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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On the birth of James, most serene Prince of Scots, Duke of Rothesay, 1566

1Lord of the universe, you who dwells in the fiery regions of starry Olympus, and who controls the reins of the world with a nod, permit us these eternal joys, these servile joys, which the royal children of the Scots, who are born to rule, have so greatly dispersed upon Caledonian shores recently. So that your reciprocated consolations may restore our worn-out souls, and your warranted honour may grow for you who so greatly invest yourself in all, behold our souls grateful for such a great gift. Yet if, through the everlasting law of the fates, a sterner Nemesis arranges favourable events to come in alternating turns; if the order of the universe demands it so, and joys are bound in an unseen chain and link to returning woes: even still no loss destined to bring us evils will overcome our hearts with its weight. We will pay the price for this joy with bitter grief, and happily pay it. Protected so from the cruel thread of the Fates, may the prince of Scots grow in coming years, while after that may he, as victor, through his flourishing arms seek to gain his fated dominion, whose governance the unwavering trust of the people's wish had dared to entrust to him as a child (when first he departed into the royal-purple air).

22Was there in the end anything greater that the highest deity's far-seeing knowledge sought for this world of ours? Even if the choice of whatever reward we wished were a free one, or if the eternal sisters affirm it through our prayers, had the freedom of the human mind dared to hope for something more effective, I pray, than those fates (whether looking to private affairs or to the public good)? Clearly the historical lessons of our age, with their disasters understood (and which he knows only too well, will teach others how a state is all too unhappy when the gods are displeased, unless the ever-present authority of a great prince is at hand, unless the royal line of blood reinforces its authority with its noble strength). Why should I recount the dangers ended by heavens' whole enraged  [p222]ranks, why should I recount the many crises made infamous by our wickedness, as flames raged through our miserable cities and fields without check, and while the victorious enemy wandered unrestrained? a Without doubt a dangerous pretext excited their spirits, and armed the enemy, and whichever God despoiled the beautiful honours of the kingdom, also coloured the marriage torch of King James black with his death, b while under the abandoned crown a single daughter now stands, c survivor from so many great-hearted kings, the single hope for the empire's endurance through the ages. Meanwhile what disasters has Scotland not lamented? While ill-conceived zeal drags ignorant minds here at home to hostile plots, while elsewhere the English rage, and let loose their fury with free rein. Both sides bear a very great responsibility for doing these things: the royal court was robbed to the point of the total destruction of the bloodline, while the sceptres were threatened with an unwelcome end. So why was the kindness of heaven able to provide all Caledonia with this young prince so willingly, while finally ensuring a never-ending sceptre's blessed royal authority through an everlasting offspring?

58And Scotland handed over the honour of governance to others, it surrendered the charge of its affairs to France in a wretched treaty, d and was sold to impious rulers: a country which the Romans wished in vain to live under their rule, at the time when they were bearing their victorious eagles against the Argadians themselves, and the huge Grampians were bristling with Roman standards, e now its hearts unconquered by any war have been able to acknowledge the unaccustomed dominion of a lord. So the glory of so many years of honourable martial skill then ascribed its reputation to the lily-bearing fasti. What type of entreaties did Olympus, which was bombarded by prayers, not hear, what donations did we not make upon garlanded altars, to see if God, turned from his former anger, would restore and return the Scots to the head of their government? He rejoiced that his divine authority held sway over their ancient masters, and look he has given them much through a token of hope: he has strengthened their royal line with a blessed offspring, so that they do not fall back again into bad fortune.  [p223]So, since advantage comes in learning from past years, if anyone unlocks the records of our ancient forefathers, which number twenty generations from the foundation of the kingdom, if they should think on fortune's ups and downs, on the so many incarnations of the state, and also attribute particular kings to them all: under which prince savage Mars vented his fierce anger upon the wretched citizenry, and wars used to disturb the sweet quiet of the state; and under which prince Victory in turn, while flying back on happy wings, emblazoned glorious triumphs upon our standards, and when peace was secured everything flourished in abundance: am I mistaken, or has Scotland never enjoyed happy outcomes, either when she defended herself from a fierce enemy, or bore her strong arms against neighbouring nations, or won peace after disorder was settled, until after the Gods allowed the Red lion of the Stewart line to always endure in an eternal pact? Indeed without doubt is it any wonder that people wanted these kings, whose constancy in peace, whose all-powerful courage in war was looked upon with admiration, and in whose name glory shines out without painted conceit? If you should assiduously check the laws of war or peace, and if every one, in a sacred pact, could protect their reputation from their ancestral grave, there is no ancestral apparition more replete with outstanding virtue than the house of Stewart.

100Therefore, come dear boy, heir to the Stewart name, great in father, f greater in mother, and greatest glory and hope for your kingdom, when you fully come of age, I don't know what great things the prophesies promise now for you. If the prophesies have any truth, someone saves herself to be governed by you, she both stands ready and armed (aware of such a great delivery for her), and extends her coast along the billowing sea: Britannia. Meanwhile as these youthful years of yours progress, he who established the fiery walls of the vast universe covers you with his shadow as if with a shield: and may he support you with his living strength, whether you stretch out in sweet sleep, or while awake and dangling your sweet chubby body you wrap your arms around your mother's neck, and beginning to charm her with the mumble of your babbling tongue,  [p224]and you repay her long labour with your tender reward.

115As when the young sapling is planted in a well-watered garden, little by little it gathers its strength in its senseless branches, and with difficulty it dares to entrust itself to the wide open sky: soon it will begin slowly to shed its youth's skin, and its trunk arms itself with increasingly rough bark, and fearlessly throws out its arms into the swift breezes of the air. Yet its maturer time of life will bring about its full powers, as it flees past the limits of human touch, spreading out its strength it projects far into the lofty clouds, and getting ahead of itself it aims for the heavens, and it thrusts its head towards the harmful arms of Phoebus. There, in song, it richly wreathes its heavenly branches, while in flight it longs to establish its slender home. Under its regenerative shade, the wooly flock restore their strength, worn out by summer, through its nourishment. So it will be for you, who call upon the gods in supplication with your sweet bleating, now wholly without strength: when your time of life, increased by the coming years, establishes your full powers in your vigorous breast, then so many flourishing triumphs will preserve you from the terrible enemy. Then the Cimbrian will fall at your feet, after failing to measure up to your strength with his feeble arms. Also, Ireland, which is condemned to never-ending frost, will change its profane Lords to be ruled by you; and all will learn that no age will be safer than yours, should the peace be kept under your leadership, and should wars be conducted under your leadership.

141A useless augur has not provided material for me to sing about, nor doubtful oracles, nor worthless predictions, nor audacious Morpheus, who tricks us with his deceiving dreams. You, who are the chief discloser of faith and truth, confirmed by previous years of experience, you will be my witness, as I look back to the examples of the ancients to obtain the attendant reward of the readers' trust.

148From his happy birth, James alone, an unconquerable prince, has each and every portent of a great dominion that inspired confidence in the ancients; through him any one can come to know how to spin the Fates' hastening spindles at will through the gods in close attendance.  [p225]

153This goddess, g most pleasing consort to the great gods, most fortunate mother of a blessed baby, encloses, unaware, hidden helping gods in her breast. Indeed, when she saw that the right time for giving birth was approaching, and Lucina was at hand, advising her as she held on, she did not choose a palace decorated with noble insignia, nor merely a place where the cleaner air could lighten the intense pains of the birth. The most outstanding citadel of Edinburgh rises on encircling precipitous rocks and menaces the heavens, but it was not the type of place that would usually hold spendid dinners with royal pomp, nor that would provide light from inlaid gold. h However, many arms gleam upon its bronze doors, and many raging canons discharge their furious balls, and the regular succession of their signals rivals the glory of Phoebus' sunshine. The happy goddess who protects Caledonia's shores encloses herself with her sweet burden in this fortress. Fate continually draws all downwards on its mysterious course, and wearies with a hidden virtue. Since indeed the fated divine authority of rule rests in this citadel alone, Victory, the guardian of so great a citadel, had never descended to accept the laws of any enemy, i or stained its unconquerable reputation with a shameful charge, so that it could, untainted, produce an unconquerable king, who, while extending Scotland's divinely-sanctioned armed right hand, would subject proud peoples under the authority of his rule, wherever the Ocean sweeps across shores far and wide with its eddying crash. To him first the blessed place promises these glories, and also the many arms, which surround the boy's cradle, point this out, mindful of the recent birth of a king through whose victory they hope for laurel-bearing triumphs.

185An old and stout tower stands upon, and dominates, the citadel, and, rising far amid the black clouds, it hides its pointed crown all around with equal poise, as the Sun at its warmest shines from the meridian, the flower-plucking bees crowd together, and with a resounding hum they announce the settled will of the great gods. The pledge was seen, when first the stomach swollen with its ample burden  [p226]summoned Lucina through diligent prayers. Examine the vast mountain of things which that omen had heralded, and may Lavinia assure your wavering minds, j since the fates promised the Romans rule over the earth: and examine how the most illustrious Hiero extended Sicily's borders with a fame that endured through all ages.

198That conqueror who defeated Babylon, Seleucus, k he who controlled the Assyrian crown under the great authority of Macedonia, and stunned an earth thunderstruck by his name (after Macedonian strength had been shattered by the death of King Alexander), upon his birth, when a portentous sign of something to come, a curved anchor, had reddened his leg in Tyrian purple, straightaway a soothsayer said: 'clearly this purple patch marks out a king, this anchor marks out a safe haven for rule!' If purple marks out kings, if a sword marks out Mars, if fearless courage chooses the heart as its home, pray tell what does a fiery sword with a heart at the bottom, illuminating his side in royal purple, promise for this boy? l

210Moreover, should anyone have faith in human examples, his mother greatly kindles these hopes among the uncertain: for, although Nature decreed that her sex has no animus, how blessed is her honour, her virtue, and how happy is Honour, and Virtue, and Glory with its happy face, and Beauty, and Victory, sharing with her the snow-white colour on its wings, to choose a home for themselves where there was no more worthy host for such great divine authority from black Memnon, m where the Ganges flows by far Eastern shores, up to where the land ends at the Pillars of Hercules. Therefore, join the mother's spirit to father's fortune, which does not hide its light under an obscuring veil, but for whom, with matching stride, an attendant illustrious virtue governs their steps in tight regulation. When a descendant knows their ancestors, when he is a son of their character not just an heir to their stock, and the children rise up little by little into the footsteps of their parents, why, when he comes of age, will we not put our hope in that prince, for whom the living virtue of Mary and the greatest fortune of the father will grow in one heart?

229That greatest one, the creator of the universe, if you need more evidence, behold how he has imparted his blessed love upon the boy:  [p227]how great is the glory on the boy's face, with what a fire his eyes glow, what modesty colours his little lips with chaste moisture, and what charm resides in his every look. He is just like purple spring blooming in fresh meadows, or just like the flying cupids - if ever they lay down their darts - which the hand of a painter brushes onto a panel. Clearly this very beautiful image stands out by itself for this boy as happily as any veneration due to a human form, and as much as the father of the Gods allows. The thread-weaving sisters, through the unalterable law of the fates, after they had delivered their little gifts to the infant's cot, in unison predicted victorious laurels in a triple prophesy, and bound the boy's sacred temples with oak. And having urged on their spindles to make their threads, said 'hasten on these times in a never-ending line, times which will at some point make this boy the ruler of a such a great empire; and under his happy guidance the martial glory of the Scots will raise itself up above the ether with its starry deeds.'

249Do I speak the truth? Our age, I hope, will see these joys, even after having wondered at what divine authority drove the ancient prophets; it will say: 'without doubt that man predicted these things long ago; these things which the best part of humanity had not thought would ever come.'

253Should, however, anyone now grant that my Muses are rash, and should the flying Zephyrs not bear my words through the air, I would say a few words of caution first. For you, greatest prince, the hope and answer to people's prayers, for you I believe that divine providence has established the boundaries of an empire where the ocean ends. Before that, however, I pray it happens through merit: he will sleep serenely through all danger, whom the greatest virtue raises up according to merit, and pays out reward fitting to effort. How did it come to pass that the high palaces of heaven should be governed by Jupiter, why did the whole world, from the Ganges to Cadiz, yield to someone, whom, for all that, Minos' Crete enclosed in its tiny kingdom, and interred upon his death in a little urn? n Heaven's virtue, which first shone forth at the universe's birth, when blind lust was not yet hindering the authority of the truth, was thought most worthy to guide the eternal reins of the universe. And great-hearted heroes were dedicating their temples to the devoted life  [p228]for the sole practice of virtue, and the first age so trusted that these men were worthy to rule in favourable times, that the discoloured Indian, and the African condemned on the sands of parched Lybia, and indeed every person far away from the whole world beyond the Pillars of Hercules both desire and believe that these men, although now dead, should hold the reins of power; these men whom Fortune, without jealousy, called her kings, while they were alive.

278Every nearby foreign land is very blessed with riches, and thus, I pray, may they remain, so long as listlessness and excess always accompany indolent wealth, so long as alluring softness weakens their strong citizens, so long as the greedy enemy's pride swells, and its every thirst for booty incites it to arms. And who would envy riches for these people, who have nothing better to enoble them? You, however, most beautiful prince, the glory that is raised high by the titles of your magnificent ancestors will acknowledge you as its heir; and the martial force of its spirit will again be found in genuine praise, and unyielding assurance in arms, which saved the sons of Fergus o from the savage enemy, and which never suffered to serve profane lords - even when the worthless force of tawny gold pours forth as a reward, and Pangaea itself with its rich seams of precious metals. p

292We know the ways in which very many exercise their power in the highest court, as excess devours the pitiable insides of a kingdom on the edge of doom, having bought the facade of honour's empty shape. But for you, if you assume your ancestral spears in the time-honoured way, your coming life will promise constant duties, from whence for you the glory of a genuine reputation derives its reward. Therefore, so that the indolent inactivity at an untroubled court does not tame you, as though a tender power with unrefined talent, you will learn how to endure the cold of the Riphean winter, q and pass a restless night under a cold sky; you will learn how to sleep upon your shield, and to tame the swift currents of a raging torrent while swimming, to endure the summer's sun under the dusty heat, to eat on a battlefield with no tables, and to shoot lead balls with an explosion of gunpowder. Through these skills your glory will rise; these gifts will protect your Scots from the world's dizzying calamities,  [p229]even though the fates have decreed that the Romans are the lords of the world. r

310That lion rampant is the icon of our country's virtue, and the Scot has declared it sacred in an ever-enduring oath. Learn what he demands, learn why he who wields the full reins of power (and into whose footsteps you must step) adopts such a noble standard. Finally, learn what things sharpen conscientious concerns in its noble heart.

316Just as the magnetic stone attracts metal with its hidden power, and quite tenaciously holds it bound by its force in a long chain linked by invisible bonds, so the seeds of your maternal bloodline will not permit you to put on a mask to affect virtue, nor lay down your responsibilities and disregard them on an indolent couch, nor will its glory permit it, which did not gain it reputation through affecting its native character. Meanwhile may your early years rise favourably for you, and may your happy youth, as it rises into boyhood, through its promise supply the Scots with sweet joys. Wherever the studious nurse appeals to the deliberating gods, as she rouses the sky with her mighty prayers, then may the Fates start weaving and draw all their hopes together into a thread that will endure. And whoever has, through a most welcome present for the Scots, healed the miserable animosities of our thankfully past history, then may that same one, won over by chaste prayers, bestow his own divine authority upon them, and grant these gifts in answer to all their prayers. So may he mark out your times with a happy fate, so may he bless your cot with sweet slumbers, as you relax your little body into its pleasing rest. So may he impart a youthful grace to a lively nobility for you, and so may he make fortunate for you everything that he decrees must be done, and in old age may he increase your lifespan to twice that of Nestor's. s May your descendants through the ages learn, as they watch you, what the boldness of just desire can hope for, what will be the extent of fortune's good intentions for you, and in that example may they see the boundaries of growth that the greatest divine authority has placed upon human affairs.