Kitabı oku: «The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3)», sayfa 10

Elegia XV. ⁴⁴⁸

Ad Venerem, quod elegis finem imponat

 
Tender Loves' mother⁴⁴⁹ a new poet get,
This last end to my Elegies is set.⁴⁵⁰
Which I, Peligny's foster-child, have framed,
Nor am I by such wanton toys defamed.
Heir of an ancient house, if help that can,
Not only by war's rage⁴⁵¹ made gentleman.
In Virgil Mantua joys: in Catull Verone;
Of me Peligny's nation boasts alone;
Whom liberty to honest arms compelled,
When careful Rome in doubt their prowess held.⁴⁵²
And some guest viewing watery Sulmo's walls,
Where little ground to be enclosed befalls,
"How such a poet could you bring forth?" says:
"How small soe'er, I'll you for greatest praise."
Both loves, to whom my heart long time did yield,⁴⁵³
Your golden ensigns pluck⁴⁵⁴ out of my field.
Horned Bacchus graver fury doth distil,
A greater ground with great horse is to till.
Weak Elegies, delightful Muse, farewell;
A work that, after my death, here shall dwell.
 

EPIGRAMS BY J[ohn] D[avies]

EPIGRAMS BY J[ohn] D[avies]. ⁴⁵⁵

AD MUSAM. I

 
Fly, merry Muse, unto that merry town,
Where thou mayst plays, revels, and triumphs see;
The house of fame, and theatre of renown,
Where all good wits and spirits love to be.
Fall in between their hands that praise and love thee,⁴⁵⁶
And be to them a laughter and a jest:
But as for them which scorning shall reprove⁴⁵⁷ thee,
Disdain their wits, and think thine own the best.
But if thou find any so gross and dull,
That thinks I do to private taxing⁴⁵⁸ lean,
Bid him go hang, for he is but a gull,
And knows not what an epigram doth⁴⁵⁹ mean,
Which taxeth,⁴⁶⁰ under a particular name,
A general vice which merits public blame.
 

OF A GULL. II

 
Oft in my laughing rhymes I name a gull;
But this new term will many questions breed;
Therefore at first I will express at full,
Who is a true and perfect gull indeed.
A gull is he who fears a velvet gown,
And, when a wench is brave, dares not speak to her;
A gull is he which traverseth the town,
And is for marriage known a common wooer;
A gull is he which, while he proudly wears
A silver-hilted rapier by his side,
Endures the lie⁴⁶¹ and knocks about the ears,
Whilst in his sheath his sleeping sword doth bide;
A gull is he which wears good handsome clothes,
And stands in presence stroking up his hair,
And fills up his unperfect speech with oaths,
But speaks not one wise word throughout the year:
But, to define a gull in terms precise,—
A gull is he which seems and is not wise.⁴⁶²
 

IN REFUM. III

 
Rufus the courtier, at the theatre,
Leaving the best and most conspicuous place,
Doth either to the stage⁴⁶³ himself transfer,
Or through a grate⁴⁶⁴ doth show his double face,
For that the clamorous fry of Inns of Court
Fill up the private rooms of greater price,
And such a place where all may have resort
He in his singularity doth despise.
Yet doth not his particular humour shun
The common stews and brothels of the town,
Though all the world in troops do thither run,
Clean and unclean, the gentle and the clown:
Then why should Rufus in his pride abhor
A common seat, that loves a common whore?
 

IN QUINTUM. IV

 
Quintus the dancer useth evermore
His feet in measure and in rule to move:
Yet on a time he call'd his mistress whore,
And thought with that sweet word to win her love.
O, had his tongue like to his feet been taught,
It never would have utter'd such a thought!
 

IN PLURIMOS. V. ⁴⁶⁵

 
Faustinus, Sextus, Cinna, Ponticus,
With Gella, Lesbia, Thais, Rhodope,
Rode all to Staines,⁴⁶⁶ for no cause serious,
But for their mirth and for their lechery.
Scarce were they settled in their lodging, when
Wenches with wenches, men with men fell out,
Men with their wenches, wenches with their men;
Which straight dissolves⁴⁶⁷ this ill-assembled rout.
But since the devil brought them thus together,
To my discoursing thoughts it is a wonder,
Why presently as soon as they came thither,
The self-same devil did them part asunder.
Doubtless, it seems, it was a foolish devil,
That thus did part them ere they did some evil.
 

IN TITUM. VI

 
Titus, the brave and valorous young gallant,
Three years together in his town hath been;
Yet my Lord Chancellor's⁴⁶⁸ tomb he hath not seen,
Nor the new water-work,⁴⁶⁹ nor the elephant.
I cannot tell the cause without a smile,—
He hath been in the Counter all this while.
 

IN FAUSTUM. VII

 
Faustus, nor lord nor knight, nor wise nor old,
To every place about the town doth ride;
He rides into the fields⁴⁷⁰ plays to behold,
He rides to take boat at the water-side,
He rides to Paul's, he rides to th' ordinary,
He rides unto the house of bawdry too,—
Thither his horse so often doth him carry,
That shortly he will quite forget to go.
 

IN KATAM. ⁴⁷¹ VIII

 
Kate, being pleas'd, wish'd that her pleasure could
Endure as long as a buff-jerkin would.
Content thee, Kate; although thy pleasure wasteth,
Thy pleasure's place like a buff-jerkin lasteth,
For no buff-jerkin hath been oftener worn,
Nor hath more scrapings or more dressings borne.
 

IN LIBRUM. IX

 
Liber doth vaunt how chastely he hath liv'd
Since he hath been in town, seven years⁴⁷² and more,
For that he swears he hath four only swiv'd,
A maid, a wife, a widow, and a whore:
Then, Liber, thou hast swiv'd all womenkind,
For a fifth sort, I know, thou canst not find.
 

IN MEDONTEM. X

 
Great Captain Medon wears a chain of gold
Which at five hundred crowns is valuèd,
For that it was his grandsire's chain of old,
When great King Henry Boulogne conquerèd.
And wear it, Medon, for it may ensue,
That thou, by virtue of this massy chain,
A stronger town than Boulogne mayst subdue,
If wise men's saws be not reputed vain;
For what said Philip, king of Macedon?
"There is no castle so well fortified,
But if an ass laden with gold comes on,
The guard will stoop, and gates fly open wide."
 

IN GELAM. XI

 
Gella, if thou dost love thyself, take heed
Lest thou my rhymes unto thy lover read;
For straight thou grinn'st, and then thy lover seeth
Thy canker-eaten gums and rotten teeth.
 

IN QUINTUM. ⁴⁷³ XII

 
Quintus his wit, infus'd into his brain,
Mislikes the place, and fled into his feet;
And there it wanders up and down the street,⁴⁷⁴
Dabbled in the dirt, and soakèd in the rain.
Doubtless his wit intends not to aspire,
Which leaves his head, to travel in the mire.
 

IN SEVERUM. XIII

 
The puritan Severus oft doth read
This text, that doth pronounce vain speech a sin,—
"That thing defiles a man, that doth proceed
From out the mouth, not that which enters in."
Hence is it that we seldom hear him swear;
And therefore like a Pharisee, he vaunts:
But he devours more capons in a year
Than would suffice a hundred protestants.
And, sooth, those sectaries are gluttons all,
As well the thread-bare cobbler as the knight;
For those poor slaves which have not wherewithal,
Feed on the rich, till they devour them quite;
And so, like Pharaoh's kine, they eat up clean
Those that be fat, yet still themselves be lean.
 

IN LEUCAM. XIV. ⁴⁷⁵

 
Leuca in presence once a fart did let:
Some laugh'd a little; she forsook the place;
And, mad with shame, did eke her glove forget,
Which she return'd to fetch with bashful grace;
And when she would have said "this is⁴⁷⁶ my glove,"
"My fart," quod she; which did more laughter move.
 

IN MACRUM. XV

 
Thou canst not speak yet, Macer; for to speak,
Is to distinguish sounds significant:
Thou with harsh noise the air dost rudely break;
But what thou utter'st common sense doth want,—
Half-English words, with fustian terms among,
Much like the burden of a northern song.
 

IN FAUSTUM. XVI

 
"That youth," said Faustus, "hath a lion seen,
Who from a dicing-house comes moneyless."
But when he lost his hair, where had he been?
I doubt me, he⁴⁷⁷ had seen a lioness.
 

IN COSMUM. XVII

 
Cosmus hath more discoursing in his head
Than Jove when Pallas issu'd from his brain;
And still he strives to be deliverèd
Of all his thoughts at once; but all in vain;
For, as we see at all the playhouse-doors,
When ended is the play, the dance, and song,
A thousand townsmen, gentlemen, and whores,
Porters, and serving-men, together throng,—
So thoughts of drinking, thriving, wenching, war,
And borrowing money, ranging in his mind,
To issue all at once so forward are,
As none at all can perfect passage find.
 

IN FLACCUM. XVIII

 
The false knave Flaccus once a bribe I gave;
The more fool I to bribe so false a knave:
But he gave back my bribe; the more fool he,
That for my folly did not cozen me.
 

IN CINEAM. XIX

 
Thou, doggèd Cineas, hated like a dog,
For still thou grumblest like a masty⁴⁷⁸ dog,
Compar'st thyself to nothing but a dog;
Thou say'st thou art as weary as a dog,
As angry, sick, and hungry as a dog,
As dull and melancholy as a dog,
As lazy, sleepy, idle⁴⁷⁹ as a dog.
But why dost thou compare thee to a dog
In that for which all men despise a dog?
I will compare thee better to a dog;
Thou art as fair and comely as a dog,
Thou art as true and honest as a dog,
Thou art as kind and liberal as a dog,
Thou art as wise and valiant as a dog.
But, Cineas, I have often⁴⁸⁰ heard thee tell,
Thou art as like thy father as may be:
'Tis like enough; and, faith, I like it well;
But I am glad thou art not like to me.
 

IN GERONTEM. ⁴⁸¹ XX

 
Geron, whose⁴⁸² mouldy memory corrects
Old Holinshed our famous chronicler
With moral rules, and policy collects
Out of all actions done these fourscore year;
Accounts the time of every odd⁴⁸³ event,
Not from Christ's birth, nor from the prince's reign,
But from some other famous accident,
Which in men's general notice doth remain,—
The siege of Boulogne,⁴⁸⁴ and the plaguy sweat,⁴⁸⁵
The going to Saint Quintin's⁴⁸⁶ and New-Haven,⁴⁸⁷
The rising⁴⁸⁸ in the north, the frost so great,
That cart-wheel prints on Thamis' face were graven,⁴⁸⁹
The fall of money,⁴⁹⁰ and burning of Paul's steeple,⁴⁹¹
The blazing star,⁴⁹² and Spaniards' overthrow:⁴⁹³
By these events, notorious to the people,
He measures times, and things forepast doth show:
But most of all, he chiefly reckons by
A private chance,—the death of his curst⁴⁹⁴ wife;
This is to him the dearest memory,
And th' happiest accident of all his life.
 

IN MARCUM. XXI

 
When Marcus comes from Mins',⁴⁹⁵ he still doth swear,
By "come⁴⁹⁶ on seven," that all is lost and gone:
But that's not true; for he hath lost his hair,
Only for that he came too much on⁴⁹⁷ one.
 

IN CYPRIUM. XXII

 
The fine youth Cyprius is more terse and neat
Than the new garden of the Old Temple is;
And still the newest fashion he doth get,
And with the time doth change from that to this;
He wears a hat now of the flat-crown block,⁴⁹⁸
The treble ruff,⁴⁹⁹ long coat, and doublet French:
He takes tobacco, and doth wear a lock,⁵⁰⁰
And wastes more time in dressing than a wench.
Yet this new-fangled youth, made for these times,
Doth, above all, praise old George⁵⁰¹ Gascoigne's rhymes.⁵⁰²
 

IN CINEAM. XXIII

 
When Cineas comes amongst his friends in morning,
He slyly looks⁵⁰³ who first his cap doth move:
Him he salutes, the rest so grimly scorning,
As if for ever they had lost his love.
I, knowing how it doth the humour fit
Of this fond gull to be saluted first,
Catch at my cap, but move it not a whit:
Which he perceiving,⁵⁰⁴ seems for spite to burst.
But, Cineas, why expect you more of me
Than I of you? I am as good a man,
And better too by many a quality,
For vault, and dance, and fence, and rhyme I can:
You keep a whore at your own charge, men tell me;
Indeed, friend Cineas, therein you excel me.⁵⁰⁵
 

IN GALLUM. XXIV

 
Gallus hath been this summer-time in Friesland,
And now, return'd, he speaks such warlike words,
As, if I could their English understand,
I fear me they would cut my throat like swords;
He talks of counter-scarfs,⁵⁰⁶ and casamates,⁵⁰⁷
Of parapets, curtains, and palisadoes;⁵⁰⁸
Of flankers, ravelins, gabions he prates,
And of false-brays,⁵⁰⁹ and sallies, and scaladoes.⁵¹⁰
But, to requite such gulling terms as these,
With words to my profession I reply;
I tell of fourching, vouchers, and counterpleas,
Of withernams, essoins, and champarty.
So, neither of us understanding either,
We part as wise as when we came together.
 

IN DECIUM. ⁵¹¹ XXV

 
Audacious painters have Nine Worthies made;
But poet Decius, more audacious far,
Making his mistress march with men of war,
With title of "Tenth Worthy" doth her lade.
Methinks that gull did use his terms as fit,
Which term'd his love "a giant for her wit."
 

IN GELLAM. XXVI

 
If Gella's beauty be examinèd,
She hath a dull dead eye, a saddle nose,
An ill-shap'd face, with morphew overspread,
And rotten teeth, which she in laughing shows;
Briefly, she is the filthiest wench in town,
Of all that do the art of whoring use:
But when she hath put on her satin gown,
Her cut⁵¹² lawn apron, and her velvet shoes,
Her green silk stockings, and her petticoat
Of taffeta, with golden fringe around,
And is withal perfum'd with civet hot,
Which doth her valiant stinking breath confound,—
Yet she with these additions is no more
Than a sweet, filthy, fine, ill-favour'd whore.
 

IN SYLLAM. XXVII

 
Sylla is often challeng'd to the field,
To answer, like a gentleman, his foes:
But then doth he this⁵¹³ only answer yield,
That he hath livings and fair lands to lose.
Sylla, if none but beggars valiant were,
The king of Spain would put us all in fear.
 

IN SYLLAM. XXVIII

 
Who dares affirm that Sylla dare not fight?
When I dare swear he dares adventure more
Than the most brave and most⁵¹⁴ all-daring wight
That ever arms with resolution bore;
He that dare touch the most unwholesome whore
That ever was retir'd into the spittle,
And dares court wenches standing at a door
(The portion of his wit being passing little);
He that dares give his dearest friends offences,
Which other valiant fools do fear to do,
And, when a fever doth confound his senses,
Dare eat raw beef, and drink strong wine thereto:
He that dares take tobacco on the stage,⁵¹⁵
Dares man a whore at noon-day through the street,
Dares dance in Paul's, and in this formal age
Dares say and do whatever is unmeet;
Whom fear of shame could never yet affright,
Who dares affirm that Sylla dares not fight?
 

IN HEYWODUM. XXIX

 
Heywood,⁵¹⁶ that did in epigrams excel,
Is now put down since my light Muse arose;⁵¹⁷
As buckets are put down into a well,
Or as a schoolboy putteth down his hose.
 

IN DACUM. ⁵¹⁸ XXX

 
Amongst the poets Dacus number'd is,
Yet could he never make an English rhyme:
But some prose speeches I have heard of his,
Which have been spoken many a hundred time;
The man that keeps the elephant hath one,
Wherein he tells the wonders of the beast;
Another Banks pronouncèd long agone,
When he his curtal's⁵¹⁹ qualities express'd:
He first taught him that keeps the monuments
At Westminster, his formal tale to say,
And also him which puppets represents,
And also him which with the ape doth play.
Though all his poetry be like to this,
Amongst the poets Dacus number'd is.
 

IN PRISCUM. XXXI

 
When Priscus, rais'd from low to high estate,
Rode through the street in pompous jollity,
Caius, his poor familiar friend of late,
Bespake him thus, "Sir, now you know not me,"
"'Tis likely, friend," quoth Priscus, "to be so,
For at this time myself I do not know."
 

IN BRUNUM. XXXII

 
Brunus, which deems⁵²⁰ himself a fair sweet youth,
Is nine and thirty⁵²¹ year of age at least;
Yet was he never, to confess the truth,
But a dry starveling when he was at best.
This gull was sick to show his nightcap fine,
And his wrought pillow overspread with lawn;
But hath been well since his grief's cause hath line⁵²²
At Trollop's by Saint Clement's Church in pawn.
 

IN FRANCUM. XXXIII

 
When Francus comes to solace with his whore,
He sends for rods, and strips himself stark naked;
For his lust sleeps, and will not rise before,
By whipping of the wench, it be awakèd.
I envy him not, but wish I⁵²³ had the power
To make myself his wench but one half-hour.
 

IN CASTOREM. XXXIV

 
Of speaking well why do we learn the skill,
Hoping thereby honour and wealth to gain?
Sith railing Castor doth, by speaking ill,
Opinion of much wit, and gold obtain.
 

IN SEPTIMIUM. XXXV

 
Septimius⁵²⁴ lives, and is like garlic seen,
For though his head be white, his blade is green.
This old mad colt deserves a martyr's praise,
For he was burnèd⁵²⁵ in Queen Mary's days.
 

OF TOBACCO. XXXVI

 
Homer of Moly and Nepenthe sings;
Moly, the gods' most sovereign herb divine,
Nepenthe, Helen's⁵²⁶ drink, which gladness brings,
Heart's grief expels, and doth the wit refine.
But this our age another world hath found,
From whence an herb of heavenly power is brought;
Moly is not so sovereign for a wound,
Nor hath nepenthe so great wonders wrought.
It is tobacco, whose sweet subtle⁵²⁷ fume
The hellish torment of the teeth doth ease,
By drawing down and drying up the rheum,
The mother and the nurse of each disease;
It is tobacco, which doth cold expel,
And clears th' obstructions of the arteries,
And surfeits threatening death digesteth well,
Decocting all the stomach's crudities;⁵²⁸
It is tobacco, which hath power to clarify
The cloudy mists before dim eyes appearing;
It is tobacco, which hath power to rarify
The thick gross humour which doth stop the hearing;
The wasting hectic, and the quartan fever,
Which doth of physic make a mockery,
The gout it cures, and helps ill breaths for ever,
Whether the cause in teeth or stomach be;
And though ill breaths were by it but confounded,
Yet that vild⁵²⁹ medicine it doth far excel,
Which by Sir Thomas More⁵³⁰ hath been propounded,
For this is thought a gentleman-like smell.
O, that I were one of these mountebanks
Which praise their oils and powders which they sell!
My customers would give me coin with thanks;
I for this ware, forsooth,⁵³¹ a tale would tell:
Yet would I use none of these terms before;
I would but say, that it the pox will cure;
This were enough, without discoursing more,
All our brave gallants in the town t'allure.
 

IN CRASSUM. XXXVII

 
Crassus his lies are no⁵³² pernicious lies,
But pleasant fictions, hurtful unto none
But to himself; for no man counts him wise
To tell for truth that which for false is known.
He swears that Gaunt⁵³³ is three-score miles about,
And that the bridge at Paris⁵³⁴ on the Seine
Is of such thickness, length, and breadth throughout,
That six-score arches can it scarce sustain;
He swears he saw so great a dead man's skull
At Canterbury digg'd out of the ground,
As⁵³⁵ would contain of wheat three bushels full;
And that in Kent are twenty yeomen found,
Of which the poorest every year⁵³⁶ dispends
Five thousand pound: these and five thousand mo
So oft he hath recited to his friends,
That now himself persuades himself 'tis so.
But why doth Crassus tell his lies so rife,
Of bridges, towns, and things that have no life?
He is a lawyer, and doth well espy
That for such lies an action will not lie.
 

IN PHILONEM. XXXVIII

 
Philo, the lawyer,⁵³⁷ and the fortune-teller,
The school-master, the midwife,⁵³⁸ and the bawd,
The conjurer, the buyer and the seller
Of painting which with breathing will be thaw'd,
Doth practise physic; and his credit grows,
As doth the ballad-singer's auditory,
Which hath at Temple-Bar his standing chose,
And to the vulgar sings an ale-house story:
First stands a porter; then an oyster-wife
Doth stint her cry and stay her steps to hear him;
Then comes a cutpurse ready with his⁵³⁹ knife,
And then a country client presseth⁵⁴⁰ near him;
There stands the constable, there stands the whore,
And, hearkening⁵⁴¹ to the song, mark⁵⁴² not each other;
There by the serjeant stands the debitor,⁵⁴³
And doth no more mistrust him than his brother:
This⁵⁴⁴ Orpheus to such hearers giveth music,
And Philo to such patients giveth physic.
 

IN FUSCUM. XXXIX

 
Fuscus is free, and hath the world at will;
Yet, in the course of life that he doth lead,
He's like a horse which, turning round a mill,
Doth always in the self-same circle tread:
First, he doth rise at ten;⁵⁴⁵ and at eleven
He goes to Gill's, where he doth eat till one;
Then sees a play till six;⁵⁴⁶ and sups at seven;
And, after supper, straight to bed is gone;
And there till ten next day he doth remain;
And then he dines; then sees a comedy;
And then he sups, and goes to bed again:
Thus round he runs without variety,
Save that sometimes he comes not to the play,
But falls into a whore-house by the way.
 

IN AFRUM. XL

 
The smell-feast⁵⁴⁷ Afer travels to the Burse
Twice every day, the flying news to hear;
Which, when he hath no money in his purse,
To rich men's tables he doth ever⁵⁴⁸ bear.
He tells how Groni[n]gen⁵⁴⁹ is taken in⁵⁵⁰
By the brave conduct of illustrious Vere,
And how the Spanish forces Brest would win,
But that they do victorious Norris⁵⁵¹ fear.
No sooner is a ship at sea surpris'd,
But straight he learns the news, and doth disclose it;
No⁵⁵² sooner hath the Turk a plot devis'd
To conquer Christendom, but straight he knows it.
Fair-written in a scroll he hath the names
Of all the widows which the plague hath made;
And persons, times, and places, still he frames
To every tale, the better to persuade.
We call him Fame, for that the wide-mouth slave
Will eat as fast as he will utter lies;
For fame is said an hundred mouths to have,
And he eats more than would five-score suffice.