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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THE SONG OF MOSES,
Paraphrase of Deuteronomy, 32.
Dedication to King James VI

Much anticipated hope of the farthest region, golden light of the northern tribe, both the sun and the splendour of your age: distinguished by the numerous reigns of your ancestors, extremely distinguished by your great genius, which respect for religion nurtures. Blessed child, take in hand the holy beginnings of my poem, and, so to speak, the first elements of a grateful mind. They are, I confess, little gifts for such a great king: little, but great through a limitless God's gift. Under our Apollo's direction, you will provide greater works of this kind: and perhaps we, under your guidance, will produce better ones too.

1You, eternal fires, and sentient bright lamps of the universe, and wandering flames in the heavens; you, the watery domains and lofty expanses above, and the low-lying fields, I now address you, heaven and earth: lift up your ears, and direct your eminent minds to my words. Just as the torrential silvery rain, falling in aqueous glimmer, revives with gushing water the fields blanched by long summers, and provokes the ploughed earth into bloom, and awakens the budding pastures, and restores the renewed glories of the abundant earth, so the milky vigor of words from a sacred mouth, and a flowing river of rich eloquence coming from heaven, golden with flowing rhythms, will infiltrate the core and marrow of the soul, and wandering through the innermost senses and the depths of the soul, it will bear sweet rewards in abundant plenty. And so it will amass everlasting reserves through a heavenly harvest. For I set forth the name of God; and I praise the divine majesty of heaven, which must be revered. Therefore extol the venerable name, and set forth the divine majesty of our God.

20Not so secure is the tree attached to its deep roots, nor so immovable does the rocky cliff stay; neither so enduring of steel is the oak tree, nor so everlasting are the supports made from the hardest mineral, as is divine   [p85] the constancy of the truth which declares its own divinity; and as is eternal the divinity which endures by its own power and virtue.

25 Whatever he does has been performed in perfect harmony, has been assembled in due proportion: in all respects perfection is fashioned to the smallest detail. The uncorrupted assurance of his covenant endures. The great king of Olympus is free from blemish, without fault, irreproachable; he is the image of virtue, the template of justice, the yardstick of truth.

30 But yet the spoiled children have faithlessly abandoned the father's example, and unhappily have given out their minds and bodies to wickedness. Why has such a great madness grown in their soul? Are these the rewards you pay him back with for his services, ungrateful children? Is he not your king, who rescued you from the wicked enemy tyrant? Who ended your captivity and wanderings in the underworld? Is he not the creator, the author, and the founder of all? Did he not fashion your mortal limbs from the earth, not perfect your ornamented form, a not give strength, divine perception, and heaven's vital breath to your body and mind? Did he not select you alone from all the peoples of the world? Now comprehend the current spirit of this age, and consider the history. Go over the ancient records from the time of mankind's first beginning: speak to your parents, interrogate the elderly. In this regard your father will furnish you with examples from times past; of those which come first they will relate all, and then they will lay out the rest one by one.

47 In the beginning the Lord, who made heaven and earth, as he sent the tribes into a world requiring habitation, dispersed humankind into differing regions, and set up boundaries and kingdoms for the tillers of the land according to the number of the sons of Isaac, b having not forgotten both his covenant and the eternal love by which he bound himself to them. For indeed Jehovah's one share, his one portion is Jacob's offspring: which is only a single share, but one dear to the parent.

55Having found them in a region in want of a civilizing hand, wandering through places squalid with neglect, wildernesses bristling with coarse shrub, fearful forests and inhospitable crags, he took them in hand. But he did not bear them across the difficult path, which was the closest route, across the high rocks and too-narrow passes: he instructed the tribe to meander across vast and distant paths, and to espy the far-off borderlands of the Arabs.   [p86] No loss of delay was considered too much, and, so that they may march on safely, they are shielded - as if the apple of his eye, which his crystalline wall encases in a glassy shield; like in a palisade, where walls have surrounded the rampart of the tender eye on all sides with hairs: these twin structures erect two bulwarks on a lofty ledge on both sides, so that the lights of the eyes may be safely set in to the hollow globes.

69Also, just like the prince of birds, the tawny armour-bearer of the Thunderer, c envelops the featherless and still-weak chicks in parental warmth, and is the bearer of the nourishments of rich and fatty game; and soon after the mature wings have grown in vigour, when a favourable wind encourages, she tests their soft wings. The hesitant one she picks up and raises onto her shoulders. With an enabling flap of her wings, she is borne through the fields; and attentive to her passengers, with a gentle stroke of her wings and with moderate effort, she glides through the air; and inclining the stooping sails of her wings, she skims the low-lying regions under the clouds. From here, she gently veers towards the heavens, and is now raised up under the stars. Now speedily she rides the airwaves on into the upper sky, soaring far and wide through all regions and, in varying formation, she carries her young back and forth. Thus she teaches them the laws of flying; and thus familiarized with the laws through constant practice, little by little they begin to entrust themselves to the sky on their wings. This then is the extent to which the prince of birds can bestow his instructional attentiveness upon his young.

86Just so, if it is right to compare the divine with the mortal, the abundant tenderness of a limitless God led the sons of Abraham, d safely sheltered, through so many dangerous affairs, directing them safe and sound with parental concern. He employed no other Gods, no other helpers, no guide, nor partner: the omnipotent creator does not need these things. He alone directed the wandering tribes through remote wastelands; he alone carried them through the high plains of fertile Edom. e He gave them land to be enjoyed in abundant plenty, and he augmented its bounty.

96 Should I speak again of the balsam dripping from the fragrant wood, and the green juice of the olive flowing through veins of flintstone? The nectared torrents of honey which are forced from rocks and the rivers of milk overflowing?

100Should I recount the new stocks of cattle? Should I tell of the rich   [p87] pastures? The various herds of sheep and goats, and the youthful cattle, and the elegant dishes of kids on sumptuous tables, and the plump lambs with fattened calves?

104 Should I call to mind the vast harvest of bounty and spelt-grain? The stalks heavy with sheaves of corn? Do they not pick the blood-red grapes in swollen bundles? And drink goblets frothing with dark-red Falernian? f

108 Meanwhile, this marvellous tribe, your famous offspring, Jacob, the holy race, sated now, filled and refilled and crammed to excess, now stuffed full and distended with compacted fat, behold wildly (just like the horse whose body swells with dense fodder, and whose passions arise through increased feeding) it lashes out and strikes its lord with repeated kick, redoubling each blow. It rejects the source and bulwark of its salvation. Slavishly worshipping monstrosities of all kinds of Gods, mockeries of heaven, and alien mysteries and foreign rights, it inflames God's anger and provokes God's jealous heart with just envy.

119 Should I speak out or should I be silent? Having loosened their misshapen bosoms in wickedness and monstrous deeds, like a harlot, the children of Israel prostituted themselves in the shameless cults of the malevolent devil; and as suppliants they slew the required sacrifices on the altars. It was made to cast off its own deity and father; the godly father and fatherly god; so that (for shame!) it now worships and adores monsters uncherished by its forefathers, unknown to them, monsters recently born. Is this due piety? Thus do you repay the gift of life? And does the gratitude for his former good deed hold fast in that tribe's memory?

129 Therefore when the exalted creator saw from his starry citadel that his own race and proud tribe were falling from grace, and that he was now repeatedly rejected, and that he endured both the experience due him and shameful blasphemies, he was enraged by these sins. And terrible in his rage, he let out such words from his heart:

134 'Oh perverse tribe! Unfaithful race! Why do I delay longer? From them I shall deflect the pleasant light of the peaceful sun, and in turning away my face, I shall hide my countenance from them. Untroubled, I shall watch what fate awaits the rebels. They have provoked me through these false gods, and they have kindled my divine might with these worthless vanities.   [p88] It is divine will for me (divine will, I say: for the will is so borne in my heart) to ignite my passions on account of this worthless tribe.

142 Therefore, an all-consuming fire will kindle from my burning anger, and my innermost ardour will rage through the by-ways of the earth, and the recesses of hell and its infernal lakes. The frozen regions and the kingdoms of the underworld it will ravage, and also the soil of the earth and the charms of the countryside. The mountains will blaze; the foundations, consumed by flames and swept away, will be reduced into thin air.

149 And then I will pile upon those despairing souls a new heap of misfortunes: straightaway I shall shoot arrows, emptying my quiver and completely using up all my weaponry.

152 Harsh hunger with its severe thinness will consume their life, dry thirst with its burning fever will burn up their limbs, and in fatal breezes death-causing plague will waste away their bones. A bitter taste will wrench their waning spirits while dark day ends their life and plunges them into a painful death.

157 Nor does that suffice, for I shall unleash, as if savage beasts into a gentle flock, the gaping jaws and snarling snouts of wilds beasts, and eagles' ferocious talons with their savage spikes, and those huge hungry beasts will drag their limbs away, rip them apart, chew on the remains, and devour the innards.

161 I shall add to this serpents: I shall provide an army, a fearsome class of serpents, armed with envious poison to slaughter that abominable race with their bite and tear.

164 I only speak of small things. I then shall unsheathe a blade of steel with glinting edge, and lifeless bodies will lie scattered everywhere throughout their homes and in the streets. Everywhere there will be gloomy terror, everywhere panic, and very many an image of death.

168 The flower of men and the best part of youth will die by the sword, and so shall the glory of their beauty and age, and the holy splendour of fair maidenhood. The beautiful little child shall fall by the sword: both those who are still crawling, and those now still hanging from the nourishing breast. Slow with numbness and worn out by time, old age will sweep through their hair, disfiguring it with filthy ash.

174When I discern these sufferings of yours with dry eyes, thus will I say to myself: I would have scattered them to the farthest regions, evicted from their home, and borne off the vanquished house and line, if the raving untamed spirit of such a crude enemy, lawlessly taunting and arrogant, had not cheated me of their offerings and praise,   [p89] and dragged away the foremost spoils unto themselves, and said that everything was achieved through their own great deeds and unconquerable powers, not under the direction of our divine majesty!

182 For it is a thoughtless race, and is without the light of reason, just like the flock slow in wit, and lacking in reasoning! Perhaps if they could but understand the least amount, if they could but see what was in front of them, they would see their own fate, the extinction of their universe.

186 How, pray tell, would one person pursue a thousand scattered people, or two put to flight ten thousand stragglers,unless that power, formidable in arms and war, for whom once there was a duty of care for his own, had handed them over enslaved and imprisoned, booty for the enemy? Our deity is not overthrown, like those of the enemy which lie prostrate and stilled in exhaustion; even the sneering foe concede this.

193 For just as the blooms the Sodomite race g bears forth and the grapes mature on Gomorrah's hills, so too a very thick forest bursts out from this root of evil: and their fertile vines of wickedness bear grapes notorious for bitter wine. There is no harmful force of bitter gall, nor dire poison, either that which the fierce snake nourishes in the veins, or what the violent viper throws out in savage bite: let them contend for those sour fruits, or let them vie for the bitter berries of sins.

202 Do not my stores keep all those things preserved, long since locked and sealed? Is it not divinely decreed for me alone to draw on them: to mix them in overflowing cup: to serve the lethal wines to be drunk from the dregs? Through this let every impious individual drink dry their life from this world, and drown themselves inside out; as each faltering step hastens their fall. The very last day approaches, it is nigh, the cruel fates draw near.'

209 Indeed after so many disasters and fearful funerals for the fallen, after the varied trials of war and exile, the heavenly judge shall be appeased and shall again turn his countenance towards his now worn out people. And pitying these helpless people, as punisher of sins and avenger of his own, he shall pass judgment.

214 He falls upon the enemy with these words ringing out: 'where now are the divine powers, the great divine powers of your gods? You entrusted your hope and faith to them. Stuffed full by their gluttonous feasts, accompanied by Bacchus' nectar, you slaughtered great bulls on sacrificial altars: and you poured libations of undiluted wine from   [p90] a golden goblet and libation cups. Let them rise up, and let them hurl themselves into battle: let them gather up their armies: let them cover you with the shield of their own divine power.

221 Towards me, towards me, I did it and I am here, turn your face and countenance, and your keenly-focused minds towards me: behold me, all the power is mine. They wouldn't dare do that nor would they be able to. God, behold God, I who inflict the wounds with stern hand, and by the same hand, although deadly, I heal. I alone cast down guilty souls to the gloomy underworld: I alone call back the greying shades from the infernal shadows towards the sweet air of the light of day. I give life and I take it away: and I reopen the eyes of the dead. Nor would anyone escape the force of my right hand, either through might, or through guile. Raising my hand high to the heavens I shall speak thus: let eternal life so continue through the ages for me, for after I have hammered out the fiery metal of a sharp-edged glinting sword, and I have begun to distribute justice to those summoned, I then shall repay the hostile enemy and the haters with thanks befitting them: and I shall meet out their just deserts. Soon my missiles will drink and be drunk from the shed sacrificial blood: and my inexhaustible, all-devouring sword shall consume in death each and every person in my way. Brandishing my sword of judgement, I shall bury it fast and deeply into the throat and the heart of a procession of captives.'

242 You scattered tribes from differing lands, cut off from the sacred covenant, raise up in joyous song to the heavens above the tribe exalted under a sacred treaty. For the creator of the universe, the ruler of high Olympus, remembering the spilled blood and fearful deaths of his own people, will be reconciled to his own people and nation through the penalty paid by enemy blood.