Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/405

 POEMS IN VARIOUS METRES

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��Haee ergo alumnus ille Londini Milto, Diebus hisce qui suuiu liuquens nidum 10 Polique tractum (pessimus ubi ventorum, Insanientis impotensque pulmonis, Pernix anhela sub Jove exercet flabra) Venit feraces Itali soli ad glebas, Visum superba cognifcas urbes fama, Virosque, doctseque indolem juventutis, Tibi optat idem hie fausta multa, Sal-

sille,

Habitumque fesso corpori penitus sanum; Cui nunc profunda bilis infestat renes, Praecordiisque fixa damnosum spirat; 20 Nee id pepercit impia qu6d tu Romano Tarn cultus ore Lesbium condis melos. O dulce divum munus, O Salus, Hebes Germana ! Tuque, Phoebe ! morborum

terror,

Pythone cseso, sive tu magis Paean Libenter audis, hie tuns sacerdos est. Querceta Fauni, vosque rore vinoso Colles benigni, mitis Evandri sedes, Siquid salubre vallibus frondet vestris, Levamen aegro ferte certatim vati. 30

Sic ille charis redditus rursum Musis Vicina dulci prata mulcebit cantu. Ipse inter atros emirabitur lucos Numa, ubi beatum degit otium asternum, Suam reclivis semper .^Egeriam spectans; Tumidusque et ipse Tibris, hinc delinitus, Spei favebit annuse colonorum; Nee in sepulehris ibit obsessum reges, Nimium sinistro laxus irruens loro; Sed frsena melius temperabit undarum, 40 Adusque curvi salsa regna Portumni.

��verses; London-bred Milton, who a while ago left his nest and his accustomed tract of sky, where the worst of winds pants perdi- tion from unhealthy lungs, and came to the fruitful glebe of Italy, to see its proud cities, its noble men, and its gifted youth. Now he sends thee greeting, Salsillo, and much health to thy afflicted body. Evil bile in- fests thy reins, and spreads sickness through thy organs; it is too impious to spare thee, for all the polished Lesbian song that thou pourest from thy Roman mouth.

O Health, sweetest gift of the gods, sister of Hebe ! and thou Apollo, (or Paean, if thou lovest that name better), thou who didst slay Python and art a healer of sick- ness, behold, this is a priest of thine ! O ye oaken groves of Faunus, and ye Roman hills gracious with the dew of the grape, ye seats of mild Evander, if any healing simple grows in your valleys, hasten, strive each to be first in bringing alleviation to your sick poet. Then, restored once more to the dear Muses, he will charm the near fields with sweet song. Numa himself, where he reclines under the dark trees in a blissful eternity of ease, and gazes for- ever at his Egeria, will wonder. Swollen Tiber, soothed by the music, will spare the crop on which the farmer has set his hope of the year. He will cease to rush on with lax and sinister rein, to overwhelm the very kings in their sepulchres; but he will temper his waves, till they reach the salt realms of Portumnus the harbor-god.

��MANSUS

Joannes Baptista Mansus, Marchio Villensis, vir ingenii laude, turn literarum studio, nee non et bellicS vir- tute, apud Italos clams in primis est. Ad quern Torquati Tassi Dialogus extat de Amicitia scriptus ; erat enim Tassi amicissimus : ab quo etiam inter Campanhe principes celebratur, in illo poemate cui titulus GERUSALEMME CONQUISTATA, lib. 20.

Fro. cavaliere magnanimi e cortesi Risplende il Manso. . ..

Is authorem, Neapoli commorantem, summS benevolentia prosecutus est, multaque ei detulit humanitatis officia. Ad hunc itaque bospes ille, antequam ab e& urbe discederet, ut ne ingratum se ostenderet, hoc carmen misit.

TO MANSO

Giovanni Battista Manso, Marquis of Villa, is a man of the highest repute in Italy, for genius, scholarship, and military accomplishments. Torquato Tasso addressed to him his Dialogues on Friendship ; he was a t, and is mentioned among the princes of his country in the poem entitled Gcrusa-

��dear friend of that poet, lemme Conquistata, book zz :

��Fra cavaliere magnanimi, e cortesi, Risplende il Manso.

��During the present author's stay at Naples, he was indebted to this nobleman for many offices of kindness and courtesy. After leaving the city, therefore, he sent the following verses to his host, in token of grat- itude.

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