' hideous,' 
 to which the transition is complete 
 in S. A. 333, where Manoah speaks 
 of the prison at Gaza as ' this un- 
 couth place.' The modern applica- 
 tion to manners, from the idea of 
 'strange' or 'out of place,' is ob- 
 vious and easy (see note on ' quaint,' 
 /. 139). This and the following 
 lines are thtis imitated by M. Bruce 
 in his Daphnis : — 
 
 ' A homely swain tending his little 
 
 flock, 
 Rude, yet a lover of the Muses' 
 
 lore. 
 Chanted his Doric strain till close 
 
 of day.' 
 
LYCIDAS. 
 
 89 
 
 While the still Morn went out with sandals gray ; 
 He touched the tender stops of various quills, 
 With eager thought warbling his Doric lay ; ]i^,A- 
 And now the sun had stretcht out all the hills, ~> 
 And now was dropped into the western bay. / 
 At last he rose, and twitcht his mantle blue ; r' 
 To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new. J 
 
 187] Cf. P. R. iv. 426 :— 
 
 ' till morning fair 
 Went forth with pilgrim steps in 
 amice gray. 
 
 188] A 'stop 'is properly tliat 
 which covers the ventholes in a 
 flute or similar wind instrument ; 
 hence it is applied to the holes 
 themselves. The best illustration is 
 that quoted by Warton from Ham- 
 let, iii. 2 : — ' Govern these vent- 
 ages vrith your fingers and thumb. 
 . . . Look you, these are the stops' 
 Cf. Comus, 346, whence Collins 
 took his 'oaten stop or pastoral 
 song,' Ode to Evening, I. I. The 
 stops of an organ are only a more 
 elaborate contrivance for applying 
 the same principle to a number of 
 pipes together ; these are mentioned 
 in P. L. xi. 561. 
 
 various quills] in allusion to the 
 varied strains of the elegy (at //. 
 76, 88, 113, 132, 16s). This al- 
 most amounts to a recognition on 
 the part of the poet of the irregula- 
 rity of style, the mixture of different 
 and even opposing themes, which 
 some have censured as a defect. 
 ' Quill ' (L. calamus, G. kiel) is lite- 
 rally a reed-pipe. So Spenser, Eel. 
 vi. 67, speaks of the ' homely shep- 
 herd's quill ; Collins, Superstitions 
 of the Highlands, ' thy Doric quill ; ' 
 Fletcher, Purple Island, xi. 10, 
 ' my oaten quill.' Johnson explains 
 it of the plectrum with which the 
 strings of the lyre were struck, in- 
 
 stancing Dryden's Virg. jSn. vi. 
 646, 'his harmonious quill strikes 
 seven distinguished notes ' ( 'pectine 
 pulsat eburno ') ; but this is not the 
 usual sense of the word. 
 
 189 Doric lay] Aiupls aoiSei,. Mos- 
 chus, Epit. Bionis, 12, which is said 
 to have perished with Bion. Here 
 it stands for pastoral poetry, in re- 
 ference to Theocritus (see on //. 
 8S>.I33)> not, as Newton supposes, 
 to archaisms of language, which are 
 not so frequent in this poem as to 
 justify his remark quoted above on 
 /. 4. 
 
 190 stretcht out, &c.] Milton 
 has here added something of his 
 own to the Virgilian picture in Eel. 
 i. 84, 'majoresque cadunt altis de 
 montibus umbrfe. ' 
 
 192 twitcht] i.e. snatched up from 
 where it lay beside him, Koavfov 
 5' a^ap i\\a$ev cT/iio (Plumptre's 
 Translation). Or, according to 
 Keightley, 'drew tightly about him 
 on account of the chillness of the 
 evening.' In any case the word 
 expresses haste, as if the setting sun 
 had surprised him while ' eager ' in 
 bis singing. 
 
 blue] the colour of a shepherd's 
 dress, and the poet impersonates a 
 shepherd (Hales, Longer English 
 Poems). It is not probable that 
 Milton meant anything more than 
 this, though other explanations, 
 mjre or less fanciful, have been 
 offered. 
 
 193] Newton comp. Fletcher, 
 
90 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 J'ui-pk Island, vi. 538, ' to-morrow 
 shall ye feast inpasiures new.' Pro- 
 fessor Masson observes that this is 
 ' a parting irltimation that the ima- 
 ginary shepherd is Milton himself, 
 and that the poem is a tribute to his 
 dead friend rendered passingly in 
 the midst of other occupations ' 
 (see note on /. i ). It is better to 
 refer these words to the projected 
 Italian tour, with which his mind 
 must now have been occupied, than 
 to any political intentions at this 
 time. Milton could not have fore- 
 
 seen the events of the next few 
 years ; and we know that the com- 
 motions which began in 1638-9 
 recalled him suddenly from abroad, 
 where he had meant to stay for 
 some time longer, and that the 
 whole complexion of his future life 
 was determined by them. It 
 should be remembered that the 
 next poem of any importance which 
 he wrote was the Paradise Lost, 
 begim probably in or about 1658, 
 some two years before the Restora- 
 tion. 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 
 On the Etymology of some Words in the ' Lycidas.' 
 
 Eime (/. ii). It is, or ought to be, now generally known that the 
 common spelling of this word {rhyme) owes its origin to a pedantic 
 formation from pvBiwt;, made by those who claimed for it a Greek 
 derivation, but that it is really the O.E. rtm,'' ' numhex,' H.G. 
 reim, Dutch rijm, , &c., and that the true orthography is rime. 
 Dr. Latham, in his new edition of Johnson's Dictionary, makes it 
 a main ground of objection to this statement, that the Teutonic 
 forms themselves may have been originally connected with pcH/xoi — 
 a question . obviously irrelevant to the matter in hand, which is 
 simply to discover hoiv and whence the word first' came into our 
 language. Nor is this a difficult task, since the older authorities 
 all combine to prove that it was an English word from the first ; 
 for instance, in Havelok, the Onnulum, Shoreham, Hoccleve, and 
 Horn (see Stratmann's Old English Dictionary), the spelling is always 
 rlM ox riiiu. We find indeed in Chaucei", Spenser, &c., a variant 
 form ryme, but this is really of no importance, since i and y were 
 constantly interchanged, as fire and fyre, time and tyme, &c. ; and 
 ryme may have been so spelt for the special reason of distinguish- 
 ing it from rime, 'hoar-frost.' This evidence from the earlier 
 orthography ought to be decisive ; since an examination of the 
 meaning and uses of the word leads to no certain conclusion either 
 way. We know that it was at first a general term for 'verse ? (as 
 in the present line), and that after the introduction of blank verse 
 in the i6th' century it was applied to 'rhyming' poetry for the 
 sake of distinction. But this general primary sense would be com- 
 patible either with a derivation from pvO/ios or with one from 
 rtm, since in both words the ' measured intervals ' (numeri) of the 
 verse form the leading idea. I. had been unable to discover the 
 exact date of the introduction of the A into the word rhyme, but 
 
92 LYCIDAS. 
 
 since writing the first draft of this note my attention has been 
 directed to a letter from Mr. F. J. Fumivall in Notes and Queries, 
 Nov. 29, 1873, in which he cites aUne from Daniel in IS9S) ' Raihng 
 rhymes were sowed,' as the earliest instance of the false mode of 
 spelling. If this be so, the case is complete in favour of rime (or 
 ryme), and no one ought to hesitate about writing the word ' in one 
 or other of these two ways. Another argument against the deriva- 
 tion from puB/iot; is the parallel case of the Italian rima, which, like 
 rime, meant poetry in general. Cf. Ariosto, Orl. Fur. I. ii., ' cosa 
 non detta in prosa mai ne in rima^ whence Milton took his Une 
 P. L. i. 16. This, Diez truly observes, could never have come from 
 phejioc, though he is wrong when he goes on to say that the Italian 
 equivalent musi be ' rimmo ' or ' remmo,' because, as a matter of 
 fact, it happens to be 'ritmo.' But when H. Wedgwood (Vict. 
 Etym. s. V. Ehyme) objects to the former assertion of Diez on ac- 
 count of the analogy of the French rime from the older form 
 rithme, he seems to overlook an important difference between the 
 two languages in their respective methods of derivation from the 
 Latin. When the original word has two consonants coming 
 together in successive syllables, the Italian either retains the first 
 (changing aspirates to mutes), as in ritmo, atmosfera, &c., or else 
 assimilates it to the second, as in ammirare from admirare, &c. ; 
 while in modem French the former consonant usually disappears 
 with compensation, as in route, soumis, avocat (true French avmie), 
 from rupta, submissus, advocatus. Hence rhythmus would natu- 
 rally pass through rithme into rim.e, whereas in Italian it could only 
 produce ritmo (or else rimmo or remmo), but not rimo, still less 
 rima. There is, however, no reason for doubting that both rima 
 and the French rime are cognate with the Teutonic forms rtni, 
 reim, &c., above mentioned. 
 
 Guerdon (/. 73). The received etymology of this word is the 
 O.H.G. widarlSn, O.E.. wi'&erlean, which became in Low Latin 
 ividerdonum, by association with donum, ' a gift,^ since the word 
 originally meant ' a reward in return for services.' Burguy, in his 
 Grammaire de la Langue d'Oil, gives the various forms gueredon, 
 geredon, werdon., and werredon, also the verbs guerredoner and 
 re-werdoner ; and quotes a sentence from the Sermons of S. Ber- 
 nard, 'Li granz rewerdoneres est venuz,' i.e. 'Le grand remunirateur 
 est venu.' Another derivation, at first sight very plausible, is given 
 by Manage, who refers the origin of the word to the Old German 
 Werdung, which took the form Werdunia in Low Latin, and meant 
 
APPENDIX I. 9,3 
 
 preHi cestimatio. The existence of this latter word is shown by a 
 passage which he quotes from Vossius, De Vitiis Sermonis Latini 
 (B. ii. c. 20), where instances occur both of Werdunia and of a 
 compound Cinewerdunia, which Ducange also gives in his Glossary, 
 though Werdunia itself is not to be found there. The first part of 
 this compound is of doubtful import and derivation. Chevallet has 
 suggested what is really the same etymology, for he Atx\v^% guerdon 
 from Werd (Modern German WertK), meaning ' price ' or ' value ; ' 
 but this is rejected by Scheler {Diet, d^ Etymologic Frangaise, 
 1863), who pronounces the derivation from widarUn to be 'au- 
 dessus de toute contestation.' It is true that guerdon might come 
 from Werdung according to the rule by which the letter w was 
 regularly replaced by g or gu in those Teutonic words which the 
 Franks introduced into Gaul (see Max Muller, Lectures on the 
 Science of Language, 2nd Series, p. 265) ; but by the same rule it 
 might ^equally well be derived from widarldn, and that it was so 
 derived seems to be a well-established historical fact. The really 
 fatal objection to M&age's theory is the existence of the Italian 
 word guiderdone, which could not possibly have had its origin in 
 Werdung, though it would naturally be produced from widarldn 
 by the change of w into gu above mentioned. The older spelling 
 guerre-don no doubt arose from the idea that the term had some- 
 thing to do with remuneration for service in war. 
 
 Felon (/. 91). The derivation from fell, mentioned in the note, 
 is by no means proved. The word may be connected with the 
 Gaelic y&a//, ' deceit,' for examples of -which see H. Wedgwood's 
 Diet, of Etymology, s. v. felon. Du Cange indeed says that ^felo ' = 
 ' perfidus,' ' rebellis, ' crudelis,' &c., from A.S. fell ; and Chaucer, in 
 the Homatmt of the Rose, takes pains to establish this connexion in 
 the lines — ' Daunger that is sofeloun Felly purposeth thee to werrey, 
 which is full cruel, the sooth to say.' Cf. Lyndsay, Monarchic, 
 'that felloun flood;' Pope, Odyssey, iv. 712, 'his felon hate.' From 
 this general sense of ' wickedness,' y^/uwy became a recognised legal 
 term for the higher class of crimes ; and since such were formerly 
 punished by the forfeiture of lands and goods,fclon was erroneously 
 supposed to be a compound of fee and Ion, i.e. the price of a feof 
 or beneficiary estate (Spelman in Blackstone's Commentary). The 
 Italian_/%^(7 and the French ^&, ' cruel,' are perhaps traceable to 
 the same root. 
 
 Wanton (/. 136). Authorities differ as to the origin of this 
 word. H. Wedgwood {Diet, of Etymology, s. v.) considers it to be 
 
94 LYCIDAS. 
 
 a compound of the O.E. negative prefix wan (as in ■wan-hope = 
 ' despair ') and togen, the past part, of teon (G. Ziehen), ' to draw.' 
 Its meaning would therefore be ' untrained,' and hence ' irregular 
 in conduct.' This derivation is clearly proved by the existence 
 of an intermediate form wantowen, of which Wedgwood quotes an 
 instance from a Sermon on Miracle Plays — ' We waxen wanWwen 
 or idil.' He also notes the expressions 'untowen,' 'wel itowen,' 
 'ful itowen,' in the Ancren Riwle, a treatise of the 13th century 
 on the Rules of Monastic Life. (But the meaning of the last word 
 is not, as he gives it, ' fully educated,' but ' undisciplined ' or ' ill- 
 educated,' from the O.E. _/^/ = 'foul.' See the Ancren Riwle, 
 edited by the Rev. J. Morton for the Camden Society, pp. 108, 
 140, 244, 368.) [An alternative derivation is that given by Webster 
 and others, 'from a Welsh adjective gwantan, 'roving,' 'fickle,' 
 which is referred to the verb gwanta, 'to separate' (probably 
 cognate with chwant, 'lust,' Greek xa''^<», Lat. hi-o, hisco, &c.). 
 The precise similarity both in form and meaning between gwantan 
 and wanton would no doubt go very far towards establishing a 
 common origin ; we cannot, however, certainly say which i^ the 
 older of the two, and it is more than probable that the Welsh may 
 have borrowed the word from our language. But supposing that 
 gwantan was the earlier form, and that from it wanton was derived, 
 its resemblance to the real English word wantowen might very 
 well give rise to the theory which Wedgwood adopts, especially if 
 at any time after its introduction wanton came to be spelt wantoun 
 or wantown.'] AU this, however, is purely hypothetical ; the history 
 of the word, as traced by Wedgwood, is quite conclusive in favour, 
 of the first-named derivation. Notwithstanding, Edward MiiUer 
 in his Etymologisches Worterbuch der englischen Sprache (1867), 
 accepts the theory propounded by Webster. 
 
 Herse (/. 151). This word was employed in three distinct 
 senses, of which the last now alone remains in use. These are 
 (i) the /«««ra/ W20««?«««^ (Spenser, F. Q. 11. viii. 16); {^ih.t coffin, 
 as in Shaksp. I K. Henry VI. i. i, where 'a wooden coffin' is 
 presently spoken of as 'King Henry's hearse;' (3) the funeral 
 carriage. Richardson, wrongly supposing this last to be the 
 primary meaning, derives the word from the O.E. kyrsfan, 'to 
 decorate ' (see also Home Tooke's Diversions of Purley). It really 
 comes from the French herce. Low Latin hercia Qiirpicefn), ' a 
 harrow' (Ducange, Glossary, s.v.), and originally meant a tri- 
 angular frame for candles, placed at the head of the corpse. Thus 
 
APPENDIX I. 95 
 
 in the account of the battle of Crecy in Froissart's Chronicles, 
 c. 130 (Lord Berners' translation), we are told that 'the archers 
 stode in maner of a herse,' i.e. in triangular form. And since 
 this burning of candles was the distinctive feature in the obsequies, 
 the term ' hearse ' came to be used either of the whole ceremony or 
 of its various appurtenances (Wedgwood, Diet, of Etymol. s. v.). 
 In the Faery Queen, in. ii. 48, Spenser has wrongly applied the 
 phrase 'holy herse' to the church service, as if the word were 
 connected with 'rehearse;' and perhaps the same mistake is made 
 in the Shepheard's Calendar, xi. 60, where 'herse' is explained in 
 the glossary to mean ' the solemn obsequie in funeralles.' 
 
 Trick (/. 170). The main senses of this word (as noun and 
 verb) are — (i ) Artifice, (2) Peculiar habit or manner {King Lear, iv. 6, 
 'The trick of that voice I do well remember'), (3) Ornament (// 
 Penseroso, \22,; Shakspeie, King Henry K iii. 6,' trick up with new- 
 tuned oaths;' Merry W. of Windsor, 'trickings for our fairies'), 
 (4) Heraldic devices (Jonson, Poetaster, ' they are blazoned, they 
 are tricked'), (5) Collection of cards taken up by the winner. All 
 these find a common origin in the Dutch trek, a ' draught,' ' pull,' 
 or ' stroke,' which answers to our word ' draw' in all its senses, and 
 has also the secondary meanings of ' deceit,' and of a 'feature' of 
 the face or character. (Cf. trait from iractus, which means in 
 French both 'feature' and 'trick.' Faire des traits =faire des tpurs.) 
 To the same root trek Diez refers tricher (It. treccare), ' to cheat,' 
 though he derives in-triguer, trigaud, &c., from the Latin verb 
 tricari. This is unquestionably right, although at first sight 
 tricher, with its cognate triquer, might seem a natural formation 
 from tricari, like miche from mica, indiquer from indicare, &c. 
 But, as Diez observes, the radical e in the older form trecher is 
 fatal to such a derivation, and the Teutonic origin of tricher may 
 therefore be considered as established. There cannot be any con- 
 nexion (however remote) between the Latin tricari and the root 
 we have been considering; since we know that the former is 
 derived from tricce, originally Tricae, a small town in Apulia, whose 
 name with that of the neighbouring Apinas came to be used of 
 anything trifling or insignificant. (Cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist. iii. 16; 
 Martial, Ep}gr. Xiv. i. 7, ' Sunt apinse tricaeque et si quid villus 
 istis;' 'E.ra.sm.us, Chiliad. Cent. 2, Adag. 43, 'Tricas et Apinas 
 vulgo res futiles et nugatorias dicebant.') Thus Cicero {adAtticitm, 
 X. viii. 9) contrasts 'domesticas tricas' with 'publicam cladem.' 
 Hence tricari was applied to shuffling and petty meanness of con- 
 
96 LYCIDAS. 
 
 duct (Cic. adAtt. xiv. xix. 4 ; xv. iii. 5), a sense which is accidentally 
 almost the same with that of tricher and treccare. This may be 
 noted as one of those curious coincidences, by which words without 
 any etymological connexion obtain in different languages a similar 
 form and meaning. A further illustration of this is seen in the 
 German triigen {friegen), ' to deceive,' regarded as a collateral form 
 of tragen, and thus connected with traho, draw, drag, &c. Another 
 meaning of trica (that of ' perplexity' or ' entanglement') seems to 
 have produced the later Latin tricare, 'to loiter;' and this was 
 absurdly derived from irica (flpi'J), 'a knot of hair/ for a full 
 account of which see Ducange, Glossarium, s. v. trica. This verb 
 also meant 'to deceive,' whence came tricatores = ' Atcfptores, Cjm 
 res impediunt vel implicant.' 
 
 We may therefore assume irek to be the original of trick in all 
 its senses, as well as of tricher and treccare ; it only remains to 
 reject the derivation given by Dr. Johnson and Richardson of trick, 
 in the sense of ornament, from the trica above referred to, since 
 the idea of ornament springs most naturally from that of delineation, 
 especially when used of heraldic devices (see No. 4 supra). The 
 only, instance given of the word as actually meaning ' a knot of 
 hair' is from Jonson's Poetaster, ' your court curls or your tricks ;' 
 but this need not be anything more than a general term for 'orna- 
 ment.' (See the quotation from Sandys' Travels, given in the note 
 upon /. 170.) 
 
APPENDIX II. 
 
 On the allusions in II. 128, 129. 
 
 Thosk who have read Professor Masson's examination of this 
 passage in his Life of Milton (vol. i. p. 641 foil.) will hardly fail to 
 agree with him in interpreting the ' grim wolf' to mean that system 
 of perversion to Romanism, which seems to have reached its height 
 in or about the year 1637. The view partially adopted by Newton, 
 that the Primate is the person here intended, might seem at first 
 sight to be supported by an entry in Laud's diary, to the effeot 
 that in July 1637 a libel was pasted on the Cross at Cheapside, 
 designatingKiin ' the arch- wolf of Canterbury.' But so common an 
 expression as this is barely sufficient of itself to enable us to draw a 
 positive conclusion, while the language which Milton here employs 
 respecting the ' wolf presents at least a twofold objection to such 
 an interpretation. First, the evil is clearly an external one, being 
 distinguished from the abuses previously mentioned as existing 
 within the fold — the word ' besides ' indicates this — and secondly, 
 the expression 'privy paw,' denoting secresy, would be a most 
 unfit one, if it were intended to describe the doings of Laud and the 
 High Commission Court, whose attacks on Nonconformity were 
 open and undisguised ; nor was there perhaps any character more 
 prominent at this time than that of the Archbishop. Both the 
 required conditions are satisfied, if we adopt Newton's alternative 
 explanation, ' besides what the Popish priests privately pervert to 
 their religion,' in support of which view Masson in his Life of 
 Milton brings' forward the instances of Sir Toby Matthews, Sir 
 Kenelm Digby and others, who had been most active in this , 
 matter for some years before the publication of Lycidas. He goes 
 on to show that Laud himself strongly disapproved of these per- 
 versions, as appears from his letter of remonstrance to Sir K. 
 Digby (March 27, 1636) upon his change of religion, and from his 
 
 H 
 
98 LYCIDAS. 
 
 strict injunctions to Dr. Bayly, Vice-chancellor of Oxford (Aug. 29, 
 1637), to take strong measures against the Jesuits, who were 
 seducing the students in that University. It may have been the case 
 that ' as he valued his theory of a possible union of the churches, 
 the floating off of atoms vexed and annoyed him' (Masson /. c.) ; 
 but even the fact that he did desire such a union is mainly sup- 
 ported by the assertion of Montague, Bp. of Chichester, to Panzani, 
 a Papal agent sent to decide certain disputes among the English 
 Catholics, but with special instructions not to have any dealings 
 whatever with Laud (Lingard, I/>'s(. of England, vol. vii. c. 5). 
 Taken in connexion with this injunction, the circumstances attend- 
 ing the offer of a cardinal's hat made to Laud a short time before, 
 and rejected by him on the ground of dissatisfaction with Rome 
 'as it then was' {Diary, Aug. 4, 1633), serve to show that the 
 distrust between the two parties was at least mutual; for it is 
 certain that this offer was made without cognisance of the Pope, 
 who even refused to ratify it when the request to do so was laid 
 before him. We know also that the news of Laud's death in 1646 
 was hailed at Rome with great rejoicing, on the ground that ' the 
 greatest enemy of the Church of Rome in England was cut off, and 
 the greatest champion of the Church of England silenced.' (Tes- 
 timony of Sir Lionel Tolmache, as reported by the Rev. J. Whiston, 
 his chaplain about 1666). All this agrees very well with Laud's 
 own assertions in answer to the charges brought against him by 
 the Puritans in 1640, ' that he hath traytorously endeavoured to re- 
 concile the Church of England with the Church of Rome, and per- 
 mitted a Popish hierarchy in this kingdom, &c.' To this he replies, 
 ' I did never desire that England and Rome should meet, but with 
 the forsaking of error and superstition, if some tenets of Rome on 
 one side and some deep disaffections on the other have not made 
 this impossible, as I much doubt they have. But that I should 
 practise with Rome as it now stands is utterly untrue. Secondly, I 
 have hindered as many from going to the Roman party, as any divine 
 in England hath done. (Twenty-two names are here quoted, many 
 of whom are of high rank and quality.) Thirdly, many Recusants 
 think that / have doTie them and their cause more harm than they 
 which have seemed more fierce against them' The obvious fact is 
 that the vital differences between the religious theory of Laud and 
 that of the Roman Church, patent to either party and too great to 
 allow the possibility of a union, were ignored by the Puritans in their 
 zeal against the Laudian movement, which they either did not care to 
 
APPENDIX II. 99 
 
 distinguish from actual Popery, or considered as even something 
 worse. (See speech of Lord Falkland, Feb. 9, 1641.) Nor is it 
 likely that Milton, young as he was at this time, surrounded by 
 Puritan influences, and having a strong natural bias in the same 
 direction, would be enabled to form a juster estimate of the facts 
 than the rest of his party did ; it is therefore quite likely that he 
 may have wished to include Laud among even the foremost of the 
 Romanisers in the Church of England, though we deny that the 
 allusion in the present passage is directly or exclusively intended 
 for him. 
 
 The expression ' nothing said' (altered from 'little said ' of the 
 first draft) is plainly an imputation upon the Court and hierarchy 
 for their remissness in dealing with the evil we have just been con- 
 sidering. As regards the latter, if we take Laud as its represen- 
 tative, it is probable (to quote again from Professor Masson) that 
 'the Puritans, not knowing his measures [against the Catholic 
 agents], or not thinking them enough, found in the increasing 
 number of perversions a fresh condemnation of him and his ad- 
 herents.' But the policy of Charles I. towards the Papists was by 
 no means uniform. His treaty of marriage with the Princess 
 Henrietta in 1624 had contained a promise of immunity to the 
 Catholics for the peaceable exercise of their worship, though he 
 had sworn in conjunction with his father a few months before, tiiat 
 in case of his marriage with a Catholic the said immunity should 
 extend only to herself and her own family. In 1629 he adopted 
 a middle course, exempting them from the extreme penalties of 
 recusancy in respect of fines for non-attendance at the services of 
 the established Church, yet not allowing them absolute freedom in 
 their own religious worship ; and even this concession was loudly 
 reprobated by the Puritans. At the present time (1637) the queen's 
 private influence was considerable. By the strenuous efforts of 
 Con, the successor of Panzani, she had been induced to take a 
 warm interest in the work of individual proselytisra, which had 
 superseded the former scheme of reunion of the Churches, and the 
 autumn of this year was marked by a large accession of perverts 
 to Rome. On the whole therefore we may conclude that Milton's 
 words little (or nothing) said are a rather moderate statement 
 of the real grievance, and one with which the Puritans generally 
 would by no means have contented themselves. 
 
 Warton is surprised that the University should have allowed 
 these lines, and that they should have escaped ' the severest anim- 
 
 H 2 
 
100. LYCIDAS. 
 
 adversions' from the High Court of Commission and the Star 
 Chamber. But there had long been a decided Puritan element 
 at Cambridge, the leading man at the time of Charles' accession 
 being Dr. Preston, Master of Emanuel, 'the greatest pupil-monger 
 in England' according to Fuller, formerly a favourite with the 
 Duke of Buckingham, and one of the king's chaplains (Masson, 
 vol. i. p. 94). As to the civil and spiritual tribunals, perhaps 
 Milton was then too obscure to demand their notice ; we know at 
 least that he afterwards managed to escape the fate which befell 
 others of his party, and that even after the Restoration in 1660 he 
 was included in the Act of Indemnity, and was released after three 
 days' imprisonment, although his Eiconoclastes and Defensio Populi 
 Anglicani were ordered to be burnt 
 
TRANSLATION OF LYCIDAS INTO LATIN 
 HEXAMETERS, 
 
 By William Hogg, 1694. 
 
 Paraphrasis Latina in duo Poemata {quorum alterum a Miltono, 
 alterum a Clievlando Anglice scriptum fuit) quibus deplo- 
 ratur Mors juvenis pmclari et eruditi, D. Edvardi King, 
 qui Nave, qua vectabatur, Saxo illisa in Oceano Hybernico 
 submersus est. 
 
 Authore Gulielmo Hogao. 
 
 Author lamentatur amicum eruditum, infeliciter Mari Hyberno 
 submersum, postquam a Cestria solvisset, 1637. Et, occasione 
 oblata, corruptorum Clericorum ruinam praedicit, qui tunc temporis 
 pro libitu in sublimi dignitatis gradu vitam agitabant : — 
 
 Rursus odoratae myrti laurique virentes, 
 
 Vestitae aureolos hedera serpente corymbos, 
 
 Rursus ego vestras redeo decerpere baccas, 
 
 Quanquam acidas, nee dum maturo sole recoctas ; 
 
 Et vestras spoliare comas et spargere passim, 5 
 
 Frigora quanquam absunt procul autumnalia, nee dum 
 
 Hispidus arboreos Aquilo populatur honores. 
 
 Me dolor, et duri necopina injuria fati 
 
 Tempora vestra meis cogunt turbare querelis. 
 
 Occidit heu ! tenerae Lycidas in flore juventae, 10 
 
 Occidit heu ! dulcis Lycidas, nuUumque reliquit 
 
 lUe parem. Blandi Lycidas jam funera justis 
 
 Deplorare modis quis non velit ? Ipse canendi 
 
 Arte Sophocleum didicit transire cothumum. 
 
 Arva per asquorei infletum iluitare profundi 15 
 
 Tene decet ? nuUis digna an tua fata querelis, 
 
 Dum te fluctus habet, versantque per aequora venti ? 
 
 Nunc utinam eloquii charites, et vivida vocum 
 
loa LYCIDAS. 
 
 Gratia, quas olim est veterum turba impia vatum 
 
 Aonias mentita deas, mihi protinus adsint, 20 
 
 Jucundaque novam modulentur arundine musam. 
 
 Forsitan et nostras pariter comitabitur umbras 
 
 Carmine Musa pio, cinerique precabitur hospes 
 
 Praeteriens, ' Tacita placidus requiesce sub uma.' 
 
 Unicus amborum pariter juvenilibus annis 25 
 
 Mons nutritor erat, pariter quoque pavimus unum 
 
 Ambo gregem gelidos jucundi fontis ad ortus, 
 
 Aut rivi salientis aquas, aut arboris umbram. 
 
 Ambo simul teneras ad pascua laeta capellas 
 
 Duximus, ante oculis quam pulchra Aurora redusis 30 
 
 Reddiderat lucemque orbi rebusque colbrem. 
 
 Et simul exiguse jucundo murmure muscaf! 
 
 Noctivagam resonare tubam exaudivimus ambo 
 
 Per placidos Luna: cursus, jam rore recenti 
 
 Nectareos spargente gregis per vellera succos. 35 
 
 Saepe etiam haud seras libuit decedere nocti, 
 
 Donee ab Eoa nitido quae vespere lympha 
 
 Stella exorta fuit medii transivit Olympi 
 
 Culmen, et Hesperias cursum convertit ad undas. 
 
 Interea, harmonicas digitis moderantibus auras, 40 
 
 Agrestem inflamus calamum, choreasque pilosi 
 
 In numerum ducunt Satyri, Faunique nequibant 
 
 Capripedes nostris cohibere a cantibus aurem ; 
 
 Ipse senex nostra Damoetas gestit avena. 
 
 Heu male mutatae Fortunae injuria ! vadis, 45 
 
 Vadis ad aeternas (nunquam heu ! rediture) tenebras. 
 Te, Pastor, silvae umbriferae, viridesque recessus 
 Antrorum, quot ubique thymo vel vite teguntur, 
 Undique jure dolent, resonatque dolentibus Echo. 
 Ah ! salices cessant virides humilesque myricae 50 
 
 Nunc resonare tuae ramosque inflectere Musae. 
 Ut nocet atra rosis aerugo, ut pestis acerba est 
 CEstrum immane boum, glacialia frigora Acres 
 Qualiter infestant tunica variante decoros. 
 Cum niveus primum florescere coepit acanthus ; S5 
 
 Sic quoque pastores (triste ac miserabile !) lethi, 
 O Lycida dilecte, tui -dolor urit acerbus. 
 
 Quae nemora, aut qui vos saltus habuere, puellae 
 Naiades, immensis Lycidas cum est obrutus undis ? 
 
LYCIDAS. 103 
 
 Nam neque duxistis choreas super ardua rupis 60 
 
 Culmina praeruptae, Druidum monumenta priorum ; 
 
 Nee vos saxosse tenuere cacumina Monae, 
 
 Nee Deva fatidicas ubi late exporrigit undas. 
 
 Cur ego vana loquor ? prassens si vestra fuisset 
 
 Tota cohors, huic ecquid opem auxiliumque tulisset ? 65 
 
 Orphei Calliopea suo quam ferre valebat 
 
 Tristis opem ? nil Musa suo succurrere nato, 
 
 Cujus ad interitum rerum natura dolebat, 
 
 Tunc potuit, cum femineas furor iraque turbae, 
 
 Diseerptum latos juvenem quae sparsit in agros, 70 
 
 Sanguineum caput Orpheia cervice revulsum, 
 
 Hebre, tuis injeeit aquis, quod adusque cucurrit 
 
 Littora, quae miseri letho bene nota Leandri. 
 
 Quid juvat assiduis frustra tabescere curis, 
 Et pastoralis studium contemnere vitas, 75 
 
 Et vanum ingratae Musae impendisse laborem ? 
 Nonne fuit satius sociorum more per umbras 
 Suaviter arboreas seetari Amaryllida dulcem, 
 Atque, Neaera, tnos leviter prensare capillos. 
 Fama viros, quorum sublimi in pectore virtus 80 
 
 Se generosa loeat, cohibere libidinis aestum 
 (Pessima nobilium solet esse haec lerna virorum) 
 Incitat, et duros etiam sufferre labores. 
 Ast ubi pasne tibi illustris tetigisse videris 
 Culmen honoris, adest Lachesis cum forcipe dira, 85 
 
 Et fragilis vitas filum secat. At mihi Phoebus 
 ' Fama tamen post fata manet, secura sepulchri ' 
 Dixerat, et tremulas leviter mihi vellicat aures ; 
 ' Fama est planta solo minime prognata caduco ; 
 ' Fortunae secura nitet, nee fascibus ullis -jo 
 
 ' Erigitur, plausuve petit clarescere vulgi. 
 ' Judieis ante Jovje piirisstma lumina lueem 
 ' Ilia cupit fulgere suam ; quieunque verendum 
 ' lUius ante thronum laudemque decu^que reportat, 
 ' Hujus in aethereo fama effulgebit Olympo.' 95 
 
 O Arethusa, et tu, fluvius eeleberrime, Minci, 
 Undique vocaJi redimitus arundine frontem, 
 Lene fluens, quae nunc reeito miW dicta fuerunt 
 Hsec longe graviore sono, graviore cothurno ; 
 Sed mea propositam repetat nunc fistula Musam. 100 
 
104 LYCIDAS. 
 
 Tunc quoque caeruleus vada per Neptunia Triton 
 
 Circumagebat iter liquidum, fluctusque sonoros, 
 
 Perfidaque folios interrogat agmina ventas, 
 
 ' Unde h£ec saeva bono pecoris data fata magistro ?' 
 
 Qusecunque altisonis uUo de monte procellis 105 
 
 Horrida flabra volant, ruptaeve cacumine rupis, 
 
 lUe rogat ; miseri cuncta haec tamen inscia fati. 
 
 Hippotadesque sagax cunctorum nomine tales 
 
 Reddidit ore sonos, — ' Nullius flamina venti 
 
 Nuper ab jEoliis sese effudere cavemis.' no 
 
 Ridebant taciti tranquilla silentia ponti, 
 
 Et placido lapsu Panope centumque sorores 
 
 jEquora plana legunt stratamque aequaliter undam. 
 
 Perfida navis erat, crudeli dedita fato, 
 
 Quae rimis accepit aquam, sacrumque repente 115 
 
 Mersit in ima caput, medioque sub asquore texit. 
 
 Proximus incessu senior tardissimus ibat 
 Camus, et hirsuta velatus veste ; galerus 
 Carice factus erat, variis obscura figuris 
 Quem textura notat, quem circum vitta colon 120 
 
 Par, Hyacinthe, tuo, questus inscripte, cucurrit 
 ' Heu ! mihi quis rapuit carissima pignora?' dixit 
 Ultimus hue venit, rediitque hinc ultimus, undse 
 Cui Galilaeanse custodia creditur ; illi 
 
 Duplex clavis erat duplici formata metallo, 135 
 
 (Aurea portam aperit, subito quam ferrea claudit). 
 Tempora turn nitida quassans omata tiara 
 Talia fatus erat tetricas cum murmure vocis. 
 ' Quam bene nunc pro te, si vertere fata liceret, 
 ' Quam bene nunc pro te, juvenum carissime, multos 130 
 • Concessissem alios, stimulante cupidine ventris 
 ' Qui furtim ac tacite irrumpunt et ovilia scandimt ! 
 ' Unica cura quibus pecorum fuit usque magistri 
 ' Vi rapuisse epulas, avidique hausisse paratas, 
 ' Convivasque alios audaci pellere dextra. 13J 
 
 ' O caeci ventres, qui vix comprendere dextra 
 ' Pastorale pedum, aut aliquid didicere, fideles 
 ' Quod juvat atque decet pecorum prasstare magistros ! 
 ' Quid curant ? quid curse opus est ? bene vivitur illis ; 
 ' Et licet his, ubicunque libet, sub vindice nuUo 140 
 
LYCIDAS. los 
 
 ' Strident! jnisemm stipula disperdere carmen. 
 
 ' Interea pecudes languentia lumina volvunt, 
 
 ' Tabescuntque fame, miseris quia pabula desunt ; 
 
 ' Sad ventis nebulisque tument, sensimque putrescunt 
 
 ' Interius, sparguntque sui contagia morbi. 145 
 
 ' Insuper et teneras vis quotidiana luporum 
 
 ' Clam discerpit oves avidamque immergit in alvum. 
 
 ' Machina sed gemmo ad portas armata flagello 
 
 ' Protinus his uno parat ictu accersere fatum.' 
 
 Nunc, Alphee, tuos iterum convertere cursus 150 
 
 Incipe ! nunc vox dira abiit, vox dira quievit, 
 Quae fluvium terrore tuum retro ire coegit. 
 Tu quoque, pastoris Siculi modulamine quondam 
 Edita Musa, redi, nemorumque umbracla colores 
 Hue florum innumeros simul injectare jubeto. 155 
 
 Vos quoque nunc valles humiles, ubi florea Tempe 
 Et venti placidis resonant fluviique susurris, 
 Quarum baud saepe sinus Cancri ferus attigit ardor. 
 Undique gemmantes oculos conferte, virenti 
 Nectareos quicunque bibunt in cespite succos ; 160 
 
 Floribus et vemis totam depingite terram. 
 Hue rosa, jucundi quae dicta est primula veris, 
 Quas moritur, si spreta jacet, pulcherque hyacinthus ; 
 Hue quoque cum niveis vaccinia nigra ligustris, 
 Hue quoque sylvarum cum garyophillide cana 165 
 
 Moschitseque rosa violarum et amabile germen, 
 Atque periclymenos fulgenti ornatus amictu ; 
 Paralysisque etiam, fulvo quas tota metallo 
 Pallet, et in terram pendente cacumine vergit, 
 Et quicunque gerit tunicam flos luctibus aptam, 170 
 
 Conveniant, pariterque locum glomerentur in unum. 
 Hue, Amaranthe, veni, quern non borealia laedunt 
 Frigora, quem asstiferi non torrent brachia Cancri ! 
 Hue, Narcisse, veni, lacrimis tua pocula replens 
 Suavibus ! hue flores veniant, quoscunque vocavi, 175 
 
 Lauriggrique tegant Lycidae venerabile bustum. 
 Gaudia sic mcestis juvat interponere curis, 
 Solarique animos ficta sub imagine nostros ; 
 Dum te fluctus agit, ventisque sonantia volvunt 
 ^quora vasta, trahuntque tuum retrahuntque cadaver. 180 
 
io6 LYCIDAS. 
 
 Sive ultra sestiferis ferventeS Hebridas undis, 
 
 (Hie tu forte lates rapidp sub gurgite tectus, 
 
 Imaque monstriferi visis penetralia mundi,) 
 
 Sive remotus abes procul hinc, longumque soporem 
 
 Carpis, ubi sedem tenuit Bellerus avitam, 185 
 
 Pristina quern veterum celebrant mendacia vatum, 
 
 Mons ubi praesidio circumdatus undique spectat 
 
 Namancon, spectatque tuos, Bayona, recessus ; — 
 
 Ad patrias sedes precor o precor, Angele, rursus 
 
 Respice nunc miseros non aversatus amicos ! 190 
 
 Vos quoque, delphines, juveni supponite tergum, 
 
 Perque plagas vasti vitreas portate profundi ! 
 
 Nunc pecorum placidi fletus inhibete magistri. 
 Non periit letho Lycidas cessitve sepulchri 
 Legibus, aequorea jaceat licet obrutus unda. 195 
 
 Haud aliter Phoebi se praevia stella profundum 
 Mergit in Hesperium, diversis rursus ab undis 
 Mane novo surgens, multo spectabilis auro, 
 Erigit ilia caput primoque ardescit Eoo. 
 Sic Lycidas primum ima petit, deiij ardua scandit, 200 
 
 Praeside nempe illo, tumidi qui terga profundi 
 Haud secus ac siccam pedibus peragravit arenam, 
 Spumeaque intrepidis calcavit marmora plantis. 
 Hie alios inter silvas nemoralis honores, 
 Atque alios longe fluvios se nectare puro 205 
 
 Obruit, atque suos miro lavit amne capillos, 
 yEtheriosque hilari laetus trahit aure hymenseos 
 In regnis ubi floret amor et pura voluptas. 
 Hie quoque Sanctorum chorus ilium amplectitur omnis, 
 Ordine qui juncti pariter coelestia cantant 210 
 
 Carmina et aetherias ducunt cantando choreas, 
 Atque oculis abigunt lacrymam procul illius oninem. 
 Nunc pecorum placidi Lycidam lugere magistri 
 Absistunt ; tu, littoreas dum carpis arenas, 
 (Haec tibi in Elysiis durabunt prasmia campis) 215 
 
 Semper eris quovis meliorque et faustior astro 
 Puppe periclosam trepida tranantibus undam. 
 
 Talia concinuit peregrinus carmina pastor 
 Quercubus -alticomis fluviorum et lenibus undis, 
 Dum croceis Aurora rotis invecta redibat ; 220 
 
LYCIDAS. 107 
 
 Mutabatque sonos relegens, orisque recursu 
 Dissimili tenuem variabat arundine ventutn. 
 Jam sol majores umbras super alta tetendit 
 Culmina et Hesperiis post paulo absconditur undis. 
 Tatidera iterum rediit viridemque remisit amictum ; 225 
 ' Cras sylvas peragrare novas, nova pascua, cordi est' 
 
 Notes. 
 
 In /. 75 the English has «^ misprinted for tend. 
 I. 92 Qy. yovis ? but Java is clearly printed. 
 /. 96 (^.fluviAm {{atjluviorum) ? 
 
 /. 213, Now Lycidas the shepherds weep no more in the 
 English. 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 Argumentum. 
 Yhyrsis et Damon, ejusdem viciniae pastores, eadem studia sequuti, a 
 pueritia amict erant, ut qui plurimum. Thyrsis animi causa profectus 
 peregre de obitu Damonis nuncium accepit. Demum postea reversus, 
 et rem ita esse comperto, se suamque Solitudinem hoc carmine de- 
 plorat. Damonis autem sub persona hie inteUigitur Carolus Deodatus 
 ex urbe Hetrurise Luca patemo genera oriundus, caetera Anglus ; ingenio, 
 doctrina, clarissimisque cseteris virtutibus, dum viveret, juvenis egregius. 
 
 HiMERiDES nymphse (nam vos et Daphnin et ||ylan, 
 
 Et plorata diu meministis fata Bionis), 
 
 Dicite Sicelicum Thamesina per oppida carmen : 
 
 Quas miser efFudit voces, quae murmura Thyrsis, 
 
 Et quibus assiduis exercuit antra querelis, 5 
 
 Fluminaque, fontesque vagos, nemorumque recessus ; 
 
 men.' ' Thamesina' fixes the locality 
 to Horton and its neighbourhood, 
 where the Colne (/. 149) joins the 
 Thames. 
 
 4 Thyrsis] (who of course repre- 
 sents Milton himself) is also the 
 name of the attendant Spirit in 
 Comus. It is adopted from Theocr. 
 Id. i. (/. c). 
 
 5 exercuit antra] something like 
 'exercere diem' in Virg. jEn. x. 
 808. The notion is that of keeping 
 the caves hard at work in echoing 
 his lamentations. Cf. /. 8 and note. 
 
 6 fluminaque fontesque] an ob- 
 vious imitation of Virg. j^n. iii. 91, 
 'limiti-'que laurusque dei.' It is 
 doubtful whether this instance jus- 
 tifies the licence of the present line, 
 Vir^j 1 s practice being confined to 
 those cases in which the next woid 
 
 1 Himerides] of Himera in 
 Sicily. Symmqns, in his Life of 
 Milton (appended to the Prose 
 Works), aptly observes that Warton 
 should not call it 'the famous bu- 
 colic river of Theocritus,' since none 
 of his scenes are laid there, and the 
 river is only mentioned twice in the 
 Idylls (y. 124; vii. 74)- 
 
 Hylan] The first syllable is short, 
 as appears from Theocr. Id. vii. ; 
 Virg. E. vi. 43, G. iii. 6. Milton 
 himself has' ' raptus Hylas ' in 
 Eleg. vii. 24. Possibly he may 
 Tiave been thinking of Hyteus in 
 Virg. G. ii. 457. Daphnis, Hylas, 
 and' Bion are lamented in Theocr. 
 i. 13, andMoschus, Id. iii., respect- 
 ively. 
 
 3] Virg. G. ii. 176, 'Ascrseum- 
 que cano Romana per oppida car- 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 Dum sibi praereptum queritur Damona, neque altam 
 
 Luctibus exemit noctem, loca sola pereirans. 
 
 Et jam bis viridi surgebat culmus arista, 
 
 Et totidem flavas numerabant horrea messes, lo 
 
 Ex quo summa dies tulerat Damona sub umbras, 
 
 Nee dum aderat Thyrsis ; pastorem scilicet ilium 
 
 Dulcis amor Musae Tusca retinebat in urbe : 
 
 Ast ubi mens expleta domum, pecorisque relicti 
 
 Cura vocat, simul assueta seditque sub ulmo, 15 
 
 Turn vero amissum tum denique senlit amicum, 
 
 Coepit et immensum sic exonerare dolorem. 
 
 begins with a liquid (as above), a 
 double consonant, as * Enrique Ze- 
 phyrique,' G. i, 371, or with the 
 letter s, as 'Chloreaque Sybarim- 
 que,' ^n. xii. 363. Mr. Nettle- 
 ship, in his Excurstis at the end of 
 the third volume of Conington's 
 Virgil, points out that in this re- 
 spect Virgil has strictly followed 
 Homer. 
 
 8 exemit] ' released ' from the 
 task of repeating his lament. Prof. 
 Masson well translates the passage, 
 * compelling even the midnight 
 Into the sound of his woe. ' ' Luc- 
 tibus ' is probably the ablative, that 
 being the usual construction in 
 the Augustan age; but the dative 
 is used by later writers. Cf Tac. 
 .<4««. xiv. 48, 'ut mortieximeretur.' 
 
 9 bis] i.e. in 1638 and 1639. 
 The Epitaphium Danionis was writ- 
 ten towards the end of the latter 
 year, and Diodati seems to have 
 died in the summer of 1638 (Masson, 
 Life of Milton, vol. i. p. 776). 
 
 13 Dulcis amor Uusse] See in 
 the Argument the words ' animi 
 causa profectus peregre. ' Milton here 
 refers to his second visit to Florence 
 in the beginning of 1639, which 
 lasted two months. Of the first he 
 thus speaks in the Defensio Se- 
 cundapro populo Anglicano ; 'lUic 
 multorum et nobilium sane et doc- 
 
 torum hommum familiaritatem sta- 
 tim contraxi, quorum privatas aca- 
 demias assidue frequentavi. ' Among 
 these friends were Carlo Dati and 
 Francini (/. 137), the former of 
 whom addressed to him the Latin 
 letter inscribed 'Joanni Miltoni 
 Londiniensi, &c.' ; the latter the 
 complimentary Italian ode beginning 
 ' Ergimi all' etra o Clio.' The 
 ' private academies ' were literary 
 societies for the mutual acquaint- 
 ance and friendship of learned men, 
 for admission to which each member 
 had to give some 'proof of his talent 
 or learning,' as Milton tells us in the 
 Reason of Church Government. He 
 probably there recited some of his 
 early Latin poems, which won for 
 him the encomiums above referred 
 to (Masson, vol. i. pp. 719 foil.). 
 
 15 assueta sub ulmo] i.e. at his 
 father's house at Horton; possibly 
 the 'dilectas villarum ulmos' men- 
 tioned in the seventh of the Prolu- 
 siones Oraioricc, delivered at Cam- 
 bridge. Elms still form a promi- 
 nent feature in the scenery about 
 Horton. Warton compares the 'ac- 
 customed oak,' // Penseroso, 60. 
 For the postposition of -que, cf. 
 Propert. 11. xvi. 11, 'ferratam Da- 
 naes transiliamyjtf domum ; ' TibuU. 
 I. iii. 55, 'Messalam terra dum 
 sequitury«^ mari.' 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. ill 
 
 Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Hei mihi ! quae terris, quae dicam numina coelo, 
 Postquam te immiti rapuerant funere, Damon ! 20 
 
 Siccine nos linquis, tua sic sine nomine virtus 
 Ibit, et obscuris numero sociabitur umbris? 
 At non ille, animas virga qui dividit aurea, 
 Ista velit, dignumque tui te ducat in agmen, 
 Ignavumque procul pecus arceat omne silentum. 25 
 
 Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. ■ 
 Quicquid erit, certe nisi me lupus ante videbit, 
 Indeplorato non comminuere sepulchro, 
 Constabitque tuus tibi honos, longumque vigebit 
 Inter pastores : lUi tibi vota secundo 30 
 
 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. 
 
 Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. 35 
 
 Hsec tibi certa manent, tibi erunt hsec prsemia, Damon ; 
 At mihi quid tandem fiet modo ? quis mihi fidus 
 
 23] Hor. Od. \. xxiv. 15 : ' Non 28] Cf. Lycidas, 14. Warton 
 
 vanae redeat sanguis imagini, Quam quotes Ovid, Trist. III. iii. 45. 
 virga semel horrida . . . Nigrocom- 31] Cf. Virg. E. v. 78-80, where 
 
 jiulerit Mercurius gregV (I. 25). For Daphnis, the great pastoral hero, 
 
 ' aurea ' cf. Horn. Od. x. 277, where is promised divine hononrs equal' , 
 
 Hermes is called ypviT6^^ams. Lu- to those paid to Bacchus and 
 
 cian has the same simile, airis . . . Ceres. 
 
 Siairep Ti ahr6\toii aBp6ovs a'Vois TJr 33 priscamque fidem, &c.] ' the 
 
 pdfiS<i> aoPav. faith of the old and the loyal' 
 
 25 silentum] ufed absolutely of (Masson), i.e. the good old-fash- 
 
 the dead in Virg. ^^n. vi. 432. The ioned rustic faith. Keightley qnes- 
 
 'ignavum pecus' is from G. iv. 168, tions the correctness of this use of 
 
 where it has quite a different appli- ' pium' as a substantive. It certainly 
 
 cation. Keightley notes the expres- sounds somewhat harsh in connex- 
 
 .sion 'pecus' as 'strange,' but its ion with 'fidem,' but the expression 
 
 use here is justified by ' gregi ' in the itself may be paralleled by the 
 
 passage from Horace quoted above. ' honestum,' 'utile,' &c., so common 
 
 27 nisi me, &c.] i.e. ' if I do not in Cicero's philosophical treatises, 
 
 lose my power of utterance.' See which are imitations of the Greek 
 
 Virg. '£. ix. 54 for the superstition rh Ka\6i>, &c. 
 
 that if a wolf saw a. man first, the 37 modo] probably an adverb of 
 
 latter became dumb. time = 'now.' It is more commonly 
 
112 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 Haerebit lateri comes, ut tu saspe solebas 
 
 Frigoribus duris et per loca feta pruinis, 
 
 Aut rapido sub sole, siti morientibus herbis ? 40 
 
 Sive opus in magnos fuit eminus ire leones, 
 
 Aut avidos terrere lupos praesepibus altis ; 
 
 Quis fando sopire diem, cantuque, solebit ? 
 
 Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Pectora cui credam ? quis me lenire docebit 45 
 
 Mordaces curas, quis longam fallere noctem 
 Dulcibus alloquiis, grate cum sibilat igni 
 MoUe pynim et nucibus strepitat focus, et malus Auster 
 Miscet cuncta foris et desuper intonat ulmo ? 
 
 Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. 50 
 
 Aut sestate, dies medio dum vertitur axe. 
 Cum Pan assculea somnum capit abditus umbra, 
 Et repetunt sub aquis sibi nota sedilia nymphae, 
 Pastoresque latent, stertit sub sepe colonus ; 
 Quis mihi blanditiasque tuas, quis turn 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 ramosse densantur vallibus umbrae ; 
 
 employed with past tenses than with There is a slight coniiision between 
 
 the future. the notion of midday and that of 
 
 39 feta pruims] Virg. ^n. i. 51, the earth's turning on its axis ; 
 
 'locayJ/a furentibus Austris.' 'medio' implying that the revolu- 
 
 43 sopire diem] like ' condere tion is half completed, 
 soles,' Virg. £. ix. 52. 52] From Theocr. Id. i. 16, 
 
 46] Todd comp. 'eating cares,' where the goatherd refuses to accept 
 
 L' Allegro, 135, and ' curis morda- Thyrsis' invitation to sing, for fear 
 
 cibus,' Lucan, Phars. ii. 681. of disturbing Pan during his midday 
 
 48 nucibus] probably 'chest- siesta. 
 
 nuts,' sc. 'castaneis.' Cf. Virg. .£. 53] A partial reminiscence of 
 
 ii. 52. Virg. jEn. i. 167. 'Sibi' is pro- 
 
 49 miscet cuncta] ' blurs all the bably to be taken after ' nota,' but 
 landscape.' (See also Masson's is not wanted in the sentence. 
 Translation.) Cf. Viig. G. i. 359, 56 Cecropios] = Atticos. Viig. 
 /£». iv. 160. G. iv. 177. For 'Attic salt' cf 
 
 51] Lucan. Phars. iii. 423, Mart. Epigi: III. xx. 9, 'leport 
 'medio cum Phoebus in axe est.' tinctos Atticos sales. ' 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 113 
 
 Hie serum expecto ; supra caput imber et Eurus 60 
 
 Triste sonant, fractaeque agitata crepuscula.silvse. 
 
 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, 65 
 
 Nee myrteta juvant ; ovium quoque tsedet, at illte 
 Moerent, inque suum eonvertunt era magistrum. 
 
 Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vaeat, agni. 
 Tityrus ad corylos vocat, Alphesiboeus ad ornos. 
 Ad saliees Aegon, ad flumina pulcher Amyntas ; 70 
 
 ' Hie gelidi fontes, hie illita gramina musco, 
 
 60 serum] Livy, vii. 8, 'serum 
 erat diei. ' Neither Ovid nor Virgil 
 appears to have used the word as a 
 noun in this sense. 
 
 61 agitata crepuscnla silvse] 
 = silva per crepusculum agitata. 
 Keightley explains it of 'the twi- 
 light or doubtfiil light caused by the 
 foliage,' and refers to the 'shadows 
 brown' of // Penseroso, 134, and 
 the 'chequered shade' oi L' Allegro, 
 96. Symmons quotes also from 
 Cowper, Task, B. i. 347 — 
 
 ' so sportive is the light, 
 Shot through the boughs, it dances 
 
 as they dance, 
 Shadow and sunshine intermingling 
 
 quick.' 
 
 64] Keightleywellobserves that the 
 land' cracks asiu not situ (Virg. G. 
 i. 72),' but he is wrong in supposing 
 that ' seges' cannot mean the ground 
 itself, since it is distinctly used in 
 this sense by Virgil in G. i. 47 and 
 iv. 129. In the former passage 
 ' seges ' is the land after ploughing, 
 but before any seed is sown, and in 
 the latter it is the soil with reference 
 to its future produce. Here how- 
 ever the addition of 'alta' (which 
 must mean tall) seems to force us to 
 
 ti'anslate 'seges' 'afield of standing 
 com,' which will not make any 
 sense with 'fatiscit.' Masson's 
 translation, 'the tall com sickens 
 with mildew,' does not accurately ■ 
 render the Latin verb. 
 
 65] For the ' marriage' of the vine 
 with larger trees, see the passages 
 cited on Lycidas, 40; also P. L. 
 v. 215 foil. 'Uva' here must be 
 the vine itself, as in Vifg. G. ii. 60, 
 ' fert uva racemos.' It is difficult to 
 see the force of Keightley's objec- 
 tion to its being 'joined with "ra- 
 cemo," which is a,part of it.' The 
 latter is of course a modal ablative, 
 or else the ablative absolute. 
 
 67] Referred to on Lycidas, 125. 
 
 69] 'Tityrus' &c. are all from 
 Virgil's Eclogues. ' Milton may or 
 may not have had particular ac- 
 quaintances of his in view under 
 these names' (Masson). 
 
 71] Partly imitated from G»Ilus' 
 invitation to Lycoris, Virg. £. 
 X. 42 ; the original is in Theoc.v. 33. 
 'Illita,' which means 'smeared' 
 or ' spread on the surface,' does n,ot 
 accurately express the idea of mpss 
 growing among grass. Perhaps con- 
 sita, or intersita (omitting 'hic')i 
 would have been better. 
 
114 
 
 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 ' Hie Zeph)^!, hie placidas interstrepit arbutus undas : ' 
 Ista canunt surdo, fratices ego nactus abibam. 
 
 Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Mopsus ad hsec — nam me redeuntem forte notarat — 75 
 
 (Et callebat avium linguas, et sidera Mopsus,) 
 ' Thyrsi, quid hoc ? ' dixit, ' quae te coquit improba bilis ? 
 ' Aut te perdit amor, aut te male fascinat astrum ; 
 ' Satuini grave saepe fuit pastoribus astrum, 
 ' Intimaque obliquo figit praecordia plumbo.' 80 
 
 ' Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Mirantur nymphag, et ' Quid te, Thjnrsi, futurum est ? 
 
 73] ' Surdo canere' was a pro- 
 verb. Cf. Virg. E. X. 8, ' non 
 canimus surdis;' Propert. IV. viii. 
 47, 'cantabunt surdo." Langhome 
 ludicrously misunderstands the latter 
 p»rt of this line, when he translates it 
 'I <fut my shrubs (!) and careless 
 walked away.' 
 
 76] So in Vii^. ySn. iii. 360, 
 iEneas addresses Helenus, ' qui 
 sidera sentis, Et volucrum linguas 
 et praepetis omina pennae ; ' and in 
 X. 176 Asilas is named as the seer 
 ' cui sidera parent Et linguas volu- 
 crum.' Keightley is probably right 
 in observing that 'avium' should be 
 long by position, as ' ariete' &c. in 
 Virgil. As an instance most closely 
 resembling the one in the text, cf. 
 Virg. G. i. 482, 'fliiviorum rex 
 Eridanus.' 
 
 77] For ' coquere,' denoting men- 
 tal disturbance, cf. Virg. /En. vii. 
 34S, 'curaeque iraeque coquebant;' 
 also Silius Italicus, xiv. 103, ' quos 
 ira mctusque coquebat.' 
 
 78] For the lengthening of ' amor ' 
 cf. Virg. E. X. 69 ; y£n. ii. 369, 
 xi. 323, and other passages. Mr. 
 Nettleship, in his Excursus re- 
 ferred to on /. 6, ascribes this usage 
 in Virgil to the influence of Ennius, 
 who always makes these endings in 
 -or long because of the original 
 
 Greek -up ; but he thinks Virgil was 
 ignorant of this reason, since he 
 never indulges in the license except 
 in arsi. Hogg has done the same 
 in his version of Lycidas, 208. 
 
 fascinat] said of the evil eye in 
 witchcraft, Viig. E. iiL 103. For 
 the supposed iifiuence of the stars, 
 see on Lycidas, 138. 
 
 79] Warton quotes Propert. iv. 
 i. 84, 'et grave Satumi sidus in 
 omne caput,' as showing that this 
 planet was considered to be gene- 
 rally noxious ; although there is 
 no apparent reason why shepherds 
 should be specially aflTccted by it. 
 Possibly the Saturnine melancholy 
 and gloom (see opening lines of // 
 Penseroso) may be intended by way 
 of contrast to the joyous ideal of 
 pastoral life. 
 
 80 obliqoo] partly continues 
 the allusion contained in 'fascinat,' 
 the notion being that of a sidelong 
 envious glance. Cf. 'obliquo oculo,' 
 Hor. Ep. I. xiv. 37. 'Plumbo,' 
 because lead was Saturn's metal in 
 alchemy. 
 
 82 nymphs et] For the' kialus 
 cf Virg. E. iii. 6 ; C i. 4, ' pecori 
 et,' &c. 
 
 quid te fatarnm est] There 
 seems to be no authority for this use 
 of the verb ' esse vrith' the ablative. 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 115 
 
 ' Quid tibi vis ? ' aiunt ; ' non haec solet esse juventag 
 
 ' Nubila frons oculique truces vultusque severi ; 
 
 ' Ilia choros lususque leves et semper amorem 85 
 
 ' Jure petit : bis ille miser qui serus amavit." 
 
 Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Venit Hyas Dryopeque et filia Baucidis Aegle, 
 Docta modos citharseque sciens, sed perdita fastu ; 
 Venit Idumanii Chloris vicina fiuenti ; 90 
 
 Nil me blanditise, nil me solantia verba, 
 Nil me si quid adest movet, aut spes ulla futuri. 
 
 Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Hei mihi ! quam similes ludunt per prata juvenci, 
 Omnes unanimi secum sibi lege sodales ! 95 
 
 Nee 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 
 
 ' Quid rasfiet' would be an ordinary ever from the lines appended to the 
 
 phrase, as well as 'de me 'or 'mihi.' 7th Elegy, that the charms of the 
 
 83 nnbila frons] Cf. Hor. Ep. other sex had no great attractions 
 
 I. xviii. 94 ' Deme supercilio nubem.' for Milton. (See note on Lycidas, 
 
 86 bis] is certainly short, as 68, 69.) 
 
 appears from Ov. Met. xiv. 386, 89] From Hor. Od. HI. ix. 9, 
 
 ' Tum bis ad Occasum, bis se con- ' Dulces docta modos et citharoe 
 
 vertit ad Ortum,' and from its com- sciens.' 
 
 pounds, as 'bifidus,' 'bimaris,' &c. 90 Idumanii fluenti] the Chel- 
 
 J?or the sentiment, Langhorne com- raer, in Essex. Drayton, Polyolbion, 
 
 pares Guarini, Pastor Fido, Act i. 19th Song, 95 foil. 
 
 Sc. I: 95 secum sibi] perhaps an un- 
 
 *Che se t' assale a la canuta etate necessary pleonasm (as in /. 53), but 
 
 Amoroso talento, scarcely ' indistinct,' as Keightley 
 
 Avrai doppio tormento ; objects. 
 
 E di quel che potendo non volesti, 97 thoes] probably 'jackals,' 
 
 E di quel che volendo non potrai.' Pliny, N. H. viii. 34. eues, Horn. 
 
 88] ' Aegle Naiadum pulcherri- //. xiii. 103. 
 
 ma,' Virg. E. vi. 20. Keightley 98 onagri] Viig. G. iii. 409. 
 
 suggests that these may have been Keightley observes that ' the onager 
 
 real ladies of Milton's acquaintance is not "hirsutus." ' 
 
 (see on /. 69). The particular de- 99]. For the story of Proteus and 
 
 scription which follows makes this the sea-calves, see Horn. Od. iv. 
 
 very probable. We know how- 402 foil, j Virg. G. iy. 432 foil. 
 
 I 2 
 
ii6 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 Agmina 2.hocaruin numerat, vilisque volucrum loo 
 
 Passer habet semper quicum sit, et omnia circum 
 
 Farra libens volitet, sero sua tecta revisens ; 
 
 Quem si sors letho objecit, seu milvus adunco 
 
 Fata tulit rostro, seu stravit arundine fossor, 
 
 Proiinus ille alium socio petit inde volatu. 105 
 
 Nos durum genus, et diris exercita fatis 
 
 Gens homines, aliena animis et pectore discors, 
 
 Vix sibi quisque parem de milfibus invenit unum ; 
 
 Aut si sors dederit tandem non aspera votis. 
 
 Ilium inopina dies, qua non speraveris hora, no 
 
 Surripit seternum linquens in ssecula damnum. 
 
 Ite domura impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Heu quis me ignotas traxit vagus error in oras 
 Ire per aerias rupes Alpemque nivosam ! 
 Ecquid erat tanti Romam vidisse sepultam, 115 
 
 (Quamvis ilia foret, qualem dum viseret olim, 
 Tityrus ipse suas et oves et rura reliquit ; ) 
 Ut te tam dulci possem caruisse sodale ! 
 
 105 socio] can properly only from Paris into Provence, and thence 
 
 apply to the bird when actually by ship from Nice to Genoa, 
 
 mated; yet this sense would be 115] Taken (as Warton remarks) 
 
 inconsistent with ' petit,' which from Virg. E. i. 27, ' Et quae tanta 
 
 describes the oi/frf of its flight. ftiit Romam tibi caussa videndi?' 
 
 106] Cf. Virg. G. i. 63, ' homines The direct reference to that passage 
 
 . . . durum genus.' in the next line makes this certain ; 
 
 exercita fatis] Virg. jS,n. v. 725, otherv/ise the present line is not so 
 
 'Iliads exercite fatis.' So 'exer- closely imitated from Virgil as to 
 
 cita curis,' 2*. 779. warrant Prof. Masson's assertion that 
 
 107] By substituting a comma for it is 'all but a quotation.' Thesense 
 
 the semicolon after ' discors,' the is, ' Was it so well worth my while 
 
 sentence ' nos, &c.' becomes an to visit Rome in ruins, even if it 
 
 anacoluthon, continued by ' quisque had been now as great as it was in 
 
 . . . invenit.' the days of old?' 
 
 108 parem imam] 'one kindred 116 dnm viseret] 'in his desire 
 
 mind' (Cowper|, to visit,' lit. 'so long as he might 
 
 114] Accordiijg to Milton's own visit;' dutn = dummodo. Cf. Virg> 
 
 account of his titavels {Defmsio Se- G. iv. 457, 'dumftigeret;'.^». i. S, 
 
 cunda pro Pop.Angl.) he did not 'dum conderet urbem.' 
 
 go into Italy over the Alps, but 118 sodale] usually 'sodali,'be 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 117 
 
 Possem tot maria alta tot Interponere montes, 
 Tot silvas tot saxa tibi fluviosque sonantes ! 
 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 Tusci, Musis operata juventus, 
 Hie Chans, atque Lepos ; et Tuscus tu quoque Damon, 
 Antiqua genus unde petis Lucumonis ab urbe. 
 O ego quantus cram, gelidi cum stratus ad Ami 
 Murmura, populeumque nemus, qua mollior herba, 
 Carpere nunc violas nunc summas carpere myrtos, 
 Et potui Lycidse certantem audire Menalcam ! 
 
 "5 
 
 130 
 
 cause originally an adjective. The 
 abl. in e does however sometimes 
 occur, e.g. Plin. Epist. ii. 13, 
 ' sodale jucundius.' 
 
 119] Warton compares Eleg. 
 iv. 21 (to Diodati) — 
 
 ' Hei mihi, quot pelagi, quot montes 
 interject! 
 Me faciunt alia parte carere 
 mei;' 
 
 on vfhich he refers to Horn. //. 
 i. 156— 
 
 imvl\ jui£\a iroAAck juero^^ 
 OSped T€ axdevTa Bikturird re iixh- 
 effffa, 
 
 and to Ovid, Trisi. IV. vii. 21 — 
 
 ' Innumeri montes inter me teque, 
 viaeque, 
 Fluminaque et campi, nee freta 
 pauca: jacent.' 
 
 125] Keightley is mistaken in 
 supposing that ' vestri ' ought to be 
 ' vestrum.' Zumpt, in his Latin 
 Grammar (§431 of Schmitz' trans- 
 lation), draws the distinction thus : 
 ' The forms ending in -um are used 
 
 as partitive genitives, e.g. titer jue 
 nostrum, &c. ; but miserere nostri, 
 &c.' He notes however that Z'i'j/rKWj 
 does occur 'without any partitive 
 meaning, e.g. "frequentia vestrum 
 incredibilis," Cic. in Hull. ii. 21 ; 
 but these are exceptional cases.' 
 
 126] See note on /. 13. 
 
 127 TusCus] See on Diodati's ' 
 family in the Introduction to Ly- 
 cidas. 
 
 128] Lucca was said to have been 
 founded by Lucumon, an Etruscan 
 king. During his second visit to 
 Florence, Milton visited the place, 
 no doubt on account of its connex- 
 ion with Diodati (Masson, Life oj 
 Milton, vol. i. p. 771). 
 
 132 certantem] i.e. at the 'private 
 academies' referred to on /, 13. 
 'Lycidas' and 'Menalcas' are of 
 course pastoral names for members 
 of these societies ; not ' unknown,' 
 as Keightley asserts, for Milton, in 
 the sketch of his own life quotsd 
 above, enumerates Gaddi, Fresco- 
 baldi, Coltellini, Buonmattei, and 
 Chimentelli, be-ides Dati and Fran- 
 cini, who are mentioned belov/ 
 
ii8 
 
 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 Ipse etiam tentare ausus sum ; nee, puto, multum 
 
 Displicui ; nam sunt at apud me, munera vestra, 
 
 Fiscellae calathique, et cerea vincla cicute : 135 
 
 Quin et nostra suas docuerunt nomina fagos 
 
 Et Datis et Francinus, erant et vocibus ambo 
 
 Et studiis noti, Lydorum sanguinis ambo. 
 
 Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agnL 
 Haec mihi tum Iseto dictabat roscida luna, 140 
 
 Dum solus teneros claudebam cratibus haedos. 
 Ah quoties dixi, cum te ciais ater habebat, 
 Nunc canit aut lepori nunc tendit retia Damon, 
 Vimina nunc texit, varios sibi quod sit in usus ! 
 Et quae tum facili sperabam mente futura 145 
 
 Arripui voto levis et prsesentia finxi ; 
 ' Heus bone ! numquid agis ? nisi te quid forte retardat, 
 Imus ? et arguta paulum recubamus in umbra, 
 
 (/. 137). Professor Masson (vol. i. 
 p. 722 foil.) has given a full and 
 detailed account of every one of 
 them. On what follows, he remarks 
 (vol. ii. p. 90, note) that there is 
 'a distinct reference to the two 
 written encomiums by Dati and 
 Francini,' and that the 'fiscellas,' 
 &c., are doubtless 'poetical names 
 for little presents actually received 
 from Florentine friends.' 
 
 135 cerea vinola cicutse] = ' ci- 
 cuta cereis vinculis compacta,' Virg. 
 E. ii. 32, 36. 
 
 136 docuerunt, &c.] Cf. Virg. 
 E. i. 5. 
 
 138] For the tradition about the 
 Lydian origin of the Etruscans, see 
 Herod, x. 94: HM^ativbv, . . OTTOirXeeiv 
 Kara ^iov re koX t^s ^ijTriatv, h 5 
 iiriKiaBau is 'Op-PptKoiis, lv8a ivtSpi- 
 iTcurBai iroKias. Virg. y£n. viii. 479, 
 'ubi J^j/tita quondam Gens bello 
 praeclara jugis insedit Etmscis.' 
 Warton refers to Hor. Sai. I. vi. i. 
 
 140 hffic] i.e. the thoughts ex- 
 
 pressed in /. 143 foil. 
 
 roscida luna] Viig. G. iii. 337. 
 Warton compares Lycidas, 29, and 
 for ' cratibus' the ' wattled cotes ' 
 in Comus, 345, and Hor. Epod. 
 ii. 45, 'claudensque textis cratibus 
 Isetum pecus.' 
 
 142 cinis ater] a confusion be- 
 tween the mould of the grave and 
 the ashes of the dead ; for which, 
 however, Milton has the authority 
 of Virgil, yS«. iv. 633. 
 
 144] Virg. E. ii. 71 : 
 
 ' Quin tu aliquid saltern potius quo- 
 rum indiget usus 
 Viminibus mollique paras detexere 
 junco.' 
 
 Possibly 'paras' in this passage 
 may have induced Milton to 
 write ' imus ' and ' recubamus ' 
 (/. 148) where we should expect 
 'eamus' and 'recubemus,' or else 
 the future ; since it is doubtful 
 whether the pres, ind. can be so 
 used without the 'quin.' As, how- 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 119 
 
 ' Aut ad aquas Colni aut ubi jugera Cassibekuni? 
 
 ' Tu mihi percurres medicos, tua gramina, succos, ijjo 
 
 ' Helleborumque humilesque crocos foliumque hyac;nthi, 
 
 ' Quasque habet ista palus herbas artesque medentum.' 
 
 Ah pereant herbse, pereant artesque medentum, 
 
 Gramina postquam ipsi nil profecere magistro ! 
 
 Ipse etiam, nam nescio quid mihi grande sonabat 155 
 
 Fistula, ab undecima jam lux est altera nocte, 
 
 ever, ire (like ieVai) has in itself the 
 sense of the future, ' imus ' might 
 be allowed to stand, and the actual 
 form of its tense may have in- 
 fluenced that of the other verb. 
 
 149] The river Colne flows by 
 Horton (see on /. 3). 'Jugera 
 Cassibelauni ' are the district of 
 St. Albans, the dominions of the 
 British king Cassibelaun. Cf. Caesar, 
 B. G. V. 1 1, ' Cassivellauno, cujus 
 fines a maritimis civitatibus flumen 
 dividit quod appellatur Tamesis.' 
 
 150 foil.] in allusion to Diodati's 
 practice of medicine (see Introduc- 
 tion to Lycidas). He is the ' shep- , 
 herd-lad' in Comus, 619, 'well 
 skilled In ever)' virtuous plant and 
 healing herb.' There is a charac- 
 teristic passage bearing upon this 
 subject in Milton's letter to Diodati 
 dated Sept. 23, 1637 : ' You wish me 
 good health six hundred times, 
 which is as much as I can desire, 
 or even more. Surely you must 
 lately have been appointed the very 
 steward of Health's larder (salatis 
 condum promum), so lavishly do 
 you dispense all her stores, or at 
 least Health should now certainly 
 be your parafflte, since you so lord it 
 over her ijiro rege iegeris), and com- 
 mand her to attend your bidding. ' 
 
 153] Todd quotes the words of 
 Phoebus to Daphne, Ovid, Mtt. i. 
 524, ' nee prosunt domino qu£e pro- 
 sunt omnibus artes.' 
 
 155-178] For a detailed examina- 
 
 tion of this interesting passage con- 
 sult Masson, vol. ii. pp. 93-97. 
 The two main points to be noticed 
 are: (l) That Milton was already 
 (in 1639) forming a plan of writing 
 a British epic, which should extend 
 from the legendary times of the 
 Trojan Brutus to the reign of King 
 Arthur ; (2) That he had deter- 
 mined henceforth to write no more 
 in Latin, but in English, so as to be 
 read by all his countrymen from die 
 Thames to the Humber, and from 
 Cornwall to the Orkneys. This idea 
 had occurred to him even while in 
 Italy, and was fostered, if not first 
 suggested, by the compliments of 
 his Florentine friends upon his 
 former productions; — 'that by la- 
 bour and intent study, joined with 
 the strong propensity of nature, I 
 might perhaps leave something so 
 written to aftertimes, as they should 
 not willingly let it die ' (Reason of 
 Church Government, B. ii. ). He 
 soon afterwards abandoned the pro- 
 ject in favour of a poem on a Scrip- 
 tural subject, which ultimately took 
 the form of the Paradise Lost, the 
 materials he had collected for the 
 British Epic being employed in his 
 History of Britain, about 1649 or 
 1650. 
 
 155 grande, &c.] Cf. ' the strain 
 of higher mood,' I.ycidas, 87. 
 
 156] From Virg. E. viii. 39, 
 'alter ab undecimo tum jam me 
 acceperat annus;' where Conington 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 Et tuiTi forte novis admoram labra cicutis, 
 
 Dissiluere tamen rupta compage, nee ultra 
 
 Ferre graves potuere sonos : dubito quoque ne sim 
 
 Turgidulus, tamen et referam ; vos cedite silvae. i6o 
 
 Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 Ipse ego Dardanias Rutupina per sequora puppes 
 Dicam, et Pandrasidos regnum vetus Imogenise, 
 Brennumque Arviragumque duces, priscumque Belinum, 
 Et tandem Armoricos Britonum sub lege colonos ; 165 
 
 Turn gravidam Arturo fatal! fraude logemen, 
 Mendaces vultus assumptaque Gorlois arma, 
 
 remarks that the twelfth, and not 
 the thirteenth, is meant, according 
 to the ' inclusive mode of counting.' 
 
 159 graves] applied both lite- 
 rally to the low tones of the pipe, 
 and metaphorically to the dignity 
 of the subject. Cowper's translation, 
 ' the deep-toned music of the solemn 
 strain,' well expresses both these 
 ideas. 
 
 160 turgidulus] inflated with 
 pride ; but this use of the word is 
 barely classical, though 'turgida 
 oratio' is said of a 'bombastic 
 speech.' 
 
 oedite silvsB] Cf. Vii^. E. x. 
 63, where Gallus bids farewell to a 
 woodland life, because it cannot 
 cure his passion, with the words 
 ' concedite silvae.' 
 
 162 foil.] For the legends con- 
 nected with each of these names, 
 see Milton's History of Britain, B. 
 i. ii., and Geoffrey of Monmouth, 
 whence he derived the account. 
 Brutus the Trojan, having rescued 
 his countrymen from their servile 
 condition under the Grecian prince 
 PandrasKS, marries his daughter 
 Imogen, and sets sail with his fol- 
 lowers towards the west. He finally 
 lands in Britain, on what is now the 
 Kentish coast [Rutitfina a./uorn], 
 and establishes a kingdom. Brcn- 
 
 nus and Belinus are the sons of 
 Dunwallo Molmutius, king of 
 Cornwall. Some twenty genera- 
 tions after Brutus, Arviragus, son of 
 Cunobelin (Cymbeline), by per- 
 sonating his slain brother Guiderius, 
 is said to have gained a victory over 
 the Roman emperor Claudius. The 
 ' Armorici coloni ' were Britons 
 who fled from the Saxon invaders 
 in the time of Vortigem to Armo- 
 rica, now Bretagne. The last legend 
 (found in Geoffrey of Monmouth, 
 but not told by Milton in his own 
 History) is that of Uther Pendragon, 
 who by Merlin's magic art assumed 
 the form of Gorlois, king of Corn- 
 wall, and thus obtained access to 
 his wife logeme at Tintagel Castle, 
 by whom he became the father of 
 the famous Arthur. 
 
 165] Cf. P. L. i. 581. Armorica 
 was peopled in the fourth century 
 by a Welsh colony, under the Ro- 
 man general Maximus and Carron, 
 prince of Meiriadoc or Denbigh- 
 land. Thierry {Norman Conquest, 
 B. i. p. 16) says: 'They found 
 people of their own stock there, and 
 this agglomeration of branches of 
 the Keltic race and language pre- 
 served that western nook of France 
 from the irruption of the Roman 
 tongue. ' 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 Merlini dolus. O mihi turn si vita supersit, 
 Tu procul annosa pendebis, fistula, pinu,. 
 Multum oblita mihi ; aut patriis mutata Camenis - 
 Brittonicum strides, quid enim ? omnia non licet uni, 
 Non sperasse uni licet omnia, mi satis ampla 
 Merces, et mihi grande decus (sim ignotus in aevum 
 Turn licet, extemo penitusque inglorius orbi,) 
 Si me flava comas legat Usa et potor Alauni, 
 Vorticibusque frequens Abra et nemus omne Treantse, 
 Et Thamesis meus ante omnes et fusca metallis 
 Tamara, et extremis me discant Orcades undis. 
 
 Ite domum impasti, domino jam non vacat, agni. 
 
 170 
 
 17s 
 
 169] Virg. E. vii. 24, 'Hie 
 arguta sacra pendebis fistula pinu, ' 
 a sign that he intended to sing no 
 more. The sense should therefore 
 be, ' Either I will abandon poetry- 
 altogether, or else change it from 
 Latin verse into English.' But if 
 Prof Masson is right in explaining 
 ' fistula ' of Latin poetry in particu- 
 lar, the alternative ' aut — aut ' is 
 merely formal, the real meaning 
 being this : ' I will abandon Latin 
 verse for English.' 'Patriis Ca- 
 menis ' vrill then signify ' its native 
 Muse,' i.e. the Latin. 
 
 171 strides] in reference to the 
 rougher warlike themes he was 
 about to celebrate. See Masson's 
 translation, ' the British war- 
 screech,' and compare the lines pre- 
 fixed to Virgil's jEneid, ' lUe ego 
 ... at nunc horrentia Martis.' 
 ' Strides ' is the future of strido, a 
 form which occurs in Virg. yS». iv. 
 689 ; viii. 420 ; Ovid, Met. ix. 
 171, &c. ^- ^ 
 
 172] Virg. E. cyii. 2^} 'non 
 omnia possumus onines'.'" 
 
 173 in aevum] 'for all time,' 
 Hor. Od. IV. xiv. 3. 
 
 175 TJsa] theOuse; but whether 
 the Bucks or the Yorkshire river is 
 
 here intended is uncertain, The 
 former supposition is slightly sup- 
 ported by the fact of Milton's resi- 
 dence in Buckinghamshire ; while 
 on the other hand the names of the 
 rivers immediately following seem 
 to point to a northern locality. 
 Keightley, who adopts the latter 
 view, refers to the Vacation Exer- 
 cise, I. 92, where the Ouse is men- 
 tioned in company with the Tweed, 
 Don, and Trent. The epithet 
 ' flava comas,' which applies gene- 
 rally to the Saxon race, does not 
 help towards deciding the question. 
 The other rivers are the Alan in 
 Northumberland, the Huniber (pro- 
 perly ' Abus '), Trent, Thames, 
 and Tamar in Cornwall, hence 
 ' fusca metallis.' With ' potor 
 Alauni' cf Hor. Od. II. xx. 20, 
 ' Rhodanique potor,' also IV. xv. 
 21, 'qui Tanain bibunt.' 
 
 176] 'Treanta' seems to be 
 formed from the modem name of 
 the river ; the Romans called it 
 Trivona. 
 
 177 Thamesis meus] Keightley 
 compares Spenser, F. Q. IV. xi. 
 41, ' And Mulla mine whose waves 
 I whilom taught to weep,' 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 Haec tibi servabam lenta sub cortice lauri, 
 
 Haec et plura simul ; turn quae mihi pocula Mansus, 
 
 Mansus Chalcidicae non ultima gloria ripse, 
 
 Bina dedit, mirum artis opus, mirandus et ipse, 
 
 I So 
 
 1 80 hsec] probably refers to 
 the British poem, which when com- 
 pleted he intended to submit to his 
 friend for criticism. Thus in the 
 6th Elegy (//. 79 foil.) he tells Dio- 
 dati that he has been writing a hymn 
 upon the Nativity, upon which he 
 will ask his opinion — 
 
 'Te quoque pressa manent patriis 
 
 meditata cicutis ; 
 Tu mihi cui recitem judicis instar 
 eris.' 
 
 See also his letter of Sept. 23, 
 1637, containing an account of the 
 studies in which he was then en- 
 
 181-197] On the strength of this 
 passage, Prof. Masson (adopting a 
 suggestion of Warton's) asserts that 
 Manso had actually given Milton a 
 pair of chased goblets. Keightley 
 on the other hand considers it to be 
 merely a poetical description after 
 I Theocritus (Id. i. 27 foil.) and 
 Virgil (E. iii. 36 foil. ) of some other 
 tokens of Manso's esteem. All we 
 know for certain is that he had sent 
 Milton a complimentary elegiac 
 couplet — 
 
 ' Ut mens forma decor facies mos, 
 si pietas sic, 
 Non Anglus, varum hercle An- 
 gelus ipse fores.' 
 
 Also in the account of his travels, 
 to which we have before referred, 
 Milton says that Manso ' gave him 
 singular proofs of his regard,' 
 which may reasonably be supposed 
 to have taken some tangible form ; 
 the more so, because it is further 
 stated that Manso had excused him- 
 self for not paying him greater per- 
 sonal attention, on account of his 
 
 free speaking on religious matters. 
 With all due deference to Mr. 
 Keightle/s opinion, as to the in- 
 herent improbability of the matter, 
 we should be disposed to say that a 
 pair of silver cups would be a very 
 likely present from a wealthy Nea- 
 politan virtuoso to his English 
 friend ; nor is this likelihood really 
 diminished by the mere fact of .simi- 
 lar representations in Theocritus 
 and Virgil, especially when we bear 
 in mind that no part of the details 
 of Milton's description is in any 
 way borrowed from theirs. And 
 when we proceed to examine these 
 details fiirther, both the singularity 
 of the subjects choren and the mi- 
 nuteness of each point in the picture 
 render it almost impossible to sup- 
 pose that we have here a mere in- 
 vention of the poet, and not an 
 actual thing described. It is of 
 course barely possible that such may 
 have been the case, but the proba- 
 bility seems to lie very strongly the 
 other way. 
 
 182] Naples (Neapolis) was 
 founded by the Cumseans, who were 
 originally colonists ironi Chalcis in 
 Euboea. Cf. Livy. viii. 22, 'Cu- 
 mani ab Chalcide Euboica originem 
 trahunt' Hence the rock of Cumie 
 is called ' Chalcidica arx ' in Virg. 
 yEn. vi. 17. Milton may have 
 purposely used the older name in 
 recognition of the antiquity of Man- 
 so's family. Cf. 'Lydorum san- 
 guinis ambo,' /. I'ii supra. Warton 
 curiously quotes ' Chalcidico versu,' 
 Virg. E. X. 50, which alludes to 
 Euphorion, a poet of Chalcis, but 
 has nothing to do either with Cumx 
 or with Naples. 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 123 
 
 Et circum gemino ceelaverat argumento : 
 
 In medio rabri maris unda et odoriferum ver, 185 
 
 Littora longa Arabum et sudantes balsama silvae ; 
 
 Has inter Phoenix, divina avis, unica terris, 
 
 Caeruleum fulgens diversicoloribus alis, 
 
 Auroram vitreis surgentem respicit undis ; 
 
 Parte alia polus omnipatens et magnus Olympus : 190 
 
 Quis putet ? hie quoque Amor pictaeque in nube pharetrae, 
 
 Arma corusca faces, et spicula tincta pyropo ; 
 
 Nee tenues animas pectusque ignobile vulgi, 
 
 Hinc ferit ; at circum flammantia lumina torquens 
 
 Semper in erectum spargit sua tela per orbes 195 
 
 Impiger, et pronos nunquam collimat ad ictus : 
 
 184 cselaverat argumento] 
 Ovid, Met. xiii. 68/ ^ 
 
 187] For the fable of the Phoenix 
 see Ovid, Mei. xv. 391 foil. ; 
 Amor. II. vi. 54 ; Pliny, JVai. 
 Hist. X. ii. 2. 
 
 unica terris] Of. P. L. v. 272, 
 ' that sole bird.' 
 
 188] ' Diversicolor ' is post-clas- 
 sical ; the regular word is versi- 
 color, Virg. ^n. A. 181 ; Livy, 
 XXXIV. i. 3, &c. 
 
 190 omnipatens] seems to be 
 a word of Milton's own coining. 
 
 191, ftuis putet %\ expressing ad- 
 miration ; something like the Greek 
 TTois SoKcij ; as in Aristoph.. Nubes, 
 881, ^K Tav fftSiat' fiarpdx'"'^ ^oUi, 
 TT a ^ 5oK6(S ; 
 
 192] If 'arma corusca faces' is 
 the right reading, it can only mean 
 ' arms gleaming with [the light of] 
 his torches.' gut this is a very bold 
 use of the so-called Greek accusa- 
 tive, and one which no existing ex- 
 pression in any Latin writer seems 
 to justify. Perhaps the nearest ap- 
 proach to it is to be found in Hor. 
 £/. I. vi. 74, ' Pueri suspensi locu- 
 los tabulamque ;' but this may be 
 
 explained as a mere variety of the 
 ordinary phrases ' indutus vestem,' 
 &c. , which will hardly include the 
 instance before us. The insertion 
 of a comma after 'corusca,' thus 
 making ' faces ' the nominative, 
 would remove the difficulty ; but I 
 have not ventured to introduce this 
 change of punctuation into the text. 
 pyropo] a kind of bronze, of a 
 fiery red colour, named from iriip- 
 uTtos, which is an epithet of the 
 lightning-bolt in jEsch. Prom. 667. 
 Cf. Ovid, Met. ii. 2, , ' flammas 
 imitante pyropo.' In Met. i. 469 
 Cupid is described with two darts, 
 one tipped with gold, the other with 
 lead — 
 
 ' fugat hoc, facit illud amorem. 
 Quod facit auratum est, et cuspide 
 
 fulget acuta ; 
 Quod fiigat obtusum est, et habet 
 
 sub arundine plumbum.' 
 
 195 in erectum] the neuter adj. 
 used substantively, ' into an elevated 
 region.' Cf. ' per arduum,' Hor. 
 Od. II. xix. 21. 
 
 per orbes] 'among the stars' 
 (Warton). 
 
124 
 
 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 Hinc mentes ardere sacrae formaeque deorum. 
 
 Tu quoque in his, nee me fallit spes lubrica, Damon, 
 Tu quoque in his certe es, nam quo tua dulcis abiret 
 Saoctaque simplicitas, nam quo tua Candida virtus ? 
 Nee te Letheeo fas qusesivisse sub orco. 
 Nee tibi conveniunt lacrimae, nee flebimus ultra : 
 Ite procul, lacrimse ; purum colit aethera Damon, 
 ^thera purus habet, pluvium pede reppulit arcum ; 
 Heroumque animas inter divosque perennes 
 ^thereos haurit latiees, et gaudia potat 
 Ore sacro. Quin tu, coeli post jura recepta, 
 Dexter ades placidusque fave quicunque vocaris, 
 Seu tu noster eris Damon, sive aequior audis 
 
 205 
 
 196 coUimat] ' takes aim.' The 
 word collimare is now understood 
 not to exist ; it was formerly found 
 in editions of Cicero, Gellius, &c., 
 the supposed meaning being ' to 
 look «^i?/o«^ at anything' (as if from 
 the adj. limus), but it has been 
 expunged everywhere as a mistake 
 for collimare, 'to aim in a straight 
 line.' ■ 
 
 197] Keightley remarks that 'di- 
 vine, not sensual love is here spoken 
 of.' See /*. L. viii. 592; Comus, 
 1004 ; Quarles, Emblems, ii. 8. 
 Milton was doubtless familiar with 
 the magnificent description of Celes- 
 tial Love in Plato's Symposium (c. 8) 
 and Phadrus (c. 30 foil.). 
 
 198-219] The mention of ' sacred 
 minds and forms divine ' leads the 
 poet to describe that state of hea- 
 vnly bliss which he is assured that 
 the soul of his friend is now enjoy- 
 ing. This passage will bear a close 
 comparison with that in Lycidas, 165 
 foil., both as regards the general 
 sentiment and some particular ex- 
 pressions ; there is the same juxta- 
 position of classical and Scriptural 
 imagery, only here the former 
 largely predominates, as might be 
 
 expected from the form of the poem 
 and the language in which it is 
 written. The apotheosis of Daphnis 
 in Virgil's 5th Eclogue seems to 
 have been chiefly before Milton's 
 mind on both occasions. 
 
 200 sancta simplicitas] Cf. 
 
 1- 33- 
 
 201 qusesivisse] The perfect tense 
 has great force here. The first im- 
 pulse of grief was to mourn the 
 departed one as lost and gone, but 
 it is presently rejected for an ex- 
 pression of belief in his immortality. 
 See Lycidas, 165, 166, 204 ; Virg. 
 .£.v.56, 57. The fine idea of spring- 
 ing upwards from the arc of the 
 rainbow is partly due to Virgil, G. 
 iv. 233, where the rising Pleiad is 
 said to ' spurn with her foot the 
 Ocean stream' (' Oceani spretos 
 pede reppulit amnes '). 
 
 205] Keightley comp. Hor. Od. 
 III. iii. II, 'Quos inter Augustus 
 recumbcns Purpureo bibit ore nec- 
 tar.' 
 
 208] See note and ieB.OTiI,ycidas, 
 184. 
 
 209 audis] as in Hor. Sat. II. 
 vi. 20, ' seu J ane libentius audis.' 
 Different names of a god implied 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 Diodatus, quo te divino nomine ciincti 
 Coelicolae norint, silvisque vocabere Damon. 
 Quod tibi purpureus pudor .et sine labe juventus 
 Grata fuit, quod nulla tori libata voluptas, 
 En etiam tibi virginei servantur honores ; 
 Ipse caput nitidum cinctus rutilante corona, 
 Laetaque frondentis gestans umbracula palmae, 
 Sternum parages immortales hymenaeos ; 
 Cantus ubi choreisque furit lyra mista beatis, 
 Festa Sionseo bacchantur et Orgia thyrso. 
 
 125 
 210 
 
 215 
 
 different attributes (Exodus vi. 3) ; 
 whence arose the idea that one 
 name would on certain occasions be 
 more acceptable than another. Thus 
 the Chorus in j^^sch. Agam. 155 
 exclaims : Zeis, iaris ttot' itrTiv, ei 
 r6S ain^ ^ihov KeKKtifUviji, tovt6 
 VLV Trpoff^vvejru. 
 
 210 Siodatns] 'God-given,' 
 hence 'divino nomine.' One of 
 Diodati's letters begins with the 
 words 06oo'5(Jtos MfArwyt x^P^^^ 
 (see Introduction, p. 31). 
 
 211 silvisj i.e. by us shepherds. 
 212] Richardson comp. Ovid, 
 
 Amor. I. iii. 14, ' Nudaque simpli- 
 citas purpureusque pudor.' The 
 latter is the rosy blush of modesty ; 
 cf Virg. ^n. i. 591, 'lumenque 
 juventse Purpureum' (see note on 
 Lycidas, 141). 
 
 214] Warton observes that Dio- 
 dati was unmarried, and quotes Rev. 
 xiv. 3, 4. Cf. also Bp. Taylor, 
 Holy Living, xi. 3 (quoted by Keble 
 in the Christian Year, Wednesday 
 before Easter), 'that little coronet 
 or special reward, which God hath 
 prepared for those "who have not 
 defiled themselves vrith women, 
 but follow the Lamb for ever." ' 
 
 216 palms] Rev. vii. 9. 
 
 217 hymenseos] See Lycidas, 176 
 and note. 
 
 219 thyrso] the instrumental ab- 
 lative, ' und^r the inspiration of the 
 thyrsus,' the instrument which ex- 
 cited the Bacchantes to phrensy. 
 We have here perhaps the most 
 startling instance to be found in 
 Milton's poetry of that blending of 
 sacred with pagan imagery, to 
 which reference has so often been 
 made. Such a conception as is here 
 presented to us can only be account- 
 ed for (and even then not wholly 
 excused) on the hypothesis that 
 partly from the custom of the period, , 
 partly from his own literary associa- 
 tions, the images derived from clas- 
 sical mythology had become so 
 familiar to Milton's mind that their 
 precise original import was for the 
 time forgotten. To suppose that he 
 would seriously have admitted any 
 real compiarison between the orgies 
 of Dionysus and the joys of the 
 saints in glory would be to contra- 
 dict all that we know, from other 
 sources, of his genuine piety and the 
 intense sincerity of his devotion. 
 
TRANSLATION OF THE EPITAPHIUM 
 DAMONIS. 
 
 By Charles Symmons, D.D. Jesus Coll. Oxon., 1806. 
 
 Damon, a n Epitaphial Elegy. 
 
 Ye nymphs of Himera (whose stream along 
 
 The notes have floated of your mournful song, 
 
 As Daphnis or as Hylas you deplored. 
 
 Or Bion, once the shejiherds' tuneful lord;) 
 
 Lend your Sicilian softness to proclaim 5 
 
 The woes of Thyrsis on the banks of Thame; 
 
 What plaints he murmured to the springs and floods, 
 
 How waked the sorrowing echoes of the woods. 
 
 As frantic for his Damon lost, alone 
 
 He roamed, and taught the sleepless night to groan. 10 
 
 Twice the green blade had bristled on the plain, 
 
 And twice the golden ear enriched the swain, 
 
 Since Damon by a doom too strict expiredj 
 
 And his pale eye his absent friend required. 
 
 For Thyrsis still his wished return delayed; ^5 
 
 The Muses held him in the Tuscan shade. 
 
 But jjrhen with satiate taste and careful thought 
 
 His long-forgotten home and flock he sought, 
 
 AKi then, beneath the accustomed elm reclined. 
 
 All — all his loss came rushing to his mind. 20 
 
 Undone and desolate, for transient ease 
 
 He poured his swelling heart in strains like these : 
 
 Return unfed, my lambs ; by fortune crost 
 
 Your hapless master now to you is lost! 
 What powers shall I of earth or heaven invoke^ 25 
 
 Since Damon fell by their relentless stroke ? 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 127 
 
 And shall thou leave us thus ? and shall thy worth 
 
 Sleep in a nameless grave with common eartl) ? 
 
 But heu whose wand the realms of death controls 
 
 Forbids thy shade to blend with common souls. 30 
 
 While these o'erawed disperse at his command, 
 
 He leads thee to thy own distinguished band. 
 
 Return unfed, my lambs; by fortune crost^ 
 
 Your hapless master now to you is lost/ 
 And sure, unless beneath some evil eye, 35 
 
 That blights me with its glance, my powers should die. 
 Thou shall not slumber on thy timeless bier 
 ' Without the meed of one melodious tear.' 
 Long shall thy name, thy virtues long remain 
 In fond memorial with the shepherd train ; 40 
 
 Their festive honours and their votive lay 
 To thee, as to their Daphnis, they shall pay, — 
 Their Daphnis thou, as long as Pales loves 
 The springing meads, or Faunus haunts the groves; 
 If aught of power or faith and truth attend, 45 
 
 Palladian science and a Muse thy friend. 
 
 Return unfed, my lambs; by fortune crost 
 
 Your hapless master now to you is lost! 
 Yes, Damon, thee such recompenses wait. — 
 But ah ! what ills hang gloomy o'er my fate ? 50 
 
 Who now, still faithful to my side, will bear 
 Keen frosts or suns that parch the sickening air, 
 When boldly, to protect the distant fold. 
 We seek the growling savage in his hold ? 
 Who now, as we retrace thelo ng rough, w ay. 55 
 
 With tale or song will soSlKe^the weary day ? 
 
 Return unfed, my lambs ; by fortune crost 
 
 Your hapless master now to you is lost! 
 To whom my bosom shall I now confide .■' 
 At whose soft voice will now my cares subside ? 60 
 
 Who now will cheat the night with harmless mirth. 
 As the nut crackles on the glowing hearth. 
 Or the pear hisses, — ^while without the storm 
 Roars through the wood and ruffles nature's form ? 
 
 Return unfed, my lambs; by fortune crost 65 
 
 Your hapless master now to you is lost! 
 In summer too, at noontide's sultry hour, 
 
128 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 When Pan lies sleeping in his beechen bower ; 
 
 When diving from the day's opprpssive heat 
 
 The panting Naiad seeks her crystal seat ; 70 
 
 When every shepherd leaves the silent plain, 
 
 And the green hedge protects the snoring swain ; 
 
 Whose playful fancy then shall light the smile? 
 
 Whose Attic tongue relieve my languid toil ? 
 
 Return unfed, my lambs j by fortune crost 75 
 
 Your hapless tnaster flow to you is lost! 
 Ah ! now through meads and va les alone I s tray, 
 Or linger sad where woods embrown the day ; 
 As drives the storm, and Eiiru^o'er inyTiead 
 Breaks the loose twilight of the billowy shade. 8o 
 
 Rettirn unfed, my lambs ; by fortune crost 
 Your hapless master now to you is lost! 
 My late trim fields their laboured culture scorn> 
 And idle weeds insult my drooping com ; 
 My widowed vine in prone dishonour sees 85 
 
 Her clusters wither; — not a shrub can please. 
 E'en my sheep tire me ; they with upward eyes 
 Gaze at my grief, and seem to feel my sighs. 
 Return unfed, my lambs ; by fortune crost 
 Your hapless master now to you is lost! 90 
 
 My shepherd friends, by various tastes inclined. 
 Direct my steps the sweetest spot to find. 
 This likes the ha^pl, that the beechen grove ; 
 One bids me herfcj one there for pleasure rove. 
 Aegon the willow's pensile shade delights, 95 
 
 And gay Amyntgs^to the streams invites. 
 ' Here are cool fountains ; here is mossy grass ; 
 ' Here zephyrs softly whisper as they pass. 
 ' From this light spring yon arbute draws her green, 
 ' The pride and beauty of the sylvan scene.' 100 
 
 Deaf is my woe, and while they speak in vain, 
 I plunge into the copse and hide my pain. 
 Return unfed, my lambs; by fortune crost 
 Your hapless master now to you is lost ! 
 Mopsus surprised me in my sullen mood, 105 
 
 (Mopsus who knew the language of the wood ; 
 Knew all the stars, could all their junctions spell.) 
 And thus ; — 'What passions in your bosom swell? 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 129 
 
 'Speak ! flows the poison from disastrous love? 
 
 ' Or falls the mischief star-sent from above ? ' no 
 
 ' For leaden Saturn, with'his chill control, 
 
 ' Oft has shot blights into the shepherd's soul.' 
 
 Return unfed, my lambs j by fortune crost ' 
 
 Your hapless master now to you is lost.' 
 The wandering nymphs exclaim — ' What, Thyrsis, now ? 1 1 5 
 ' Those heavy eyelids and that cloudy brow 
 ' Become not youth ; to youth the jocund song, 
 ' Frolic and dance and wanton wiles belong. 
 ' With these he courts the joys that suit his state ; 
 'Ah ! twice unhappy he who loves too late !' 120 
 
 Return unfed, my lambs; by fortune crost 
 
 Your hapless master now to you is lost.' 
 With Dryope and Hyas, ./Egle came, 
 A lovely lyrist, but a scornful dame. 
 
 From Chelmer's banks fair Chloris joined the train ; 125 
 But vain their blandishments, their solace vain. 
 Dead is my hope, and pointless beauty's dart 
 To waken torpid pleasure in my heart. 
 
 Return unfed, my lambs; by fortune crost 
 
 Your hapless master now to you is lost! 130 
 
 How blest where, none repulsed and none preferred, 
 One common friendship blends the lowing herd ! 
 Touched by no subtle magnet in the mind. 
 Each meets a comrade when he meets his kind. 
 Conspiring wolves enjoy this equal love, 13S 
 
 And this the zebra's parti-coloured drove ; 
 This too the tribes of ocean, and the flock 
 Which Proteus feeds beneath his vaulted rock. 
 The sparrow, fearless of a lonely state. 
 Has ever for his social wing a mate ; 140 
 
 Whom should the falcon or the marksman strike, 
 He soon repairs his loss and finds a like. 
 But we, by Fate's severer frown oppressed. 
 With war and sharp repulsion in the breast. 
 Can scarcely meet amid the human throng 145 
 
 One kindred soul, or met preserve him long. 
 When fortune, now determined to be kind, 
 Yields the rich gift, and mind is linked to mind, 
 K 
 
1-30 EPITAPHIUM DAMON IS. 
 
 Death mocks the fond possession, bursts the chain, 
 
 And plants the bosom with perennial pain. 150 
 
 Return unfed, my lambs ; by fortune crost 
 
 Your hapless master now to you is lost.' 
 Alas ! what madness tempted me to stray 
 Where other suns on distant regions play ? 
 To tread aerial paths and Alpine snows, 155 
 
 Scared by stern Nature's terrible repose ? 
 Ah ! could the sepulchre of buried Rome 
 Thus urge my frantic foot to spurn my home ? 
 Though Rome were now, as once in pomp arrayed 
 She drew theMantuan from his flock and shade ; s6o 
 
 Ah ! could she lure me from thy faithful side, 
 Lead'me where rocks would part us, floods divide, 
 Forests and lofty mountains intervene, 
 Whole realms extend and oceans roar between ? 
 Ah, wretch ! denied to press thy fainting hand, 165 
 
 Close thy dim eyes and catch thy last command • 
 To say — ' My friend, O think of all our love, / 
 ' And bear it glowing to the realms above !' / 
 
 Return unfed,^ my lambs; by fortune crost 
 
 Your hapless master now to you is lost ! 170 
 
 Yet must I not deplore the hours that flew, 
 Ye Tuscan swains, with science and with you ; — 
 ' Each Grace and Muse is yours,' — and yours my Damon too. 
 From ancient Lucca's Tuscan walls became. 
 With you in country, talents, arts the same. 175 
 
 How happy, lulled by Arno's warbling stream, 
 Hid by his poplars from day's flaring beam, 
 When stretched along the fragrant moss I lay. 
 And culled the violet or plucked the bay ; 
 Or heard, contending for the rural prize, 180 
 
 Famed Lycid's and Menalcas' melodies. 
 I too essayed to sing, nor vainly sung ; 
 This flute, these baskets speak my victor tongue — 
 And Datis and Francinus, swains who trace 
 Their Tuscan lineage to the Lydian race, 185 
 
 Dear to the Muses both, with friendly care 
 Taught their carved trees my favoured name to bear. 
 
 Return unfed, my lambs; by fortune crost 
 Your hapless master now to you is lost I 
 
EPITAPHIU-M DAMONIS. 131 
 
 Then, as the moonbeam slumbered on the plain, 190 
 
 I penned my fold, and sung in cheerful strain ; 
 
 And oft exclaimed, unconscious of my doom. 
 
 As your pale ashes mouldered in the tomb— 
 
 ' Now he is singing ; now my friend prepares 
 
 ' His twisted osiers or his wiry snares ! ' 195 
 
 Then would rash fancy on the future seize, 
 
 And hail you present in such words as these — 
 
 'What? loitering here? unless some cause dissuade, 
 
 ' Haste and enjoy with me the whispering shade ; 
 
 ' Or where his course the lucid Colnus bends, 200 
 
 ' Or where Cassibelan's domain extends. 
 
 ' There shew what herbs in vale or upland grow, 
 
 ' The harebell's ringlet and the saffron's glow ; 
 
 * There teach me all the physic of the plains, 
 
 ' What healing virtues swell the floret's veins.' 205 
 
 Ah ! perish all the healing plants, confest 
 
 Too weak to save the swain who knew them best ! 
 
 As late a new-compacted pipe I found, 
 
 It gave beneath my lips a loftier sound ; 
 
 Too high indeed the notes ; for as it spoke 210 
 
 The waxen junctures in the labour broke. 
 
 Smile as you may, I will not hide from you. 
 
 The ambitious strain ; — ye woods, awhile adieu ! 
 Return unfed, my lambs ; by fortune crost 
 Your hapless master now to you is lost 1 215 
 
 High on Rutupium's cliffs my muse shall hail 
 
 The first white gleamings of the Dardan sail ; 
 
 Shall sing the realms by Imogen controUedj 
 
 And Brennus, Arvirage, and Belin old ; 
 
 Shall sing Armorica at length subdued 220 
 
 By British steel in Gallic blood imbrued ; 
 
 And Uther in the form of Gorlois led 
 
 By Merlin's fraud to logerne's bed, ■ 
 
 Whence Arthur sprang. If length of days be mine, 
 
 My shepherd's pipe shall hang on yon old pine 225 
 
 In long neglect; or tuned to British strains 
 
 With British airs shall please my native swains. 
 
 But wherefore so ? alas ! no human mind 
 
 Can hope for audience all the human kind. 
 
132 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 Enough for me ; I ask no more renown 23ff 
 
 (Lost to the world, to Britain only known), 
 
 If yellow-tressfed Usa read my lays, 
 
 Alain and gulphy Humber sound my praise, 
 
 Trent's sylvan echoes answer to my song, 
 
 My own dear Thames my warbled notes prolong ; 235 
 
 Ore- tinctured Tamar own me foriier bard, 
 
 And Thule mid her utmost flood regard. 
 Return unfed, my lambs; by fortune crost 
 Your hapless master now to you is lost ! 
 
 These lays, and more like these, for thee designed 240 
 
 I wrote, and folded in the laurel's rind. 
 
 For thee I also kept, of antique mould, 
 
 Two spacious goblets, rough with laboured gold. 
 
 (Rare was the gift, but yet the giver more, 
 
 Mansus the pride of the Chalcidian shore). 245 
 
 In bold existence, from the workman's hand. 
 
 Two subjects on their fretted surface stand. 
 
 Here by the Red Sea coast, in length displayed, 
 
 Arabia pants beneath her odorous shade ; 
 
 And here the Phoenix from his spicy throne, 250 
 
 In heavenly plumage radiant and alone. 
 
 Himself a kind, beholds with flamy sight 
 
 The wave first kindle with the morning light. 
 
 There on another side the heavens unfold. 
 
 And great Olympus shines in brighter gold. 255 
 
 Strange though it seems, conspicuous on the scene 
 
 The god of love displays his infant mien ; 
 
 Dazzling his arms, his quiver, torch and bow. 
 
 His brilliant shafts with points of topaz glow. 
 
 With these he meditates no common wound, 260 
 
 But proudly throws a fiery glance around ; 
 
 And scorning vulgar aims, directs on high 
 
 His war against the people of the sky ; 
 
 Thence struck with sacred flame the ethereal race 
 
 Rush to new joys, and heavenly minds embrace. 265 
 
 With these is Damon now, my hope is sure j 
 
 Yes ! with the just, the holy and the pure. 
 
 My Damon dwells ; — 'twere impious to surmise 
 
 Virtues like his could rest below the skies. 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 133 
 
 Then cease our tears ! from his superior seat 270 
 
 He sees the showery arch beneath his feet ; 
 
 And mixed with heroes and with gods above 
 
 Quaffs endless draughts of life, and joy and love. 
 
 But thou, when fixed on thy empyreal throne, 
 
 When heaven's eternal rights are all thy own, 275 
 
 O still attend us from thy starry sphere, 
 
 Still as we call thee by thy name most dear, 
 
 Diodatus above — but yet our Damon here ! 
 
 As thine was roseate purity, that fled 
 
 In youth abstemious from the nuptial bed, 280 
 
 Thy virgin triumphs heavenly spousals wait ; — 
 
 Lo ! where it leads along its festal state ; 
 
 A crown of living lustre binds thy brow. 
 
 Thy hand sustains the palm's immortal bough ; 
 
 While the full song, the dance, the frantic lyre, \ 285 
 
 And Sion's thyrsus wildly waved conspire 
 
 To solemnise the rites, and boundless joys inspire. 
 
THE SAME 
 
 By Professor Masson, 1873.— Reprinted from his 'Life 
 OF Milton,' Vol. II. p. 85. 
 
 On the Death of Damon. 
 
 The Argument. 
 
 Thyrsis and Damon, shepherds of the same neighbourhood, following 
 the same pursuits, were friends from their boyhood, in the highest 
 degree of mutual attachment. Thyrsis, having set out to travel for 
 mental improvement, received news when abroad of Damon's death. 
 Afterwards at length returning, and finding the matter to be so, he 
 deplores himself and his solitary condition in the following poem. 
 Under the gui.se of Damon, however, is here understood Charles 
 Diodati, tracing his descent on the father's side from the Tuscan city of 
 Lucca, but otherwise English — a youth remarkable, while he lived, 
 for his genius, his learning, and other most shining virtues. 
 
 Nymphs of old Himera's stream (for ye it was that remembered 
 Daphnis and Hylas when dead, and grieved for the sad fate of Bion), 
 Tell through the hamlets of Thames this later Sicilian story — 
 What were the cries and murmurs that burst from Thyrsis the 
 
 wretched. 
 What lamentations continued he wrung from the caves and the 
 
 rivers, 
 Wrung from the wandering brooks and the grove's most secret 
 
 recesses, 
 Mourning his Damon lost, and compelling even the midnight 
 Into the sound of his woe, as he wandered in desolate places. 
 Twice had the ears in the wheat-fields shot through the green of 
 
 their sheathing. 
 As many crops of pale gold were the reapers counting as garnered. 
 Since the last day that had taken Damon down from the living^ 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 135 
 
 Thyrsis not being by ; for then that shepherd was absent, „„«»» 
 Kept by the Muse's sweet love in the far-famed town of the Tuscan. 
 But, when his satiate mind, and the care of his floclc recollected, 
 Brought him baclc to his home, and he sat, as of old, 'neath the 
 
 elm-tree. 
 Then at last, O then, as the sense of his loss comes upon him. 
 Thus he begins to disburthen all his measureless sorrow : — 
 
 Go unpastured, my lambs : your master now heeds not your' 
 
 bleating. 
 Ah me ! what deities now shall I call on in earth or in heaven, 
 After the pitiless death by which they have reft thee, my Damon ? 
 Thus dost thou leave us ? thus without name is thy virtue departed 
 Down to the world below, to take ranli with the shadows unnoted ? 
 No ! May He that disparteth souls with his glittering baton 
 Will it not so, but lead thee into some band of the worthies. 
 Driving far from thy side all the mere herd of the voiceless ! 
 
 Go unpastured, my lambs: your master now heeds not your 
 
 bleating. 
 Hap as it may, unless the wolf's black glance shall first cross me. 
 Not in a tearless tomb shall thy loved mortality moulder ; 
 Stand shall thine honour for thee, and long henceforth shall it 
 
 flourish 
 Mid our shepherd -lads ; and thee they shall joy to remember 
 Next after Daphnis chief, next after Daphnis to praise thee. 
 So long as Pales and Faunus shall love our fields and our 
 
 meadows. 
 If it avails to have cherished the faith of the old and the loyal, 
 Pallas's arts of peace, and have had a tuneful companion ! 
 
 Go unpastured, my lambs : your master now heeds not your 
 
 bleating. 
 Kept are these honours for thee, and thine they shall be, my 
 
 Damon ! 
 But for myself what remains ? For me what faithful companion 
 Now will cling to my side, in the place of the one so familiar, 
 All through the season harsh when the grounds are crisp with the 
 
 snow-crust, 
 Or 'neath the blazing sun when the herbage is dying for moisture ? 
 Were it the task to go forth in the track of the ravaging lions. 
 Or to drive back from the folds the wolf-packs boldened by hunger, 
 Who would now lighten the day with the sound of his talk or his 
 
 singing ? 
 
136 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 Go unpastured, my lambs : your master now heeds not your 
 
 bleating. 
 Whom shall I trust with my thoughts ; or who will teach me to 
 
 deaden 
 Heart-hid pains ; or who will cheat away the long evening 
 Sweetly with chat by the fire, where hissing hot on the ashes 
 Roasts the ripe pear, and the chestnuts crackle beneath, while the 
 
 South-wind 
 Hurls confusion without, and thunders down on the elm- tops ? 
 Go unpastured, my lambs : your master now heeds not your 
 
 bleating. 
 Then, in the summer, when day spins roimd on his middlemost axle. 
 What time Pan takes his sleep concealed in the shade of the 
 
 beeches, 
 And when the nymphs have repaired to their well-known grots in 
 
 the rivers, 
 Shepherds are not to be seen and under the hedge snores the rustic, 
 Who will bring me again thy blandishing ways and thy laughter, 
 All thy Athenian jests, and all the fine wit of thy fancies ? 
 
 Go unpastured, my lambs : your master now heeds not your 
 
 bleating. 
 Now all lonely I wander over the fields and the pastures. 
 Or where the branchy shades are densest down in the valleys ; 
 There I wait till late, while the shower and the storm-blast above me 
 Moan at their will, and sighings shake through the breaks of the 
 
 woodlands. 
 Go unpastured, my lambs : your master now heeds not your 
 
 bleating. 
 Ah ! how my fields, once neat, are now overgrown and unsightly, 
 Fonvard only in weeds, and the tall corn sickens with mildew ! 
 Mateless, my vines droop down the shrivelled weight of their 
 
 clusters ; 
 Neither please me my myrtles ; and even the sheep are a trouble ; 
 They seem sad, and they turn their faces, poor things, to their master ! 
 Go unpastured, my lambs : your master now heeds not your 
 
 bleating. 
 Tityrus calls to the hazels ; to the ash-trees Alphesiboeus ; 
 ./Egon suggests the willows ; ' The streams,' says lovely Amyntas ; 
 ' Here are the cool springs, here the moss-broidered grass and the 
 
 hillocks ; 
 ' Here are the zephyrs, and here the arbutus whispers the ripple.' 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 137 
 
 These things they sing to the deaf; so I took to the thickets and 
 
 left them. 
 Go unpastured, my lambs : your master now heeds not your 
 , bleating. 
 Mopsus addressed me next, for he had espied me returning 
 (Wise in the language of birds, and wise in the stars too, is 
 
 Mopsus) : 
 ' Thyrsis,' he said, ' what is this ? what bilious humour afflicts thee ? 
 ' Either love is the cause, or the blast of some star inauspicious; 
 ' Saturn's star is of all the oftenest deadly to shepherds, 
 ' Fixing deep in the breast his slant leaden shaft of sickness.' 
 
 Go unpastured, my lambs : your master now heeds not your 
 
 bleating. 
 Round me fair maids wonder ; ' What will come of thee, Thyrsis ? 
 ' What wouldst thou have?' they say : 'not commonly see we the 
 
 young men 
 'Wearing that cloud on the brow, the eyes thus stern and the 
 
 visage : 
 ' Youth seeks the dance and sports, and in all will tend to be 
 
 wooing : 
 ' Rightfully so : twice wretched is he who is late in his loving.' 
 Go unpastured, my lambs :~"your master now heeds not your 
 
 bleating. 
 Dryope came, and Hyas, and ^gle, the daughter of Baucis 
 (Learned is she in the song and the lute, but O what a pr,oud 
 
 one !) ; 
 Came to me Chloris also, the maid from the banks of the Chelmer. 
 Nothing their blandishings move me, nothing their prattle of 
 
 comfort ; 
 Nothing the present can move me, nor any hope of the future. 
 Go unpastured, my lambs : your master now heeds not your 
 
 bleating. 
 Ah me ! how like one another the herds frisk over the meadows, 
 AH by the law of their kind, companions equally common ; 
 No one selecting for friendship this one rather than that one 
 Out of the' flock ! So come in droves to their feeding the jackals ; 
 So in their turns pair also the rough untameable zebras. 
 Such too the law of the deep, where Proteus down on the shingle 
 Numbers his troops of sea-calves. Nay, that meanest of wing-'d 
 
 ones, 
 See how the sparrow has always near him a fellow, when flying 
 
138 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 
 
 Round by the barns he chirrups, but seeks his own thatch ere it 
 
 darkens ; 
 Whom should fate strike lifeless — whether the beak of the falcon 
 Pin him in air, or he lie transfixed by the reed of the ditcher — 
 Quick the survivor is off, and a moment finds him remated. 
 We axe the hard race, we, the battered children of fortune, 
 We of the breed of men, strange-minded and different-moulded ! 
 Scarcely does any discover his one true mate among thousands ; 
 Or, if kindlier chance shall have given the singular blessing. 
 Comes a dark day on the creep, and comes the hour unexpected, 
 Snatching away the gift, and leaving the anguish eternal. 
 
 Go unpastured, my lambs : your master now heeds not your 
 bleating. 
 Ah ! what roaming whimsy drew my steps to a distance. 
 Over the rocks hung in air and the Alpine passes and glaciers 1 
 Was it so needful for me to have seen old Rome in her ruins — 
 Even though Rome had been such as, erst in the days of her 
 
 gieatness, 
 Tityrus, only to visit, forsook both his flocks and his country — * 
 That but for this I consented to lack the use of thy presence. 
 Placing so many seas and so many mountains between us. 
 So many woods and rocks and so many murmuring rivers ? 
 Ah ! at the end at least to have touched his hand had been given 
 
 me, 
 Closed his beautiful eyes in the placid hour of his dying. 
 Said to my friend, ' Farewell ! in the world of the stars think of meV 
 Go unpastured, my lambs : your master now heeds not your 
 bleating. 
 Albeit also of you my memory never shall weary, 
 Swains of the Tuscan land, well-practised youths in the Muses, 
 Here there was grace and lightness ; Tuscan thou too, my Damon, 
 Tracing the line of thy race from the ancient city of Lucca ! 
 O, how mighty was I, when, stretched by the stream of the Amo 
 Murmuring cool, and where the poplar-grove softens the herbage, 
 Violets now I would pluck, and now the sprigs of the myrtle, 
 Hearing Menalcas and Lycidas vying the while in their ditties ! 
 / also dared the challenge ; nor, as I reckon, the hearers 
 Greatly disliked my trials — ^for yet the tokens are with me, 
 Rush-plaits, osier nets, and reed-stops of wax, which they gave me. 
 Ay more : two of the group have taught our name to their beech- 
 woods — 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 139 
 
 Dati and also Francini, both of them notable shepherds, 
 As well in lore as in voice, and both of the blood of the Lydian. 
 Go unpastured, my lambs : your master now heeds not your 
 
 bleating. 
 Then too the pleasant dreams which the dewy moon woke within 
 
 me, 
 Penning the young kids alone within their wattles at even ! 
 Ah ! how often I said, when already the black mould bewrapt 
 
 thee, 
 ' Now my Damon is singing, or spreading his snares for the 
 
 leveret ; 
 ' Now he is weaving his twig-net for some of his various uses.' 
 What with my easy mind I hoped as then in the future 
 Lightly I seized with the wish and fancied as present before me. 
 'Ho, my friend!' I would cry: 'art busy? If nothing prevent 
 
 thee, 
 ' Shall we go rest somewhere in some talk-favouring covert, 
 ' Or to the waters of Colne, or the fields of Cassibelaunus ? 
 ' There thou shalt run me over the list of thy herbs and their juices, 
 ' Foxglove, and crocuses lowly, and hyacinth-leaf with its blossom, 
 ' Marsh-plants also that grow for use in the art of the healer.' 
 iPerish the plants each one, and perish all arts of the healer 
 Gotten of herbs, since nothing served they even their master ! 
 / too — for strangely my pipe for some time past had been sounding 
 Strains of an unknown strength— 'tis one day more than eleven 
 
 since 
 Thus it befell— and perchance the reeds I was trying were new 
 
 ones : 
 Bursting their fastenings, they flew apart when touched, and no 
 
 farther 
 Dared to endure the grave sounds : I am haply in this over- 
 boastful ; 
 Yet I will tell out the tale. Ye woods, yield your honours and 
 
 listen ! 
 Go unpastured, my lambs : your master now heeds not your 
 
 bleafing. 
 I have a theme of the Trojans cruising our southern headlands 
 Shaping to song, and the realm of Imogen, daughter of Pandras, 
 Brennus and Arvirach, dukes, and Bren's bold brother, Belinus ; 
 Then the Armorican settlers under the laws of the Britons, 
 Ay, and the womb of Igraine fatally pregnant with Arthur, 
 
140 EPITAPHIUM DAM0NI3. 
 
 Uther's son, whom he got disguised in Gorlois' likeness, 
 All by Merlin's craft. O then, if life shall be spared me. 
 Thou shalt be hung, my pipe, far off on some brown dying pine- 
 tree, 
 Much forgotten of me ; or else yon Latian music 
 Changed for the British war-screech ! What then ? For one to 
 
 do all things. 
 One to hope all tnings, fits not ! Prize sufficiently ample 
 Mine, and distinction great (unheard of ever thereaifter 
 Though I should be, and inglorious, all through the world of 
 
 the stranger), 
 If but yellow-haired Ouse shall read me, the drinker of Alan, 
 Humber, which whirls as it flows, and Trent's whole valley of 
 
 orchards, 
 Thames, my own Thames, above all, and Tamar's western waters, 
 Tawny with ores, and where the white waves swinge the ftr 
 Orkneys. 
 Go unpastured, my lambs : your master now heeds not your 
 bleating. 
 These I was keeping for thee, wrapt up in the rind of the laurel. 
 These and other things with them j and mainly the two cups which 
 
 Manso — 
 Manso, not the last of Southern Italy's glories — 
 Gave me, a wonder of art, which himself, a wonder of nature. 
 Carved with a double design of his own well-skilled invention : 
 Here the Red Sea in the midst, and the odoriferous summer, 
 Araby's winding shores, and palm trees sweating their balsams, 
 Mid which the bird divine, earth's marvel, the singular Phoenix, 
 Blazing Cccrulean-bright with wings of different colours, 
 Turns to behold Aurora surmounting the glassy-green billows : 
 Obverse is Heaven's vast vault and the great Olympian mansion. 
 Who would suppose it ? Even here is Love and his cloud-painted 
 
 quiver, 
 Arms glittering torch-lit, and arrows tipped with the fire-gem. 
 Nor is it meagre souls and the base-bom breasts of the vulgar 
 Hence that he strikes ; but, whirling round him his limiinous 
 
 splendours, 
 Always he scatters his darts right upwards sheer through the star- 
 depths 
 Restless, and never deigns to level the pain of them downwards ; 
 Whence the sacred minds and the forms of the gods ever-burning. 
 
EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS. 141 
 
 'Thou too art there — not vain is the hope that I cherish, my 
 Damon — 
 
 Thou too art certainly there ; for whither besides could have vanished 
 
 Holy-sweet fancies like thine, and purity stainless as thine was ? 
 
 No ; not down in Lethe's darkness ought we to seek thee ! 
 
 Tears are not fitting for thee, nor for thee will we weep any longer ; 
 
 Flow no more, ye tear-drops ! Damon inhabits the ether ; 
 
 Pure, he possesses the sky ; he has spurned back the arc of the 
 rainbow. 
 
 Housed mid the souls of the heroes, housed mid the gods ever- 
 lasting, 
 
 Quaffs he the sacred chalices, drinks he the joys of the blessed. 
 
 Holy-mouthed himself. But O, Heaven's rights being now thine, 
 
 Be thou with me for my good, however I ought to invoke thee. 
 
 Whether still as our Damon, or whether of names thou wouldst 
 rather 
 
 That of Diodati now, by which deep-meaning divine name 
 
 All the celestials shall know tbee, while shepherds shall still call 
 thee Damon. 
 
 For that the rosy blush and the unstained strength of young 
 manhood 
 
 Ever were dear to thee, and the marriage joy never was tasted, 
 
 Lo ! there are kept for thee the honours of those that were virgin ! 
 
 Thou, with thy fair head crowned with the golden; glittering 
 cincture. 
 
 Waving green branches of palm, and walking the gladsome pro- 
 cession, 
 
 Aye shall act and repeat the endless heavenly nuptials. 
 
 There where song never fails, and the lyre and the dance mix to 
 madness. 
 
 There where the revel rages and Sion's thyrsus beats time.' 
 
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