John Milton goes girl-watching

[wolfinthewood]

Next Tuesday is the quatercentenary of the birth of John Milton. I am giving a talk with the title 'John Milton of London' at the Guildhall Library on Friday afternoon (2 till 4.30). As of this morning, there were still a couple of tickets left. Admission - £10 / £7.50. Booking (essential) on 020 7332 3851. ***Edit: All the tickets are now sold***

Meanwhile, I need to check the pronunciation of a couple of Italian names: Lucca, the city, and Cifra, a composer. Anyone out there know Italian?

One of the things I am looking at in the talk is some of Milton's early Latin poetry. I have been translating his great neglected pastoral elegy, 'Epitaphium Damonis', but I'll keep that for the talk for now. But here is a prose translation of part of a Latin poem he wrote at the age of 17 when he was a Cambridge undergraduate. The poem is addressed to his best friend from school, Charles Diodati. Milton is unhappy at Cambridge; he is much happier at his father's house in London. After a long passage about theatre-going, he continues:

But I do not always lurk under a roof or within the city, nor is the springtime wasted on me. I also visit a grove of elms not far from the city, a place in the suburbs, magnificently shady. Here very often you may see groups of girls go by, stars that breathe out enticing flames. Ah! how many times I have been struck with wonder at the miracle of a fine figure, [a sight] that might restore an old man’s youth. Ah! how many times have I seen eyes that surpassed gems … a forehead of outstanding loveliness, and fluttering locks of hair, the golden nets that Love the trickster spreads [for us].

...

You, London, a city built by settlers from Troy, visible in all directions because of your crest of towers, fortunate beyond measure, you enclose within your ramparts whatever loveliness the pendent orb possesses. The stars who glitter for you in serene skies, the crowd of attendants who wait upon Endymion’s goddess, are not so many as the crowd that may be seen shining through your streets, girls who catch the eye both for their shapely figures and their golden [ornaments].

John Milton (1608–1674)

from Elegia prima ad Carolum Diodatum (Spring 1626?)

translation © Gillian Spraggs, 2008


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