MENANDER

But grief informs the world he once did live Worthy, and well respected, Like a Prince, W om people pray for, and whose happy reign True subjects crave to be perpetual. True Hypponax, and therefore temperance Limits with reason our compulsive woe: For men of pure discretion (you may find) Bear all extremes with a most aequal mind. Repeat Perillus (the last sign of love) A poem to express the Obsequy, With tears concluding his Catastrophe. Then Il'e advertise in especial, You sapient hearers of that beauteous dame, Who, unredeemed Maenander, captivate Does hold in fetters, though a freeborn King, The daughter of Hyarchus do I love. Nothing does more prevent a Princes fate, Then wise directing Councillors of State. Queen forbear, Malindo is our faithful favourite. Welcome brave Duke; be ever mine, beloved; Accounted in the chiefest scarlet rank Of understanding Judices; we thank Your noble and magnaminous resolve, Your charitable undertaking; be advanced And ever in my bosom: you are loyal. My father, in the latest fillable Of his weak vt'trance, did inculcate often, Thy unrewarded loyalty: be big In honour, and outshine the radiant gloss Of bearded politicians: kneel before us. And in uprising swell with a new name: No more Phe dip, but all-potent Duke Of wide illiri ; (noble friend) arise, We dive into the bottom of thy soul, Which does engender a sweet sympathy. Live long and happy in a Monarchs love: Malind , you provide some Theater, Some regal show, wherewith we mutually May solace and disport our heaviness. Hyrud live: May treason ever find The biting tortures of a troubled mind. You magistrates imagine it a curse, And punishment beyond all punishment. (If you attainted are with any gilded Of so enorm designs) think it a curse To suck up the salubrious air, and live, Fame will infect you, though I pardon give: Can my Pheudippe prove disloyal? no, Does he intend subversion of my state? What does my demi-self Pheudippe do? Foul vengeance choke the people, and their love, They do deject whom they advance above: The peoples suffrage, to a rising youth Is Like their folly at a public Stage, Striving to purchase a dumb audience By multitude of clamour; they suppose Peace is engendered by still crying peace, As if confusion did by murmur cease: So they imagine, by their open mouth, To make a Giant, though but scarce a man: They speak him virtuous, bountiful, and wise Hoping polluted breath, might Canonise Whom they (with dirty palms) do seem to raise, And bind his Temples with their stinking bays: No, they but make him dizzy, deaf, and mad, Whom they desire to make a demigod; Their multitudes of clamour do beget A most uncured swimming of the head; For so the rules of ringing do agree, Confusion ever spoils a harmony. What Coxcomb now dares call Menander mad Do not (I pray) abuse me (noble boys) Although I be a Poet; all men know I never writ of Cupid's whirligig, Of amorous conceits, nor dalliance, And joust so long as Poets will abstain From foolish love and Cupid's Diety. The Poets Art is counted Piety. But if the tenor of a lovesick Theme Stuff rotten Volumes then the Author's mad, Or Moonsick, some judicious bookmen, say, Though others, amid' earnest, allow play. Thou Spirit of delusion, affirm This doubtful figment; once again deny A soul of reason to thy Sovereign. Am I then mad Mantesio? agree Your are no Ghost and make the consequence. Mantesio and Lucilla must Like mutes Expect upon my rage all counterfeit, As did the savage throng that Ajax slew; Robes shall not make a metamorphosis; We may suppose you whom the Scoene requires Some savage couple fit for Ajax wrath. Be silent, leave this big Hyperbole, And show thy breeding modest. Enough, the solemn festival of joy Which does ensue, exacts your diligence, To give some testimonial indeed Of deservings: think me bountiful If any Actium in my troop excel. Fortune. I do contemn thee; sirs advance And in despite of death, use vigilance. (Caitiff) provoke not my offensive rage Least I deprive thee of all future age. Hippo ax. Hyarchus we disclaim your subtleties. Your love already hath in ample sort, Given testimonial enough: be graced And ever happy in our high account: Another subject Officer I have, Phe dip called; on whom the graces smile: A man so absolute in my approof, That Nature hath reserved small dignity Which he enjoys not. Welcome friend approach, Forsake the City, ever dwell in Court; Nay nearer, in my bosom: we observe Your manifest endeavour, diligence, And all industrious faculties that lodge Themselves in thee with a true correspondence, We note your projects, and esteem them highly. L lio, Lord General, give speedy battle. Make ready forces to repel the foe. Was't you Malind , that through mischiefs bait Composed this ensign of a hollow heart? Alas I loved thee well, why didst devise Such fatal Scoenes, fashioned of blood and death? The paper mourned when thou thy mind hadst writ, Yes, mourned in black merely to think on it: But you persist in deep obdurasie. I mourn my self, yet am devoid of pity, Because thy error is ambitious pride. Conduct him Soldiers to the car ifex, E phorbus, you attend the final gasp, Then give to Cassius the decouped scull. We read large conquest in our Captains face, Stand forth some sober nuntius, relate The manner of this notable design, Magnanimous Hamilcar, I account Thy courage beyond apprehension; swell, Swell my Phendippe with abundant joy, Rejoice in thy courageous son, Like me, Who vaunt the rather, even because thy son Does so be have himself, thou being my friend, Whom I esteem above all earthly good. Stand forth Phe dip, honour does attend To cast a gracious smile upon thee, friend; And thee Hamilcar, let us magnify. Malindo sleeps ( A ilcar ) I advance Thee through the ruin of his dignity, Possess both place and goods. We have a sister, where is she? L illam? Let some attendant urge her company: Bring hither likewise and appointed Priest, (Be not amazed my sober Magistrates) Pheudippe, you shall be espoused to her: Her Il'e bestow, and without prejudice On thee alone, my noble Bedfellow. Do not refuse, for (noble friend) my love Only admits thee as a friend and brother, And for a witness that I make this league Of love and friendship; let's embrace each other. My sister does approach, let grooms make way For beauty able to obscure the day. Sister, behold thy husband; friend, thy wife, Marriage does breed, but sooner banish strife. You (Priest) the High all rites may offer: Acceptance is experienced by proffer. Now live in peace, and brother ask a boon: Ask what you list, for grant I will whatever, Which henceforth may commemorate the time Of and espousal so remarkable. To deific the worth of whom we love, Advancement Il'e impoverish, compel Honour to hug thy kinsman, till a warmth Quicken his humble blood without control. Envy, (the scourge of Kings) be henceforth dumb, Thus will I treason evermore entomb. And thus exalt our love beyond all merit, Birth may do much, love makes the low inherit. Tell me my proper Genius may prove false, My blood become a traitor to my life; The issue of my loins degenerate; Say; this right hand conspires against my head; Tell me; the Gods whom I adore, neglect Religion, do forbid all sacrifice; And I believe you: but the villains lie, Who dare imagine my Pheudippe false. In-faith I am afraid you do abuse My honest friends integrity, too much; Pheudippe false? my bosom-counselor? The earth will shake at such a prodigy: Some Phaeton shall mount the Chariot Of our uprising Phœbus, and inflame The world again; each widow shall conceive Without men aid five dragons at a birth, All threatening this impossible event, Ere I do entertain a sillable Of your suggestion: though the Gods descend Though they admonish my credulity (In special) to beware of whom we speak And call him traitor; o I should reply Within the bounds (I fear) of blasphemy. See how he walks perplexed with agony; My anger shall improve his patience. Pheudippe. His aro-maticke breath perfumes the air: The spicy fields where gossa-moure does grow Have not one vapour half so redolent: I must for fashion chide him fatherly. Friend, friend, you are ambitious of rule, Report exclaims upon your dignity; All attribute the times calamity Of dearth, to you the Author; who engross Heaps of provision without real cause; I must not wink at fraudulent abuse Done to my Subjects; rather abuse me: Thou mightest enjoy full many blessed years, Live in and aeqnall happiness with me, Rather then thus neglect my sincere love, And lose the hope of our munificence Do not (I pray) deserve that infamy With which our scandalizing age condemns Thy whole endeavours; o redeem the lose Of Loyalty; a thing so precious. Reject those machinations infinite With which the people charge thee; I conceal The horror of a rage so violent As some censorious Critics have adjudged To dwell within thy bosom: prithee think Whither I do deserve thy impious hand To thrust me from a lineal descent Or (being down) deserve thy helping hand, To rescue and uphold my primacy. Arise my faithful honourer, arise: Good honest soul, thy language would enforce The Cannibals to turn compassionate: I will transmit thee into Scythia, To Pontus, to the fierce untamed Getes, Till with a fluent phrase, thou do compel Their savage superstition to submit, And me acknowledge, as their lawful King: Thus thou Like Orpheus couldst (I'm sure) enthral The rude Arabian, or the rugged Gam le, And captivate their longing audience With and eternity of eloquence. Thus couldst thou re-inlarge my sovereign awe, Thus multiply each province, thus augment The bounds of our dominion, or deduce Appointed troops of Colony; with voice: But (my alone beloved) never think I will exchange thy noble company For temporal possession: though the Gods Would all resign Olympus, and elect Me as coheir in-dub ta e to Jove, Upon Proviso to forsake this friend, I rather would refuse divinity, Live Like a drudge in dark obscurity, Then leave so loyal, so complete a friend: And yet this man deserves a watchful eye; Speak you censorious rank of Magistrates, Does he deserve suspicion? who replies? Who guided by report so far does blame Another, as to argue his ill-name, Insisting much on some particular, Detects himself, and Ass auricular. We do accept, and will de erve (my decree) This thy extended free munificence: This plentiful provision I may call, (With licence of our Ethics) Liberal. Insolent fit, suppose my friend were false, (Which I can scarce imagine) or suppose Confident faith made him erroneous: Will you abridge the trial of our law? Prevent my absolution? I appeal Unto the blessed Theater of Saints, Let holiness, or let humanity, Your zeal, how much defective, testify: For though the three dimensions did concur In his offence, yet I had mercy left. Pheudippe, simple man, thy false designs Never knew a height in mischief so extreme, A breadth, or depth in solly so profound, So villainous, but our compassion knew A means to mitigate thy error; See My Concubine comes fraught with sober news; Begin, resolve, and so exaggerate Our heavy lose, we will intoxicate Our soul with imbibition of more change: Begin, depose and accident so strange, As repetition of two syllables May strike us with a sudden lethargy, And so conclude a Kings Catastr phe. There make thy perjod; we know Mischief (Like mighty waves) never comes alone. The Queen's delivered of a hideous son Some winged Dragon; is she so? or dead? Discharge a bullet in my naked breast; Be charitable some auspicious arm. Fair Favort a's dead, thy love, my Queen, My deer Pheudippe's dead our joys be go e Cinthia's a female weathercock, a whore, Does she afflict our happiness? resolve Speak (friends) deliver what you think. Oh could I compass with a sudden leap, The verge of big Olympus, or assault With Swallows-wings, the orb of Cinthia! Oh my revenge, my sweet revenge, more bold Then bloody-jawed Bucyris, then the Boar Which slew dame Venus -joy, should wrathful vex Her opposite exce see divinity. With rage would I blaspheme, though angry Jove Makes ready thunder to praecipitate My daring voice: I will ingeminate With deep derision, her distasteful name, Enforcing others to abuse the same. Dost thou not hear me Cinthia? dissolve The melancholy clouds which mask thy brow, And let compunction mollify thee (witch) Forth from thy cloudy palace ( Luna ) peep And with incessant soft contrition, weep: Reduce the antique deluge with thy tears, Turn thy rejoicing into pale-fac'd fears. Cinthia, remember my abuse, and blush, Blush thou immodest harlot, be ashamed To look upon the shadowed universe. Catch me some whirlwind with a sweeping blast, And carry me aloft, Il'e vex the Moon For she (ungracious Goddess) does afflict Us, and our dignity: she did suggest Rebel-temptations to my beauteous friend, Whose innocence I ever shall commend. No! it's a language difficult to learn Though rules be frequent in our mother-tongue. Oh that a lesson of one word; not two, Should ask a life to learn, and age to do? Yes; though Pheudippes age had been deferred Till a consumption of the Universe In hope of his amendment, I believe He would have purchased immortality Through vice and vicious acts. Right: Can the earth yield such a faithless man As false Pheudidippe? If hell afforded such a menstruous rag I'de re-conclile the error of my sense; But, now may reckon up some woeful verse For solid passion Poets best rehearse. The Muses make my brain their banquet-house, And thus with Lucan will we frame our song Of dreaded horror, whose inhuman rage Blue direful tempest through the Tharsall plain Of laws neglected, and a stubborn age Whose blood & black-deeds did their country stain Of civil discord, and a hapless breach In Kingdoms covenant, which did soar impeach The world's whole Confines, and their Public-weal We sing, and sternly treat how every deal Standards met Standards, Ensigns were alike, Bows threatened Bows, and nimble spears the Pike. ( Roman ) what madness may we term this strife? Be your own blades let lose, against your life? That Nations far remote should see and smile At your wide gaping wounds, and revile? And must your hight encounters careless boil, When Babylon should perish in the spoil Of her victorious Trophies? when the Ghost Of unrevenged Crassius here stood tossed Above ground? then must warlike humours breath Which wanting triumph, want a worthy wreathe. Oh and alas! what Kingdoms, what renown This blood might have obtained? some temptiue Crown, Where beauteous Titan sleeps, and heavy night Exempts the joyful harbingers of light: Else where the sweltering noonday scalds with heat, Else where continual Winter takes her seat: Where Scythicke Po tus pierced with c zy cold Lies bedrid on a cripple corner-moul'd, Ceres might conquered been, Araxes yoked Had not domestic war such broils provoked. If ( Room ) thy battles thou esteem such bliss Subdue all Kings, then were it not amiss To combat with thy self; mean while break of, For multitude of foes may freely scoff. Tasted? no fool, the Muses do entraunse My deer imagination, I will swim Through each sweet stream of ravished eloquence Of Passion, Satire, Aeglogue, Epigram Of Sonnets, Imprecations, Epitaphs, And by them all admonish Mighty Kings To keep their bosom locked; for friendship stings. Gracious, and King, be words not known to me; I am no King, nor will be gracious But and impartial Poet of this age Who must inveigh at Kings and Kingly grace: I must a multitude of woes rehearse And stab my audience with I-ambicke verse: Rail at the peevish humour of a slave Whose rude examples be notorious. Attend my whole narration (royal Dukes) Remember how I did the Forest rule, How I amongst the troop of Elephants, Foxes, and Tigers, Apes, and Leopards, Was, by appointment of my father's will Left as and heir legitimate, to live And re-establish my true parents blood: Remember and imagine I did rule Like and audacious Lion of the lawns, Who by misfortune have caught a prick Which does distemper his presuming paw M etes with a heartless Pilgrim, does salute His coward fancy with a peal of fears Then does submit (some ceremonies done) His royal stoutness to the trembling man Puts forth his pained member, shows the wound Till the distracted traveller conceives A remedy to succour that which grieves: The Lie a thus allured with seeming love Protect the Pilgrim by his noble force Does not forsake him, fawns upon the wretch Whose poor compulsive cowardice did urge That tribute at allegiance (not his love) Least life should answer what his will denied: Thus did they live till the most faithless man Grew so familiar he was not afeared To shake the sleeping Lion by the beard: Thus he pretended still to be above So slew the Lion for his Kingly love. And thus, o thus! did my Pheudippe deal: For from the dust and dunghill did I raise The needy Fortune's of that naked man Without all merit, save hypocrisy Which was my thank for all his dignity: The Gods and you bear witness (noble friends) I took that fellow for the truest man That woman ever was blessed with; did believe His birth and education both Divine, Who was indeed a devil; for whose death My brainless fury did blaspheme the Gods: Oh if I had election to forsake The substance of my souls eternity, If soul and body did together die If death's corruption could corrupt the soul, (So make it vanish, and avoid control,) No speedy torment should escape, no death Be unattempted, till my life and breath Were as my soul is now, invisible: Oh I would climb Acro-serannian rocks, Run to the top of Aet a, or the Alps And rush down headlong Like a desperate slave; Or Like and Ajax, greedy of revenge, I would encounter Woules, and Unicorns, Tempting the savage worthies to assail My careless life, and so encounter me. So, I'm oppressed with immortality, And though my rotten Carcase soon decay Yet must my soul account for blasphemy: For Blasphemy, which I in zealous love To a false lewd impostor did augment With sharp invectives even to vex the Gods. To that dissembler, to that devil, say; To that Magician, trueborn Imp of hell, Speak thus; and let me thank your eloquence; For had he been produced of earthly raze His charms and witchcraft could not so deceive My narrow apprehension, o a tend! And I will make you weep before I end. Pheud p Like a frozen viper was Whom, I (delighted with a formal show) By chance took up, and warmth and life bestowed Upon this piteous creature; till at length He crept and crawled into my bosom; I Did suffer still, through plain simplicity, The see penned to become familiar; My table and my Trencher gave him food, Still did I suffer, still he slept and fed Upon my trembling bosom; he did kiss And lick my tenderveines, as I did his: Still did I suffer, though my soundest friends Bade me beware of such a subtle Guest, Giving fair cautions to embrace the best; Still did I suffer, and did scourge advice, With sharp rebukes, not valuing the price. So long I suffered, he so long did sleep, So long he licked me, and so long time crept, So long I loved him, he so long time wept With false affection, as he did confirm My not misdoubting friendship, which was firm, But after all my love, and all his tears, After my patience, and his creeping smiles, My long, long sufferance, and his thankful vows; After all these o God, my bosom groans To think, that after all such boundless good He wished to suck upon my royal blood. Who talks of woe' did you sweet passenger? Open thy case if it be parallel, Let's live copartners in some ugly shade Where none but melancholy night-ravens keep There let's complain, but (breath being silent) weep. Not far from hence, low in a humble Cave, My little cottage stands devoid of care Finely encompassed with a pleasant wave Dressed up with Worser isies, Cowslips, Hyacinths And many thousand pretty, pretty things Which Nature lends me while the blackbird sings: Four Goats I have which browze upon the twigs, Two did relinquish mê, for I had six, One seemed a Lamb which was indeed a Wolf, Him did my dog discover, kill, and eat— Dares then thy blistredtongue (audacious fool) Forget all duty and disturb a Duke? (Impudent Ass) I do degrade thy ears And thee, from all employment; be and Ass At large, and carry loaves, Like Lucius Deserve a Cudgel and a biting spur, Be dull and sluggish in extremities Till I bestow a Rose or any thing To make thy sudden metamorphosis. Laugh, laugh, infernal furies leap for joy; Make me a flaming Chariot, I will ride Upon the wings of potent Lucifer, And style, Like lightning, through amazed Orb. Thunder shall be my Page, and Aeolus Lead up my Coach-horse to big Titan's Hall, Where in that fair Assembly of the Gods, Glistering with golden robes Pontifical: I must a volume of large thanks recite, And a petition to dame Luna write: All, for thy sweet acquaintance Messala Whom I adore, and much will dignify Those who partake in ravished lunasy. Till daring Jove dissolve the Universe, Till the last revolution of this Orb. Till sige authentics of unspotted lives Leave baudy Panderism to their willing wives. Till Tailors likewise made of shreds and shelves Enrich the debtor to undo themselves. Then in-faith till Players, Poets, (Ape and Ass) Spend all they get from June to Michaelmas. Have I then caught thy unappeased soul? Tell me, come tell me, wicked wretch declare, Why hast thou broken holy friendships vow? Speak (damned vermin) each true accent tell For we'll unrip thy bosom spite of hell; Speak thou contemptuous varlet, do not strive And shake thy limbs with unexpressed fear, For (trembling slave) my hand shall catch thy hair, Hold thee perforce, with chains of adamant, Till thy audacious shadow quaking sees, If hands be weary I can hold by teeth. Villain I abhor The hateful found of thy bewitching voice, Keep in thy clamorous echo (conjurer) And cease with Magic to enchant our sense Or I will si dge thy beard off with my breath: Oh you damned fawning Rascal, canst thou shake And tremble after all thy infamy? Thou thankless, rotten-hearted-slaue, thou snake Did I deserve suppression? tell me (Fox) You temporising Courtier, that's enough, He needs not call thee knave, nor Sycophant, And it-religious Jew, that calls thee so, For thou didst study these; thinking to prove A learned Politician, that's a devil, A most abortive monster, strangely made With long huge horns a crafty Foxes head A Lyons posture and extended ears With eighty souls and hearts, Like little eggs; But with a Camels back, and Tigers legs; Wanting a breastbone, Like the savage Bear, So climb he does and curry up the rocks, Mounting the tops of straight Pyramids But when he tumbles, Like a smitten Tower, Declining softly to and ominous dearth, First will his head salute the shaking earth. The black remembrance of thy fatal end Makes my assertion true, thee a false-friend: —Your yawning voice With a full concord of my furious palm If you produce another syllable You most notorious caitiff, you mad cur, Thou Politicians worser g, did I advance Thy ragged Fortune's to degrade my self, Make thee a partner of my Kingdoms joy Give thee my Kingdoms pleasure, wealth, and wives, When I (made foolish) to make thee as King Took the bore title and a glorious heap Of golden sorrow requisite for Kings, Keeping the best (by privilege) for thee Without a second rival? thus I did, Nay, did I thus and yet thou prove unkind? I call my faith in question to demand Such needless truth, for thou didst prove unkind, Contriving the subucision of my rule Which gave a perfect essence to thy soul, Submit, submit for shame, and say forgive: Say but forgive and I am gracious. Deride us then, and be ridiculous. Tell me Mantesio, why didst talk of curse, Discarded woe, and vexing misery? Lives there that soul upon the spacious globe, Which does uprightly think it can deserve Extremity of sorrow, heaps of woe As did Pheudippe? it's impossible: No (good old man) though thy large multitude Of capital offences do exceed, The wandering stars, I may account thee clean, Like a religious innocent, or babe, As a bright Angel, to Pheudippe's shame. Canst be distracted? melancholic? mad? Swear by the beauty of the burning Zone? Look Like a dead-mans scull, most scirvily? Laugh, weep, rail, swear, and hang thy self at once? Rend off thy pleated hair, be lunatic? Live naked in a tempting wilderness? Call me Done. Ajax? live by roots and herbs? Be a true malcontent? be ever sad? Cloudy, Like Christmas? be disconsolate? And (above all) renounce society? If thus thou canst observe a dogged change, If gloomy sorrow (made excessive strange) Stab thy distracted senses to the life, We may dispatch all sense without a knife. But who comes here? Thy name? Oh advance thy tune, Provoke thy sharp Melpomene to sing The story of a beggar and the King. Canst command Poems vn-praemedite? But I have bedded the fair Muses nine, Slept in the bosom of Melpomene, Have rid upon the wings of Pegasus, Drunk down a flood of sparkling Hyppocren, Keep a perpetual moisture in my head, Hating such dilatory sloth of men, From whose weak brains the rotten papers shed, Like leaves in autumn; I account him quick Who is by nature so; with small intent Such (as my self) may be proficient: I could now turn conceited stagerite, And represent I will, with feeling strains, The Ghost of Crassus, or crack all my veins: Suppose me then the Ghost of that old man, That sorry man, my ribs transfixed with steel, Or with a tempest of the Scythian darts, My wounded carcase black with bloody gore, Long sleeped in frosty stupor, to arise, With squalid raiment from the waves of bell, And unto Pompei apparitions tell: Will you great Pompei, patron of my cause, Who didst by solemn oath, vowfull revenge? Will you, the comfort of my funerals, Tomb to my ashes, and my naked bones? Will you, will Pompei prove delinquent? he, Who hath in love to Crassus, threatened stabs, Death and destruction till deep wounds increase, Can he love Crassus foe, and seek for peace? Bleed then my gaping and forgotten wounds Bleed even afresh, or let my frozen blood, Like a congealed syrup, now dissolve, After such cloudy seasons of the year, Such heavy sorrow, and such doubtful fear: After so many dismal nights and days, So many tempests of the Stygian Bark, And prophesy, things fatal, true, but dark: Calamity made famous by extremes Erected in a marble monument, Shall by her often meeting vex thy mind, Else by opposed number make thee blind: Horror and ruin ( Pompei ) shall affront Thy shameless Fortune's, thy fowl negligence, Cities at thy subversion shall rejoice The skulls and trophies of thy captains lose The victor shall upon his aueling toss; Where swift Euphrates, sent such worthy names To black oblivion, and the tumbling waves Of big-swollen Tygris, cast my carcase dead Upon the margin of that muddy shore, And gave to earth what Neptune could not keep, Having once cast my wounded limbs asleep: There shall thy woe approach, and Pompei know If quick avoidance be not difficult, Thou then more easily mightest atone the strife Which thy proud factious Nephew hath begun, Raging amid the heart of Thessaly. Think but a while upon the Roman orb, Think of thy friends at home, think who they are, And those few friends with watchful foes compare: Think yet of Egypt, her seven-headed gulf, Join with Egyptian Ptolomei, and thrive, His high tuition appertains to thee, Tender his nonage, aim at Egypt's throne, Whose King hath but the shadow of a name, Because a childish infant, lacking fame, And fear, (the substance of a Diadem) Nor think the old allegiance to their kings, Can so estrange the peoples love to thee, But know the state of kingdoms be most mild, If, or, the King is new, or is a child: Both do concur to crown thy happiness, Set sail for Egypt, make thy covenant there, Oppose the Parthi, and depopulate The fields, where Crassus did enjoy his fate: Say, from the cinders of a slaughered man, You took advice to turn Egyptian. Go dig for wit while I am Jovial, And laugh and leap among my flatterers, Come dance Lavolioes my familiar knaves, Do you commend this mirth? But o my friend, I am not as I seem, Merry indeed, but only seeming so; Unrip my bosom, and with lines of blood Deeply engraved upon my trembling heart, You may discern attractive Epitaphs, The shameful curse of a contemptuous King, A love-knot double broken; and by whom Friendship rewarded with extreme abuse; Falsehood, without a colour, and excuse. Do then thy stranger thoughts compassionate, And weep at our inhumane destiny. If thy relenting heart true passion feel, Then let thy moistened love some drops distil; Weep on (my friend) I cannot I control The copious fountain; for a silent tear Does apprehend the quick; but never howl: Forsake me now, and leave me desolate, I would revolve the lessons of my state. Who Menander cal's? What hidden Devil dares molest my muse? Death to my soul! what comes? Who comes? or how dost come? invisible? Why, or whence dost come? Damnation overtake thee, what's thy name? Shadow of Stygian horror! what's thy name? (Intruder) know thy distance, keep aloof, Come not within six yards, upon the price And peril of and unavoided charm: By which, and thousand other potent spells, The magic Herbal, ointments, numbers odd, By transmutations, midnights, Jucubus, Squint-eyed Ericthon, soul of Hecate, I do conjure thee, tell, and not mistake, How fares Pheudippe of the Stygian lake? Bless the good stars above, thou guilty thief Which do enclose thee with a robe of clouds, Spite of protection else, and coats of steel, The tempest of my passion thou shouldst feel; Thunder and lightning should not dare withstand To take endue vengeance from my fatal hand. Did thy ambitious height incur all this? I do indeed forgive thee, therefore tell Compassion to the Pursuivant of ell; Say I forgive thee, and on that discharge, Command the crabbed Jailer to enlarge Thy long and low j thraldom; often say I do forgive thee (false ungracious man) Oh oftentimes repeat, the Kingforgiues, Often repeat, as and exemplar thing, Thou hast obtained forgiveness of a King, For a tall grant-error, and offence Made monstrous big by circumstance; contempt In a degree above comparison; Yet I forgive those capital crimes done: If thou attainted be with some offence, Equal in nature to this high contempt, Go then cursed, till I redeem thee, go Accounted worthy of damnations woe: But, because officers do sting Like bees, Say I forgive thee, and will pay thy fees. Few plaintiffs, or appellants do the Like, Though I without a judgement will release Errors escaped from youth, soliue in peace. My sister false? Hamilcar such a knave? Who indeed is, but is affections slave? Does Favorina live? deer shadow stay, Split then in pieces thou pernicious toad, My plagues diminish to augment thy load. My Queen survive! joint-cause of all my woe! Of all my anger, blasphemy and rage! Is she reserved? does Favorina live? Whose absence made me rail at Cinthia? Oh I have swallowed poison which tor ênts All my distracted veins with agony, A grief continuing without all release, Consumption of my pain breeds pains increase. Now for obnoxious compounds to possess The soul with everlasting lethargy, Ransom of thousand Kings would I exchange, Or Like a beast, humanity estrange. Oh for enchanted Peppei, or the juice Of drunken Hemlock, to lay souls asleep, I'de Like a Serpent on our belly creep, Licking each humble shrub, and careless feed Upon the stubble of each stinking weed. Shreike o the midnight- mandrakes voice aloud, So may the horror of that piercing found, Turn soul and body both alike to ground: Pel-mel together my affections fight, Each conquer each, some scud away by flight. but brave Messala Acts Agamemnon. Bufo, Perillus, both be Chieftains too, Attentive to decide the argument Of our contention, striving to deserve The honour of Achilles after death. Each take his partly and study to rehearse may stumble at and easy verse. Shall every coward be competitor With Princes of such potent fortitude, Such high descent, such saintish pedigree As Greece can tell I Ajax do enjoy? For Jove and all the Gods acknowledge me, My arm hath whole share in the dust of Troy. Contend with me? (thou creeping snail) with me? Whom wrathful Hector on his Elephant, Mounted Like Neptune on the cursed waves, Loath to encounter, did forsake the field; Through his fair absence did the Trojans yield. Fie (prating coxcomb) what a senseless fool A stupid wretch, and suffering Ass am I To interchange the air, and empty voice With such a sheehead, a poor Ithacan? Give us our lance and he met, I consume Till I have turned this coward into fume: Fetch some offensive swords, and scimitars, Javelins and Curtaxe, I will crush this Ape, And as a trophy wear his captive skin; (The doubtful terror of my certain spoil Which may affright, and make our foes recoil.) Oh my forgotten fury swell apace, And spit forth lightning in the cowards face, Who hath no title to his bold pretence, But a most a poor untutored eloquence. Then let me challenge some prerogative From this forgotten place: laugh Jupiter, And blame the stupid brains of this rude throng, Which with unthankful eyes can here behold The ships, the sands, the tattered sails and shore, (All rescued vassals of my venturous arm) Yet make us dead, and vain Ulysses warm; Warm with the bounty which the frozen snake Will but abuse (my Lords) and you mistake. What man was he took danger by the jaws? Gave and assault of battery to the ribs Of rampant Horror? hewed a passage out From spoil and ruin, to reap victory? Wrestled, and rescued Navies from the fire? And did (for safety) senge his beard with flames? Gave to triumphant Hector the repulse? Quenched a combustion aequal in extremes To burning Phaeton, and the torrid Zone? What man was he? No talking verbalist; But I, even Ajax, with but half a fist: Where was my smooth-tongued adversary then? What hope had weak Ulysses to supply A Captains partly with school-boys eloquence? No (poor Ulysses ) if thou apprehendest My unresisted victories aright; If you conceive your disabilities, Your inclinations natural, and raw, Your lame, and halting courage in exploit; Remembering sir with whom you do contend, With me, with Ajax, whom no fears offend, Then magnify your self, and think it praise, Above thy merits, to confess, by drum, By harp and sackbut, that (though overcome) Thou didst yet strive with Ajax, and renounce Each other title, which may well denounce Thee indiscreet, and thy assumption proud; Help me (deer Wisdom) to refrain, for I Shall be transported into agony By virtue of a sighed so ominous, So full of brazen impudence and fear, As that proud linguist, my competitor. Advance, advance, your melancholy brow, Bend your attentive politicians ear To that which heaven and I will asseucre, You have been taught to dance, and turn the heel, To run away betimes, and to forsake Thy friend, nay soul, upon extremity. Nestor, Tydides, both can well aver, You lack the rules of doctrine militant; All rescue is accounted heresy: Which rule (if pity and compassion both Were not my maxims friend) had cost your life. I saw death's Sergeant ready to arrest Thy pensive soul, when tumbling down to earth, I threw my target on thy pallid hearse, Drove back thy foes, and did thy soul reverse. Will you (sir) walk unto the place again? Go feign some foes approach, put fear enough, And wounds on, for a shift, shrink up again, And Like the Tortorse undercreep your shell; So sir contend I pray, and stammer well: Be wise (you mighty Captains) and collect How Hector did the Trojan troops renew, Amazing vaunt-guards with-a multitude Of heathen Gods giving a bloody cause Of quick despair to my Antagonist; Nay to the valiant and provincial Dukes: This dreadful man, this Hector (tossing souls Like Gnats and Ants-eggs down to Erebus ) I beat him groveling, laid his limbs asleep; And Like a mountain from the firmament, Down fell great Hector from his Elephant: Let then a wreathe of Oak impale my head, And let Ulysses share with Diomed. Mars be my aequal judge! what simple man (Except in league with sottish ignorance) Would (upon forfeit of his patrimony, And stock of wisdom to debility) Admit Ulysses my competitor To strive in jest with Ajax? if desert Shall in the upshot be predominant, Look on our outsides, on our helmets look; View each men Beaver, Breastplate, Sword and Lance, Look on our outsides hoe! consider well And pause upon each target; give me leave, To show the tokens of a Soldiers claim, And to uncase a cowards infamy. Mark but the difference betwixt our shields: Mine (a true target) hath sustained whole groves Of artificial timber, topped with steel, I stood Like Mars among my Trojan foes, When all forsook me but my faithful targe, It still continued, and did nobly keep, My limbs exposed to danger of the field; A Crocodile I think may covert sleep Within the large wounds of my open shield: Cast (I beseech) now half a purblind look Upon that thievish varlet; and his shield, Observe how smooth and fair his nightcaps be, His helmets (Lords) I mean, observe his shield, His Beaver trimmed twice twenty times a day; His gauntlets, gorgets, and his gilded Arms, All of a sweet complexion, sanguine sap, As to encounter some fine Ladies lap: Meaning to be a Champion of the smocks, A gallant spruce young warrior indeed, War shall press wives; for Soldiers do not bleed. Account my phrase no ambiguity, Ulysses sloth my words will verify: I laugh most freely to imagine how Effeminate Ulysses will support The massy fabric of Achiles arms, If my deservings shall be robbed and lose That which I honour, and affection wooes. Depth to my Fortune's! shall Ulysses rob My long worser S ruings of so rich a claim? I will increase the bargain, stay a while Take my memento. Dost fly from vengeance? whither can you fly? Help it forward (faith) And give some fee to Justice: (gallants) know, Mischief to high extremes this pair did woo, Hark they confess what wonder did reveal, Give your applause, and make a merry peal: Call me not Ajax now, but Mercury, Who could untie a Tragic riddle thus; Worthy to be esteemed miraculous. I am a God; Translated by the voice of Parliament Which sits above this cloudy firmament: I am a God Euphorbus; am no King; The Tawny-more, and Ethiop shall bring Unto my Altars pleasant sacrifice, Fresh Open -balsum; Fawns of paradise; Roe-buckes and balm to please our Deity. Stab us (thou Atheist) stab us, and believe That I am perfect shadow, am a God; Thrust thy unwilling Poniard through my ribs; And thence perceive our full Divinity; Avoid my wrath (I say) it's dangerous, If you refuse, I am unmerciful. Deep enough dig then: o my small wound smarts My breath is stopped, my Godlike soul departs. Enough; and in that final word, Enough, Our lamentations fail: remove the hearse, His body sleeps: who may the soul reverse? (My Council) stay, assist me; and because From the succession of new Kings, new laws Take their original, I do intend Enormities of custom to amend, Matters (though in themselves erroneous) Amended, may prove meritorious, Had but impartial Fate five longer weeks, Allotted to my fe progenitor. He, by advise of your sage gravity, Had finished (ere this) what you begun, Which (through default) I must remember done. The people of our continent, each sex Both masculine and female, do adore A Goddess, whose essential partly is change, (Proper to widows, virgins wild, and wives) Antiquity does call her CINTHIA; The honour, sacrifice and Hecatombs, Spent in the solemn, superficial awe Of her accounted-sanctimonious law, Are (without aequal number) infinite. We, knowing her supremacy extends No further then weak women, will abridge That annual expense, and will confine Such customare devotion to the sect Of Priesthoods feminine; their simple sex Shall by injunction worship CINTHIA, To whom indeed they be subordinate. So, this decree of privilege exempts Men from oblations: Let and Officer Inform the people thus. Your dutiful acceptance (noble friends) Of this propounded policy, does urge My secret nature to disclose the love Which was inflamed when juniority Of years and judgement (my associates) Gave me advice, which a more grounded age Does entertain, with equal permanence: With selfsame fervor and integrity Of true entire affection, as before. Nay friends allow the marriage of your King, A matter lawful first in general And thence refute the scruple so precise, Which bolsters up a life Monastical. Do all agree with this old or'e-ioyd man? With temptiue cups we'll was away conceit, And so enew each health in sober height. What means thy mad irruption L lio? Amazement be my death; deer captain hold: Permit the the traitor to enjoy some breath. Infamous change of dignity! deer friend, Traitor? thou liest, admit his active blood, His nimble brain, acute sincerity, Conceived some sober means to ratify, Or to confirm opinionate belief, With trial of our unattempted love; May this deserve a stab? what insolence May term this loyal project and offence? Il'e over-vexe with artificial fire, Thee (slave) who didst Pheudippe's death conspire. Touching her name Il'e prove a renegade, My sudden scourge what soul can tolerate? What a continual clapping is there then? For daily hope consumes the greatest men: I do appeal to dead Pheudippes shame Thou terror to my sense, a prodigy Of all remembrance never to be matched With any Ghost or man except thy self: Who through abortive hope didst match thy self: A man most worthy of all impious fame, Who Worser n Pheudippe cleaped was by name. Know (gallant sir) I did repose my life Upon the friendship of that foolish man; He kept my soul between his Tyrant's arms Nay (let me add) the valve of my Crown, (For which some Kings would even exchange their soul) He kept both Soul and Crown betwixt his arms, You both lay open to excessive harms: Oh if I had election to dispend My favour upon such a Rogue as he But once, once more; I'de lock my counsel up And keep my bosom secrets to my self.