Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/374

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��LATIN POEMS

��Siccine te decet innocuos exponere foetus, Siccine in externam ferrea cogis hu- in uin, 90

Et sinis ut terris quseraut alimenta remotis Quos tibi prospiciens miserat ipse Deus, Et qui Iseta ferunt de cselo nuntia, quique Quse via post cineres ducat ad astra

decent ? Digna quidem Stygiis quse vivas clausa

tenebris,

JEternaque anim;e digna perire fame ! Haud aliter vates terree Thesbitidis olim

Pressit inassueto devia tesqua pede, Desertasque Arabum salebras, dum regis Achabi 99

Effugit, atque tuas, Sidoni dira, maims. Talis et, horrisouo laceratus membra fla-

gello,

Paulus ab JEmathia pellitur urbe Cilix; Piscosseque ipsum Gergessse civis lesum

Finibus ingratus jussit abire suis. At tu siime animos, nee spes cadat anxia

curis,

Nee tua concutiat decolor ossa metus. Sis etenim quamvis fulgentibus obsitus

armis,

Intententque tibi millia tela necem, At nullis vel inerme latus violabitur armis, Deque tuo cuspis nulla cruore bibet. no Namque eris ipse Dei radiante sub aegide

tutus;

Ille tibi custos, et pugil ille tibi; Ille Sioiuoje qui tot sub mcenibus arcis

Assyrios fudit nocte silente viros; Inque f ugam vertit quos in Samaritidas oras Misit ab autiquis prisca Damascus agris; Terruit et densas pavido cum rege cohortes,

Aere dum vacuo buccina clara sonat, Cornea pulvereum dum verberat ungula

campum, Currus arenosam dum quatit actus 1m-

Tiiuin, 120

Auditurque hinnitus equorum ad bella

ruentum, Et strepitus ferri, murmuraque alta

virum.

Et tu (quod superest miseris) sperare me- mento,

Et tua magnanimo pectore vince mala; Nee dubites quandoque frui. melioribus

annis, Atque iterum patrios posse videre lares."

��beseem you to expose your innocent off- spring, to drive them out O heart of iron ! into a strange land ? Those whom God in his providence sent to thee, bearing good tidings from Heaven, to teach the way to the stars after death, will you force these to seek their food in distant regions ? If so, you are worthy to live forever shut in the darkness of death, and to perish with the eternal hunger of the soul ! Thus did Elijah the Tishbite of old tread with unaccustomed foot the devious desert ways and the rough wastes of Araby, when he fled from out the hands of King Ahab and of thee, dire Jezebel. Thus, his limbs torn by the scourge, was Cilician Paul driven from the city of Macedon ; and thus even Jesus himself was bidden by the citizen ungrateful soul ! to depart from the shores of fishy Gergessa.

"But do thou take heart; let not care or worry steal thy hope, nor ashen fear invade thy bones. For though thou art girt about by gleaming arms, and though a thousand arrows threaten death, no weapon shall touch thy naked side, nor from thy blood shall any javelin drink. For thou shalt be safe under the radiant segis of God. He shall be thy keeper and thy champion; He who, under the walls of Jerusalem, citadel of Zion, overwhelmed so many As- syrian men in the silence of night, and put to flight those whom hoary Damascus had sent from her ancient fields into Samaria. He terrified the dense cohorts and made the king to quake, when on the silence shrilled the clear trumpet, when horny hoofs smote the dust of the field and the chariot in its flight shook the sands, and there was heard the neighing of horses rushing to war, and the clash of iron, and the con- fused voices of men. Remember to hope, for hope is left even to the most wretched. Surmount thy misfortunes great-heartedly. And do not doubt that better times will come, and that once more thou mayst see thine old home."

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