Part 10

We which were Ovid's five books, now are three, For these before the rest preferreth he: If reading five thou plain'st of tediousness, Two ta'en away, thy labour will be less;

With Muse prepared, I meant to sing of arms, Choosing a subject fit for fierce alarms: Both verses were alike till Love (men say) Began to smile and took one foot away. Rash boy, who gave thee power to change a line? We are the Muses' prophets, none of thine. What, if thy mother take Diana's bow, Shall Dian fan when love begins to glow? In woody groves is't meet that Ceres reign, And quiver-bearing Dian till the plain? 10 Who'll set the fair-tressed Sun in battle-ray While Mars doth take the Aonian harp to play? Great are thy kingdoms, over-strong and large, Ambitious imp, why seek'st thou further charge? Are all things thine? the Muses' Tempe thine? Then scarce can Phoebus say, "This harp is mine." When in this work's first verse I trod aloft, Love slaked my muse, and made my numbers soft: I have no mistress nor no favourite, Being fittest matter for a wanton wit. 20 Thus I complained, but Love unlocked his quiver, Took out the shaft, ordained my heart to shiver, And bent his sinewy bow upon his knee, Saying, "Poet, here's a work beseeming thee." O, woe is me! he never shoots but hits, I burn, love in my idle bosom sits: Let my first verse be six, my last five feet: Farewell stern war, for blunter poets meet! Elegian muse, that warblest amorous lays, Girt my shine brow with seabank myrtle sprays. 30

FOOTNOTES:

So the Isham copy. Ed. A. "the."

Isham copy and ed. A. "vpreard, I meane."

The original has--

"Quid? si prÊripiat flavÊ Venus arma MinervÊ Ventilet accensas flavÊ Minerva comas."

"Cum bene surrexit versu nova pagina, primo! At tenuat nervos proximus ille meos."

Sheen.

Dyce's correction for "praise" of the old eds.

ELEGIA II.

Quod primo amore correptus, in triumphum duci se a Cupidine patiatur.

What makes my bed seem hard seeing it is soft? Or why slips down the coverlet so oft? Although the nights be long I sleep not tho My sides are sore with tumbling to and fro. Were love the cause it's like I should descry him, Or lies he close and shoots where none can spy him? 'Twas so; he strook me with a slender dart; 'Tis cruel Love turmoils my captive heart. Yielding or striving do we give him might, Let's yield, a burden easily borne is light. 10 I saw a brandished fire increase in strength, Which being not shak'd, I saw it die at length. Young oxen newly yoked are beaten more, Than oxen which have drawn the plough before: And rough jades' mouths with stubborn bits are torn, But managed horses' heads are lightly borne. Unwilling lovers, love doth more torment, Than such as in their bondage feel content. Lo! I confess, I am thy captive I, And hold my conquered hands for thee to tie. 20 What need'st thou war? I sue to thee for grace: With arms to conquer armless men is base. Yoke Venus' Doves, put myrtle on thy hair, Vulcan will give thee chariots rich and fair: The people thee applauding, thou shalt stand, Guiding the harmless pigeons with thy hand. Young men and women shalt thou lead as thrall, So will thy triumph seem magnifical; I, lately caught, will have a new-made wound, And captive-like be manacled and bound: 30 Good meaning, Shame, and such as seek Love's wrack Shall follow thee, their hands tied at their back. Thee all shall fear, and worship as a king Iˆ triumphing shall thy people sing. Smooth speeches, Fear and Rage shall by thee ride, Which troops have always been on Cupid's side; Thou with these soldiers conquer'st gods and men, Take these away, where is thine honour then? Thy mother shall from heaven applaud this show, And on their faces heaps of roses strow, 40 With beauty of thy wings, thy fair hair gilded, Ride golden Love in chariots richly builded! Unless I err, full many shalt thou burn, And give wounds infinite at every turn. In spite of thee, forth will thine arrows fly, A scorching flame burns all the standers by. So, having conquered Inde, was Bacchus' hue; Thee pompous birds and him two tigers drew; Then seeing I grace thy show in following thee, Forbear to hurt thyself in spoiling me. 50 Behold thy kinsman CÊsar's prosperous bands, Who guards the conquered with his conquering hands.

FOOTNOTES:

Then.

So the Isham copy and ed. A. Other eds. "struggling."

"Frena minus sentit quisquis ad arma facit."--Marlowe's line strongly supports the view that "bear hard" in Julius CÊsar means "curb, keep a tight rein over" (hence "eye with suspicion"). Cf. Christopher Clifford's School of Horsemanship (1585):--"But the most part of horses takes it [a 'wil of his owne'] through the unskilfulnesse of the rider by bearing too hard a hand upon them," p. 35.

"Our poet's copy of Ovid had 'Tu penna pulchros gemina variante capillos.'"--Dyce. (The true reading "Tu pennas gemma, gemma, variante capillos.")

Old eds. "kinsmans."

Old eds. "thee."

ELEGIA III.

Ad amicam.

I ask but right, let her that caught me late, Either love, or cause that I may never hate; I crave too much--would she but let me love her; Jove knows with such-like prayers I daily move her. Accept him that shall serve thee all his youth, Accept him that shall love with spotless truth. If lofty titles cannot make me thine, That am descended but of knightly line, (Soon may you plough the little land I have; I gladly grant my parents given to save;) 10 Apollo, Bacchus, and the Muses may; And Cupid who hath marked me for thy prey; My spotless life, which but to gods gives place, Naked simplicity, and modest grace. I love but one, and her I love change never, If men have faith, I'll live with thee for ever. The years that fatal Destiny shall give I'll live with thee, and die ere thou shalt grieve. Be thou the happy subject of my books That I may write things worthy thy fair looks. 20 By verses, horned Iˆ got her name; And she to whom in shape of swan Jove came; And she that on a feigned Bull swam to land, Griping his false horns with her virgin hand, So likewise we will through the world be rung And with my name shall thine be always sung.

FOOTNOTES:

Isham copy "aske."

Ed. A. "cause me to be thine."

"Temperat et sumptus parcus uterque parens."

Isham copy and ed. A. "Bull."