The History of Philosophy ... By Thomas Stanley. Containing those on whom the Attribute of VVise was conferred |
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| Epigrams. |
 | The History of Philosophy |  |
52
Epigrams.
Upon one named Aster.
The Stars, my Star, thou view'st; Heav'n I would be,That I with thousand eyes might gaze on Thee.
Upon his Death.
A Phosphor 'mongst the living late wert thou,But shin'st among the dead a Hesper now.
Epitaph on Dion, engrav'd on his Tomb at Siracuse.
Old Hecuba the Trojan Matron's yearsWere interwoven by the Fates with Tears;
But thee with blooming hopes my Dion deckt,
Gods did a Trophy of their pow'r erect.
Thy honour'd reliques in their Country rest,
Ah Dion! whose love rages in my breast.
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On Alexis.
Fair is Alexis, I no sooner said,When every one his eyes that way convey'd:
My soul (as when some dog a bone we show,
Who snatcheth it) lost we not Phædrus so?
On Archæanassa.
To Archæ'nassa, on whose surrow'd browLove sits in triumph, I my service vow;
If her declining Graces shine so bright,
What flames felt you, who saw her noon of light?
On Agathon.
My Soul, when I kiss'd Agathon, did startUp to my lip, just ready to depart.
To Xantippe.
An Apple I (Love's emblem) at the throw,Thou in exchange thy Virgin-zone bestow.
If thou refuse my suite, yet read in this,
How short thy years, how frail thy Beauty is.
I cast the apple, loving those love thee,
Xantippe yeeld, for soon both old will be.
On the Eretrians vanquish'd by the Persians.
We in Eubæa born Eretrians areBuried in Susa from our Country far:
Venus and the Muses.
Virgins (said Venus to the Muses) payHomage to us, or, Love shall wound your Hearts:
The Muses answer'd, take these toyes away,
Our Breasts are proof against his childish darts.
Fortune exchang'd.
One finding Gold, in change, the halter quits,Missing his Gold, 'tother the halter knits.
On Sappho.
He, who believes the Muses Nine, mistakes;For Lesbian Sappho ten their number makes.
Time.
Time all things bring to passe, a change createsIn Names, in Formes, in Nations and in States.
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Death.
That is a Plough-man's grave, a Sailor's this;To Sea and Land alike Death common is.
On one Shipwrack'd.
The cruell Sea, which took my life away,Forbore to strip me of my last array:
From this a covetous man did not refrain,
Acting a crime so great for so small gain;
But let him wear it to the shades, and there
Before great Pluto in my cloaths appear.
Another.
[Safely (O Saylors) presse the Land, and wave]
Safely (O Saylors) presse the Land, and wave,Yet know, ye passe a Shipwrack'd persons grave.
On the Statue of Venus.
Paphian Cythera, swimming crosse the Main,To Guidas came her Statue there to see,
And from on high, surveying round the plain
Where could Praxiteles me spy? (saith shee)
He saw not what's forbidden mortall Eyes,
'Twas Mars's Steel that Venus did incize.
Another.
[Not carv'd by Steel, or Praxitele's fam'd hand]
Not carv'd by Steel, or Praxitele's fam'd hand:Thus nak'd before the Judges did'st thou stand.
Love sleeping.
Within the Covert of a shady Grove,We saw the little red-cheek'd God of Love.
He had nor Row nor Quiver, those among
The neighb'ring Trees upon a bough were hung:
Upon a Bank of tender Rose-buds laid
He, (smiling) slept; Bees with their noise invade
His rest, and on his lips their honey made,
Pan Piping.
Dwell awfull Silence on the shady HillsAmong the bleating flocks, and purling rills,
When Pan the Reed doth to his lip apply,
Inspiring it with sacred Harmony,
Hydriads, and Hamadryads at that sound
In a well order'd measure beat the ground.
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On the Image of a Satyre in a Fountain and Love sleeping.
A skilfull hand this Satyre made so nearTo life, that only Breath is wanting here:
I am attendant to the Nymphs; before
I fill'd out purple wine, now water powre;
Who ere thou art com'st nigh, tread softly, lest
You waken Love out of his pleasing rest.
Another.
[On horn'd Lyæus I attend]
On horn'd Lyæus I attend,And powre the streams these Nayads lend,
Whose noise Lov's slumber doth befriend.
Another.
[This Satyre Diodorus did not make]
This Satyre Diodorus did not make,But charme asleep; if prick'd he will awake.
On a Seal.
Five Oxen grazing in a flow'ry Mead,A Jasper seal done to the life doth hold,
The little herd away long since had fled,
We'rt not inclos'd within a pale of Gold.
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The Sonnet.
[Love, (whose hand guides my Hearts strict Reins]
I.
Love , (whose hand guides my Hearts strict ReinsNor, though he govern it, disdains
To feed the fire with pious care
Which first himself enkindled there)
Commands my backward Soul to tell
What Flames within her Bosom dwell;
Fear would perswade her to decline
The charge of such a high design;
But all her weak reluctance fails,
'Gainst greater Force no Force avails.
Love to advance her flight will lend
Those wings by which he did descend
Into my Heart, where he to rest
For ever, long since built his Nest:
I what from thence he dictates write,
And draw him thus by his own Light.
II.
Love , flowing from the sacred springOf uncreated Good, I sing:
When horn; how Heaven be moves; the soul
Informs; and doth the World controwl;
How closely lurking in the heart,
With his sharp weapons subtle art
From heavy earth he Man unites,
Enforcing him to reach the skies.
How kindled, how he flames, how burns;
By what laws guided now he turns
To Heaven, now to the Earth descends,
Now rests 'twixt both, to neither bends.
Apollo, Thee I invocate,
Bowing beneath so great a weight.
Love, guide me through this dark design,
And imp my shorter wings with thine.
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III.
When from true Heav'n the sacred SunInto th'Angelick Mind did ran,
And with enliv'ned Leaves adorn,
Bestowing form on his first-born;
Enflamed by innate Desires,
She to her chiefest good aspires;
By which reversion her rich Brest
With various Figures is imprest;
And by this love exalted, turns
Into the Sun for whom she burns.
This flame, rais'd by the Light that shin'd
From Heav'n into th'Angelick Mind,
Is eldest Loves religious Ray,
By Wealth and Want begot that Day,
When Heav'n brought forth the Queen, whose Hand
The Cyprian Scepter doth Command.
IV.
This born in amorous Cypris arms,The Sun of her bright Beauty warms.
From this our first desire accrues,
Which in new fetters caught, pursues
The honourable path that guides
Where our eternall good resides.
By this the fire, through whose fair beams
Life from above to Mankind streams,
Is kindled in our hearts, which glow
Dying, yet dying greater grow;
By this th'immortal Fountain flows,
Which all Heaven forms below, bestows;
By this descends that shower of light
Which upwards doth our minds invite;
By this th'Eternall Sun inspires
And souls with sacred lustre fires.
V.
As God doth to the Mind dispenceIts Being, Life, Intelligence,
So doth the Mind the soul acquaint
How't understand, to move, to paint;
She thus prepar'd, the Sun that shines
In the Eternal Breast designs,
And here what she includes diffuses,
Exciting every thing that uses
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To live, to know, to operate.
Inferiour Venus hence took Birth;
Who shines in heav'n, but lives on earth,
And o're the world her shadow spreads:
The elder in the Suns Gloss reads
Her Face, through the confused skreen
Of a dark shade obscurely seen;
She Lustre from the Sun receives,
And to the Other Lustre gives;
Celestiall Love on this depends,
The younger, vulgar Love attends.
VI.
Form'd by th'eternal Look of God,From the Suns most sublime abode,
The Soul descends into Mans Heart,
Imprinting there with wondrous Art
What worth she borowed of her star,
And brought in her Celestiall Carre;
As well as humane Matter yields,
She thus her curious Mansion builds;
Yet all those fames from the divine
Impression differently decline:
The Sun, who's figu'rd here, his Beams
Into anothers Bosom streams;
In whose agreeing soul he staies,
And guilds it with its virtuous Rales,
The heart in which Affection's bred,
Is thus by pleasing Errour fed.
VII.
The heart where pleasing Errour raigns,This object as her Child maintains,
By the fair light that in her shines
(A rare Celestiall Gift,) refines;
And by degrees at last doth bring
To her first splendours sacred spring,
From this divine Look, one Sun passes
Through three refulgent Burning-glasses,
Kindling all Beauty, which the Spirit,
The Body, and the Mind inherit.
These rich spoiles, by th'eye first caught,
Are to the Souls next Handmaid brought,
Who there resides: She to the brest
Sends them; reform'd, but not exprest:
The heart, from Matter Beauty takes,
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And what were meant by Natures Laws,
Distinct, She in one Picture draws:
VIII.
The heart by Love allur'd to seeWithin her self her Progeny;
This, like the Suns reflecting Rayes
Upon the Waters face, survaies;
Yet some divine, though clouded light
Seems here to twinckle, and invite
The pious Soul, a Beauty more
Sublime, and perfect to adore.
Who sees no longer his dim shade
Upon the earths vast Globe display'd,
But certain Lustre, of the true
Suns truest Image, now in view.
The Soul thus entring in the Mind,
There such uncertainty doth find,
That she to clearer Light applies
Her aimes, and near the first Sun flies:
She by his splendour beautious grows,
By loving whom all Beauty flows
Upon the Mind, Soul, World, and All
Included in this spacious Ball.
IX.
But hold! Love stops the forward CourseThat me beyond my scope would force.
Great Power! if any Soul appears
Who not alone the blossoms wears,
But of the rich Fruit is possest,
Lend him thy Light, deny the rest.
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