335-343)

On the Gunpowder Plot.1

Cum simul in regem nuper satrapasque Britannos
Ausus es infandum perfide Fauxe nefas,
Fallor? an & mitis voluisti ex parte videri,
Et pensare mala cum pietate scelus;
Scilicet hos alti missurus ad atria caeli,
Sulphureo curru flammivolisque rotis.
Qualiter ille feris caput inviolabile Parcis
Liquit Jordanios turbine raptus agros.

1 The Poems on the subject of the Gunpowder Treason2 I have not
translated, both because the matter of them is unpleasant, and
because they are written with an asperity, which, however it might
be warranted in Milton's day, would be extremely unseasonable
now.--W.C.

2 This includes "On the Fifth of November" below.


Another on the Same.

Siccine tentasti caelo donasse Jacobum
Quae septemgemino Bellua monte lates?
Ni meliora tuum poterit dare munera numen,
Parce precor donis insidiosa tuis.
Ille quidem sine te consortia serus adivit
Astra, nec inferni pulveris usus ope.