Addison, Joseph, 1672-1719. The resurrection. A poem: Written by Mr. Addison. Resurrectio delineata ad altare col. Magd. Oxon. English and Latin. London: printed for E. Curll, 1718. xii,8,17-21,[1]p.,plate ; 8⁰. (ESTC N13275; Foxon A204; OTA K008178.000)

    • [Illustration]

    • THE RESURRECTION. A POEM.

    Written by Mr. ADDISON.

    Venient citò Saecula, cum jam
    Socius Calor ossa revisat,
    Animataque Sanguine vivo
    Habitacula pristina gestet.
    Prud.

    LONDON: Printed for E. CURLL in Fleet-street. 1718. Price Six Pence.

    • THE PREFACE.

    THE following Lines are esteemed by the best Judges to be the finest Sketch of the Resurrection, that any Age or Language hath produced: Nor do their only Excellence consist in being an[Page iv] accurate Poem; but also in being an exact Copy of the Painter's* Old Fuller. Original upon the Altar in Magdalen College; but so much improved with all the strongest Figures and most lively Embellishments of a poetical Description, that the Reader receives a double Satisfaction in seeing the two Sister-Arts so useful to each other in borrowing mutual Helps, and mutual Advantages.

    It is, indeed, wonderful to find in the narrow Compass of so few Pages all the most dreadful Circumstances of that last terrible Crisis of Time: The Poem is a beautiful and succinct Epitome of all that hath or can ever be said[Page v] on that important Subject; the very Text, which the ingenious Mr. Young hath so largely and elegantly paraphras'd upon in his excellent Poem on the LAST DAY.

    Mr. Addison is to be distinguish'd thro' all his Performances both Latin and English, (and in his Latin, particularly in the following one, and that on the Peace of Riswick), by the strength of his Images, and by a forcible and unaffected vivacity of Expression, which none of our Moderns have attain'd to in so much Perfection; and which is very rarely to be met with even in any of the Antients since Virgil and Horace.

    [Page vi]

    Having mention'd Mr. Addison, I cannot avoid congratulating my Country on his Preferment to one of her greatest Civil Employments; nor forbear observing how happy we are in a KING, who hath shown the World that he will distribute his Favours amongst those only, whom Merit and Virtue shall recommend to his Service.

    With what uncommon Lustre must that Man appear to Posterity, who is not only the best Writer and most candid Patron of the Age he lives in; but also the finest Gentleman, the sincerest Friend, the most affectionate Husband, the most accomplish'd[Page vii] Statesman, and the most exemplary Christian? Under every one of these Views Mr. Addison gains the Esteem and Admiration even of the bitterest Enemies to that Cause which he so warmly espouses; of the most furious Partisans and the most prejudic'd of Mankind.

    I must forbear to enlarge any farther on the Character of that truly great and good Man, lest I draw upon my self the imputation of a Flatterer, by relating what all the World (except himself only) will allow to be the severest Truth.

    I shall make no excuse for offering the following Poem to the[Page viii] World in an English DRESS, and under all the Disadvantages of an imperfect Translation. I have often read it in the Original with the greatest Pleasure and Satisfaction; and I hope it will need no Apology to be willing to communicate so useful and sublime an Entertainment, in the best manner I can, to those of my Fellow-Subjects who are not qualify'd to read it in the Latin Original.

    • RESURRECTIO DELINEATA Ad Altare Col. Magd. Oxon.

    EGregios fuci tractus, calamique labores,
    Surgentesque hominum formas, ardentiaque ora
    Judicis, & simulacra modis pallentia miris
    Terribilem visu pompam, Tu Carmine Musa
    Pande novo, vatique sacros accende furores.
    Olim Planitiem (quam nunc foecunda Colorum
    Insignit Pictura) inhonesto & simplice cultu
    Vestiit albedo, sed nè rima ulla priorem
    Agnoscat faciem, mox fundamenta futurae
    Substravit Pictor tabulae, humoremque sequacem
    Per muros traxit; velamine moenia crasso
    Squallent obducta, & rudioribus illita fucis.
    Utque (polo nondum stellis fulgentibus apto)
    Nè spatio moles immensa dehiscat inani,
    Per cava coelorum, & convexa patentia latè
    Hinc atque hinc interfusus fluitaverat Aether;
    Mox radiante novum torrebat lumine mundum
    Titan, & pallens alienos mitiùs ignes
    Cynthia vibrabat; crebris nunc consitus astris
    [Page x]
    Scintillare polus, nunc fulgor Lacteus omne
    Diffluere in Coelum, longoque albescere tractu.
    Sic, operis postquam lusit primordia Pictor,
    Dum sordet paries, nullumque fatetur Apellem,
    Cautius exercet calamos, atque arte tenacem
    Confundit viscum, succosque attemperat, omnes
    Inducit tandem formas; apparet ubique
    Mutà cohors, & Picturarum vulgus inane.
    Aligeris muri vacat ora suprema Ministris,
    Sparsaque per totam Coelestis turba Tabellam
    Raucos inspirat lituos, buccasque tumentes
    Inflat, & attonitum replet clangoribus orbem.
    Defunctis sonus auditur, tabulamque per imam
    Picta gravescit humus, terris emergit apertis
    Progenies rediviva, & plurima surgit imago.
    Sic, dum foecundis Cadmus dat semina sulcis,
    Terra tumet praegnans, animataque gleba laborat,
    Luxuriatur ager segete spirante, calescit
    Omne solum, crescitque virorum prodiga messis.
    Jam pulvis varias terrae dispersa per oras,
    Sive inter venas teneri concreta metalli,
    Sensim diriguit, seu sese immiscuit herbis,
    Explicita est; molem rursùs coalescit in unam
    Divisum funus, sparsos prior alligat artus
    Junctura, aptanturque iterum coeuntia membra.
    Hic nondum specie perfecta refurgit imago,
    Vultum truncata, atque inhonesto vulnere nares
    Manca, & adhuc deest informi de Corpore multum
    Paulatim in rigidum hic vita insinuata cadaver
    Motu aegro vix dum redivivos erigit artus.
    Inficit his horror vultus, & imagine tota
    Fusa per attonitam pallet formido figuram.
    Detrahe quin oculos Spectator, & ora nitentem
    Si poterint perferre diem, medium inspice murum,
    [Page xi]
    Qua sedet orta Deo proles, Deus ipse, sereno
    Lumine persusus, radiisque inspersus acutis.
    Circùm tranquillae funduntur tempora flammae,
    Regius ore vigor spirat, nitet Ignis ocellis,
    Plurimaque effulget Majestas Numine toto.
    Quantùm dissimilis, quantum o! mutatus ab illo,
    Qui peccata luit cruciatus non sua, vitam
    Quando luctantem cunctata morte trahebat!
    Sed frustrà voluit defunctum Golgotha numen
    Condere, dum victa fatorum lege triumphans
    Nativum petiit coelum, & super aethera vectus
    Despexit Lunam exiguam, Solemque minorem.
    Jam latus effossum; & palmas ostendit utrasque,
    Vulnusque infixum pede, clavorumque recepta
    Signa, & transacti quondam vestigia ferri.
    Umbrae huc felices tendunt, numerosaque coelos
    Turba petunt, atque immortalia dona capessunt.
    Matres, & longae nunc reddita Corpora vitae
    Infantum, Juvenes, Pueri, innuptaeque Puellae
    Stant circum, atque avidos jubar immortale bibentes
    Affigunt oculos in Numine; Laudibus aether
    Intonat, & laeto ridet Coelum omne triumpho.
    His Amor impatiens conceptaque gaudia mentem
    Funditus exagitant, imoque in pectore fervent.
    Non aequè exultat flagranti corde Sibylla,
    Hospite cum tumet incluso, & praecordia fentit
    Mota Dei stimulis, nimioque calentia Phoebo.
    Quis tamen ille novus perstringit lumina fulgor?
    Quam Mitra effigiem distinxit Pictor, honesto
    Surgentem è tumulo, Alatoque Satellite fultam?
    Agnosco faciem, vultu latet alter in illo
    Wainfletus, sic ille oculos, sic ora ferebat:
    Eheu quando animi par invenietur Imago!
    Quando alium similem virtus habitura! —
    [Page xii]
    Irati innocuas securus Numinis iras
    Aspicit, impavidosque in Judice figit ocellos.
    Quin age, & horrentem commixtis Igne tenebris
    Jam videas scenam, multo hic stagnantia suco
    Moenia flagrantem liquefacto Sulphure rivum
    Fingunt, & falsus tanta arte accenditur Ignis,
    Ut toti metuas tabulae, ne flamma per omne
    Livida serpat opus, tenuesque absumpta recedat
    Pictura in cineres, propriis peritura favillis.
    Huc turba infelix agitur, turpisque videri
    Infrendet dentes, & rugis contrahit ora.
    Vindex à tergo implacabile saevit, & ensem
    Fulmineum vibrans acie flagrante scelestos
    Jam Paradiseis iterum depellit ab oris.
    Heu! quid agat tristis? quò se coelestibus iris
    Subtrahat? o! quantum vellet nunc aethere in alto
    Virtutem colere! at tandem suspiria ducit
    Nequicquam, & sero in lacrymas effunditur; obstant
    Sortes non revocandae, & inexorabile Numen.
    Quàm varias aperit veneres Pictura! periti
    Quot calami legimus vestigia! quanta colorum
    Gratia se profert! tales non discolor Iris
    Ostendat, vario cum lumine floridus imber
    Rore nitet toto, & gutta scintillat in omni.
    O fuci nitor, o pulchri durate Colores!
    Nec, Pictura, tuae languescat gloria formae,
    Dum lucem videas, qualem exprimis ipsa, supremam.
    Jo. Addison,
    è Coll. Magd. 1699.
  • THE RESURRECTION A POEM. / Joseph Addison; Nicholas Amhurst (translator)

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