Laudator Temporis Acti

Abraham Cowley (1618-1667), On Plants, Book VI, tr. Aphra Behn, in The Complete Works in Verse and Prose of Abraham Cowley, ed. Alexander B. Grosart, Vol. II (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1881; rpt. New York: AMS Press, 1967), p. 253:

When (my Companions) these sad things you see,
And each beholds the dead Beams of her Parent-Tree,
Long since repos’d in Palaces of Kings,        1105
Torn down by furious Hands, as useless things;
Then know your Fate is come; Those Hands that cou’d
From Houses tear dead Beams and long-hewn Wood,
Those cruel Hands by unresisted Force
Will for your living Trunks find no Remorse.        1110
    Religion, which was great of old, commands
No Woods shou'd be profaned by impious Hands,
Those noble Seminaries for the Fleet,
Plantations that make Towns and Cities great:
Those Hopes of War, and Ornaments of Peace        1115
Shou'd live secure from any Outrages,
Which now the barbarous Conqueror will invade,
Tear up your Roots, and rifle all your Shade,
For Gain they'll sell you to the cov'tous Buyer,
A Sacrifice to every common Fire,        1120
They'll spare no Race of Trees of any Age,
But murder Infant-Branches in their Rage:
Elms, Beeches, tender Ashes shall be fell'd,
And even the grey and reverend Bark must yield:
The soft, the murmuring Troop shall be no more,        1125
No more with Musick charm, as heretofore;
No more each little Bird shall build her House,
And sing in her Hereditary Boughs,
But only Philomel shall celebrate
In mournful Notes a new unhappy Fate:        1130
The banish'd Hamadryads must be gone,
And take their flight with sad, but silent Moan;
For a Celestial Being ne'er complains,
Whatever be her Grief, in noisie Strains.
The Wood-Gods fly, and whither shall they go,        1135
Not all the British Orb can scarce allow,
A Trunk secure for them to rest in now.
    But yet these wild Saturnals shall not last,
Oppressing Vengeance follows on too fast;
She shakes her brandish'd Steel, and still denies        1140
Length to immoderate Rage and Cruelties.
Do not despond, my Nymphs; that wicked Birth
Th'avenging Powers will chase from off the Earth;
Let 'em hew down the Woods, destroy and burn,
And all the lofty Groves to Ashes turn;        1145
Yet still there will not want a Tree to yield
Timber enough old Tyburn to rebuild,
Where they may hang at last; and this kind one
Shall then revenge the Woods of all their Wrong.

Cowley's Latin (id., pp. 225-226, accents omitted, line numbers added):

Cumque haec eveniunt, Sociae, cum ligna parentum
Defunctaque trabes vestrum, longaque quiete
Compostas olim regum sub turribus altis,
Excisasque furente manu, vulsasque videtis,
Tunc scitote diem vestrum, et lacrymabile fatum        795
Sylvarum venisse; Trabes quae saeva sepultas
Deturbat domibus, non parcet dextera Vivis.
Tunc omnes late Saltus, nemora omnia regni
(Nobile Seminium et Plantaria Classis et Urbis,
Spem Belli, et Pacis certa ornamenta futurae),        800
Religio quae magna olim, nunc maximus Usus
Vivere privatae iubet inviolata securi;
Barbarus invadit Victor, sternitque, soloque
Eruit, atque Igni divendit Avarus Avaro.
Non generi arboreo aut aetati parcitur ulli,        805
Triginta annorum Infantes in limine vitae
Dejiciunt Ulmos, Fagosque Ornosque tenellas,
Nec senium aut cani reverentia corticis obstat.
Pellitur infoelix o semper Musica turba,
Ramorum hospitiis Volucres pelluntur avitis,        810
Flebiliterque novum celebrat Philomela dolorem.
Exul Hamadryadum simul his chorus effugit omnis,
At tacito luctu (neque enim plorare sonorum,
Coelestes decet) et lacrymis stillantibus intus.
Heu fugimus, Sociae, et toto vix orbe Britanno        815
Securos Truncos quos ingrediamur habemus.
Sed non haec semper fera Saturnalia durant;
Immodico nunquam dat tempora longa furori
Instans a tergo Nemesis, quatiensque securim.
Vos ne despondete animos, Vestri Deus ultor        820
Extirpabit eos radicitus et dabit igni.
Sternite nunc sylvas, nemora alta cremate, scelesti,
Non deerit vobis ex qua pendebitis Arbor.

Hat tip: Ian Jackson.

Labels: arboricide