The Works of Edmund Spenser :: :: University of Virginia Library

This Æglogue is made in the honour and commendation, of good shepeheardes, and to the shame and disprayse of proude and ambitious Pastours. Such as Morrell is here imagined to bee.

Thomalin. Morrell.
[Thomalin.]
Is not thilke same a goteheard

By Gotes in scrypture be represented the wicked and reprobate, whose pastour also must needes be such.

prowde,
that sittes on yonder bancke

Banck is the seate of honor.

,
Whose straying heard

which wander out of the waye of truth.

them selfe doth shrowde
emong the bushes rancke?

Morrell.
What ho, thou iollye shepheards swayne,
come vp the hyll to me:
Better is, then the lowly playne,
als

for also.

for thy flocke, and thee.

Thomalin.
Ah God shield, man, that I should clime

spoken of Ambition.

,
and learne to looke alofte,
This reede is ryfe, that oftentime
great clymbers

according to Seneca his verse, Decidunt celsa grauiore lapsu.

fall vnsoft.

In humble dales is footing fast,
the trode is not so tickle:
And though one fall through heedlesse hast,
yet is his misse not mickle

much.

.
And now the Sonne

A reason, why he refuseth to dwell on Mountaines, because there is no shelter against the scortching sunne. according to the time of the yeare, whiche is the whotest moneth of all.

hath reared vp
his fyriefooted teme,
Making his way betweene the Cuppe

Be two signes in the Firmament, through which the sonne maketh his course in the moneth of Iuly.

,
and golden Diademe

Be two signes in the Firmament, through which the sonne maketh his course in the moneth of Iuly.

:
The rampant Lyon

Thys is Poetically spoken, as if the Sunne did hunt a Lion with one Dogge. The meaning wherof is, that in Iuly the sonne is in Leo. At which tyme the Dogge starre, which is called Syrius or Canicula reigneth, with immoderate heate causing Pestilence, drougth, and many diseases.

hunts he fast,
with Dogge of noysome breath,
Whose balefull barking bringes in hast
pyne, plagues, and dreery death.
Agaynst his cruell scortching heate
where hast thou couerture?
The wastefull hylls vnto his threate
is a playne ouerture

an open place. The word is borrowed of the French, and vsed in good writers.

.
But if thee lust, to holden chat

to talke and prate.

with seely shepherds swayne,
Come downe, and learne the little what,
that Thomalin can sayne.

Morrell.
Syker, thous but a laesie loord

A loorde was wont among the old Britons to signifie a Lorde. And therefore the Danes, that long time vsurped theyr Tyrannie here in Brytanie, were called for more dread then dignitie, Lurdanes .s. Lord Danes. At which time it is sayd, that the insolencie and pryde of that nation was so outragious in thys Realme, that if it fortuned a Briton to be going ouer a bridge, and sawe the Dane set foote vpon the same, he muste retorne back, till the Dane were cleane ouer, or els abyde the pryce of his displeasure, which was no lesse, then present death. But being afterwarde expelled that name of Lurdane became so odious vnto the people, whom they had long oppressed, that euen at this daye they vse for more reproche, to call the Quartane ague the Feuer Lurdane.

,
and rekes much of thy swinck

counts much of thy paynes.

,
That with fond termes, and weetlesse

not vnderstoode.

words
to blere myne eyes doest thinke.
In euill houre thou hentest in hond
thus holy hylles to blame,
For sacred vnto saints they stond,
and of them han theyr name.
S. Michels mount

S. Michels mount is a promontorie in the West part of England.

who does not know,
that wardes the Westerne coste?
And of S. Brigets bowre I trow,
all Kent can rightly boaste:
And they that con of Muses skill,
sayne most what, that they dwell
(As goteheards wont) vpon a hill

Parnassus afforesayd.

,
beside a learned well.
And wonned not the great God Pan

Christ.

vpon mount Oliuet:
Feeding the blessed flocke of Dan

One trybe is put for the whole nation per Synecdochen.

,
which dyd himselfe beget?

Thomalin.
O blessed sheepe, O shepheard great,
that bought his flocke so deare,
And them did saue with bloudy sweat
from Wolues, that would them teare.

Morrel.
Besyde, as holy fathers sayne,
there is a hyllye place,
Where Titan

the Sonne. Which story is to be redde in Diodorus Syc. of the hyl Ida; from whence he sayth, all night time is to bee seene a mightye fire, as if the skye burned, which toward morning beginneth to gather into a rownd forme, and thereof ryseth the sonne, whome the Poetes call Titan.

ryseth from the mayne,
to renne hys dayly race.
Vpon whose toppe the starres bene stayed,
and all the skie doth leane,
There

that is in Paradise, where through errour of shepheards vnderstanding, he sayth, that all shepheards did vse to feede theyr flocks, till one, (that is) Adam by hys follye and disobedience, made all the rest of hys ofspring be debarred and shutte out from thence.

is the caue, where Phebe layed,
the shepheard

The Shepheard is Endymion, whom the Poets fayne, to haue bene so beloued of Phœbe .s. the Moone, that he was by her kept a sleepe in a caue by the space of xxx. yeares, for to enioye his companye.

long to dreame.
Whilome there vsed shepheards all
to feede theyr flocks at will,
Till by his foly one did fall,
that all the rest did spill.
And sithens shepheardes bene foresayd
from places of delight:
For thy I weene thou be affrayd,
to clime this hilles height.
Of Synah

a hill in Arabia, where God appeared.

can I tell thee more,
and of our Ladyes bowre

a place of pleasure so called.

:
But little needes to strow my store,
suffice this hill of our.
Here han the holy Faunes

be of Poetes feigned to be Gods of the Woode.

resourse,
and Syluanes

be of Poetes feigned to be Gods of the Woode.

haunten rathe.
Here has the salt Medway

the name of a Ryuer in Kent, which running by Rochester, meeteth with Thames; whom he calleth his elder brother, both because he is greater, and also falleth sooner into the Sea.

his sourse,
wherein the Nymphes doe bathe.
The salt Medway, that trickling stremis
adowne the dales of Kent:
Till with his elder brother Themis
his brackish waues be meynt

mingled.

Here growes Melampode euery where,
and Teribinth

Melampode and Terebinth be hearbes good to cure diseased Gotes. of thone speaketh Mantuane, and of thother Theocritus.

τερμινθου τραγων εσχατον ακρεμονα.

good for Gotes:
The one, my madding kiddes to smere,
the next, to heale theyr throtes.
Hereto, the hills bene nigher heuen

Note the shepheards simplenesse, which supposeth that from the hylls is nearer waye to heauen.

,
and thence the passage ethe.
As well can proue the piercing leuin

Lightning; which he taketh for an argument, to proue the nighnes to heauen, because the lightning doth comenly light on hygh mountaynes, according to the saying of the Poete. Feriuntque summos fulmina montes.

,
that seeldome falls bynethe.

Thomalin.
Syker thou speakes lyke a lewde lorrell

A losell.

,
of Heauen to demen so:
How be I am but rude and borrell

a playne fellowe.

,
yet nearer wayes I knowe.
To Kerke the narre

nearer.

, from God more farre,
has bene an old sayd sawe.
And he that striues to touch the starres,
oft stombles at a strawe.
Alsoone may shepheard clymbe to skye,
that leades in lowly dales,
As Goteherd prowd that sitting hye,
vpon the Mountaine sayles.
My seely sheepe like well belowe,
they neede not Melampode:
For they bene hale

for hole.

enough, I trowe,
and liken theyr abode.
But if they with thy Gotes should yede

goe.

,
they soone myght be corrupted:
Or like not of the frowie

mustye or mossie.

fede,
or with the weedes be glutted.
The hylls, where dwelled holy saints,
I reuerence and adore:
Not for themselfe, but for the sayncts,
which han be dead of yore

long agoe.

.
And nowe they bene to heauen forewent

gone afore.

,
theyr good is with them goe:
Theyr sample onely to vs lent,
that als we mought doe soe.
Shepheards they weren of the best,
and liued in lowlye leas:

And sith theyr soules bene now at rest,
why done we them disease?
Such one he was, (as I haue heard
old Algrind often sayne)
That whilome was the first shepheard

The firste shepheard was Abell the righteous, who (as scripture sayth) bent hys mind to keeping of sheepe, as did hys brother Cain to tilling the grownde.

,
and liued with little gayne:
As meeke he was, as meeke mought be,
simple, as simple sheepe,
Humble, and like in eche degree
the flocke, which he did keepe.
Often he vsed of hys keepe

hys charge s. his flocke.

a sacrifice to bring,
Nowe with a Kidde, now with a sheepe
the Altars hallowing.
So lowted

did honour and reuerence.

he vnto hys Lord,
such fauour couth he fynd,
That sithens neuer was abhord,
the simple shepheards kynd.
And such I weene the brethren were,
that came from Canaan:
The brethren

the twelue sonnes of Iacob, whych were shepemaisters, and lyued onelye thereupon.

twelue, that kept yfere
the flockes of mighty Pan.
But nothing such thilk shephearde was,
whom Ida

Paris, which being the sonne of Priamus king of Troy, for his mother Hecubas dreame, which being with child of hym, dreamed shee broughte forth a fireband, that set all the towre of Ilium on fire, was cast forth on the hyll Ida; where being fostered of shepheards, he eke in time became a shepheard, and lastly came to knowledge of his parentage.

hyll dyd beare,
That left hys flocke, to fetch a lasse

Helena the wyfe of Menelaus king of Lacedemonia, was by Venus for the golden Aple to her geuen, then promised to Paris, who thereupon with a sorte of lustye Troyanes, stole her out of Lacedemonia, and kept her in Troye. which was the cause of the tenne yeares warre in Troye, and the moste famous citye of all Asia most lamentably sacked and defaced.

,
whose loue he bought to deare:
For he was proude, that ill was payd,
(no such mought shepheards bee)
And with lewde lust was ouerlayd:
tway things doen ill agree:
But shepheard mought be meeke and mylde,
well eyed, as Argus

Argus was of the Poets deuised to be full of eyes, and therefore to hym was committed the keeping of the transformed Cow Io: So called because that in the print of a Cowes foote, there is figured an I in the middest of an O.

was,
With fleshly follyes vndefyled,
and stoute as steede of brasse.
Sike one (sayd Algrin) Moses was,
that sawe hys makers face,
His face more cleare, then Christall glasse,
and spake to him in place.
This had a brother, (his name

he meaneth Aaron: whose name for more Decorum, the shephearde sayth he hath forgot, lest his remembraunce and skill in antiquities of holy writ should seeme to exceede the meanenesse of the Person.

I knewe)
the first of all his cote,

A shepheard trewe, yet not so true

for Aaron in the absence of Moses started aside, and committed Idolatry.

,
as he that earst I hote.
Whilome all these were lowe, and lief,
and loued their flocks to feede,
They neuer strouen to be chiefe,
and simple was theyr weede.
But now (thanked be God therefore)
the world is well amend,
Their weedes bene not so nighly wore,
such simplesse mought them shend:
They bene yclad in purple

Spoken of the Popes and Cardinalles, which vse such tyrannical colours and pompous paynting.

and pall,
so hath theyr god them blist,
They reigne and rulen ouer all,
and lord it, as they list:
Ygyrt with belts

Girdles.

of glitterand

Glittering. a Participle vsed sometime in Chaucer, but altogether in I. Goore.

gold,
(mought they good sheepeheards bene)
Theyr Pan

that is the Pope, whom they count theyr God and greatest shepheard.

theyr sheepe to them has sold,
I saye as some haue seene.
For Palinode

A shephearde, of whose report he seemeth to speake all thys.

(if thou him ken)
yode late on Pilgrimage
To Rome, (if such be Rome) and then
he sawe thilke misusage.
For shepeheards (sayd he) there doen leade,
as Lordes done other where,
Theyr sheepe han crustes, and they the bread:
the chippes, and they the chere:
They han the fleece, and eke the flesh,
(O seely sheepe the while)
The corne is theyrs, let other thresh,
their hands they may not file.
They han great stores, and thriftye stockes,
great freendes and feeble foes:
What neede hem caren for their flocks?
theyr boyes can looke to those.
These wisards

greate learned heads.

weltre

wallowe.

in welths waues,
pampred in pleasures deepe,
They han fatte kernes

a Churle or Farmer.

, and leany knaues,
their fasting flockes to keepe.
Sike mister men

such kinde of men.

bene all misgone,
they heapen hylles of wrath:

Sike syrlye

stately and prowde.

shepheards han we none,
they keepen all the path.

Morrell.
Here is a great deale of good matter,
lost for lacke of telling,
Now sicker I see, thou doest but clatter:
harme may come of melling

medling.

.
Thou medlest more, then shall haue thanke,
to wyten shepheards welth:
When folke bene fat, and riches rancke,
it is a signe of helth.
But say me, what is Algrin

the name of a shepheard afforesayde, whose myshap he alludeth to the chaunce, that happened to the Poet Æschylus, that was brayned with a shellfishe.

he,
that is so oft bynempt

named.

.

Thomalin.
He is a shepheard great in gree

for degree.

,
but hath bene long ypent.
One daye he sat vpon a hyll,
(as now thou wouldest me:
But I am taught by Algrins ill,
to loue the lowe degree.)
For sitting so with bared scalpe,
an Eagle sored hye,
That weening hys whyte head was chalke,
a shell fish downe let flye:
She weend the shell fishe to haue broake,
but therewith bruzd his brayne,
So now astonied with the stroke,
he lyes in lingring payne.

Morrell.

Ah good Algrin, his hap was ill,
but shall be bett

better.

in time.
Now farwell shepheard, sith thys hyll
thou hast such doubt to climbe.

Thomalins Embleme.

In medio virtus.

Morrells Embleme.

In summo fœlicitas

Embleme.

By thys poesye Thomalin confirmeth that, which in hys former speach by sondrye reasons he had proued. for being both hymselfe sequestred from all ambition and also abhorring it in others of hys cote, he taketh occasion to prayse the meane and lowly state, as that wherein is safetie without feare, and quiet without danger, according to the saying of olde Philosophers, that vertue dwelleth in the middest, being enuironed with two contrary vices: whereto Morrell replieth with continuaunce of the same Philosophers opinion, that albeit all bountye dwelleth in mediocritie, yet perfect felicitye dwelleth in supremacie. for they say, and most true it is, that happinesse is placed in the highest degree, so as if any thing be higher or better, then that streight way ceaseth to be perfect happines. Much like to that, which once I heard alleaged in defence of humilitye out of a great doctour, Suorum Christus humillimus: which saying a gentle man in the company taking at the rebownd, beate backe again with lyke saying of another Doctoure, as he sayde. Suorum deus altissimus.