No e
SAMUEL JOHNSON’S ‘MOTTO FOR A
GOAT’ REVISITED
THE ollowing dea h no ice appea ed in The
C a sman, o Say’s Weekly Jou nal on 4
Ap il 1772:
On Sa u day las died a Mile End, he goa
which had been wice a ound he wo ld, i s in
he Dolphin, Cap . Wallis, hen in he Endea ou ,
Cap . Cooke; she was sho ly o ha e been
emo ed o G eenwich hospi al, o ha e spen he
emainde o he days unde he p o ec ion o
hose wo hy e e ans, who he e enjoy an honou -
able e i emen . She had on he neck a splendid
colla , on which was eng a ed he ollowing dis-
ich, said o ha e been w o e by he ingenious and
lea ned D Samuel Johnson:
Pe pe ui, ambi a bis e a, p œmia lac is
Hac habe , al ici Cap a secunda Jo is.
1
As eco ded by Boswell, in Feb ua y ha yea ,
Johnson had w i en o he na u alis Joseph
Banks h ough Si Joshua Reynolds, esponding
o his eques o a sui able insc ip ion o honou
he e i ee:
TO JOSEPH BANKS, ESQ.
Pe pe ua ambi a bis e a p aemia lac is
Haec habe al ici Cap a secunda Jo is.
2
Si ,—I e u n hanks o you and o D Solande
o he pleasu e which I ecei ed in yes e day’s
con e sa ion. I could no ecollec a mo o o
you Goa , bu ha e gi en he one. You, Si , may
pe haps ha e an epick poem om some happie
pen han, Si ,
You mos humble se an ,
Johnson’s-cou , Flee s ee SAM. JOHNSON
Feb ua y 27, 1772.
Pu po edly p ocu ed om ‘a iend’, Boswell
appends he ollowing expansi e ansla ion:
In ame sca ce second o he nu se o Jo e,
This Goa , who wice he wo ld had a e sed ound,
Dese ing bo h he mas e ’s ca e and lo e,
Ease and pe pe ual pas u e now has ound.
The a ian pe pe ua, ag eeing wi h p aemia
(‘pe pe ual ewa d(s)’) no only shi s a en ion
om he goa ’s lac ic la gesse bu also o ces haec
o modi y cap a (‘ his goa ’). Al hough i poses
no challenge o he es ablished ex
3
, i is his e -
sion o he couple ha has been widely dissemi-
na ed in biog aphies o Cook and Banks. E en
wi h pe pe ui es o ed, howe e , he s a us o haec
is no beyond deba e. I unde s ood as neu e ac-
cusa i e plu al modi ying p aemia, he dis ich
may be ansla ed:
Ha ing wice sailed a ound he globe [li . he
globe ha ing been wice enci cled], a goa second
only o he one ha suckled Jupi e , has his e-
wa d o he un ailing supply o milk.
4
On he o he hand, i haec is eminine nomina-
i e singula modi ying cap a:
Ha ing sailed wice a ound he globe, his goa ,
second only o he one ha suckled Jupi e , has
he ewa d o he un ailing supply o milk.
In a ou o he la e , Niall Rudd, ollowing E.
V. Moh , s a es ha ‘[h]aec is needed o iden i y
he goa ’ and adds ha ‘i is a guably a de ec ha
he ewa d is no made clea in he poem i sel ’.
5
1
Fo p œmia ead p aemia and o Hac, Haec. In some edi-
ions he long <a>o ambi a and e a—an abla i e absolu e
cons uc ion—is ma ked diac i ically. This no ice is almos exac -
ly ep oduced in Thomas Bye ly’s Relics o Li e a u e (London,
1823), 320, bu he da e o he goa ’s dea h is e oneously gi en
as 28 Ap il ins ead o 27 Ma ch (o 28 Ma ch, as epo ed in he
Gene al E ening Pos o 3 Ap il). The e o i s appea s in Da id
Nichol Smi h and Edwa d L. McAdam (eds.), The Poems o
Samuel Johnson (Ox o d, 1941) and pe sis s in Robe D. B own
and Robe DeMa ia, J . (eds.), The Comple e Poems o Samuel
Johnson (Abingdon-on-Thames, 2024), 446.
2
R. W. Chapman (ed.), James Boswell: Li e o Johnson
(Ox o d 1998), 457
3
Reynolds’ copy o Johnson’s le e su i es, as do copies o a
li hog aphic ep oduc ion o he o iginal le e . See Da id Nichol
Smi h and Edwa d L. McAdam (eds.), The Poems o Samuel
Johnson (2nd edn, Ox o d, 1974), 448.
4
‘P aemia … Haec’ may be a poe ic plu al o singula bu i
should be bo ne in mind ha he ewa d(s) may e e no only o
he colla i sel bu o he igh s o pas u e in Mile End ha Hes e
Lynch Piozzi ema ks we e awa ded ‘as a ecompence o he u il-
i y and ai h ul se ice’ (Anecdo es o he La e Samuel Johnson
LLD in he las Twen y Yea s o his Li e (London,1786), 70). This
oo was Boswell’s unde s anding.
5
Niall Rudd, Samuel Johnson: The La in Poems (Lewisbu g,
2005), 44; E. V. Moh , D . Johnson’s La in Poems: T ansla ions
and Commen a y (Uni e si y o Columbia MA hesis, 1952), as
ci ed by Baldwin (1995), 70.
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Ye i could equally be a gued ha cap a is su i-
cien ly iden i ied by al ici … secunda Jo is and
ha syn ac ic symme y would be be e se ed by
eading haec wi h p aemia.
6
Could any pu a i e classical sou ces p o ide a
solu ion? Johnson’s ho ough amilia i y wi h he
my h o Amal hea/Capella (‘goa ha suckled
Jupi e ’)
7
is e iden om he illus a i e quo a-
ions wi h which he u nishes his Dic iona y o he
English Language (1755). The e a e h ee occu -
ences o Amal hea by name. In illus a ing he
headwo d ea , o ins ance, Johnson includes a
passage om Ma hew P io ’s ansla ion o
Callimachus (Hymns I, 47–48):
The goa , now b igh amids he ellow s a s,
Kind Amal hea, each he ea dis en
Wi h milk, hy ea ly ood:
And s. . goa , he ci es a passage om Thomas
C eech’s ansla ion (1700) o Manilius’s
As onomicon:
The li le bea ha ock’d he migh y Jo e,
The swan whose bo ow’d shape conceal’d his lo e,
A e g ac’d wi h ligh ; he nu sing goa ’s epaid
Wi h hea en, and du y ais’d he pious maid.
Simila ly, s. . dug: ‘Then shines he goa ,
whose b u ish dugs supply’d/The in an Jo e, and
nu sed his g owing p ide’. Ye he e is no hing in
he La in o Manilius ha would sugges any in lu-
ence on Johnson’s couple .
8
A ex which is al-
mos uni e sally adduced by edi o s and i s
iden i ied as a possible sou ce in he mid-
nine een h cen u y, is a six-line epig am by
C inago as o My elene (G eek An hology IX,
224). In i , a gene ously endowed, sea- oyaging
goa , p ess-ganged by Augus us, p oclaims ha
she is des ined, o so she belie es, o s a dom.
9
The e can be li le doub ha Johnson was awa e
o his epig am; a e all, he was o go on o ba le
insomnia by ansla ing nea ly a hund ed G eek
An hology epig ams in o La in. Howe e , edi o s
e ince skep icism as o any exac in luence. The
la es edi o s a e mo e ci cumspec han mos ,
ema king ha he sha ed hemes we e pe haps in-
e i able and ha Johnson ‘did no imi a e he ea -
lie poem hough he p obably ecalled i ’ (B own
and DeMa ia 2024, 445).
The p obable sou ce o he couple , which I be-
lie e also sheds ligh on which noun haec modi-
ies, lies in wo complemen a y passages in O id,
nei he o which, as a as can be asce ained, has
been iden i ied in p e ious schola ship. Johnson is
eco ded by he s a esman William Windham as
ecommending he eading o he Roman calenda
poem Fas i.
10
Th ee h ee- olume edi ions o
O id (1663, 1701 and 1713) a e lis ed in he auc-
ion ca alogue o Johnson’s lib a y, one o which
he had owned as an unde g adua e a Ox o d.
11
In
he 1713 edi ion, he Fas i a e p in ed in olume
h ee, i s edi o Pie e Bu mann he elde (1668–
1741) being he subjec o a biog aphical ske ch
Johnson published in he Gen leman’s
Magazine (1742).
The p ima y passage, o 1 May in book V,
add esses he Amal hea/Capella my h di ec ly:
Ab Io e su ga opus. p ima mihi noc e idenda
s ella es in cunas o iciosa Io is:
nasci u Oleniae signum plu iale Capellae;
illa da i caelum p aemia lac is habe . (V, 111–114)
[Le he wo k s a om Jupi e . Visible o me
on he i s nigh is a s a ha se ed a Jupi e ’s
c adle. The ainy sign o he Olenian she-goa [sc.
Capella] is ising. She has hea en as a ewa d o
he milk she ga e.]
The second conce ns he Roman ounda ion
my h o he she-wol ha suckled Romulus and
Remus:
6
‘… “p aemia” needs one (sc. an epi he ) o main ain he pe -
ec balance o his couple ’ (Ba y Baldwin, The La in & G eek
Poems o Samuel Johnson: Tex , T ansla ion, and Commen a y
(London, 1995) 71).
7
In some e sions o he my h Capella is he goa belonging o
he nymph Amal hea, in o he s Amal hea is he goa he sel .
8
As onomicon II, 30–32 [o icioque Io is Cynosu am, lac e
Capellam / e u o Cycnum, pie a e ad side a duc am/ E igonen
… ] and I, 366–67 [nobilis e mundi nu i o ege Capella / cuius
ab ube ibus magnum ille ascendi Olympum]. A u he allusion
o he my h is added in he ou h edi ion o he Dic iona y
(1773), on which Johnson was wo king in his pe iod; s. . goa ,
he ci es he epi he ‘goa - ed’ om Chapman’s Odyssey [‘We
Cyclops ca e no o you goa - ed Jo e, / No o he bles ones;
we a e be e a e’ IX, 275].
9
‘I am he goa wi h ull ea s, yielding mo e milk han all
hose whose udde s he milk-pail has d ained; Caesa , when he
as ed my honey-swee milk, ook me on he ship o be his ellow
oyage . One day I hink I will also each he s a s, o he o
whom I o e ed my ea is by no means in e io o he Aegis-bea -
e .’ (my ansla ion)
10
Celia Anne Ba ing (ed.), The Dia y o he Righ Hon.
William Windham, 1784 o 1810 (London, 1866), 18.
11
h ps://www.lib a y hing.com/ca alog.php? iew=Samuel
JohnsonLib a y&collec ion=8212
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illa loco nomen eci , locus ipse Lupe cis.
magna da i nu ix p aemia lac is habe (II, 421–22)
[She made a name o he place, he place i sel
o he Lupe ci. The os e -mo he has g ea
ewa ds o he milk she ga e.]
In Johnson’s couple , he subjec noun cap a
pa allels he e illa and nu ix. Nu ix mo eo e is
echoed in i s nea -synonym al ici, he da i e case
o m o al ix (‘we -nu se’, ‘ os e mo he ’). Mo e
ellingly, he objec noun ph ase and e b (p ae-
mia lac is … habe ) a e iden ical in he wo
O idian passages and in Johnson. Fo geni i e sin-
gula da i quali ying lac is, Johnson subs i u es
pe pe ui, ex ending he no ion o he milk gi en o
he milk gi en un ailingly, as Banks will ha e old
him was he case and which is a es ed elsewhe e,
his being in pa he sou ce o he goa ’s ame.
12
To quali y p aemia he employs he deic ic haec,
in pa allel o magna in he second passage, hus
indica ing Baldwin’s c i e ion o balance.
I is hus highly likely ha in composing he
couple o he young na u alis on he e ening o
26 Feb ua y, 1772 o he ollowing day, Johnson
had a ecollec ion—clea o hazy—o lines he had
ead in he Fas i conce ning a amous goa and
she-wol ewa ded o hei milk.
13
I he
ecollec ion was ague, hen he O idian Ope a
Omnia he had o hand would ha e been
o se ice.
Finally, a wo d on he goa ’s name. I is unlike-
ly ha she had one. Baldwin s a es ha he ‘canno
esis wonde ing i he second e se may imply
ha Banks’s goa i sel was called Amal haea’
(1995, 71). When he al eady well- a elled goa
was ans e ed om Wallis’s ship o Cook’s o
ye ano he s in o ci cumna iga ion, i was ‘so
ha Sou h Sea co ee should s ill ha e i s milk’
14
.
Tha he long-su e ing animal should be dubbed
al ici … secunda Jo is smacks o he mock-
he oic and is su ely a lou ish o Johnsonian wi .
CHRISTOPHER LANGMUIR
Uni e si y o Se ille, Spain
h ps://doi.o g/10.1093/no esj/gja 050
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which pe mi s non-comme cial ep oduc ion and dis ibu ion o
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12
The w i e o an anonymous le e published on he e u n o
he Endea ou (possibly Cook himsel ) s a es ha he goa ‘ne e
wen d y du ing he whole o he oyage’ and assu ed eade s ha
‘we mean o ewa d he se ices by placing he in a good English
pas u e o he es o he li e’ (Middlesex Ch onicle, 29
July 1772).
13
Johnson’s couple may con ain a u he O idian echo, in
ambi a bis e a. In he c ea ion my h a he beginning o
Me amo phoses, he unnamed god sculp ed he ea h un il i be-
came a sphe e [ e am … magni speciem glome a i in o bis, I,
35] and hen o de ed he seas o w ap he sho es o he enci cled
ea h [e ambi ae ci cumda e li o a e ae, I, 37].
14
J. C. Beaglehole, The Jou nals o Cap ain James Cook on
his Voyages o Disco e y. The Voyage o he Endea ou 1768-
1771 (Camb idge, 1955) cxxxiii.
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This is an Open Access a icle dis ibu ed unde he e ms o he C ea i e Commons A ibu ion-NonComme cial-NoDe i s licence
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use, please con ac [email p o ec ed] o ep in s and ansla ion igh s o ep in s. All o he pe missions can be ob ained h ough ou
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