The Complete Poetry of John Milton by John Milton Read Free Book Online Page B

voluisti ex parte videri,
                      Et pensare malâ cum pietate scelus?
    5
       5           Scilicet hos alti missurus ad atria cæli,
                      Sulphureo curru flammivolisque rotis.
                    Qualiter ille 2 feris caput inviolabile Parcis 3
                      Liquit Jördanios turbine raptus agros.
On the Gunpowder Plot
1
    When recently, at the same time against the King and the British lords, / you attempted, perfidious Fawkes, your unspeakable crime, / am I mistaken, or did you wish to seem in part kind / and to compensate for the heinous deed with wicked piety? / Certainly you would send them to the courts of high heaven [5] / in a sulphurous chariot with flaming wheels; / just as he 2 whose head was inviolable by the cruel Parcae, 3 / carried off in a whirlwind, disappeared from the plains of the Jordan.
    (
Nov. 1626 ?
)
----
    1 a Roman Catholic conspiracy by Guy Fawkes and others to blow up James I and the House of Lords on Nov. 5, 1605.
    2 Elijah (2 Kings ii. 11).
    3 Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, the Fates who controlled birth and death.
In eandem
                    Siccine tentasti cælo donâsse Jäcobum
                      Quæ septemgemino Bellua monte lates? 1
                    Ni meliora tuum poterit dare munera numen,
                      Parce precor donis insidiosa tuis.
    5
       5           Die quidem sine te consortia serus 2 adivit
                      Astra, nec infemi pulveris usus ope.
                    Sic potiùs fœdos in cælum pelle cucullos, 3
                      Et quot habet brutos Roma profana Deos,
                    Namque hac aut aliâ nisi quemque adjuveris arte,
    10
      10                  Crede mihi, cæli vix bene scandet iter.
On the same
    Thus did you strive to vouchsafe James to Heaven, / O Beast, who lurks on the seven hills? 1 / Unless your divine majesty can bestow better favors, / spare, I pray, your insidious gifts. / Indeed he has departed ripe in years, 2 without your help [5] / and without the employment of infernal powder, to his comrades, the stars. / Thus instead, banish to the sky your detestable cowls 3 / and all the brute gods profane Rome possesses; / for unless you aid each one firmly in this or some other way, / believe me, they will hardly mount the path to heaven successfully. [10]
    (
Nov. 1626 ?
)
----
    1 the Papacy; Rome, built on seven hills, was identified by many Protestants with the whore of Babylon, who sat on a beast with seven heads (hills) and ten horns (Rev. xvii. 3-7).
    2 James died on Mar. 27, 1625.
    3 priests.
In eandem
                    Purgatorem animæ derisit Jäcobus ignem, 1
                      Et sine quo superûm non adeunda domus.
                    Frenduit hoc trinâ monstrum Latiale coronâ 2
                      Movit et horrificùm cornua dena minax.
    5
       5           Et nec inultus ait, temnes mea sacra, Britanne,
                      Supplicium spretâ relligione dabis.
                    Et si stelligeras unquam penetraveris arces,
                      Non nisi per flammas triste patebit iter.
                    O quàm funesto cecinisti proxima vero,
    10
      10                  Verbaque ponderibus vix caritura suis!
                    Nam prope Tartareo 3 sublime rotatus ab igni
                      Ibat ad æthereas umbra perusta plagas.
On the same
    James derided the Purgatorial fire 1 of the soul, / without which there is no approaching of the celestial mansions. / The Latin monster with triple crown 2 gnashed its teeth at this / and moved its ten horns with frightful menace / and, it cried, “You shall not scorn my