Thought of another ten or so dope allusions and quotes to add to my text-block while reading over it. Notice all of it is a single sentence. A 9-10 page long sentence. To avoid becoming a mere run-on, one must utilize a lot of archaic grammar and complex subjunctive clausal structure. Proust did that in French, I am just doing it in English. As always, actual quotes in italics, authors’ names and book titles without italics.
Unable to comport earnestly with the ‘audacity of wisdom’ in the broken measure of perfection’s heart,- in audacia totum pectus possideat, iret stultitiam immodicam fletum Philosophiciis,- [The audacity of the philosophers, that were an index of all human follies. Eleutheri Byzenius, in the Encomion Triumphus Capnionis. Fletum Heraclites risum Democritus iret stultitiam immodicam, vel que se audacia tantum extulerit, vel que cui totum insania pectus possideat, recte sapere & se dicere credat.] nor believing himself to have fathomed the mysterious bond of Poesy’s ‘voluptas dissimillima natura’, [Gualterus Quinnus Britannus, in: Corona Virtutum Principe Dignarum ex Variis Philosophorum. Etiam labor & voluptas dissimillima natura, societate quadam naturali inter se junguntur. The purpose of human society is only to forge the bond between labor and pleasure, which exists nowhere in the world of Nature. Though it were perhaps a bond forged only ‘in sapientes reliqua virtutum flecterent.’ Stephanus Riccius, Commentarius in Hesiodi Ascraei Erga Kai Hemeras; Accesserunt Ulpius Frisius et Nicolaus Vallae: cum autem bellis & mutationibus regnorum, quae crebrae erant, mores hominum paulatim deteriores fierent, neq; amplius nudis sententiis, ad virtutem flecti possent, tum demum sapientes eam rationem inierunt, ut propositis spectaculis, scenicis animos hominum ad modestiam, & reliqua virtutum officia flecterent.] the poet, unlike the philosopher,- pretending not to the ‘Dei Mortales’ [mortal god] of immortal Wisdom in hominis immortalem, after the phrase of Lucian, [God is but an immortal man, and man, a mortal God. An aphorism of Lucian’s, as recorded in: Reusnerii Aenigmatographia sive Sylloge Aenigmatum et Griphorum Convivalium; Aenigmata de Umbra Theodectes Phaselites, item alia quadam de Theseo Circumscripto. Quid sunt homines? Dei mortales. Quid sunt Diis? Homines immortales. Compare the ‘free mixture’ of things human and things divine in the Greek imagination, in Matthaeus Collinus Choterinae, Ode Continens Precationem ad Deum Pro Pace et Tranquillo: humana sacris miscuimus in corpore qui latebras habitant, commertia coeli mente colunt. Note also: Quam mire dispensant Dii mortalium studia in peregreni, & exules, & maximi regis homines, cum possent quam tenerrime fovere corpora cupediis lectissimis, tum nectare Divum se recreare atheletice. Hebenstreittus, in: Daniel Scholico-Theoneirocrites; Drama Novum de Regio Monarchae Babylonici, Somnio item Theopempio; Actus III, Aschpenazus Regii Epitropus.] in mortalis condita in frustra sapiente Deo,- [An echo of the Lucianic dictate. Petrophilus in Uranias Apocatastasin et Carmine Heroica eiusdem Cyctoixia Christi, P. 462: At quibus est lumen, norunt, quae maximae montes commoda, qua sylvae cunctis mortalibus addant, nec frustra a sapiente Deo sint condita nostro.] assured as he is by the Mind’s deathless progeny,- in mensis femine intelligibiles patris radios sapientiae, [Cosmas Magalianus Bracarensis, in Sacrae Scripturae Conimbricae; Sacram Iudicum Historiam, Explanationes et Annotationes Morales, P. 699. Adhibentur etiam mensis his Essenae faeminae, anus fere quibus non coacta castitas, sicut apud Graecos … corporis voluptates per totam vitam contempserunt. Nimirum divinae, non mortalis prolis cupidae. Spei, in the Historico-theologicum Carmeli Armamentarium; Scutum Septimum: nimirum divinae, non mortalis prolis cupidae, quam solae Deo charae animae ex scipsis pariunt, excipientes pro femine intelligibiles patris radios, ut decreta sapientiae contemplando percipere valeant.] in mensis aeternare sapientia extendi in aeternitatem,- [Lull, in the Proverbiorum: Sine aeternare sapientia non posset extendi in aeternitate. Note also, Ludovicus de Ponte Oletanus, ex Meditationes de Praecipuis Fidei Nostrae Mysteriis cum Orationis Mentalis Circa Eadem Praxi; Interpretes Melchior Trevinnius: Nam memoria & intellectus solum diligunt, cum recordantur & cogitant, ac perpenduntea, quae ad amorem provocant; imaginandi & appetendi facultates etiam tunc diligunt, cum producunt imaginationes & affectus, quo excitant & acuunt amorem; sensus diligunt, quando oculi, aures, lingua, & gustatus oblectantur, videndo, audiendo, & loquendo de reus, quae ad ipsum amorem diriguntur: & omnia membra corporis diligunt quando subserviunt ad exequenda opera amoris Dei.] and, bearing in their stead a memory of Paradise, in terrestria capax Dei, coelestis quum contactus libidinis Paradisiacae, [Petrus Terpagerus Ripensis Cimbria, in: Rituale Ecclesiarum Daniae et Norvegiae. In reading this passage, which invokes ‘the memory of Paradise’, one must recall that Ficino appropriates Cusanus’ concept of the Intellect as ‘capax dei’, explaing that it had been therefor invested with an ability to,- after having assimilated the teachings of philosophy,- recover a natural power to generate itself in itself: circa prima nascentis mundi incunabula, instituerit ipse, praescripserit atque ordinarit, quemadmodum homo, solus in terrestria capax disciplinae coelestis, in ceremoniis & cultibus numinis divini exterioribus se gereret, idque eo etiam tempore, quum contactus plane nullis esset libidinibus, ut cum poeta loquar, vel Salomonis ut utar verbo, rectus; adeo ut ordinem eade cum creatura fortitum exordia, eosdem quoque, quos creatura, habiturum fines, arbores ostendant Paradisiacae.] thereby endeavoring to lift himself beyond his origin, in animis mortalia temnere vota,-- [Andreas Jallosicus, in Poematum Tiberinae; Elegia V. Love gathers the hopes of the multitude, vulgar happiness dispels them, and virtue remains solely to lift the heart above its origin: amor sacri spesque salusque gregis, vani murmura vulgi felicem, virtus te tua sola beat; sic animis maior mortalia temnere vota; aemula sic superis pectora ferre doces; virtus dudum super astra locavit. (Or likewise,in Emmanuelis Pimentiis Scalabitanus Eborenses; Poematum; de Christo Triumphatore, P. 230: Es puer; & solas hilarat tua gratia sylvas; es vir, & es populis deliciosus amor. Vivus, inassuetam demonstras pollice vitam; mortuus, extinctis nuntia fausta refers. Tristiam in risus, mutas in gaudia luctus; bella geris, pulchra tempora pacis eunt.) To ‘mortalia temnere vota’, compare ‘temnis hominesque Deumque’: Non metuis, nec amas, regi nec fidis Olympi; non animum quidquam symbola sacra movent; fanda nefanda patris, temnis hominesque Deumque. From Adamus Siberius Schoenaviensis Grimmae, in Poematum Sacrorum per Oporinum; Epigrammatum Lib. II; Acarpo.] to lift himself, in a word, beyond Sin,- in cuncta repente mala constans, in cuncta creati morte relinquis,- [Intereant casu bona vel mala cuncta repente et vere constans nil vagus orbis habet. Paulus Negelius Republ. Aurbachiae, in: Enchiridion Precationum Sacrum Hassiae. Secondarily, Triumphus Poeticus Mortis ex Turnemainnus: omnipotens aeterne Deus, qui cuncta creasti; genus humanum non dira in morte relinquis, effigiem que tuam non perisse finis.] Sin, that were the sickle that cutteth through all things; Sin, that were reft from the flesh, torn ‘in factave carnis victor’; (Non equidem proprias per vires, factave carnis: vivida per Christi vulnera, victor eras. A beautiful phrase from out of Nicolaus Rodingus, ex Treisensis Pastoris Epitaphia Celli.) Sin, that riddles out the heart of the World in detinet viciis improba vita; [Lyresius Clivanius, in: Echo Elegiaca. Te fidei moveat vox illa doloris, quam tumidae spernit fax modo naris, sis pia spes miseris, quos haresis implicat, detinet in viciis improba vita, murus eris semper velut alter aheneus illis noxia bella piis qui pariunt, sic Christi poteris mystes bene vivere, et dicere piis esse levamen, haec tibi fixa, scio, est studiorum semita. The same poet expresses this idea again, though in more visual language, using the image of the sickle, in the following text: Vitus Iacobaeus ex Seyttentalleri Dialogus Elegiacos. Thus, we have: quam nihil est certum constansque sub orbe, quam fluxis pereunt omnia facta viis; quam manet infestus nec inevitabilis ordo, qui sua nos mortis iura subire facit. Qua neque ingenua probitate fideque moveri, omnia fatidica quae male falce secat. Unica quae claris virtutibus invida dextram iniicit, & saevas in fera damna manus. Sic nullus uti flecti probitate nec arte, vel prece, vel quavis relligione queat. Compare the phrasing, where we also find the repetitions: 'fidei moveat… doloris … improba vita’, with ‘ingenua probitate fideque moveri… male’.] Sin, that were the Mystica Crucis insignit ad hortum paradisacum and ultimate pathos of the artist-philosopher, which looks hopelessly beyond us in mortalis alto pectore veri umbram; [Aegidius Vresanus, in: sive Poemata Embricam Clivorum Religiosis. We have here a variation of the Ovidian refrain concerning man’s search for divinity and transcendence: Mystica quos Crux insignit, quos embrica nutrit. Si paradisiacum via nulla patescit ad hortum; serta parate, pia ferte rosaria matri. Huc ades aeternae, quem tangit cura, salutis; sors tua mortalis, non sit mortale quod optas. As you desire immortal things, being mortal, so you are beholden to undying beauties, though you will die. Secondarily, one does not need to reach the stars to avoid the Styx; see Ioachimus Tydichius, in: Carmine Elegiaco in Proverbia Salomonis. Astra salutiferae via tendit ad ardua vitae, et vitare docet te loca foeda stygis. Plurima mortalis secum deliberat alto pectore, consilium constituit que grave. Or, as given by Sebastianus Artomedes, in Elegiarum Liber Primus ad Zodicium de Coniugiuo Sacerdotum: Claudere qui coelos potis es, sed claudere tantum, et Stygias tantum qui reserare fores. Adventus Christi: nosque salutifera collustra desuper Aura, ut tibi terrenas posthabeamus opes. Ut tibi fidentes uni, noctemque perosi, optemus clarum lucis amore diem. Finally, note the Poemation Reformatio de Henrici Meibomius: sub recti simplicis umbram, sub specie veri, fanaticus error in aedes irrupit sacras, atque infinita sub Stygis millia demissit.] Sin, that maketh sport of the World, in fortunae ludibriis dominae; [Laurentius Mondanarius, in Miscellanea Disticha ad Vitae Institutionem; Distichon LII, P. 69: Recte agitur mecum, si non extrema tenendum, in tot fortunae ludibriis dominae. Johannes Marius Catanaeus, in Apthonii Progymnasmata: Fortuna res humanas ludibrio habere dicitur. O fortuna potens, quam variabilis, tantum iuris atrox quae tibi vendicas, evertis que bonos, erigis improbas.] Sin, that were most curious a salt, of high bargain the world besides, or more vainly delectated in adornavit voluptates lethiferas homini, quo mortalis vanum;-- [Man would salt his food with poisons, if poison were of high price and more elegant signature of his type and cast, as he would clothe himself in Nessus-shirt, if he might die therewith in higher esteem. See Vincentii Contensonus, Theologia Mentis et Cordis; Tomus VII: ‘peccato mortali excidat, in vanum lethiferas’. Joannis Urius, in the Carmen Mysticum Busiridae Aegyptii: Et anima est ut infans, quem si sibi relinquas, adolescet ad amorem lactendi, at si ablactabis eum, ablactabitur. Adverte cupiditatem ejus; caveque ne illam praeficias, nam cupiditas, quando praeficitur, necabit aut dehonestabit. Quot adornavit voluptates homini lethiferas, quatenus non scivit, esse venenum in pinguedine?] must learn to pay a certain deference before Nature,- parva amplus Naturae in pyxidis accumulant Artes,-- [Ioan. Bussierus, de Rhea Liberat; P. 33. Hic Mundi simulacra iacent, hic desidet amplus Naturae partus, se pictae hac pyxide parva accumulant Artes, confusa sed ordine nullo omnia, delusae fallacia somnia mentis.] to weigh the meter and the Scale of things in primus imaginis addit Astra trutinis auctorem,- [An non, Iustitiae quae sit natura, bilibri discimus ex trutina, quam primus imaginis auctor addidit Astraeae: in Joannes Ivitius, Carmen et Epigramma. To ask he who would question the course of Nature what he might add to the image of the celestial firmament, make improvement upon the design of God, or better portion the motion of the stars.] to travel the mystickall gate of Sophia ‘in porta imaginem creatura creatas’ [Ex creaturam imaginem, in portat imago. Raymundus Sabundeus, in the Theologia Naturalis, de Utilitate Redditionis Debiti; Titulus CXX, P. 172. Illam creaturam quae portat imaginem & similitudinem suam quia post deum sequitur immediate imago sua. Note also, Harprechttus Filius Sendivogius, in: Lucerna Salis Philosophorum tuis Ophir Dono Fert Theca Saturni. P. 61: Per ullam artem, neq; per ipsam Naturae, inter omnes creatas creaturas.] and peer beyond the ‘thin veil of human flesh’,- in tristes luminis oras prodit, exili humanae tectus velamine carnis,- [Andreas Sartorius, in Partus Virginis Iessaeae: exili humanae tectus velamine carnis, ecce deus, deus ecce in tristes luminis oras prodit, & immites mundi se expellit auras.] readeth the celestial keimelion [κειμηλιον] its mighty Oracle, [Garcaeus Iuniorii Brenniis, in Primus Tractatus Brevis et Utilis de Tempore; Epistola Dedicatoria: motus luminum integra tempora series retenta est, ab initio mundi usque ad Persicam; pulcherrimum keimelion ut rectius intelligamus & admiremur, oraculum proposuit deus generi humano, luminaria omniaque sidera firmamenti condita esse, ut sint in signa, tempora, dies, & annos.] that were the thesaurus of Nature,- ex primaevo scientiarum thesaurum incomprehensible divinae fatum, [Francisci Antonii Zindt in Kenzingen, Commentatio Historico-Ethica de Fato Hominis: Et nullo non ab Orbe nascente Aevo, Omnipotens Fatorum Rector Homini futura Hominum Fata patefacere destiti, quippe vigente adhuc sola Lege Naturae primaevo Hominum Parenti, praeter infusum Divinitus amplissimum Scentiarum Thesaurum, incomprehensible Divinae Incarnationis Fatum.] and measureth the stars by the stars,- in aeternitatem regni mensurat ex potestate aeterna proprium,- [Judaismus Convictus, Camenecensis Publicae Luci Authore Puteanius Casimirus; P. 54-55: qui aeternitatem regni Messiae mensurat ex potestate aeterna ejusdem Messiae, quae cum aeterna aeternitate proprie dicta sit, ut pote Messiae qui est Deus. Only what endures, truly is; only what endures forever, endures at all,- as we endure in longum Deus salvum, quo longum sideris nitore, (As in Enochus Suantenius, Litavit ex Familiae Varenianae Sacrum; Cineribus Incomparabilis Literum Herois Theologi Summi Augustus Varenius; Septuplici Hectatombe Heroicum Versuum: Longum Deus assere salvum, quo longum sideris hujus incolumi nobis liceat gaudere nitore.) sparing neither mortuary comportments in the latency of our Nature, that were but sepulcrum patriae invides (Phrase out of Avianius Tuntorphinatius, in: Miles Vagus seu Mendicans.) in quietum ossibus indulgere. Joahannes Molanus Belgae Trevirensus; Hyacinthiis Bergii in Disquisitio Critica; Poemation Turpe et Lugubre Nellericidium: Turpe est, inquis, mortuorum insultare cineribus, nec quietem ossibus indulgere. Note also, Joachim Curaeus, in: Exegesis Perspicua & Ferme Integra Controversiae de Sacra Coena. 2 ] as things earthly by the earth,- ratione coelestia ex coelo, nasci terrestria ex terra, [Christiana de Rerum Creatarum Origine per Lambertus Danaeus, P. 124.] and like by like in their turn, cum nihil astrifero tibi non inserviat orbe Olympus, spiritumque duces ad tua iusta volent Mundus,-- [Pascham datum Marcus, Baptista encaeniat, Euge, non Vae, clamemus; Mundus, Olympus, ovant. In: Molnarus, Epigrammata in Carmen Jubilaeum Cassoviae. Cum nihil astrifero tibi non inserviat orbe: spiritumque duces ad tua iusta volent. In: Petrus Pontus Caecus Brugensiis, Carmen Invectivum.] lest the poet finds himself doubly-fooled, and with little upon which to stake his heart in stimuli mortalia altum mens inchoat,- [Stenechthon, Epaenesis de Illustrium Familiarum ex Ioanne Engerdii. Secondarily, ex mundo saecli fraudesque aurea Saturnis; the world longs to be fooled, and the poet deceives himself in aiming to deceive it. Lettingius, Carmen ad Martinum Gregorii Geldrum. Cedent mundo fraudesque doli que, aurea praeterea Saturni saecla redibunt, … et terras Astraea reviset.] should he bear still in his drear charge the ‘semina Prometheae’ upon the desperations of Time,- in prima fovere sacra Prometheae coepisti semina flamme,- [Fallettius Trignanus, ex Phalethus Savonensis Poematum ad Hercule Atestinum: Augescit que puer, plenis qui fortior annis vernantes tenui vestit lanugine malas: ac pede decurrit volucri formosa iuuentus; immutat que, comam saeclis effeta senectus; nam pater omnipotents te nostra Musica vitae aurigam dominam que, dedit, tu prima fovere sacra Prometheae coepisti semina flamme. 1 The poet as bearer of the Promethean flame. Compare, ere the fading poet dedicate himself to a fading world, ‘dedit quondam morientibus eripit artes in terras saecula mutat’, in Publius Gregorius Tiphernus, Opuscula; Ioanne. Umbris Pontanii Naeniae, ex Nutrix Somnum Invitat, Epigramma, & Sulpitiae Carmina. Die mihi Calliope quidnam pater ille deorum cogitat an terras & patria saecula mutat: quasque, dedit quondam morientibus eripit artes; nosque, iubet tacitos etiam rationis egentes quid reputemus enim.] for the Parnassian summit bestows, not laurels, but rest,- not applause, but silence,- in sacra parnassi sede quiescas laureaque,- [Carmina Antonius Gigantis Forosemproniensis Exametra, Elegiaca, Lyrica, & Hendecasyllaba: Ocyus ut sacra parnassi in sede quiescas, laureaque exactos compenset laeta labores. The artist labors to reach the height of his powers, only to rest on laurels that were always a meager compensation.] and our faded glories speak more eloquently than our youthful boasts,- (Youth’s low ambition, or 'levis ambitio procellas’) antiquior aevo evictis gloria, saecula non jactat fatis inventi,- [Camillus Eucherius Quintus, Inarime de Balneis Pithecusarum. Verax inventi gloria tanti auctorem non jactat adjuc, antiquior aevo multa quidem evictis produxit secula fatis. See also, Janus Cosmi Anysius, in: Protogonos Tragoedia et Epistola de Religione. Here, too, the pride of youth (Quae credit alto per patentia aequora, levis ambitio, inepta, sui inops amentibus quantas procellas excitabit gentibus.) is measured against that of age: “Exempla pulchra vetera plus adeo placent; id discitur libenter, affert quod lucrum.” Note the use of the ‘semina Prometheae’ as a lexical nucleus for these various associations of the poetic instinct, mortality, and ambition.] that altereth in essence if not in form, as the poet says,- materiale unum, formale alterum,- [Jacob Herrenschmidiis, in the Osculologia Theologico-Philologica Christianorum, Gentilum, Exoticorum et Commentariolus. Materiale unum, formale alterum. Materiale, inquit, videri potest, formale est invisible. Subsumimus Ecclesiae materiale videri posse, sed quatenus est formale fidei non videtur, sed creditur. Quid enim est fides, nisi credere quod non vides. Quae apparent, jam non fidem habent, sed cognitionem.] or, in accordance with the dictum of Lavater,- as Beauty knoweth Beauty best, so the fine painter paints best, the fine hand,- [Or, in the phrase of another poet, so strength best reveals strength, and courage painteth courage: Aeneas quondam charo confisus Achate, Euryalus Niso, fortis uterque fuit. Quam bene junguntur similes, virtute corusci! Sunt animosi Ipsi, nos animant que suos. See Aescherus Tigurinae, in: Vota Syncharistica; Colloquium Apollinis tou Musagetou & Polyhmniae. Likewise, the philosopher finds the picture of man in hominis essentia picta aurificis statera Thimantis; in umbra vitam vivere, ab remotam hominum oculis, turbas fugit non fugavit. (The philosopher knows that we must flee from the Multitude, in order to discover the One. See Pelecyus, in: de Officio Hominis Religiosi; Epistola. Coenobii umbra vitam vivere ab hominum oculis remotam constituisset, turbas fugit non fugavit.) Secondarily, note: ‘In Thimantis operibus plura intelligerentur neq trutina examinandum populari, sed essent picta aurificis statera.’ See: Heidfeldii Sphinx Philosophica Excudebat Corvinus in Herbornae Nassoviorum; Scrupuloso Lectori Precatur Aenigmatistes. As Timanthes the painter demonstrated, it were the artist that measures the height of art, and not art that finds the limit of man, for one can scale the full measure of human nature,- not by consideration of the multitude,- but in the perfected representation of one of its heroic individuals, (neq, trutina examinandum populari, sed aurificis statera. … Thimantis pictoris artificium olim co nomine celebratum, fuit, quod in ejus operibus plura intelligerentur, quam essent picta.) as similarly stated out of Thrasybulus Clidipyrgus Gnisus, ex Carmen Adiuncta est Copia Literarum: "Praesentem fugimus virtutem ac odimus ipsi, quareimus amissam; sic nescia fortis semper mens hominum praesentis, nec sibi constat." To know the strength of the man as a whole we must nonetheless also know his strength in the moment; human inconstancy has likewise its place in the constancy of our Nature.] for the ends of art were not the ends of man, [Janus Caecilius Helvetiis Freii, Opuscula Varia et Cribrum Philosophorum qui Aristotelem Superiore et hac Aetate Oppugnarunt: Iste est finis artificis, non autem artis. Art consummates and brings to its conclusion all the artist could not.] and our poeticam contagionis, borne in nobilis ardor defervescere coeperat, [Romae saltim alto sublimis solio haec diva sedebat, quam diu heroicae virtutis patriique soli conjuncto amore Poetarum incaluere pectora; postquam vero pullulantis luxuriae avaritiaeque contagione hic tam nobilis ardor defervescere coeperat, illam protinus de sua dignitate, venustate ac robore multum amisisse observamus. Petrus Gustavus Suedelius, in: de Usu Poeseos in Sacris. For want of Virtue, the charms of lesser poetry induce a faltering race. Compare the figure of the solitary poet, hidden from the touch of sin ‘in the shadow of the Muses’,- alienis omniam culpae in Musis cantando umbra. Eliaeus Argentoratus, Fasiculus; in Autodidactum Lucifugam: Odisti lucem, caecis latitas que, lacunis, vivis ut in vasto bestia sola specu. Quae facis, illa probas, aliena sed omnia culpas, te doctum, solum te cor habere putas. Sic Musis cantando tuis, vanissime, nescis, quales efficiat, quos fovet, umbra, viros.] that seeketh to flee from mortal love by an love immortal,- ita mortalis amore evades humaniorem, ita immortalis laborem facesses sudorem Poetis, [Tobias Silesiae Aleutnerus, in: Epigrammatum Chilias in Pentacosiades, Praescriptio. Ita Deus quidam eris: ita immortalis, mortalis licet, pio in Musas humaniores amore ac beneficio evades; ita laborem facesses ac sudorem Poetis. It is of great benefit to the industrious poet, that he avoids love in all but her image. As Goethe tells the poet; fear Love, though do not attempt to avoid it. Or, from Amralkeisus Cenditae, cum Scholiis; in, Accedunt Sententiae Arabicae Imperatoris; ex Rosarium Politicum sive Amoenum Sortis Humanae Theatrum de Persico in Latinum a Georgii Gentius: felis Leo est in capiendo mure; sed mus est in certamine Tigris. (The cat cannot be sure of catching the mouse, but the mouse can be sure of catching the cat.) ] with hope to therefor purchase succor from our crucis arborem,- [Brunnerus, in: Fasti Mariani cum Divorum Elogiis; Sermo Maximilianus Boiariae. Paraphrs. Sed numquid Triumphalis obliviscemur coronae? Laudo trophaeum nobile, crucis arborem. At tu cape has coronas victor Amor, & si omnibus his rosae sese immisceant, ne has repudia. Spinae nuperae dederunt. Ecce ante currus triumphales cum mundo daemonem, cum morte carnem. Hath the victor forgotten his crown? Love which, shall it entertain ambition, cannot claim the rose and refuse the thorns, (Or, as similarly indicated out of Pyragallus Henning, in the Carmen Penitentiale,- in poetas genus aut facundia dulcis non virtus animi, non probitatis opus hic status est meriti.) borne with all else in viae ad mortem compendium totis arbitrabatur; (The way of death is rarely taken by leaps, but by steps. Johannis Schuccelius Arnstatensium Cippus Mnemosynes Structus & in Immortalitatis ex Georgii Grosshainii. Sin vitam, excessisset, tum viae ad mortem compendium se fecisse arbitrabatur.) for, to the end of that remonstrancy of conceit, and by the same barb that would discover the pride of an Antisthenes, * we are discovered by both the Left hand and the Right, and the sin of one hand were not recompensed by the virtue of the other,- non male est impune relinquo manus et bene rependem manu. See David Crinitus Nepomucenus, Arphasidis praescripta; in, Carmen pro Felici et Allusiones ad Nomina Imperatoris. Non male si quicquam factum est impune relinquo, et bene munifica facta repende manu.] hardly the final estimation of our Nature, or reprovement of the god Amore, that makes small distinction in those of her own order and of man,- for love, as much as war, hath no end but in itself,- praelia pacis amore putabit, moliri pacis amore indignum, [Humanae Sapientiae Poetico-Historicum ac Ernestus Augustus Osnabrugensiis; Protrepitcon Calliopes: Praelia moliri nisi pacis amore putabat, pacis amore Caesareo indignum pectore. For love, that hath no end but in itself; ‘ibi viget amoris, ubi viget amor.’ Augustin Nagore Aesopolensi, Lucerna Mystica pro Directoribus Animarum. De languore divino, sive aegritudine divini amoris: languor divinus, qui ibi viget ubi viget amor a divino amore procedit, crescit, & perficitur.] taketh nothing for the heart of man at least in ultra Venerem placans invide, [The price of a woman’s envy were not remunerated by our love returned; it is not the heart, but the man, which is demanded. Ioan. Vatellius, Commentarius utriusque Gulielmus Lamarensis Paraphraste de Insano Leandri ac Herus Amore Poemation, Tetrastichon: in cupido concilians sacris miros adolebat; mulliere genus speciosis invidet ultro sed Venerem placans. Or, to cite Ubertinus Carrarae, in Samson Vindicatus Drama Sacrum Decantandum,- nulla pulchrior vindicta, nulla iustior sagitta, laesa iura sunt amoris.] and findeth out our nature in ‘non dissimilesue Diis’ ‘latet summum mens fiedei’. [Euphrenius Georgiadis Amstelii, in: De Duplici Amore, Fere ex Sententia Luciani; Poeseos et Medicinae Studiosi Erotica, Basia, Coma et Sylva; Heironimus ad Pammachium. Love offers war to the warlike spirit, and peace to the peaceful one. Non tenet unus Amor mentes, non una Cupido: sed duplex hominum pectora versat Amor. Hic, satus Oceano, mortalia corda feroci et vario fallax comprimis ingenio. Hic fluctu Veneris animum in contraria raptat; non secus ae tumidis astuat unda vadis. Ille, velut coelo demissa cathena sereno, et licito & casto iungit Amore duos. Non juvenum ille animos lethali vulnere rupit; non impudicis ignibus urit eos. Mentibus ille bonos immittit rite furores, et non ignotos, dissimilesue Diis. As stated elsewhere, peace measures the warlike soul: nota tua est virtus, est & tua nota voluntas, nec latet in summum mens tua fida Deum. At fera tranquillam cum rumpunt bella quietem, excutiunt haustum martia corda Deum. In Christophorus Preisius Pannonius: Elegia ad Nicolaum Granuella.]
[size=85]* ‘The Pride of an Antisthenes were seen, not in his cloak, but through its chinks.’ A playful allusion to the imagery of claiming the rose and trying to pick its flower without being spited by the thorns, drawn up from the following: “… though I have by the study of wisdome and philosophy corrected that which was a defect in nature; the philosopher saith vultus est index animi, the eye is the casementt of the soule, through which wee may plainely see it, better then he that saw Antisthenes his pride through the chinks of his cloake.” See Walkington, in The Optick Glasse of Humors; Or, The Touchstone of a Golden Temperature.
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Anthony David Nuttall, in “The Alternative Trinity: Gnostic Heresy in Marlowe, Milton, and Blake.”, traces a similar linguistic web depicting Prometheus as a duplicitous image of poetic independence and creativity next to a subservience to Nature and the course of Fate: (“We have come far enough in this story to know that no allegiance can be trusted; that which is hated can become, suddenly, that which is loved. But the Gnostic belief in a wicked, tyrannical Demiurge does imply, with surprising constancy, a hostility to nature and therefore to pastoral. This diurnal round of rocks and stones and trees is, to the Gnostic, the wheel of the torturer on which we are all broken. ‘Nature’ is a hate-word, not a love-word. ‘The Garden’, by Milton’s friend Andrew Marvell, is a brilliant, hostile, pastoral commentary on Paradise Lost, written before Paradise Lost existed.”) 1) On Poetry and Poets; Politiani, Silvae IV., Nutricia. Thou who dared before all others to fan the celestial seeds of the Promethean fire in man: tu prima fovere ausa Prometheae caelestia semina flammae. 2) Vida, de Arte Poetica: Dona deum Musae; vulgus procul este profanum! Has magni natas Iovis olim duxit ab astris callidus in terras insigni fraude Prometheus, cum liquidos etiam mortalibus attulit ignes. Long ago wise Prometheus by his celebrated deception led these daughters of great Jove (the Muses) from stars to earth, when he carried inconstant fire to mortals. 3) Chapman, Shadow of Night: "Therefore Promethean poets with the coals of their most genial, more than human souls, in living verse created men like these … " Milton, using the word vestigia, recalls his use of the same term in the bitter ‘vestigia’ of earthliness carried even by the angels. 4) Milton, ad Patrem: Nec tu vatis opus divinum despice carmen, quo nihil aethereos ortus, et semina caeli, nil magis humanam commendat origine metem, sancta Promtheae retinens vesitigia flammae. Retaining as it does a trace of the Promethean fire, nothing argues better for our heavenly beginnings, for our celestial seed, for the human mind commended by its origin,- and that ambition of our more chimaerickall philosophe, that needs must compute inversely, the circle of this our life, venturing ever toward the past, and this for the sake of a future borne ad praeterita, ab agnoscas,- ['Adverte animum ad praeterita, ab agnoscas naturae non passus decipi’: Iulianus Hainovius, in: Vita Veritatis ad Vitam; Gratia et Veritate Disposuit Corde in Ascensiones apud Iodacus Kalovius Coloniae cum Privilegio; Pars. Sexta. Adverte animum ad praeterita, ut agnoscas, an non sit ea naturae indoles, & an ab illa te decipi sis passus.] for the sake of a past borne in nihil jam evinere, non olim evenerit,- [Luzacus, Oratio de Socrate Cive: Naturae paremus omnes; & fieri non potest, quin animus, sic a teneris factus & institutus, in eadem continuo, invictus licet propemodum reluctans, deferatur tamen cogitandi viam, inter calamitates Patriae, inter sui etiam ipsius aliquando miserias, hac se solatus recordatione, nihil jam evenire quod non olim evenerit.] than poetry.
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As to our ‘mortuary insult’, compare, out of the Solennis Actus of 1608, the ‘calumniatrix sophistica’: in placidamque furore dulce invides cineres atravit mortui. See Joachim Curaeus, in: Exegesis Perspicua & Ferme Integra Controversiae de Sacra Coena, as likewise recorded in Goclenius, out of the following text: Excudebat Guolgangus Kezelius Oratio Ανασχενασιυ; “Necastis heu necastis sapientissimam, nulli nocentem Musarum Luscinniam.”; … medax calumniatrix sophistica misere flagellatum necavit; nec tantum necavit, sed ei etiam dulcem placidamque quietem Diabolico furore invides, in mortui mane saeviit, cineres eius rabiose atrevit, contra divina & human iura exquisitissimis cum lacerans criminibus.[/size]