Cowley's Essays [43]
Aliena negotia, &c. From Horace's Satires, sixth of Book II.
Page 25. Dors, cockchafers.
Page 26. Pan huper sebastos. Lord over All.
Page 27. Perditur haec inter misero Lux. Horace, Satires, II., 6. This whole Satire is in harmony with the spirit of Cowley's Essays.
Page 29. A slave in Saturnalibus. In the Saturnalia, when Roman slaves had licence to disport themselves.
Page 29. Unciatim, &c. Terence's Phormio, Act I., scene 1, in the opening: "All that this poor fellow has, by starving himself, bit by bit, with much ado, scraped together out of his pitiful allowance--(must go at one swoop, people never considering the price it cost him the getting)." Eachard's Terence.
Page 30. [Greek text which cannot be reproduced], &c. Paul to Titus, "The Cretans are always liars, EVIL BEASTS, SLOW BELLIES."
Page 31. Quisnam igitur, &c. Horace's Satires, II., 7. "Who then is free? The wise man, who has absolute rule over himself."
Page 31. Oenomaus, father of Hippodameia, would give her only to the suitor who could overcome him in a chariot race. Suitors whom he could overtake he killed. He killed himself when outstripped by Pelops, whom a god assisted, or, according to one version, a man who took the nails out of Oenomaus' chariot wheels, and brought him down with a crash.
Page 41. Nunquam minus solus quam cum solus. Never less alone than when alone.
Page 47. Sic ego, &c. From Tibullus, IV., 13.
Page 51. O quis me gelidis, &c. From the Second Book of Virgil's Georgics, in a passage expressing the poet's wish:
Ye sacred Muses, with whose beauty fired, My soul is ravished and my brain inspired; Whose priest I am, whose holy fillets wear, Would you your poet's first petition hear: Give me the ways of wandering stars to know; The depths of Heaven above, and Earth below; Teach me, &c. . . . . . . But if my heavy blood restrain the flight Of my free soul aspiring to the height Of Nature, and unclouded fields of light: My next desire is, void of care and strife, To lead a soft, secure, inglorious life. A country cottage near a crystal flood, A winding valley and a lofty wood; Some god conduct me to the sacred shades Where bacchanals are sung by Spartan maids, Or lift me high to Haemus hilly crown, Or in the vales of Tempe lay me down, Or lead me to some solitary place, And cover my retreat from human race. Dryden's translation.
Page 56. Nam neque divitibus. Horace's Epistles, I., 18.
Page 58. Tankerwoman, "water-bearer, one who carried water from the conduits."
Page 60. Bucephalus, the horse of Alexander. Domitian is said to have given a consulship to his horse Incitatus.
Page 60. The glory of Cato and Aristides. See the parallel lives in Plutarch.
Page 64. O fortunatos nimium, &c. Men all too happy, and they knew their good.
Page 70. Hinc atque hinc. From Virgil's AEneid, Book I.
Page 75. Mr. Hartlib . . . IF THE GENTLEMAN BE YET ALIVE. Samuel Hartlib, a public-spirited man of a rich Polish family, came to England in 1640. He interested himself in education and other subjects, as well as agriculture. In 1645 he edited a treatise of Flemish Agriculture that added greatly to the knowledge of English farmers, and thereby to the wealth of England. He spent a large fortune among us for the public good. Cromwell recognised his services by a pension of 300 pounds a year, which ceased at the Restoration, and Hartlib then fell into such obscurity that Cowley could not say whether he were alive or no.
Page 75. Nescio qua, &c. Ovid. Epistles from Pontus.
Page 76. Pariter, &c. Ovid's Fasti, Book I. Referring to the happy souls who first looked up to the stars, Ovid suggests that in like manner they must have lifted their heads above the vices and the jests of man. Cowley has here turned "locis" into "jocis."
Page 80. Ut nos in Epistolis scribendis adjuvet. That he might help us in writing letters.
Page 81. Qui quid sit pulchrum, &c. Who tells more fully than Chrysippus or Crantor what is fair what is foul, what useful and what
Page 25. Dors, cockchafers.
Page 26. Pan huper sebastos. Lord over All.
Page 27. Perditur haec inter misero Lux. Horace, Satires, II., 6. This whole Satire is in harmony with the spirit of Cowley's Essays.
Page 29. A slave in Saturnalibus. In the Saturnalia, when Roman slaves had licence to disport themselves.
Page 29. Unciatim, &c. Terence's Phormio, Act I., scene 1, in the opening: "All that this poor fellow has, by starving himself, bit by bit, with much ado, scraped together out of his pitiful allowance--(must go at one swoop, people never considering the price it cost him the getting)." Eachard's Terence.
Page 30. [Greek text which cannot be reproduced], &c. Paul to Titus, "The Cretans are always liars, EVIL BEASTS, SLOW BELLIES."
Page 31. Quisnam igitur, &c. Horace's Satires, II., 7. "Who then is free? The wise man, who has absolute rule over himself."
Page 31. Oenomaus, father of Hippodameia, would give her only to the suitor who could overcome him in a chariot race. Suitors whom he could overtake he killed. He killed himself when outstripped by Pelops, whom a god assisted, or, according to one version, a man who took the nails out of Oenomaus' chariot wheels, and brought him down with a crash.
Page 41. Nunquam minus solus quam cum solus. Never less alone than when alone.
Page 47. Sic ego, &c. From Tibullus, IV., 13.
Page 51. O quis me gelidis, &c. From the Second Book of Virgil's Georgics, in a passage expressing the poet's wish:
Ye sacred Muses, with whose beauty fired, My soul is ravished and my brain inspired; Whose priest I am, whose holy fillets wear, Would you your poet's first petition hear: Give me the ways of wandering stars to know; The depths of Heaven above, and Earth below; Teach me, &c. . . . . . . But if my heavy blood restrain the flight Of my free soul aspiring to the height Of Nature, and unclouded fields of light: My next desire is, void of care and strife, To lead a soft, secure, inglorious life. A country cottage near a crystal flood, A winding valley and a lofty wood; Some god conduct me to the sacred shades Where bacchanals are sung by Spartan maids, Or lift me high to Haemus hilly crown, Or in the vales of Tempe lay me down, Or lead me to some solitary place, And cover my retreat from human race. Dryden's translation.
Page 56. Nam neque divitibus. Horace's Epistles, I., 18.
Page 58. Tankerwoman, "water-bearer, one who carried water from the conduits."
Page 60. Bucephalus, the horse of Alexander. Domitian is said to have given a consulship to his horse Incitatus.
Page 60. The glory of Cato and Aristides. See the parallel lives in Plutarch.
Page 64. O fortunatos nimium, &c. Men all too happy, and they knew their good.
Page 70. Hinc atque hinc. From Virgil's AEneid, Book I.
Page 75. Mr. Hartlib . . . IF THE GENTLEMAN BE YET ALIVE. Samuel Hartlib, a public-spirited man of a rich Polish family, came to England in 1640. He interested himself in education and other subjects, as well as agriculture. In 1645 he edited a treatise of Flemish Agriculture that added greatly to the knowledge of English farmers, and thereby to the wealth of England. He spent a large fortune among us for the public good. Cromwell recognised his services by a pension of 300 pounds a year, which ceased at the Restoration, and Hartlib then fell into such obscurity that Cowley could not say whether he were alive or no.
Page 75. Nescio qua, &c. Ovid. Epistles from Pontus.
Page 76. Pariter, &c. Ovid's Fasti, Book I. Referring to the happy souls who first looked up to the stars, Ovid suggests that in like manner they must have lifted their heads above the vices and the jests of man. Cowley has here turned "locis" into "jocis."
Page 80. Ut nos in Epistolis scribendis adjuvet. That he might help us in writing letters.
Page 81. Qui quid sit pulchrum, &c. Who tells more fully than Chrysippus or Crantor what is fair what is foul, what useful and what