Illustrissimo Viro Domino Lanceloto Josepho de Maniban Grammatomanti
To a Gentleman that only upon the Sight of the Author's Writing had given a Character of his Person and Judgement of his Fortune.
Quis posthac chartae committat sensa loquaci,
Si sua crediderit fata subesse stylo?
Conscia si prodat scribentis litera sortem,
Quicquid et in vita plus latuisse velit?
Flexibus in calami tamen omnia sponte leguntur
Quod non significant verba, figura notat.
Bellerophonteas signat sibi quisque tabellas;
Ignaramque manum spiritus intus agit.
Nil praeter solitum sapiebat epistola nostra,
Exemplumque meae simplicitatis erat.
Fabula jucundos qualis delectat amicos;
Urbe, lepore, novis, carmine tota scatens.
Hic tamen interpres quo non securior alter,
(Non res, non voces, non ego notus ei)
Rimatur fibras notularum cautus aruspex,
Scripturaeque inhians consulit exta meae.
Inde statim vitae casus, animique recessus
Explicat; (haud genio plura liquere putem.)
Distribuit totum nostris eventibus orbem,
Et quo me rapiat cardine sphaera docet.
Quae Sol oppositus, quae Mars adversa minetur,
Jupiter aut ubi me, Luna, Venusque juvent.
Ut trucis intentet mihi vulnera cauda draconis;
Vipereo levet ut vulnera more caput.
Hinc mihi praeteriti rationes atque futuri
Elicit; astrologus certior astronomo.
Ut conjecturas nequeam discernere vero,
Historiae superet sed genitura fidem.
Usque adeo caeli respondet pagina nostrae,
Astrorum et nexus syllaba scripta refert.
Scilicet et toti subsunt oracula mundo,
Dummodo tot foliis una Sibylla foret.
Partum, Fortunae mater Natura, propinquum
Mille modis monstrat mille per indicia:
Ingentemque uterum qua mole puerpera solvat;
Vivit at in praesens maxima pars hominum.
Ast tu sorte tua gaude celeberrime vatum;
Scribe, sed haud superest qui tua fata legat.
Nostra tamen si fas praesagia jungere vestris,
Quo magis inspexti sydera spernis humum.
Et, nisi stellarum fueris divina propago,
Naupliada credam te Palamede satum.
Qui dedit ex avium scriptoria signa volatu,
Sydereaque idem nobilis arte fuit.
Hinc utriusque tibi cognata scientia crevit,
Nec minus augurium litera quam dat avis.
To that Renowned Man Lord Lancelot Joseph de Maniban Graphologist
Who after this would commit his thoughts to babbling paper,
If he thought that his fate would be exposed by his pen?
And if the guilty handwriting might proclaim the fortune of the writer,
What thing in life would he more wish to have hidden?
Nevertheless, in the turnings of the reed-pen all things are read spontaneously.
What the words do not signify, the shape makes known,
And each signs for himself Bellerophontean letters;
A spirit within drives the unknowing hand.
My letter savoured of nothing beyond the ordinary,
And was a sample of my simplicity,
A narrative such as delights pleasant friends,
All full of the city, wit, news, poetry;
Yet this interpreter, than whom no other is surer,
(Neither the subject matter, the words, nor I known to him)
A cunning haruspex, examines the entrails of my writing
And, poring, consults the inwards of my script.
Then immediately the events of my life, the recesses of my mind
He unfolds. (I doubt that more things are apparent to my guardian spirit.)
He divides the whole zodiac into my fortunes
And teaches with what constellation I am carried around,
What misfortunes the Sun in my opposition, or Mars may threaten,
Or when Jupiter, the Moon, and Venus may aid me,
How the tail of the malignant dragon threatens wounds to me,
And how his head, like a viper's, may assuage the wounds.
Hence, interpretations of the past and future
He elicits; an astrologer more certain than an astronomer.
Although I may not be able to distinguish conjectures from truth,
Yet the natal star is more reliable than history,
So much does the page of the heavens correspond to ours,
And the written syllable refer to the patterns of the stars.
And no doubt all things in the world are subject to prophecies,
Provided that one Sibyl be in so many leaves.
An approaching birth, Nature, the mother of Fortune,
Shows in a thousand ways, through a thousand signs,
By which child-bearing labour she may ease her vast womb;
Yet the greatest part of mankind lives in the present.
But you, the most distinguished of seers, rejoice in your lot;
Write, but there is no one living who may read your fate.
Yet, if I may join my prognostications to yours,
The more you have gazed at the stars, the more you scorn the earth.
And, unless you are the divine offspring of the stars,
I shall believe you descended from Nauplian Palamedes,
Who gave written symbols from the flight of birds,
And was likewise renowned in the starry art.
Hence the related knowledge of both has increased in you,
The letter gives no less augury than the bird.
This Appendix includes Marvell's Latin and Greek juvenilia and the commendatory verses in Latin which accompanied the set of English verses appearing on page 62 and the Latin poems for which there are English counterparts (appearing on pages 100-102).
Quis posthac chartae committat sensa loquaci,
Si sua crediderit fata subesse stylo?
Conscia si prodat scribentis litera sortem,
Quicquid et in vita plus latuisse velit?
Flexibus in calami tamen omnia sponte leguntur
Quod non significant verba, figura notat.
Bellerophonteas signat sibi quisque tabellas;
Ignaramque manum spiritus intus agit.
Nil praeter solitum sapiebat epistola nostra,
Exemplumque meae simplicitatis erat.
Fabula jucundos qualis delectat amicos;
Urbe, lepore, novis, carmine tota scatens.
Hic tamen interpres quo non securior alter,
(Non res, non voces, non ego notus ei)
Rimatur fibras notularum cautus aruspex,
Scripturaeque inhians consulit exta meae.
Inde statim vitae casus, animique recessus
Explicat; (haud genio plura liquere putem.)
Distribuit totum nostris eventibus orbem,
Et quo me rapiat cardine sphaera docet.
Quae Sol oppositus, quae Mars adversa minetur,
Jupiter aut ubi me, Luna, Venusque juvent.
Ut trucis intentet mihi vulnera cauda draconis;
Vipereo levet ut vulnera more caput.
Hinc mihi praeteriti rationes atque futuri
Elicit; astrologus certior astronomo.
Ut conjecturas nequeam discernere vero,
Historiae superet sed genitura fidem.
Usque adeo caeli respondet pagina nostrae,
Astrorum et nexus syllaba scripta refert.
Scilicet et toti subsunt oracula mundo,
Dummodo tot foliis una Sibylla foret.
Partum, Fortunae mater Natura, propinquum
Mille modis monstrat mille per indicia:
Ingentemque uterum qua mole puerpera solvat;
Vivit at in praesens maxima pars hominum.
Ast tu sorte tua gaude celeberrime vatum;
Scribe, sed haud superest qui tua fata legat.
Nostra tamen si fas praesagia jungere vestris,
Quo magis inspexti sydera spernis humum.
Et, nisi stellarum fueris divina propago,
Naupliada credam te Palamede satum.
Qui dedit ex avium scriptoria signa volatu,
Sydereaque idem nobilis arte fuit.
Hinc utriusque tibi cognata scientia crevit,
Nec minus augurium litera quam dat avis.
To that Renowned Man Lord Lancelot Joseph de Maniban Graphologist
Who after this would commit his thoughts to babbling paper,
If he thought that his fate would be exposed by his pen?
And if the guilty handwriting might proclaim the fortune of the writer,
What thing in life would he more wish to have hidden?
Nevertheless, in the turnings of the reed-pen all things are read spontaneously.
What the words do not signify, the shape makes known,
And each signs for himself Bellerophontean letters;
A spirit within drives the unknowing hand.
My letter savoured of nothing beyond the ordinary,
And was a sample of my simplicity,
A narrative such as delights pleasant friends,
All full of the city, wit, news, poetry;
Yet this interpreter, than whom no other is surer,
(Neither the subject matter, the words, nor I known to him)
A cunning haruspex, examines the entrails of my writing
And, poring, consults the inwards of my script.
Then immediately the events of my life, the recesses of my mind
He unfolds. (I doubt that more things are apparent to my guardian spirit.)
He divides the whole zodiac into my fortunes
And teaches with what constellation I am carried around,
What misfortunes the Sun in my opposition, or Mars may threaten,
Or when Jupiter, the Moon, and Venus may aid me,
How the tail of the malignant dragon threatens wounds to me,
And how his head, like a viper's, may assuage the wounds.
Hence, interpretations of the past and future
He elicits; an astrologer more certain than an astronomer.
Although I may not be able to distinguish conjectures from truth,
Yet the natal star is more reliable than history,
So much does the page of the heavens correspond to ours,
And the written syllable refer to the patterns of the stars.
And no doubt all things in the world are subject to prophecies,
Provided that one Sibyl be in so many leaves.
An approaching birth, Nature, the mother of Fortune,
Shows in a thousand ways, through a thousand signs,
By which child-bearing labour she may ease her vast womb;
Yet the greatest part of mankind lives in the present.
But you, the most distinguished of seers, rejoice in your lot;
Write, but there is no one living who may read your fate.
Yet, if I may join my prognostications to yours,
The more you have gazed at the stars, the more you scorn the earth.
And, unless you are the divine offspring of the stars,
I shall believe you descended from Nauplian Palamedes,
Who gave written symbols from the flight of birds,
And was likewise renowned in the starry art.
Hence the related knowledge of both has increased in you,
The letter gives no less augury than the bird.
This Appendix includes Marvell's Latin and Greek juvenilia and the commendatory verses in Latin which accompanied the set of English verses appearing on page 62 and the Latin poems for which there are English counterparts (appearing on pages 100-102).
Translation:
Language:
Reviews
No reviews yet.