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

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Sylva VI: to the most noble knight, the enobled Thomas Sackville, Baron of Buckhurst, at his home in Southern England

1 That client of yours, patron, that poet of yours, Maecenas, a that visitor of yours, hospitable father, inscribes this page for you, this testimony with the song of a mind remembering   [p362] your kindnesses, and sings to your great good health effusely. As you know my inspiration, having been thunderstruck by ill-fortune's assault, lies weakened, my mind, vexed by heavy worries, groans, and my voice has stuck in a throat battered by lamentation. (What should I have done, when the barbaric fury of pirates had carried off so many books snatched all together in broad daylight, the nourishment of the Muses, and the solace of my little life?) b Yet since the court, having taken pity upon the just complaints of a helpless man, entrusted the management of our cause to you, you have devoted your every effort to me, c with pledges, friendship, and trust; and, having deemed a young stranger worthy of the honour of your hospitality, you have granted me the sweet society of your household Gods. Because of this a promising future begins to soothe my fearful dejection, and to transform cooling ashes to a spark of inspiration, and to summon up again my lost powers into song.

20 And now happily we enjoy your home, noble lord: and now we soften heavy troubles with the bounty of the pleasant countryside, and now with banquets and with the dignity of your hearth. Whenever a kinder Juppiter has scattered the wintery storms, and a clear sky's bounty comes to those outside, immediately we wonder at the mountains threatening heaven with their massive bulk, and the hills suitable for the wanderings of the wholly flock, whose peaks one happily overcomes with a gentle climb, and whose low-lying valleys one likewise surveys, and the Tempe valley d fertile with the fruit of the strawberry tree, and overflowing with crops. Thereupon the oxen droves would seek out their nourishment, and the valley would enrich platters fit for the sons of Brutus with festive puddings, and the bristling sows, having acquired the salty scent, would devour the acorns falling from the fruitful tree of Jove, and would supply ham and hogs for hungry tables. Indeed, when the hunter unleashes the hungry Molossian hounds, and the horns roar with their dreadful tune, and with the legion of dogs gaping with mouths hungry for fleeing beasts, you would think that the triformed Goddess has placed her temples here, and surrounds the shady forests with a circle of barking dogs, outstanding with her arrows, and her virgin troop.

42 Yet after Hesperus has called back the weary men from the country   [p363] to your city, huge ponds appear with pools of scaly fish, which surround many a hill of earth with water, which themselves supply nests on their grassy turf for the birds, just like islands on a little sea. Here the herd quench their thirst, and hither does the servant lead the wild horses, for them to drink water from the glassy stream. While I draw near on foot to the line of whole flocks and their folds, in my eagerness to see all, I am amazed at a work of such great size, where roam a hundred horses bound at the mouth with bridles, and they snatch at Ceres' bounty placed in a deep trough. But just then the image of their master passing by flashes before them, and a soft stick whips with a crack, they prick up their heads and long necks, and they fear his threats, and trembling over their whole body, they redouble the dreadful din of their metal spurs, and they fill up the air with their uncertain neighing.

59 After my passion for observing these things had subsided, the servants invite me into the castle, and into the dining room with its tables laid out, and the platters set out for the renewed banquets, and the cups frothing with wine, and they put down goblets native to northern shores, e while also acknowledging the words of their guest compliantly with a nod, and eagrly execute their orders. Others maintain the fire with their bellows, and overcome the winter's cold with an ever-burning hearth, while the winter star shivers the Northern world, and the golden sun grips the Southern.

68 Thus after hunger has been overcome by feasting, and coldness by fires, the mind draws one to discern the beautiful halls with their splendid paintings, and the marbles representing human forms. Some of them without slaughter or blood bring forth wars, others trick the eyes of the viewer with a band of hunters, and others yet frequent a feast with empty tables. Then the housekeeper reveals the innermost spaces of the huge house to me in my eagerness, a monument for future ages, a piece of excellence, since you have been blessed, made joyous through Fortune's attendance, and may you have the Gods favourable to your prayers. Here one may read so many maxims, so many sacred decrees from ancient sages, beautifully inscribed in black ink on the white vaults, f so that the reader may know the distinctions of a moderate life. One may also here discern so many couches covered with linen,   [p364] and clothing striped with gold, and tapestries hanging from painted walls, so that those granted a view are stupefied at the scale of the undertaking, and marvel at the great number of works.

85 Yet in the production of such scale, and amid the pleasant bends of so many enclosures, stretching in expanse through every part of the structure, and how long it is, a dwelling stands above all (wondrous to say) high on the pedestal of the highest vault, and projects its turreted top into the shining heavens. One can imagine that fierce Mars set up a temple amid these dwellings, and that the tardy-footed father g exhausted the furnaces of Etna h in order to lavish these halls with with the spoils of war, and to protect the realm's border under their general command. Here a thousand types of armour are in full view, stiff with iron, and splendid with the glow of gold, the enduring strength of the soldier: whether the swift knight conveyed towards the enemy, or the man charging to war on foot. A thousand helmets glow red with gold, a thousand shields shine forth with their glittering bosses, a thousand quivers stand filled with their arrows, and just as many bows, and just as many axes. Nor did the swords yield to these in number, nor the handguns spitting out their menacing blasts, nor the many spears glinting with their sharp points. Were Mars in uncontrolled anger to perpare for war, he will not look in vain for any weapons here. Always heedful of any war about to come even amid peace, and likewise for peace amid battles, most learned of nobles, prudently in both sets of circumstance you preparedly pay heed to both outcomes, and you compel the Muses to be accustomed to Mars.

109 While I rejoice at these charms of your home, and the duties of your men, constantly eager for the hope of better fortune, I consider you, lord, with moderate pleasure, I beseech you with a thousand prayers, and the assistence of your men, and the ornaments of your home; you who alone is eager, and alone able to restore my fortunes, and to bring an end to my travails. Since if hereafter you do furnish men who would scour the idle abodes of the common mob, i to collect my books, my only joys, and you do return the book cases found through this meticulous search, then I will play a tune on an even kinder pipe. You are my Maecenas, you are my patron, and   [p365] at the same time with hospitality you are generous to address me in eager song, and to recite at random from my books.