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

  [p470]

A travelling-poem on the departure of the most fair and unconquerable King James VI from his native Scotland

1What strange crash was heard from the summit of the Boeotian Mountain? a What wild clamour rose from within the dwelling and secret place of Phoebus? Why has the sacred cauldron resounded in its cave? b See, a new light has appeared from the Northern shores, a shining light, which has spread its rays throughout the whole world. On this side, the sanctuary of Phoebus trembled, the Delphic cliff too, and the Pimplean chorus. c On that side, the cithara's Arcadian inventor d chants paeans and demands to hear divine Homer in song, and melodies of the Thracian lyre. Indeed that light - Phoebus' torch - shone with favour upon you, and you were worthy of that day which, with its golden-leaved trident of light, struck you - the Sixth - powerful over the waves and the three lands, first of all; and then it struck the sea, warmed by the Western sun, and then the lands scattered along the shore, even those soaked by Northern floods. Either let a Muse more elevated than the poet of Maeonian song e sing of that day, or let the golden genius of the Minciadian poet f sing about it. For whether one prefers to enumerate your innumerable ancestors, and those who have held the Northern sceptre, whom you, as a king more illustrious before all others, will succeed in long succession; or whether the honour of your piety or the glory of your triple sceptre, and your turreted cities, and kingdoms acquired without bloodshed are a source of delight; and however much Phoebus should fall into song and Pallas come accompanied by the crowd of the nine Sisters; and even if the Castalian spring g itself murmured with stilted foot, they would not deliver songs worthy of your praise.

27Now at last that day has come, that golden day which has been greatly desired by three nations, when chains unable to be released have unified diverse nations in blood. And the day came, closely observed, when three kingdoms were subjected to one sceptre. That day which   [p471]mothers demanded with chaste prayers, and which boys and unmarried girls sought with troubled souls, as they used to weep with mournful voice over parents struck down with shameful wounds, and dear husbands too. You are the limit of such great struggles, you alone are the refuge; you harness the God of War with chains, and order him, bound with bonds of iron and hard steel, to subside, to put a stop to his terrifying noise, and to cease the tumult of war. Look, golden Peace hovers around you with bejewelled wings. Old Faith surrounds you, and Glory equips you with a gilded chariot. The Astraean maiden leaps up, with you as her companion. h And Nemesis, no longer blind, with a staff placed in her right hand, and an Acheloian cornucopia in her left, i intends to remain seated no more; she stands erect and, crunching with her shoes the rock on the ground under her feet, she proclaims herself utterly yours, and admits her subjugation to you.

48Indeed, may you not, under their direction, or turn of events, prove unequal to the great burden of wars, or of blessed peace, most beloved of kings to the gods. But let Justice, who has milked her breasts into your delicate lips, and Piety, unaware of false deceit, stand around your throne, and harness the reins of your affairs. First of all, however, honour Him alone in front of all men (sprung from the race of the gods), He whom all things fear. For indeed He looked upon you at your birth with a nourishing gaze. He allowed you to avoid the mighty force of the Furies, and great dangers, and has vanquished the hellish conspirators and Stygian cohorts of that weak leader. j He alone may bring them back. Since you crown his royal head with a triple diadem, why not glorify him with your whole being and with prayers: for no sight of his labours, or list of his deeds, will make you forgetful of Him. Accustom to your pious rule minds that have been instructed in piety and in love of virtue. Who does not fear the orders of the Thunderer? Who does not fear the authority of a human king? In this way, honour will rise only to you, kingdoms are acquired, and your path will rise to the gods and to the upper peaks of the universe.

69But, from another direction, the Babylonian whore, dressed in a scarlet toga, flaunts herself to the waves of the famous Tiber from afar. k   [p472]Royal honour covers her ill-omened shoulders with a purple drape. Her most shameless beauty twinkles with gold and silver around beautiful courtyards. She offers the water of Bacchus l to upstanding governmental leaders of this great sphere, and immerses their minds in drinking cups, destroying those she ensnares with insane vertigo. Alas! Flee cruel lands. Flee the greedy shore of Ausonia, m and avert yourself from the magical palace of Circe. She lies in that place, the robber of lands, burning with avenging anger, instructed to throw the heavens, and the land, and the sea into confusion; and to summon the destruction of the Furies, and the passions of war, so that Italian brothels may not come to ruin by unjust fortune. On this side, there are murders and the grievances of princes, and Europe is engaged in innumerable wars; on that side, in the kingdoms of Christ, the Ottoman barbarian, stirred up with rage, advances violently, while in no place was loyalty preserved. The Varna and the Po n remember the land of the Macedonians, and also the Byzantine kingdoms. Behold the infamous destruction of the world! Behold a plague full of evils and the anger of the gods, which was sent forth from Stygian caves! Flee the scarlet-clad whore, James, and do not submit the hearts of the British to an effeminate crowd: trust in God who has power over the land and the sky, and he will give you favourable outcomes in war, even though the whole of the world and the Tartarean deceivers rise up together, and threaten death.

95I do not speak of things unknown: let the Spanish fleet, who were torn apart in a frightful manner, o bear witness to when Tethys frothed with many oarsmen, and to when Spain disturbed the whole of Ireland, and the swell of the British sea expelled the fugitives. At that time, trembling shook the breasts of terrified men, and in no place was there hope of human help, when they prepared to put on menacing chains, and to scatter the English and the Scots in a single battle. Life-giving God dispatched from Olympus armed tempests, roaring storms and cloud-born battle lines. He unleashed the quick armies of Aeolus with force, and hurled a frightful, red, winged thunderbolt through the water with a dreadful crash. Then a flash of lightning flashed through the divided clouds, and the flames everywhere encouraged witnesses that help from God was at hand.   [p473]Arms of men, and planking, and treasure amassed over a period of many years floated in the vast waste. The fleet owed their humiliation to the winds, and omens of the Romulean she-wolf were repeatedly witnessed by painted ships. The fleet, led by whores, was struck by the Alban shallows, and was driven onto the dangerous rocks; there it lay, broken in pieces. The fields of Neptune were red with spilt blood, and Nereus, strewn with many corpses, lamented that his polluted waves had been defiled. Thus the illustrious beauty of the warrior and glory obtained without bloodshed reveals those kings trusted by God.

120What empty things enrage you? Pray do, Muse, abandon the empty things of passion. What slaughters, what wars are you recounting? You sing not of young processions from the East who have destroyed homes with the thyrsus; nor of fifty princes and the king, father and ruler of Asia; nor of the lofty walls of Cadmus, protected by the thunderbolt. Speak of peoples united by a treaty. Tell of kingdoms once hostile with contentious hatred assembling together to submit, as one, to James the Sixth (according to the plans of the nurturing goddess, who now shines in the golden sky). That well-worn path is free for all the other poets, those who find delight in the cruel deaths of kings, to remember the empty things of passion.

131Indeed various poets, whose great charm of language led them across the untruthful waters of Helicon to all sorts of theatres, have sung about the wild wars of previous leaders, in which some leader has brought under his sway various peoples through all manner of crimes, through all forms of wickedness, and through whatever was harsh, dreadful, cruel, or threatening. However, it was permitted - what a shame! - in these wars to climb up to the heavens, and across the burning walls of the world; both heaven and the stars, able to be purchased with bloodshed, was the reward for a treaty of robbery. And yet, many men have put their trust in titles of honour, and have taken confidence from their noble lineage; while, relying upon their claim, they seek kingdoms owed to them, and ponder the faithless pledge of friendship according to divine will; and they think sin to be nothing, so long as it is permitted for them to reside in their ancestral land. Let Enyo of the Furies now brandish all of her snakes, and ignite the torches of war. These men increase legality for crime. Alas, one can finally see pitiful men, who have dared to do unspeakable things with violence, and their cause, sunk by a heinous weight, be overwhelmed by an adverse tide.   [p474]Neither your title, nor the rank of your fictitious family tree - 'Leader of the Sons of Fergus' p - rise up, but kingdoms which are owed to you through blood unite together in all directions for the common good. Bellona does not brandish her cruel torches of war, nor does Pallas shatter the terrifying Gorgon; nor does bloody Mars flaunt his right hand, armed with a whip, before the bronze cohorts. No war-trumpets, nor clarions must shriek, and no deadly sword, ready to burst forth, must rage through the phalanxes with unspeakable slaughter, in order for you to subdue peoples and cities near to you in war. The savage race of Pellaean Philip q rushed with human slaughter through the treacherous peoples and the quiver-bearing cities of Asia, even as far as that place where multi-coloured India is fortified by the golden Ganges: however, in you, James, God and the indulgence of calm heaven was more merciful.

163The virgin r calls you king - the swan-like virgin who, at this moment now on the cusp of death, calls you beside the delightful Thames. Like a swan, now approaching death, which produces songs through its neck and soothes the banks of the River Cayster: s every river and pool also sings, and lush meadows call back from afar. In this way, your queen calls you, a queen appointed by the British with a sceptre-bearing hand, to whom the huge sea was obedient, be it where the speedy Ganges, or the Nysaean Hydaspes, t plunges into the morning waves; or here where the turbulence of the Northern sea beats distant shores with vast waves of sea-water; or at that place where Amphitrite, stretched across the land by a vast flood, strikes Ethiopia; or where Phoebus, descending in his fleeing chariot, heats and illuminates the waves with the setting sun. How greatly the Stygian lakes, and the ferryman of the Underworld, sitting above the Tarpeian rocks, with the arrogant title of 'Papatus' (which is the highest honour under deepest Acheron), have trembled. The queen calls you to the pinnacle of earthly fortune, which can only be approached by her will: follow such mighty omens, and rule over the Western shores, James. Unite discordant kingdoms and different peoples with a treaty of alliance.

184There is no need for a bull, or a pig, or a slaughtered ram. What is the use of pouring away strong wine mixed with blood to the ground, and to cultured Phoebus? u Or of soaking garments of wool in blood drawn out with a delicate hook,   [p475]and licking up purple wine from the broken stem of a vine? And is a union of any kind pleasing to the ferocious German kingdoms or to the wild Scythian kingdoms? A more visible way than these chains of binding souls closely together, of tying together the people of God, is through divine worship. In this way, a treaty firmer than a bronze bond, or pure lead, or strong iron, will reconcile neighbouring peoples in calm peace.

195This is not unlike priestly Numa, v who, from the first origin of nascent Rome, checked souls untamed in savagery, hearts full of arrogance, and the widespread pollution of bandits; how greatly they returned to worship and reverence of the gods. Hence, you will bring together the counsel of the nymph Egeria and the nocturnal rites, w and the wool-topped hats and the shields which fell from heaven, x and whatever divine mysteries are written in Latin scrolls. But may it delight you to unroll the annals of the ancients, and may their work, which first set down the foundations of a kingdom and of a structure which would endure through the ages, rise up out of the chaos for you. He ordered diverse peoples to unite (firstly, religious observance, and then the worship of the gods were concerns to that man) in order that their hearts could be calmed through worship of the divinity. Only reverent worship was able to mollify the rebels.

209But when at last generations of men have been joined together under the governance of the British name, they will elevate themselves beyond high heaven: no longer does the Scot, nor one born from the ancient blood of the Saxon, call to mind Brutus and the harsh ancestral struggles of Troy; inhabitant of icy Ireland, vain superstition, which ignorance of the true Thunderer hands down, is to utter different sounds, to rouse discordant feelings from a former age, and to lean on ancestral principles. Meanwhile, in no place will raging love of immoderate wealth, obscuring the hearts of kings with an infectious disease, drive neighbouring peoples to attack your borders in war, James. Will one of the Hyrcanii of the Tigris y begin to angrily goad the territories of the world? Or will a quaking stag raise its branched horns against the tawny Lion? If, on the contrary, it pleases you to compete in war with a foreign enemy; if you are preparing to assail enemies, both yours and those of Christ, then listen: the fates are calling. The oracles of the ancient soothsayers  [p476]are ordering you to go to the high Capitol, and to Roman citadels in famous triumph, and to the Latin brothel on the verge of destruction. Already, James, your curved bugles and roaring war-trumpets deafen ears with a menacing roar, and you frighten the timid eagles with the splendour of your army. Who would refuse to follow your standards? Or who, seeing you James, would ever be afraid to accompany you into the heat of battle? And to accompany the blood-red Rose and the Red Lion into wars?

236And yet, when it pleases you now to enjoy the advantages of calm peace, and to make peaceful people stand in awe of you, like an emperor in another sphere, you will give laws to deeply embayed lands, far from every enemy, and free from every cruel misfortune and the danger of war. Do you see how circumfluent Oceanus surrounds your shores, James? Let him spread over the seas, monstrous and inhospitable to sailors: these defences of your realms are more certain than if the serpent of the Hesperides, or the avenger of Phrixus and the golden fleece was guarding these kingdoms. z A machine of war, equal to the sky and surrounded on all sides by fire-spewing siege engines, stands above, fit to be arrogantly observed from the battlements, and ready to defend the harbours, and the parapets; and also ready is a war-like land, full of men, a land always famous for its innumerable triumphs. May Cyprus be dear to Venus; and may Gaul, destroyed untamedly, be loved by wild Mars, since the scarlet Rhone runs with blood famously, and the Garonne, sovereign of the Vascon water, glides into the sea with monstrous slaughter. May Spain never be peaceful, and may it bear witness to the peoples powerful by the sea; then let Turkey be savage in their plunder of the world, both of the Eastern region and the tracts under the pole, and let the peoples of Italy, and the Mauritanian stream be witnesses; and do not once let the North be touched by unpropitious keels.

260What of that land's vast riches? Am I to mention the mountains stiff with bronze? Or the soil heavy with weighty quantities of iron or gold? Or will I mention the rippling rivers contending here and there with the reddish ground for scarlet jewels?

264From this place, if you trust the truth in story-telling, an island rich in inexhaustible mines is being brought to our shores, which northern Nereus flows around with a lazy tide.  [p477]In that place, the exhausted body, and weary limbs of old Saturn lie back, aa and uncultivated grey old age lies under the huge cave; and in retreats of golden pumice, his body is overcome with calm sleep, while marjoram from flowers and from the sweet shade soothes his limbs. Around him, every tribe of bird shakes their nectar-soaked wings, always carrying fresh juices of ambrosia: and both wild monsters and one-hundred armed Briareus, and huge Typhus, ab and other terrible spirits stand around in the shadows.

277What campaign against the soil, and what glades, impressed by the chariot of the Athenian youth, am I to mention? What fleeces am I to mention, which, made through a thousand arts, give birth to different forms of gain? What meadows, rivalling even the Thessalian woods? What pastures, smiling with excess beauty of all kinds? Here the dark colour of the violet shines, and the rose soothes with its beautiful blood-red; then the beauty which witnessed the harsh fate of Ajax grows to maturity. It rivals the Panchaean fields, ac and colours the plains with its pleasing light. It was here in this land where Jason competed with the Argonaut rower, ad and here the vigilant serpent of the Hesperides guarded the twisted branches of the golden tree. What fertile fields am I to mention? And noisy rivers? And so many cities powerful in war, and heavy in riches? That city, ae that proud city, is reputed to be the queen of the British land, to whom Ormus af will yield her goods, and the wealthiest mother of the Venetians her riches. In this place, the Roman fathers wore Romulus' robe of state, and bore Ausonian bundles and proud eagles. She demands that you endure troubles with anxious prayers, and she bears eyes to watch, the honour of a kingly mouth, and a chest imbued with noble love. Feasts of virtue await you, and happy leaping dances, and a procession resounding with applause and a favourable din to accompany you with song to the majestic city. Pure and favourable day! Life-giving day fit to be marked by white chalk! ag   [p478]When you come seeking your kingdoms, the Thames will receive you with her river-bed wide open! The Thames, the most beautiful of the English rivers! The Thames, pouring her streams from a golden water-jar. However, neither public processions which sing hymns, nor abundant Wealth which devises playful distractions will make you, James, forgetful of your people. The lot of human fortune, the mockery of the greatest human affairs, and faithless Rhamnusia ah in the highest places have come to be understood by your wise mind. Once Sesostris, ai carrying sceptres through the verdant fields of rich Egypt, harnessed the necks of four kings under his golden chariot in harsh triumph, and to one of the kings looking at the wheel spokes, he said, 'pray tell, why do you look at the revolving wheels with such a fixed gaze?' The king replied, 'I am amazed how quickly the highest part of the wheel becomes the lowest part; how quickly the lowest part occupes the highest region.' The Pelusiac aj tyrant, influenced by this voice, permitted them to cast off their harsh yoke, and after their chains of servitude had been removed, they were allowed to return to their native dwellings.

322Surely you see when, in a high wood, an oak tree, blooming happily in the shade of its ancient mother, grows to maturity from a tender bud, it has no fear of both the winds and rain? And as soon as it rises above everything from its bronze summit of light, it protects proximate places with its vast shade. Then, shivering at the threats of angry Jove and at the frenzy of Aeolus' storm, it sways at its weary summit. In this way, while you seek to extend your reach to the greatest heights of worldly fortune, and to join three kingdoms by an ancestral sceptre, Fortune will pursue you with greater envy, accompanied by the elderly chorus of the Eumenides, and by the terrors of Hades' realm. She takes care never to turn from humble homes and from the hard-working servants of a simple cottage. She thinks upon kings and golden walls, and once weakened, she brings to ruin the exalted heights of temporal affairs.

336Therefore bring worship to God gladly. Overwhelm our powerful Lord with supplicant prayers, and he will give you all things through favourable fortune. He will sever the unfavourable wings of Fortune, and will reign over heaven and the lands left behind.

340Greatly beloved in the sky, whose reward of virtue will increase with titles of honour; to whom, having gazed down upon the earthly lands, future kingdoms and golden temples of heaven are an object of concern. For indeed in this place, there is no death. A land lies beyond the stars,  [p479]beyond the paths of the years, and beyond the ways of the Sun, where come the greatest of things worth observing; where, finally, with the cycle of time completed, you rest, calm with a celestial peace, and enjoying the serenity of heaven and the wonders of the golden light.