Bridging the Continental divide: neo-Latin and its cultural role in Jacobean Scotland, as seen in the Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum (1637)

  [p224]

The installation of John Hamilton to the position of Rector of the Academy of Paris

1Where did it come from, this sudden fire that rages within? Why does this new passion weary a heart unused to torment? And why are we recalled once again to the Aonian shade, with our hair bound with a garland - hair so long neglected by the Permessian? a   [p225]Recently, indeed, I remember that the Delian caverns b were not moved by prayers, and the laurel grew stiff through neglect and withered. The priestly head-dresses languish unused, and the Muses have let drop from their hands their silent cithara; c and their leader himself palls at the foliage of the Pimplean grove d and the shades.

10Now the glory of Cyrrha is restored, now the Delphic rock is cracked open, e and behold their own countryside again beckons the sisters bound in their finer laurel wreaths, now they make ready garlands with fresh greenery, and they rejuvenate Helicon f with their joyous dances. Am I deceived, Hamilton, or does a renewed Apollo move your quill, and the Muses adorn you with a headdress of Parnassian laurel? g And does not Apollo grant you honours, and the new purple present its pleasing rods of high office?

18Clearly there is no other more worthy to shine under the Tyrian purple h nor anyone whom the joyous year would inaugurate with favourable omens and a new dawn. And never has Parisian greatness recalled being governed more worthily - whether happily recounting its ancestors and the endless procession of its ancient race, or the honorable names of its parents. And fate did not pluck you from the lowly plebs, lacking inborn distinction. A foreigner, not distinguished by an obscure bloodline, you now hold the Muses' offices and the esteemed accolades of the French-born Goddesses. Never will a Scot be a stranger to a Gaul: whom the long train of years, kinship, and common customs have joined into one race, and bound by united minds and a pact from birth, that no day, nor violent discord could undo - neither the Saxon's wooing power, nor wavering fortune with its uncertain perils.

34However let ignoble minds boast about the venerable busts of their forefathers, and their lauded names, and let them seek to gain bright fame from their arrogance, and the acclaim of the mob. So often has your laurel wreath adorned you and encircled your hair: innate virtue proudly rejoices in its own glories, piety does not need external praise, and the heart's noble gold shines forth. Your time devoted to Parnassus in your early years, and your efforts undertaken in the service of the Muses made you worthy of the rods of high office in your shining purple  [p226]robes: undoubtedly you have the proof of the honours of such great virtue. And now it seems that there is no more opportunity for you to increase the piety in your mind, nor glory in your reputation. Without doubt your virtue, piety, and faith - and the restrained modesty in your slender countenance - have merited this. This much is true: for straighaway your early years fashioned you thus; and your life lead a path worthy of the purple; and your white hair, older than the age of your mind, received the pleasant fires of Apollo, and plucked the sweet buds of the Muses' forest.

54Then with your skilled attentiveness you hide in the retreat of beckoned Wisdom and you call forth into the light things not yet explored by previous ages. And hence your temples grow white with their first poet's head-dresses, and you hold the heights of your native Cyrrha. But it was an easy thing to win at home. The far North is left behind, and so too Britannia cut off from the rest of the world. Now the Rhone, now the gentle Saone, and the rich Seine wonder at the revealed mysteries of Ancient Athens. No part of that life is lost, the prayers of their forefathers have been entrusted to you. They are skilled in weaving the truth in intricate knots. They know by heart what the measure of the good is, within which confines happiness is arranged, they know within which boundary virtue set itself for honesty, and ultimately they know how with part of it they may bring low injustice, and how it alone curbs fear and passion. They also perceive the motions of the universe, and the elements of its matter; and what force has balanced the vast weight of the earth in the middle of the universe; and which movements the planets exhange after their clash in the heavens, which minds turn the vast ether, which ebb and flow the monthly moon stirs to motion in the waters of the ocean; and what fiery force kindles the clouds, and forms its steep sides with its strong grasp. Why should I speak about how, while Nature conceals each thing in the hidden darkness, you reveal it; or, with roughness smoothed away, you embellish each thing that aged antiquity gave abundantly to your genius? Or how many times Charles, the great hope of the House of Bourbon, i and eternal glory of his people, was dumb struck by, and worshipped you as you taught? The mature white hair of the aged was given to you in your early years. Your repute, which will bestow to future ages your poet's headdress, was rewarded with triumphs.  [p227] Should I continue to speak of many times the Academy, moved to thankful applause, have given you the laurel wreath, the poet's head-dress; and witnessed you contending to earn the laurel in the Sorbonne's arena?

86For this reason, it has already granted you power over part of it for some years, and, having always rejoiced in your merited triumphs, it understood that it was rising in fortune through such a cherished son. Now, however, with the mountain of your praises rising up, because you have given so many honours as proofs of your virtues, it has bestowed upon you power over not just part of the Academy, but over the whole institution, and it has given you the rods of high office. Now on your way you have scaled the peaks of the universe, just like a sailor having been first put in charge of starboard only, afterwards controls the high prow, and because he has tamed the sea through continued practice, now very happily controls the helm and the whole ship.

97Rise, virtues, and may our age be renewed by ancient gold. Now piety is worshipped and fixed good-will stands ready for the deserving, and corruption does not oppress the noble arts. And poor honesty is not trampled under foot, nor does ignorance increase with wealth: the promise of rewards summons the sacred Muses, and a path is opened for the talented. May the Gods pile up the happy joys, and may they give you, Hamilton, a long tenure in office. May your titles grow as fitting tributes, and may they enter the eternal fasti j for ever!