Vestit inauratas redeunti lumine terras; Est locus æterna septus caligine noctis, 135. Her black son Memnon. See Il Pens. v. 18. Aurora still weeps his untimely death at the siege of Troy. 138. Nocturnos visus, et somnia grata revolvens.] Doctor Newton ingeniously conjectures resolvens. But the poet means, literally, rolling back. The Janitor of the starry hall drove away slumbers, and rolled back again into darkness the visions of the night. 141. Nunc torvi spelunca Phoni, Prodotæque bilinguis.] See the personifications of Phonos Murder, and Prodotes Treason, in Fletcher's Purple Island, c. vii. 69, 72. But Fletcher's poem was published in 1633. Milton's was written in 1626. This cave 135 140 145 150 with its inhabitants is finely imaged, and in the style of Spen ser. 148.exanguisque locum circumvolat Horror;] Spenser, having described the personages that sate by the side of the high-way leading to hell, adds this image to complete the dreadful group. F. Q. ii. vii. 2. And over them sad Horror with grim hew Did alwaies soar, beating his iron winges. Horror is personified in Par. His stature reach'd the sky, and on Et Phonos, et Prodotes; nulloque sequente per antrum, Finibus occiduis circumfusum incolit æquor Interea longo flectens curvamine cœlos 154. Diffugiunt sontes, &c.] There is great poetry and strength of imagination in supposing that Murder and Treason often fly as alarmed from the inmost recesses of their own horrid cavern, looking back, and thinking themselves pursued. 156. Evocat antistes Babylonius, &c.] The pope. The address is in imitation of Virgil, Æn. i. 67. "Gens inimica mihi, " &c." 165. -paruere gemelli.] In paruere is a false quantity, yet very excusable amidst so much good poetry and expression, espe 155 160 165 170 cially from a youth of seventeen. But Milton might fairly defend himself, by reading u as the v consonant, for which there are authorities. 166. longo flectens curvamine cœlos] See Comus, v. 1015. Where the bow'd welkin slow doth bend. But Ovid has a like contexture, with a different idea. Metam. vi. 64. Of a rainbow. Inficere ingenti longum curvamine cœlum. 171.Mareotidas undas;] Ma Hic turris posita est Titanidos ardua Famæ Quam superimpositum vel Athos vel Pelion. Ossæ. 180 Agmina muscarum, aut texto per ovilia junco, 172. Hic turris posita est, &c.] The general model of this Tower of Fame is Ovid, Metam. xii. 39. Milton has retouched and variegated Ovid's imagery. In the figure of his Fame, however, our author adverts to Virgil. See the next note. And notes on v. 174, 175, 177, 207. Ibid. Titanidos] Ovid has Titanida Circen, Metam. xiv. 376. Again, xiii. 968. Fame is the sister of Cacus and Enceladus, two of the Titans, En. iv. 179. 174. Quam superimpositum vel Athos, &c.] Chaucer's House of Fame stands on a rock, higher than any in Spain. H. F. b. iii. 27. 175. totidemque fenestræ,] From Chaucer, H. F. b. iii. 101. Imageries and tabernacles 185 I sawe, and full eke of Windowes But Chaucer seems to have men- 177. Not to copy Ovid too perceptibly, Milton adopts this comparison from Homer, which is here very happily and elegantly applied. Il. ii. 469. « Ηυτε μυσ &c." See Par. Reg. iv. 15. Or as a swarm of flies in vintage time Sce also Il. xvi. 641. Chaucer, in the same argument, has the outline of the same comparison, H. F. iii. 431. I heard a noise approchin blive, That fareth as bees don in an hive Against ther time of outflying, &c. Lumina non unquam tacito nutantia somno, Sed tamen a nostro meruisti carmine laudes Dextra tubam gestat Temesæo ex ære sonoram. 200. The voice of God is preceded by thunders and earthquakes. This is in the style of Paradise Lost. 207. Dextra tubam gestat Temesœo ex ære sonoram.] Her brazen trumpet is from Chaucer, which is furnished by Eolus, H. F. b. iii. 347. What did this Eolus, but he &c. 190 195 200 205 the Tyrrhene sea, famous for its brass. See Odyss. i. 183. And Ovid, Metam. xv. 707. Milton has the epithet from Ovid, Medicam. Fac. 41. Et quamvis aliquis Temesca removerit æra. 208.-jam pennis cedentes remigat auras,] See Ad J. Rousium, v. 45. -Vehique superam Temese is a city on the coast of This metaphor first occurs in 210 215 Atque parum est cursu celeres prævertere nubes; 220 In obitum Præsulis Eliensis.* Anno Etatis 17. ADHUC madentes rore squalebant genæ, Et sicca nondum lumina Eschylus, Agamemn. v. 53. Of tention had been excited by the vultures. Πτερυγων ερετμοισι ερεσσομενοι. Alarum remigiis remigantes. For classical instances of the Remigium alarum, see Heinsius on Ovid, Art. Amator, ii. 45. Drakenborch on Sil. Ital. xii. 98. Dante turns Oars into Wings. Infern. C. xxvi. 121. " De' remi "facemmo ale." 220. Attamen interea, &c.] We are disappointed at this abrupt ending, after curiosity and at introduction of the goddess Fame with so much pomp. But young composers are eager to dispatch their work. Fame is again exhibited in the next poem, written also at seventeen. Nicholas Felton, Bishop of Ely, died Octob. 5, 1626, not many days after Bishop Andrewes, before celebrated. Felton had been also. Master of Pembroke Hall. |