55 Virgineos videas præteriiffe choros. Ah quoties dignæ ftupui miracula formæ, Quæ poffit fenium vel reparare Jovis ! Ah quoties vidi fuperantia lumina gemmas, Atque faces, quotquot volvit uterque polus! Colláque bis vivi Pelopis quæ brachia vincant, Quæque fuit puro nectare tincta via! Et decus eximium frontis, tremulófque capillos, Aurea quæ fallax retia tendit Amor! Pellacéfque genas, ad quas hyacinthina fordet Purpura, et ipfe tui floris, Adoni, rubor! Cedite, laudatæ toties Heroides olim, Et quæcunque vagum cepit amica Jovem. Ver. 55. Ah quoties vidi &c.] Ovid, Epift. Heroid. ix. 79. "Ah quoties digitis, &c." And Buchanan, El. vi. p. 43. edit. ut fupr. "fuperantia lumina flammas." WARTON.. 60 Ver. 58. Quæque fluit puro ne&are tin&ta via!] Here is a peculiar antique formula, as in the following inftances. Virgil, En. i. 573. "Urbem quam ftatuo vestra est.” Terence, Eunuch. iv. iii. 11. "Eunuchum quem dedifti nobis, quas turbas dedit." Many more might be given. Compare the very learned bishop Newcome's Preface to the Minor Prophets, p. xxxiv. Lond. 1785. 4to. WARTON. Ver. 63. Cedite, laudata toties Hercides olim, &c.] Ovid, Art. Amator. i, 713. "" Jupiter ad veteres fupplex Heroidas ibat, "Corripuit magnum nulla puella Jovem," WARTON. 65 Cedite, Achæmeniæ turritâ fronte puellæ, Et vos Iliacæ, Romuleæque nurus: Ver. 65. Cedite, Achæmeniæ turritâ fronte puellæ,] Mr. Warton refers to Sandys's Travels, for an account of the women of Achemænia (which is a part of Perfia) wearing a high head-dress. Ver. 66. Et quot Sufa colunt, Memnoniámque Ninon;] Sufa [Sufarum], anciently a capital city of Sufiana in Perfia, conquered by Cyrus. Xerxes marched from this city, to enflave Greece. Par. Loft, B. x. 308. It is now called Soufter. Both Sufa, and Sufiana, are mentioned in Par. Reg. B. iii. 288, 321. Ninos, is a city of Affyria, built by Ninus: Memnon, a hero of the Iliad, had a palace there, and was the builder of Sufa. Milton is alluding to oriental beauty. In the next couplet, he challenges the ladies of ancient Greece, Troy, and Rome. WARTON. Ver. 69. Nec Pompeianas Tarpëia Mufa &c.] The poet has a retrospect to a long passage in Ovid, who is here called Tarpeia Mufa, either because he had a house adjoining to the Capitol, or by way of diftinction, that he was the TARPEIAN, the genuine Roman Mufe. It is in Ovid's Art of Love, where he directs his votary Venus to frequent the portico of Pompey, or the Theatre; places at Rome, among others, where the most beautiful women were affembled, B. i. 67. "Ta modo Pompeii lentus fpatiare fub umbra, &c." And v. 89. "Sed tu præcipue curvis venare theatris, &c." See alfo, B. iii. 387. Propertius fays that Cynthia had deferted this famous portico, or colonnade, of Pompey, ii, xxxii. 11. "Scilicet umbrofis fordet Pompeia columnis 70 Jactet, et Aufoniis plena theatra ftolis. Gloria Virginibus debetur prima Britannis; Extera, fat tibi fit, fœmina, poffe fequi, Túque urbs Dardaniis, Londinum, ftructa colonis, Turrigerum latè confpicienda caput, Tu nimium felix intra tua moenia claudis 75 Where fays the old scholiaft, "Romæ erat Porticus Pompeia, foli arcendo accommodata, sub qua fpatiabantur." See alfo iv. tullus, Martial, and Statius. contiguous. æftivo potiffimum tempore matrona viii. 75. Other proofs occur in Ca. Pompey's theatre and portico were The words Aufoniis ftolis imply literally the Theatre filled "with the ladies of Rome." But ftola properly points out a matron. See Note on Il Penf. v. 35. And Ovid, Epift. ex Pont. iii. iii. 52. "Scripfimus hæc iftis, quarum nec vitta pudicos And Trift. ii. 252. "Quas ftola contingi, vittaque fumpta vetat ? "At matrona poteft, &c." WARTON. Compare Grotius, Silv. 1. iii. Epithal. iii. of the bride: v. 117: "Illa autem (nec enim differt fibi pacta maritus Ver. 74. Turrigerum latè confpicienda caput,] So, in Ļ’All. "Tower'd cities pleafe us then." See Marlowe and Chapman's Hero and Leander, edit. 1637, B. ii. "Tower'd courts." See alfo Par. Loft, B. i. 733. "Many a tower'd structure high." And "turrigerum caput," in the Note on ver. 5, El. iii, Thus Lucan, of Rome, lib. i. 188. "Tarrigero vertice." Quicquid formofi pendulus orbis habet. Non tibi tot cœlo fcintillant aftra fereno, Endymioneæ turba miniftra deæ, 80 Quot tibi, confpicuæ formáque auróque, puellæ 85 Stat quoque juncofas Cami remeare paludes, Atque iterum raucæ murmur adire Scholæ. 90 Interea fidi parvum cape munus amici, Ver. 76. pendulus orbis] See In Obit. Procan cellarii, v. 3, and Par. Loft, B. iv, 1000. Ver. 78. Endymioneæ turba] Grotias, Silv. 1. iii. Epith. iii. Ver, 89. "Endymioneas invadat Cynthia noctes.” juncofas Cami remeare paludes,] The epithet juncofas is picturesque and appropriated, and exactly defcribes this river: hence in Lycidas, "his bonnet fedge," v. 104. DR. J. WARTON. Add above, v. IL "Jam nec arundiferum mihi cura revifere Camum." But there is a contempt in defcribing Cambridge, and its river, by the expreffion the ruby marshes of Cam. Sec v. 13, 14. And Notes on Lycid. v. 105. WARTON. Pauçáque in alternos verba coacta modos *. Ver. 92. The Roxana of Alabafter has been mentioned by Dr. Johnson as a Latin compofition, equal to the Latin poetry of Milton: Whoever but flightly examines it, will find it written in the ftyle and manner of the turgid and unnatural Seneca. It was printed by the author himfelf at London, 1632. Yet it was written forty years before, 1592, and there had been a furreptitious edition. It is remarkable, that Mors, DEATH, is one of the perfons of the Drama. DR. J. Warton. I must add, that among the Dramatica poemata of Sir William Drury, one of the plays is called MoRs, and Mors is a chief speaker. Duaci, 1628. 12mo. edit. 2. Firft printed 1620. See below, El. iii. 6. WARTON. * The learned Lord Monboddo pronounces this Elegy to be equal to any thing of the "elegiac kind, to be found in Ovid, or even in Tibullus." WARTON. |