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

  [p241]

A poetic farewell to the most serene Prince of the British Isles, Henry, as he leaves Scotland

1Much admiration has taken hold of the minds of men, and although so many Saxon poets combat in public festivals to entice the learned sisters down from Mount Helicon, such an indolent lethargy has taken hold of our own people that they have no inclination to either disturb the sacred caves of the Muses, or turn their artistic hands to the plectrum. Perhaps ice-cold blood stiffens around our hearts? Yet before there was no other nation more pleasing to the sacred virgins, and no other nation more worthy of Phoebus used to sing. Perhaps they hate the Muses, and this impulse has been completely lost, having departed without the presence of their lords? And perhaps Fortune deceitfully affected her previous stability and feigned it on her face?

13As is evident, a profound silence from our poets occurs all around us today, as they silently lament that their comfort has been snatched from them. That most pre-eminent of men, in whose poem on Lepanto the sea was strewn with the innumerable slaughtered corpses of the Turks, and who had previously used to supply strong impetus for composition, a and to fire the spirits in our songs, he forgot his ancient Arcadia and icy Lyceum, b and he left behind his former home (as the gods willed it). Consequently sacred Helicon has run dry in its ancient grottoes, and the fierce divine authorities harry us with good reason. And we are not compelled so much to serve our Muses as serve our grief, and we witness everything growing dark in the shades. And yet we still wonder that our Muses are slow to compose poems, when poems are only born from a happy spirit?

27See how another eclipse of the sun covers us in shade, and how darkness now oppresses us and deprives us of our twin light. See how the ornament of Caledonia, the second hope for our nation is torn from us, and we are shrouded in black night. What deed have we committed to merit this punishment? What deity has been slighted? Surely it is a hardship that the land which gave you birth, most beautiful of our produce, will not hereafter enjoy your presence? The country swears by the gods and by our prayers to heaven: he will leave behind  [p242]an ill-rewarded country. Why is it now deprived of each eye in this way? At least, should any concern for our health still remain for you, be prudent and hold off your departure till a more reasonable time. The two torrid constellations now hold sway: look, do you not see how parched Cancer opens its arms to death-bearing disease? Also fierce Sirius follows hard upon with its raging heat: and your age is too young, and unfit for harsh undertakings. A brief delay will do no harm; we ask for no more than a year - at least until the age of your increased strength comes about, and until gloomy fortune shows us in our dejection how to deal with the pain. For it is a difficult thing to lay aside a great love suddenly.

46Are we the reason for your flight? Does a weariness for your fatherland take you away? By our tears, by the parents who gave you birth, if prayers still have a place, and if God does not still block his ears, hold off your flight, and do not relinquish the sweet recesses of your fatherland. The youths are still here who can strive with you on the track, and with swift feet, and who can compete with you with javelin, and in a wrestling match. Or should courage-testing dangers entice, there are those here who will accompany you to besiege the woods with a pack of dogs, and, in their pursuit, besiege the lairs of wild beasts with snares in their encircling trap. Also there are those who will follow you through the mountains, and the trackless paths, in the hunt, and will wear out the valleys and groves with you. Finally there are those who have been accustomed to enjoy the Muses together with you, and to partake with you in a common love for learning. The lap of any horse is quicker when it is contested; only then does its pace rise, as its competitive spirit comes to the fore.

61Yet if both unconquered nations had, at the time, been compelled to be united in an eternal pact under equal laws, we have now come to learn the harsh lessons and see the commencement of this pact: this union has been created unequally, and we see that the neighbours alone have common joys, while we wretches have been left only to grieve and lament. If they would at least refuse the sight of one lord each to both of us, both court access and a royal presence, and they only wish to keep their previous share, they ought not to have begrudged us our favoured share.

71That eye of the world, which, through the fixed laws of its light, while making shine the vast sea all over the earth, gazes upon The Great Bear and the icy Wain c during one and the same year,  [p243]and then turns back again towards the rainy south: equally for both poles, and unwaveringly it never abandons the middle path, where the zodiac turns on its slanting axis. And no more light is apportioned to one part over the other, and it measures out its life-giving heat with a just scale. Phoebus distributes equally to both what is right.

80Yet if the orders of your great father spur you on, and put an end to your delay, and it is no longer right to hold out, at least we can fill up your footsteps with an ourpouring of our tears, and show our dishevelled hair to you as you leave, and let flow weeping from our eyes in memory of our lord. Adonis implored by Venus will not be turned by tears, d and an unhappy love is never sated by tears.

87At least remember to report these laments to your father's ears. For as a boy he planted his first footsteps on their even course here, and here he also devoted his youth to Athena's pursuits, and filled up the wide globe with genuine praise. Here, after his later years arrived, the Learned Sister led him into the Aonian mountains, and he drew Castilian water from its source. e In return for so many meritorious deeds, your nourishing fatherland asks for one thing: may you deem it worthy to visit your former home one day in the future. When you return, and when you first quit the rainy south, every thing on earth will happily run to meet their Phoebus upon his journey back. Please promise a swift return, and no long delay. And there is no problem if, through your love for your fatherland, you should not tell the truth in this regard. Ah what wretches are those who have been permitted to be blessed so often! For we do not know what's good until we lament its loss!

102If, however, not remembering the past he refuses to admit these arguments into his unyielding ears, and, less kindly than a fierce foe, to accede to our sentiment, if he should dismiss our pleas as sport for the gentle winds, please often take his place with your great beauty. Such a people's object of desire that is shared by two! You who matches the gods in beauty, and who matches your beauty to your virtues. You take precedence over all other sceptre-bearing kings in nobility. Only your father precedes you, o living image of your father - and no truer likeness will be returned by any mirror! We will see in the face of one the face of the other, and the father's splendour will shine forth in his unmistakable offspring.  [p244]Or perhaps forgetfulness will also fade your love for us? And you will trade an aversion for your fatherland for some new riches? Every unfortunate person is a fearful type, who changes their view all the time: their fear creates a reality that they think could happen.

117Perhaps, after you arrive there, they will profusely offer forth many reasons that could turn your mind as it thinks of returning home: 'how barbarous is your country: the windy mountains, the cities without surrounding walls, its crude houses, and the disagreeable manners of its people!' The result will be that the land that gave you birth will seem a paltry remote place. Please pass on all this advice as sport for the rapid winds. Of course, will this land, which brought forth such men as you, both father and son, in whose heart so many native jewels shine, will this land deservedly be called barbarous? But let me stop talking about the father, whom now new glory bears aloft on golden wings, through the walls of the great universe: who would compare themselves to you, as a boy at the same age? Whether anyone conducts discussion in the Latin language, or if a letter is composed in Roman words, who is better with a pen, who is more learned in Latin speech either, whether they be equal, or perhaps have even doubled, your years? Just as the boy has old age's wisdom, so he has a pleasing gravity in speech, and a manner of speaking to beguile astonished ears. And although arms should be feared in one's early years, Nature herself pours out the vibrant seeds of her own genius, and instils gentle manners in your noble blood. Unmoved by steel, that man reaches for gleaming swords with hostile intent, to draw out the savage snakes upon the fearful shield of Athena with her resounding arms. There is no one better to rouse Mars' spirit, whether brandishing the lance with Macedonian skill, f or should he draw out his sword, or spears tipped with shining metal. If anyone brags about their spear, may you declare that you are a pupil of Chiron, g learned in conducting every art of war at close hand. O how often, and with how many prayers, has your heart burned to hear the longed-for bugle's call, and the thunderbolts of war, the machines of furious Mars, which fire out against city walls! Indeed I believe, and it is not a vain hope, that Vulcan even now prepares a sword, and sweating profusely he manages the task upon the anvil,  [p245] Brontes also hastily makes the helmet, Pyragmon the chainmail, and Steropes the shield - the armour of great Achilles! h Clearly, as the brilliance of your noble speech is most worthy, and your manly spirit, and your warlike courage in fierce battle, these manifest signs now promise that you will be a leader. As often as the wounds of furious Mars urge one to rise up in righteous anger with avenging punitive action, as the scythe lays low the thick crop with a fresh blade, just so may he strike a thunderous blow against the enemy in anger. Will a barbarous country ever produce these heavenly seeds of a great intellect, I ask you, and such spirits?

163But (they will tell you), the land is short of grain, and is hostile to the farmer; and neither is it good for the flocks, nor the sort of place that produces Milesian wool, i and it is not a land ennobled with yellow precious metals. Whenever there is a contest in riches, we happily surrender. Neither the minds of man, nor his concerns are unburdened by wealth, no one has become a better person through wealth; yet one can outstrip kings, and their friends, under the shelter of poverty. We also have wealth and it does not dissatisfy us. No excess exists here, and may it long remain so. Poverty is believed to produce heroes. A golden canopy does not suppress fierce summer and deflect the heat, nor have chariots been roused to lighten the burdens of travel, and peform the feet's duty on a convenient couch. Excess has no profit for man, as every nation perishes through what it imports from the rest of the world, as it comes borne across the sea; too much wealth dulls the wits of men. Our land is self-sufficient, and is blessed by Ceres, and rich in snow-white flocks - and, even though high mountains run up in all directions, and our men work their slopes with the plough, the flocks graze upon the harshest slopes. Through man's efforts every part of the land has learned to yield, even where it lies open and exposes its abundance of precious golden metals. The Latin Muses hold our hearts - hearts that are also at home amid the Greek Muses. Here that great throng of men rises up each year, and a new generation grows to restore the previous. This reality demoralised the victorious Edwards, father, son, and grandson, j at the peak of their martial power, stunned by the novelty of their misfortune, and uncertain of what would come next:  [p246]those men whom Bellona nourished with so many triumphs, while they raged against us in arms, and, with Mars at their back, while they enlisted innumerable tribes with them into battle. But they saw that they were vying against a land experienced in battle, and fighting against an immortal race of men. There was not so much blood that could be shed by a single army; indeed they thought that such a throng of young men, restored each year, and as many recruits ready for war, were armies reborn and sprung from the fruitful land, or a crop of Myrmidons, k or they believed that dragons' teeth had grown in the well-sown fields through the wiles of Colchian potions l - just as if arm-bearing furrows blossomed with soldiers, and the buds bore their arms against their own sower. Just so was it a source of grief to Hercules that the Hydra was restored by its innumerable previous deaths, m and was made fertile from its own demises, and that it regained its strength twice over, just as though it derived its spirit and might from the sword itself. Without doubt it was fated that these nations must one day be joined not by the efforts of grim Mars, but by a friendly pact. But you who were born for two under a happy constellation here, and in the other realm will outgrow your early years, should you see fit, should you be able (we will support you in whatever way we can), should make sure that your Britain is not the only one to know you: whatever power your descent, your hope, the public will has promised you, they will see that it has been all well-earned. How did it come to pass that the high palaces of heaven should be governed by Jupiter, why the whole world, from the Ganges to Cadiz, yielded to someone, whom, for all that, Minos' Crete enclosed in its tiny kingdom, and interred upon his death in a little urn? n His virtue alone bestowed the heaven and earth upon him, and his former kingdoms had been the rewards for his virtue alone. For truly only virtue completely provides a just kingdom. Indolence, as it grows upon a soft couch, does not produce this, nor do the riches that corrupt the noble mind. But see that you take the path on flighted wing to where your virtue summons you, and ascend to the heights on your great wings; and while still at a tender age, may you strike the gentle temples of virtue with your hand: glory is the torch of an honest mind,  [p247]let it thus lead you (if you can happily accustom yourself to its direction), and in the end it will place you upon the heights of fame.

232Meanwhile accustom your constitution to harsh toil, and fortify your heart to endure war; and so that a robust power co-exists with a raw strength in you, begin passing restless nights under a cold sky, as you learn to endure hunger, to avoid the easy life, to scale mountains while hunting, to tame rivers by swimming, and be content to eat your food off captured shields: for reputation comes not without a little martial toil.

240But, while your early years mature with their new manners, take care that excess, having bought the facade of honour's empty shape, does not soften you at a carefee court (a reputation for excess does not compliment or enoble your fame). Just as the magnetic stone attracts metal with its hidden power, so riches beguile weak minds, and lead them far astray from real nobility. May you overthrow the court of Circe, daughter of the Sun, before your eyes, which has howled with hideous wolves and barked with Molossian dogs, o and may indolent pleasure make the men assume the aspect of pigs, or whatever is at all more contemptible than pigs. Such memorials has listless excess left for us.

252Take care that your love of the Muses ever accompanies you into old age, and do not be ashamed to have worshipped Helicon in your early youth. It will be a rare person about whom ancient legend and books have spoken, whom the learned Sisters have not first cultivated when a youth. Hercules, a name famous in legend through the ages, while young, took in the stars and the motions of the heavens, under Atlas' direction, and support, upon which this whole globe is fixed, and it is said that he was full of Minerva's wisdom. No barking vices unsettled his mind, nor did his harsh labours defeat him, but rather the prospect of a nobler life pleased him at that time. So, while little more than a boy, he learned to anticipate both thunderstorms and hot weather en-route, and to endure the rain and defy the cold. His spoils provided food, and he was accustomed to expend all of his arrows through his bow when hunting in the high mountains - he was not accustomed to sloth or prepared meals,  [p248]nor to soothe his indolent cares on a lifeless couch. He did not have a body or mind that would wilt at any task. Whatever was produced by intense toil was most pleasing to him.

272That man Achilles, feared by all during Agamnenon's war, while still a boy in the cave of Thessalian Chiron, p is reported to have followed happily the instructions of the half-goat, as he taught him what was right, and wrong, what it was permitted to know, and what was just, or whether to devote himself to the songs of the lyre, or the doctor's arts. Often indeed he would stand to attention when censured by the shout of his stern master, and he paid due attention to the dark cloud upon his master's brow, and he never flinched when ordered to submit that unconquerable right hand, at which the very great Hector died, to the cane. But afterwards his virtue grew as he did; it alone brought him to life in the praises of Maeonian Homer.

283The great Aristotle shaped the early years of the youth from Pella, q and he lit up his entire youth with his burning torches, and filled him full of noble grace. He taught him what was right, and what not; where virtue would take one, and where error; where indolent sloth on a soft couch leads, as he instilled in him the things that must be heeded in one's early years. He had no strong desire to make his fingers glow with lively jewels, or a desire for perfumed robes, painted delicately with Phrygian skill, r for he had been taught to catch what sleep he could in the recesses of the deep woods. None the less, he could be seen to have earned that entire empire upon which the sun running over both the east and west beholds. After being convinced by the previously corrupted age, he preferred to accustom his nation's habits to arms, than to wealth. Then the glory of his sacred virtue faded, as he first became slave to his own anger, and then a willing slave to Bacchus, until, finally, he drunkenly relinquished his empire and died, and the might of the Macedonians slipped away and fell.

301Scipio, the conqueror who took the name of the Libyan race, had joined his arms to the Aonian arts: whether laying low the Punic enemy with his strong hand, or ascending the Capitol on his triumphant chariot, Ennius was at his side as his companion, s and he roused the youth with a keen love for future fame. He motivated himself, and turned his mind from the sweet allure of sloth,  [p249]and indolent cares. The rather uncouth way he wore his shirt did not overly discomfort him, nor refined meals on tables, nor bracing harshness. A reputation that was formed by hard work was much more pleasing.

311Caesar, as it was unclear whether he would be more famous in Muse or in arms, so it is clear that he had been pre-eminent in the latter, as he was first in the former, attaining both peaks, nevertheless he submitted his heart to be fixed to the Aonian Muses in his early years. Meanwhile, as he learned what was the most fertile ground for battle, which place was suited to ambush, and suited to pitched battle, which opportunity there was for camp, and where battle was joined, he approached whatever had to be done soberly, and did it. Yet if he had not distinguished himself in his youth in the fine arts, neither the seven-pronged Nile, not the Rhine, nor the Danube, nor the Ganges, nor the western Ebro would have known the sisters mastered in the Latin language's glory, nor would there have been any great reputation for Caesar's name today, even if he set a limit to the sun's fame amid the stars.

326The descendants of the house of Caesar, who were capable neither in times of peace or war, as they abandoned their duties for dissolution, left his name despised in both heaven and earth; and, as their passion, which is heedless of duty, held power, doing nothing worthy of great praise, the empire began to fall: until Trajan, who was taught by Plutarch's precepts, succeeded to the tumbling burden, and under him and his unwavering care the ancient triumphs returned to the Italians. t He ascended the high Capitol with the conquered Dacians; when laying low the Parthians most vigorously with his avenging arms he saw to it that the Tigris would be a Roman province; and then he added everything that was not yet under his dominion.

338Should precedents please you, and you have considered the accounts of a great life, and the reputations of eternal fame, follow the leaders and kings of your native land, about whom you can read, and you will be able to understand what virtue is. As your early years gently raise you up, seek from them whom wisely to avoid, and whom to imitate in virtue, and may the great glory of your ancestors fire your mind. The coming years will bring unceasing travails, and you cannot be lazy: he who stood upon the highest citadel of fame often sweated and shivered.  [p250]There is a path through the wilds, a way which is said to be impassable, of many bends, an errant way that deceives with sundry loops; its long path, punctuated by interwoven dangers, provides a difficult approach, and toils and hazards on the left and right, and here restless cares have made their lair. May you be wary of any triumph that will be procured by little effort, when the heavy burden of serious governance falls upon you, and the head of government entrusted to you. May you pay special attention during your early years to what the body politic demands, and consider what beneficial allowances to make for the lowly plebs: what routinely makes them mad, and fires them into a fierce rage. The field of virtue is by far the most honourable for a king, if he should pay attention to the health of his people, and avoid whatever harms them. May that which your shoulders are able to bear, and that which they cannot, be duly considered, lest your people bear too heavily or onerously more than is equitable, for he is well thought of who wisely distributes his own burden evenly.

364May your words have a sacred bond, and your heart be inaccessible to deceit; may you not be insensitive to kindness; and even if there is cause, may you not be harsh to anyone - unless they have given their life over to crime. Power is weak which clemency does not fortify. Do not offer a hungry ear to false rumours, nor let a lying denouncer find a pliant court. In this way fear, the nourisher of hate, rises, which is often a destructive evil, and the worst guardian of kingdoms; indeed however many people respect you, a similar amount will inspire fear in you. And those who should ever think well of you, they will not fear you. Rather you will exercise the reigns of power far better by precedent, than by chains, or any laws, if you can be like the Lord, the model of his life be yours, and if his ways, after you have learned them, can reveal his laws. If perhaps you become enraged, or immature passions rage, then make sure that you esteem your anger less than his trusty counsel. In this way the people will voluntarily adopt the ways of the Lord for themselves, they will behold in you alone what is godly and what is proper. Then probity will direct the people without the rod, and guide them to virtue without punishment, and will repay them with the benefits of a better life. May you yourself, the incorruptible judge, never cease examining those things in yourself that you seek in the lowly plebs.  [p251]Also be first to perform the toils that you have commanded others to do. May your entrusted power remove the desire for sinning, and never extend the protection of your empire to the wicked: but rather always put your faith in the trusty minds of men who have followed the law, and hearts that know the truth. Whenever other nations witness this, no matter how far away, they will voluntarily and without any compulsion submit themselves to your rule. For virtue alone is more forceful than all weapons. However, may it be your chief concern to assist the heralds thundering forth with the divine speech of the Word, and everyone who reveals the mysterious commandments of God to the people, so that you possess a vigorous virtue, and a rich understanding: and thus may you begin to warrant your glory through true piety.

399In this way the good father of the gods, who inhabits the flaming temples of the heavens, who made the heaven and the earth, has saw to it that, now great in virtue, you escape the confines of ill-will, so that you can surpass the honours of your family's ancient fame, and so that only you may move every poet to praise, and subject the greatest kingdoms by your merits alone: and may you draw servile hands to you from every quarter, and victory always frequent your camp. May the vexations of either war or peace not devour you, even if you should live for three times the age of Nestor: u rather, may all worship you as if the embodiment of living virtue.