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

  [p323]

A wedding-poem on the most venerable marriage of James VI, king of Scots, and Anna, daughter of Frederick II king of Danes, held in Denmark on the 20th of August 1589, with George, earl Marischal of Scotland standing in place of his majesty

To Anna, queen of Scots

1If poems received through the ears stir the soul more sluggishly than those which are perceived by the trustworthy eyes; and if poems produced by the soul, which break forth into song, derive their nourishments from deep within the hearts of the poets: do you think that I, who have already begun here to sing of your love for the man not there, a (which one's soul drinks in sluggishly with ears as witness), could be the poet who will rise to meet you with my words, my eyes and my soul, when you arrive into view? You yourself, Anna, will give to me an everlasting stream for my verses, and you will live as Everlasting Anna in my verses. b

1Place aside the burdensome worries of your soul, and do not so anxiously entreat sea-borne Venus, and the other Gods, with so many prayers and shouts, O James prince of the North, and victor who will soon place a yoke on the South, c so that your wife, having cast off the dangers of the sea and on a well-fated course overcoming all, may safely alight on your Caledonian shores. Put a stop to your many prayers, I say, which Jupiter d does not intend to grant:   [p324] he will not entertain them despite your gifts and the groan of your prayers: bind fast the riches of the great creator to your steadfast soul, and embrace him with grateful veneration, then again and again he will bear so many gifts in heaven to you. For truly, when you have thus given up on the Gods and placed your trust in human ingenuity, what should you fear when the great Earl Marischal conducts the affair, why should you not expect all manners of wonders from him? e He is your bridesman, and the translator of your innermost heart: with restless toil, with his wise nature, and with his mind ever-alert in delicate situations, he manages the affair as the honour of the king, and the service of the state demands. Yet even though he freely admits that he is in no way equal to your merits, very successfully does he reproduce you in the majesty of his face; and he is the living image of a king. With envy not welcome, let the refinement of a foreign nation know the master from his servant, as the body from the shadow.

23Meanwhile in your absence your bride constantly thinks of you in her ever-mindful heart, as she has now been touched for the first time by Cupid's unfamiliar passion: and she is amazed that his strange fires, and the blows of his unseen dart, are able to enter into the fortress of her chaste modesty. While the reins of her reason resolve to check her burning limbs, and her blushing face, and the groans which reveal the burning passion of her soul, wearied by her struggles she lovingly puts an end to her toil, and conquered she clearly presents her bound hands to you alone. At the same time she soothes her overbearing thoughts with the solace that she, the heroine, would yield to his love; for him this Pallas should not f fear to loosen her untouched belt: whether she beholds the snow-white limbs of his beautiful body, or the distinguished wedding gift of a soul in a noble heart, or the destined crowns of two kingdoms.

37Nor does a gentler torch inflame you, who loves with a matching passion. Nereus, striking all around your shores in every direction, g is unable to extinguish or overcome it with all his water: only the spear, which had first created her passion, can extinguish the pain of the Nymph that the spear itself created - just like Pelias' spear. h If gossiping rumour, although far away, received by your ears alone, was able to drive this wound into your mind, what emotions you will have upon discerning her beautiful body! And with her you shall dissolve the prolonged weariness of delay in talk. i And moreover besides, should you be allowed to touch your longed-for wife,   [p325] as you plant caressing kisses on her rosy lips, then at last she will bless you with the quintessence of love, placing her hands on yours, and her mouth on yours. Trust me, James, as your poet: for you will obtain your prayers, as many as you vow for yourself, and greater than your hopes. And there is a well-portioned frame to her tender body, and Venus bestows a beautiful charm upon her rosy lips. However, if it is permitted to unlock the innermost recesses of her mind, what virtues, what hoards of innate talent does this court, which is familiar with merit, not hide, all bearing witness to a girl raised with skill by great parents, and born, nurtured, and made for the pinnacle of affairs? Why should I bring to mind the character of her father? j He used to issue laws on such a balanced scale to all, and determine every aspect of the people's life, that, after the fashion of their ancestors, while the father was till alive, because of the renown of his deeds, at the time they were appointing him ruler, they wanted his son, who now holds the reins of the fatherland, to follow his father's example. k Should I go over the praises of her mother? l To her alone the whole of female kind owe every honour, as she alone has attained every female virtue. Why should I recount the brothers and just as many sisters distinguished by their uncommon merits? m As befits their youthful years they wander just like the seven planets over all the heavens, and they light up the firmament with their fires: so Jupiter decided to distribute these lights wandering on earth from the outstanding race of the Cimbri n into as many a human tribe. Consider here the four nobles, the pillars of the kingdom: o noted for their wise counsel, and faithful heart, they take care of their mother the queen, and the royal offspring, while he, the heir to the reins of power, is not yet old enough. What type of queen, do you think, has risen from these parents for you, has grown up with these boys, has been watched over zealously by these tutors? If our wits anticipate anything for us, that country gave your ancestor a heroine as wife before who has been raised high by so many accounts of her virtues, and she lived on after death in her enduring fame: p now that same land, the fertile nurse of new brides, the same stock of kings, and the carefully-measured probity of its race,   [p326]will bless you in your love, James the Sixth, with more than enough bounty.

87 We do not call to mind here the heaps of silver for her dowry, q nor the possessions which the enduring love of a mother or father heap upon a daughter, nor the maiden's trove heavy with the weight of jewels, or the garments distinguished by the glint of golden thread, and the exotic beauty of her attire. Behold the doweried Cimbrians accompanying your chaste wife (or rather, since they are sprung from the Danai, it is right to call the tribe Danes) r rejoicing in guileless justice, free from the coils of deceit: not accumulating their fortune by cunningly, but by industry: having no part in the treachery raging everywhere throughout the South, s nor destroying the people on earth and the blessed in heaven. This nation joins itself to you in an alliance between neighbours, and which will not be changed by any of the vicissitudes of fortune, or resolve its mind to undo the bond through any division, or be corrupted by any money: no indeed, rather may it help you with ready counsel, and add to your military prowess, when the time demands. For a neighbour jealous of our merit t and fearing this has placed an obstacle on the road, and has woven a wile, and just like Proteus (as it was his custom) has slyly adopted every type of form: u the wily one has not however been able to corrupt that faithful race with its constant tricks and allurements, stern as they are in the fashion of their ancestors: v and may your power, unconquered by this initial encounter, bind fast the promise of your steadfast pledge, and striving against the ill-will of passing time, continue to assist your children in the coming ages.

111 The day was announced then, w and the time given to the willing populace was one appropriate for festival songs of joy, and for both Ceres and Bacchus, whose duty it is to manage the feast; and for other Gods too: while with wedding bed and torches nuptial Hymen brings together the lovers' desires, and in whose name the not inconsiderable size of the affair is supported. The nobles assemble: the pick of the youth of Scots lead their counterfeit king towards the dwellings of the Gods. x The queen's venerable mother, encircled by her close-knit guardians (for the people in their zeal to see rush forward on all sides), and by others from the nobility, strides forth at a matching pace and follows the queen as she goes into the aforementioned temples of the Gods. All abstain from speech and return the the silence owed to sacred things: the sacred bishop conducts the words of the venerable marriage   [p327] with solemn recitation: and that man and that woman of yours follow his lead with a booming voice. Everyone present says kind words to the couple, and with a friendly murmur and sacred prayers they solemnly ask the divinities for peace and favour. The royal palace welcomes the couple returning from the temple with memorable splendour, and sumptuous banquets: crowds of servants make ready rich platters: and delights were present on the table that anyone would admire, or would wish for themselves in their secret desires: all kinds of exotic preparations, all kinds of delights, shine forth on choice dishes. The father y himself beholding from heaven the dining tables furnished with nectar and ambrosia for human consumption is astonished: even now he would wish that he himself and his Gods were dinner guests with the mortals: had not he provided the divinities Venus, and Mars, and Minerva, and (how much help!) the rest for the faithful protection of the absent king: stripped of the protection of his comrades, he is not able to match the human pomp with his own party of divinities. So great are the groups of heroes that gather at this dinner. Without their desire to see you, O King, it would thus have been possible now to see the Gods above ruling over the kingdoms of the earth, and with Olympus empty see them mingling with the mortals! It is as if the holy wedlocks of olden times were back, since a Nymph of the sea has been given to you in marriage, great Peleus! z

148After enough time was allowed for the banquet, and the tables were cleared, the best mother-in-law, your most dear wife, and the nobility invoke you, the spouse, in commemorative song, as they pour the wine high in the cups to your health. aa And this procession saw nothing more pleasing than the heir of the kingdom ab - encouraged by the advice of his parent, and the crowd of nobles striking the ground with their feet raised high, and through the halls breaking into shout - who having bent his left elbow into the handle, raises up the beaker full of wine in his strong right hand and said: 'King James, having prayed for this happy day for both Danes and Scots, I ask you, although absent, to be here in this cup, and your Mercury too.' Straightaway he quickly drinks the fruits of Bacchus, as he toasts you with no pause for breath, and then the victor rejoices in his empty golden goblet, and throughout the whole hall the murmuring sound of wine hitting the mark was heard. Then Marischal, saluting the noble hero with his modest mouth,   [p328] concedes that brother yields to brother in this virtue and that our men are bested by their neighbours (may that constantly-practised Scottish moderation serve you well): and temperately spitting out the wine from his noble mouth into his cup he entrusts these duties to Scrymgeour, ac standard bearer of the tawny Lion, a man of the highest rank due to his lineage and his own virtue. Possessing great strength and of a lofty frame, and having not yet forgotten the habits of drinking, which he had previously drank in while wandering these lands, he said: 'O, if I were to drink as many drops of foaming wine down the abyss of my long throat, without taking breath, or prepare to consume the same amount of the living red stuff to toast his master's health, the fates would enrich his life with so many years in abundance, or rather they would exchange his health for my death!' With no delay, in lofty countenance, and with neck thrown back, drawing out a huge amount of wine (as much as he could, and as much as he wished for the king himself), turning the cup into his mouth he drinks it dry: and still unexhausted he renews the wine contest, to see if there are rewards for this type of virtue. But a sober contingent of the nobles wished to moderate this frenzy, and embracing each other in turn they set up a treaty of lasting alliance. However, this cessation does not hold firm for the merrymaking people, ad who, in the fashion of their fathers, give license to their bibulous nature, and bury the wine in their stomachs: so that you would think that an empty flask is concealed within their whole body, or that the liquid put out some hidden fire! It is a worthwhile task for sober men to examine the repulsive bodies of the wine-sodden men, and their half-dead limbs, and their faces fiery red with the mark of Bacchus, their gullets reeking of food, and their mouths belching out their soul, their ballast often seeping from every crack, and other infamies through which drunkenness wreaks revenge upons itself with unregulated fury. Mature old men long for such wonders, but female propriety, and children under their parents' stern direction detest these monstrosities: through this vile example may they flee from these monstrous faults, and learn wine's troubles!

200With daylight departing, tired after their long toil, sleep now creeps upon them at nighttime: with the attendant kindred troop of her own men, the golden wife   [p329] retreats to the royal bedchamber: and there the royal messenger, feigning the nuptial joys of the night with a solitary touch, bids her conserve her restless desire for he who is absent, and keep in her mind the man who keeps her in his: nor to be tormented by her passions, and to expect a substantial delight in a brief period of time. Recalling the man in prayers, she confesses that, to this point, the fates have been generous: since in the morning the maiden, also the daughter of a king, left the marital bed without her husband, and hither where the evening star shines the maiden ae returns as wife to a king, and soon not a maiden she will be called, but a most celebrated mother of a king (grant this, you Gods above): daughter, wife, parent of a king. What mortal soul would wish more in their heart? Why humbly beg in prayer, if one knows that the Thunderer has already granted it in his utterances? With everyone thus departed from the bedroom, she ponders her one love (I exclude here the Gods) for her husband, in her heart: and in her sleep she longs for her man, and for him also while awake. What is the limit now for you, James? What flame consumes your marrow in the meantime? Were you to see by nuptial torchlight the body of your snow-white bride spread out across the bed, not in return for dominion over the world, nor for the life-span of Nestor, af would you exchange the joys of this one night here with your wife. But temper your eager spirits, and furnish your royal dwellings with a beautiful marital bed: the other part of the bed will come, that part (I say) of you will come, for you would think that, with her safe, life was joyous - as much as with her hurt, your life was on the threshold of death.

228But now after Aurora has dispersed the dull shadows of sluggish night from the new morning, the great and noble mother with a word gave her rising daughter a quick greeting, but it was imbued with wit, and caused a charming altercation: since the maiden wife spent the one night in her whole life by tradition agreeable without the enjoyment of a man and Love. She says nothing back, nor does she mull over the jousting in her mind: but she ponders in her soul and with her voice the kingdom of the Scots, betrothed to her care by a conjugal pact. Not now does a love of her fatherland, nor the pious image of her mother, nor the favour of her brothers, nor the holy bonds of her sisters, nor the other ties which commonly shackle women, block this woman of ours from taking hold of her foreign kingdom. Now she talks of the seas and the winds, and curved keels. ag   [p330] And she does not want the fleet to be prepared to set out on ice: she now fears the fierce seas in the winter months, in case the ships would make no progress: she fears that her tardy progress will dash the hopes of her husband, as he constantly looks out at the waves of the sea: and a reddening blush captures these many things upon his countenance, and the lover is vexed in his heart: but he clears his vexations from his brow, lest public joys are disturbed by the grief of one man.

249And now amid the lavish dishes, and the splendid public shows, the feast days have run their course: while the queen herself, with the fleet drawn down into the sea on large wooden rollers, was preparing her farewells and goodbyes to her fatherland and her mother in good cheer, and to the sad throng of her own people: her attendants give the signal for packing up, and they get ready for the task, and fit out and load the ships. Then the most noble mother, clutching and holding fast the hand of her daughter who was pressing on her way, said, 'since the most reverend glory of our race does not now suffer to be enclosed by the narrow boundary of its ancient fatherland and native fields, it will embrace the whole world under its dominion (as I predict). And the delights of the marriage bed have fallen to you, which no other thing has been able to surpass in distinction, if you, Goddess, direct every thing by your will. As soon as you reach your hoped-for city and foreign peoples, do not flaunt your beauty, nor your wealth: let Scotland think that you are rich in virtues and let it then await your arrival with the greatest joy. Before everything consider the manners and customs of your court, lest your race be vexed by shameful infamy in the eyes of our neighbours, and be thought a promoter of sinning. Cast out from the royal palace appetite's gluttony, and the shameful games of Bacchus, which although pleasing to our people, nevertheless bring shameful dishonour, and abound in evils: even now as you come the roguish youth prepare with such compliance to stroke you with caresses, in order to ingratiate themselves to you. Be wise and shun these and other flatterers who encourage fresh crimes with pleasing words and sycophancy, and delight in blowing burning embers onto the torch of vices: so that, hiding behind the appearance and mask of trust, and with all sorts of calamities befalling the people, and destruction the rulers, they present the thing to their masters as splendid, and take possession of such great power. Beware excess and pleasures, the most unwavering destroyers of a poor kingdom; and let it be a base thing for you   [p331] to join a troop of servants to your back, as if in a festival procession. (O the number of them, o the gaping mouths, o a second army for the Phaeacians, Penelope's men, ah both idleness' listless nurslings, and Harpies excelling in consuming the labour of others!) Nor let it be a virtue for you to desire banquets at luxurious expense before the rest, and to wear garments splendid with gold and silk: nor to squander the royal treasury on your idle followers. For as soon as the treasury of a negligent ruler has been exhausted by their Charybdis ai they depart (o misery!): whence then the money for him for employment in peace and use in war, if ever any neighbours should incite Mars? Nor indeed is it right for a leader, after he has sunk and been undone by his own hellish bottomless pit, to rob the poor plebs indiscriminately, and to torture the people with taxation. aj Never do we unite in one purse money thus stolen and the friendly soul whose money we steal, for the aggrieved commoners can then justly spread abroad an anger that will wound. In addition, the rabble of commoners always threatening the heights would run riot, following the example of their rulers: and not measuring itself by its own foot and rule, with excess spread out everywhere it becomes useless and weak, so that it cannot pay the tax demanded, nor confront the dangers of war. Should I bring to mind the crimes, which the mob, as if made into a legion, wantonly embrace as they dance around courts receptive to depravity, and through this vice flows down from its source to all the people? You, daughter, should think fit to purge those things, and to punish as the occasion arises: and when the people's mind propels itself more basely, to demand appropriately harsh punishments for crimes. Yet still, it is right for you to do everything with your husband as advisor and as inspiration: without his health, there is no health for the bride in future years; without his dignity, there is no dignity; and with his life brought to harm, consider yourself to be enrolled among the dead, and adjust yourself completely to his service and wonts (unless he should sin), and follow him. If, however, he should command a greater kingdom than your previous hopes and ancestral lands, let him generously spend the royal treasury, though not at your instigation. Then after he has determined that the wealth of the people have been sufficiently expended by the prudence of the nobles, let him burden the people with money, procured as the customary repayment for their efforts. If he should   [p332] too often absolve lesser criminals of their crime, then would a new frenzy for crime rise, and far and wide the contagion of its example would spread, paving the way for horrible misadventures. You spoil that sort of thing - this is your cunning - if you see that it stains the brilliance of the sceptre. Here deploy when necessary the introduction of a speech and a winning approach, and the right time for a bit of love, and as he hesitates caress him with a hug, and fix sweet kisses on him. Even if he wants other things, contend that it cannot delight you unless you share in his wish: add your support to his complaints and yield to his words easily, and favour his actions. And when you hold him, bound by the chains of friendship and good faith, be wary of entreaties and complaints other than those you may direct towards the aid of the prince and the people: and let him very much be the first to hold forth the torch of virtue, and, to the letter of the law, the flock will follow the standards of virtues from the example of their Leader: it is clear that, with the court in disorder, the people will everywhere follow its lead; and with the court upright, the people will stand firm on their feet. However, my final words give you what is most important, and may you fix firmly these last orders in your ever-mindful heart: before all banes of the court, as an enemy continually cast out far away profane types, for they worship all Gods with false rites. He who falsely deceives the Gods with due reverence, will never be trustworthy for the prince. May money pillaged from the altars by sacreligious theft return to sacred employment, reclaimed by you the liberator. And through the example of the royal household may piety extend into all the lands of the kingdom: and let propriety and reverence bear down upon the wild nobility and people with brandished club.'

348 Amid these warnings, the screech of the south east wind interrupted the mother as she mused upon more besides, and the sea presses upon the coast as if beckoning: the ships spread across the shore have in their vast belly, and in their dark holds, an army of travellers: and everywhere swift vessels and quick clippers are seen, ready to take the orders of the exalted fleet, to make a bridge to the coast, to make ready the mooring-ropes for the waves, and to pull up the anchors fastened to the deepest depths of the silty abyss. Hence will they betake themselves into the accustomed womb of their mother. One of these, after the flagship gave the signal,   [p333] quickening through the foot of the oars, which it raises up into the air, and strikes down upon the sea in time, and quickly holds to the coast which is swarming with people. Surrounded by a friendly band of lords, she salutes first these people then the others with either a shout or a gentle sigh, or eyes shedding a shower of tears, or with a clasping of hands: but she kisses the gentle lips of her brothers, and gives a kiss to her mother, and her caressing kisses to her band of sisters, and fastens her kisses upon the outermost boundaries of her fatherland. And gazing up at heaven she prays to the Gods for fortunate things for herself and for her own people: so that if she should depart her ancient fatherland, never again to see it, and the friends ever-thinking of their absent one, at least a messenger travelling to and fro would convey to those people that she is well: and so, with favourable report from both sides, through both constantly exchanged letters, and many a gift here and there, let their love continue, so that it may endure through long ages.

374 These words said, she is received into the prepared bosom of the ferry, with soft feathers on the floor, and with purple fabric on the ceiling, and with a bed befitting a royal body. ak At this point an opinion divides the divided people, and excites various murmurs: while the lamentation of mourners is heard on the shore, and the cry of those missing the beautiful countenance of the maiden, as if the fates were now more ready to make burial mounds and graves than kingdoms and marriage beds for her. But an opposing shout comes from the fleet into the air, as some thought themselves fortunate above the others with such a token of love and the protection of this ward: and the splendid ships receive the mighty queen onto her high throne via its dangling ladders, and trembling the ship bears a load greater than her mortal body, and it lists one way and the other under its burden.

388 Now over the entire shore she pours forth Lenaeus' tribute, al while she affects hope upon her face, and the people deliver all their words in favourable invocations. Nor on the fleet's part do the goblets stop overflowing with wine, and they repeat the invocations and their Bacchic roar makes its way into the heavens: and the noble nectar is am poured forth into the waves as sacrifice, and their cups swim upon the sea's surface. Thereupon many a cannon gives out a very mighty boom, an spitting out sulphurous balls from their bronzen mass which should only be viewed from far off, and join both smoke and flames to their din: and the fizzing weight of the balls upon the vast sea  [p334] scatters the waves: and all of heaven resounds, and the shaken earth trembles and the resounding shore re-echoes the boom sent from the screeching sea. But father Jupiter himself scarce tolerates with equanimity weapons rivalling his own: the counterfeited fire of lightning, or false thunder's holy terror. For previously he hurled Salmoneus ao down to the dark shades after he made such things. But when he saw that the noise was harming neither mortals nor the holy divinities of the Gods, thereupon he tarried not and commanded that the affair be looked after by his brother, ap who holds the vast expanse of the sea, so that no rock, or any shore hinder, and so that the billowing waves would do no harm, nor the hostile coast, and neither sickness vex the stomach, nor putrid bilge the nose of the Heroine who has entrusted herself to the sea with the Gods. Neptune, raising his calm head above the smooth sea, who not long ago feared the strength of the floating forest on the water, whom Vulcan's fire aq struck with many a roar, and was thunderstruck (lest the restored offspring of Earth, the giants, put their arms upon a captive sea, which blind optimism had deceived those armed against heaven) by the admonition of the greater creator, and commands that the storms go far away, and the hostile tempests, and the anger of the winds depart from the watery kingdoms, and so too the stormy rain-clouds: so that the queen may take possession of her hoped-for port across the sea on a favourable course. He orders the Nereids to be made ready for attendant service, and all the Divinities who had withdrawn into the deep, forever wet in the cold sea. He compels the scaly race, its every herd, to weave in competition around the curved keels, so that its hanging lines may carry off those which bite the metal hiding under the counterfeit food. At the same time as Triton's hollow seahorn decreed these things across the vast ocean, even before he had finished, the Nymphs, and the fishes under the glassy sea execute the Sea God's commands. And they do not mavel at new heroes on the Argo ar alone, and a Venus brought back to the sea, but rather one brought out from her high towers by the seahorn, not becoming in her hair alone, but in jewels, and striking in her golden light, and lovely face: and in the reflection of the sea, in her very image (which delights the race of swimmers), in her bosom where they to wish   [p335] to be buried, they would die in no better way. She in turn, gazing down upon the swift wards of the shepherd Proteus, as as they cut up the marbled sea with their flapping fins, happily points out her dinner, which she lifts out on fishooks, and consigns to the bronze pot boiling with a fire burning underneath: and the woman picks out wonders worthy of the great Gods. Meanwhile the fleet as a body glides along at full speed, and father Aeolus fills up their levelled sails with a favourable breeze. Their ships ply through the blue sea frolicking as they go, and they chase, and flee from each other in turn, and they augment the sails' wings with the oars' legs. And across the open sea they feign the battles of a naval war, in which the fearful flames of pistols fire out their bullets, and larger devices menace the enemy with shots, until they are withdrawn. Soon the grappling hook with its tenacious teeth yoking the nearest timbers causes collateral damage, as the men stand forth with ruddy arms, lock foot to foot, and man fights man across the planks. In this way, through a game, they demonstrate what they could do in a real contest, and with what ardour they would be taken against a hostile enemy.

457 Go forth, Scotland, and, bowed low, and with your fasces lowered, with all duty honour her who feigns squeamishness amid these battles on the sea, and embrace this Goddess who, most beautiful, with her beautiful prince would govern for you, and would renew as one the stock of a fabled yet failing house: so that hereafter it may rise up, creating offspring and producing a national crown for its children. But although you will prepare together to extend the borders of your rule far and wide, at noble boy, and noble maiden (complaining that such great minds are contained within the scanty borders of the Scots!), refrain from yielding to the desire of an ambitious mind, making sure that you pursue power without force, or guile: it will falls to you in its own time. Learn how to govern, and grow little by little in years, and in mind and body together. If at the beginning of your rule, you provide a great beginning with a slender fortune, and the first stirrings of a significant repute while your harvest is in the meadow, au so that laws are joined to the deserving, and public virtue, the basis of the law, abounds; then without struggle and toil,   [p336] of its own free will, and humbly shall those neighbouring you submit to your laws, and the outside world far abroad will desire to be governed by you. To strive for the heights through the force of one's good name is of great importance. Without an apprenticeship, and unsightly error at the beginning, you limit your fame, and you pour down darkness upon your fire, which now promises a new dawn for the Cimmerian world av (since the Gods above redirect their ill omen from you towards the enemy): who would think that the sluggish commanders of a middling court would be ready to take control of the reins of power in a greater kingdom? The authority of a government, unless supported by duty, or vigour, is unstable.

486 Yet why do I, a wavering interpreter, pointlessly go over these things unworthy of your talents? You to whom the Gods of land and sea promise the commencement of your rule through a steadfast omen.

489 Truly in which year of our Lord, either by the fury of the sea or the treachery of their own people, the numerous enemy have been destroyed, aw and the illustrious church rejoices with new spoils, and Anna gives rise to the longed-for glories of her sceptre and bed. ax

493 In the month, moreover, in which welcome Erigone draws out the Sun ay which drives on the abundant harvests, and crams the stores full with this year's grain, the fruitful maiden sprung from a maiden, az Anna gives rise to the longed-for glories of her sceptre and bed.

497 And while the favourable smooth surface of the sea helps the ships so much, and so much too do the favourable waves and the kindly appearance of the sky, so that naturally we are amazed that one mortal's course has changed the accustomed rhythm of the world, Anna gives rise to the longed-for glories of her sceptre and bed.

502 And when golden Ceres gathers so many harvests heavy with corn, and presenting herself plentiful with overflowing horn to the people and all, she springs forth in abundance so far and wide over the fields, so that scarcely have the long ages produced a harvest for the Scots similar to this, and scarcely will coming gnerations hope for such a harvest, Anna gives rise to the longed-for glories of her sceptre and bed.

508 But far off now the sails indicate the hoped-for fleet to the shores, and far off the shores reveal themselves to the fleet. Now cannons make ready their terrifying dins on both sides, and will cover the sky in fire and smoke with their cannonballs. The royal city, as though shaken on all sides from its own foundations, spews out a wave of watchers from every gate. And boys surge forth, and mothers with many a maiden,   [p337] and the venerable grey heads of old men, and sporting youths: neither do locked doors keep the handmaidens at work, nor does the threatening matron with her stern orders: but even she herself, although slow with old age, follows the fugitives, and she smiles at the sight of the Danes, and at so many of our sails upon the vast sea.

520Here amid the thousands of men spread out far and wide, you see how, o Queen, every face awaits your countenance, their eager mouths agape: and perceive to what extent the hearts of the people await the joys of festivities with you as their leader. And now from your ship you lap up with attentive eyes the joy on the shore, which the riches of the kingdom, and the longed-for marriage, and the faithful duty of the nation bequeaths to you. From a good start, nourishing God, provide a firm track, and round off their beginnings with an outstanding end. Now, with your virtues extolled to the heavens, provide the subject matter for the poet, and with your augur's staff bring to light the deeds worthy of praise to be sung, and add to the increasing achievements: and unless divining Apollo deceives us with an empty form, with me as poet ever-mindful time's old age will proclaim your name, even when one day overcome by deathly decline.