John Milton

Poems of Mr. John Milton, Both English and Latin, Compos'd at several times

———Baccare frontem
Cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro,
 Virgil, Eclog. 7,
 ———Baccare frontem
Cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro,
 Virgil, Eclog. 7,

Greek epigram structure

Four lines of Greek verse mocking the engraver. This is an epigram—a short satirical poem, the ancient equivalent of a roast tweet.

Άμαθεῖ γεγράφθαι χειρὶ τήνδε μὲν εὶκόνα
Φαίῃς τάχ´ἃν, πρὸς εἶδος αὐτοφυες βλέπων
Τὸν δ' ἐκτυπωτὸν οὐκ ἐπιγνόντες φίλοι
Γελᾶτε φαύλου δυσμίμημα ζωγράφου
WM sculp

The engraver signs

'WM sculp' (sculpsit = 'he carved it') is William Marshall's signature. Milton just spent four lines in Greek calling him incompetent, and Marshall signed it anyway—he couldn't read Greek.

Greek epigram structure

Four lines of Greek verse mocking the engraver. This is an epigram—a short satirical poem, the ancient equivalent of a roast tweet.

Άμαθεῖ γεγράφθαι χειρὶ τήνδε μὲν εὶκόνα
Φαίῃς τάχ´ἃν, πρὸς εἶδος αὐτοφυες βλέπων
Τὸν δ' ἐκτυπωτὸν οὐκ ἐπιγνόντες φίλοι
Γελᾶτε φαύλου δυσμίμημα ζωγράφου
WM sculp

The engraver signs

'WM sculp' (sculpsit = 'he carved it') is William Marshall's signature. Milton just spent four lines in Greek calling him incompetent, and Marshall signed it anyway—he couldn't read Greek.

Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Milton's Elaborate Insult

This isn't a poem—it's the frontmatter to Milton's 1645 collected poems. The title page featured an engraved portrait of Milton by William Marshall, and Milton hated it. So he wrote a Greek epigram to print directly below his own face.

The Greek translates roughly to: 'Looking at the natural form, you'd say this image was drawn by an ignorant hand. Friends, not recognizing the man depicted, laugh at the bad artist's poor imitation.' It's a four-line roast of the engraver, printed in the book the engraver illustrated.

CONTEXT Marshall didn't read Greek. He engraved Milton's insulting poem onto the copper plate, signing it 'WM sculp' (William Marshall carved this), completely unaware he was publishing his own bad review. The portrait shows Milton at 21, though he was 37 when the book appeared—Marshall worked from an outdated painting.

Double Defense

The Virgil quote appears twice at the top—unusual repetition that suggests anxiety. 'Baccare' refers to foxglove, a plant used in protective charms. Milton is literally asking for magical protection against 'mala lingua' (evil tongues) before readers encounter his poems.

CONTEXT This was Milton's first major publication. At 37, he was known mainly as a controversial pamphleteer who'd written defenses of divorce and attacks on bishops. Publishing his early poetry was risky—critics were waiting. The double invocation of Virgil reads like nervous preparation.

The structure is telling: protection spell, protection spell again, insult to the engraver. Milton defends himself against critics, then immediately goes on offense against the one artist he could control. It's the frontmatter equivalent of a pre-emptive strike.