 | Hippolytus, Medea, Agamemnon, Herculas Oetaeus |  |
Nutrix.
My shiuering minde amazed is, agast, and sore dismayde:
My chillish lims with quaking colde do tremble all afrayde.
Such plagues & vengeāce is at hand, in what exceding wise
Do sharp assaults of greedy griefe still more & more arise,
And of it selfe in smothering breast enkindlesse greater heate?
Oft haue I seene how ramping rage hath forced her to freate.
With franticke fits, mad, bedlem wise, against the Gods to rayle,
And eke bewitched ghosts of heauen in plunging plagues to trayle:
But now Medea beates her busie brayne to bring to passe
A myschiefe greater, greater farre, then euer any was.
Erewhile when hence she tript away astonished so sore,
And of her poyson closset close shee entred had the dore:
Shee powreth out her Iewels all, abrode to light shee brings
That which she dreading lothed long, most irksome vgly things:
She mumbling coniures vp by names of ills the rable rout,
In hugger mugger cowched long, kept close, vnserched out:
All pestlent plagues she calles vpon, what euer Libie lande,
In frothy boyling stream doth worke, or muddy belching sande:
What tearing torments Taurus breedes, with snowes vnthawed still
Where winter flawes, and hory knit hard the craggy hill,
She layes her crossing hands vpon each monstrous coniurde thing,
And ouer it her magicke verse with charming doth she sing:
A mowsie, rowsie, rusty route with cancred Scales Iclad
From musty, fusty, dusty dens where lurked long they had,
Doe craull: a wallowing serpent huge, his cōbrous Corps out drags,
In fiery foming blaring mouth his forked tongue hee wags.
He stares about with sparkling eyes, if some he might espy,
Whom snapping at with stinging spit he might constrayne to dy:
But hearing once the magycke verse he husht as all a gast,
His body boalne big, wrapt in lumps on twining knots hee cast.
And wambling to and fro his tayle in linkes he rowles it round.
Not sharp enough (quoth she) the plagues & tooles that hollow groūd
Engenders for my purpose are, to heauen vp will I call,
To reach me stronger poyson down, to frame my feate with all.
Now is it at the very poynt, Medea thou assay,
To bring about some farther fetch, then common Witches may.
Let downe, let downe, that sprawling Snake that doth his body spred,
As doth a running brooke abroade his myghty channell shed.
Whose swelling knobs of wondrous sise & boystrous bobbing bumpes
Doth thumpe the great & lesser beare that feele his heauy lumpes.
The bygger beare with golden gleede the greekish fleete doth guyde:
But by the lesse the Sidon ships their passage haue espide.
He that with pinch of griping fist doth bruse the adders twayne,
His strening hard & clasping hande, let him vnknit agayne.
And crushe their squeased venome out, come further thou our charme
O slymy serpent Python, whom Dame Iuno sent to harme
Diana, and Apollo both, (those heauenly spyrites twayne)
With whom Latona traueling did grone with pynching payne.
O Hydra whom in Lerna poole Alcides gaue the foyle,
And all the noysome vermen vyle that Hercules did spoyle.
Which when on sunder they were cut with slysing deadly knyfe,
Can knit agayne their sodred partes, and so recouer lyfe.
Help wakefull Dragon Argos, whom first magicke wordes of myne
Made Morpheus locke thy sleepy liddes, and shut thy slugring eyne.
Then hauing brought aboue the ground of Serpents all the rout,
Of filthy weedes the ranckest bane shee pyckes, and gathers out,
That spryng on knotty Eryx hill where passage none is founde,
Among the ragged Rockes, or what on Caucasus his grounde
Doth grow that still is clad in Coate of hoary moary frost.
That euermore vnmelt abydes, whose spattred fylde is soste
With gubbs of bloud, yt spowteth from Prometheus gaping maw,
Whose guts with twitching talent out the gastly gripe doth draw.
Or any other venemous herbe amonge the Medes that growes,
That with their sheafe of arowes sharp in field do scare their foes.
Or what the light held Parthian to serue her turne can sende,
Or els the rych Arabians, that dyp theyr arrowes ende
In poyson strong: the iuyce of all Medea out doth wrynge,
That vnderneath the frosen poale in Svveuia land doth sprynge.
Whose noble state Hircinus woode doth high enhaunce and reare,
Or what the pleasaunte soyle doth yeelde in pryme of smiling veare,
When nature byddes the byrd begin her shrowding nest to builde,
Or when the churlyshe Boreas blast sharpe winter hath exilde,
The trym aray of braunche and bough to cloth the naked tree,
And euery thinge with bitter coulde of Snowe congealed bee.
In any pestilent flower on stalke of any hearbe doth growe,
Or noysome ioyce doth lye in rotten wrythen rootes alowe,
Hath any force in breading bane, those takes shee in her hande.
Some plaugy hearbes did Athos yeelde that mount of Thessayle lande.
And other Pindus roches hye and some vppon the top
Of Pingeus, but tender twigges the cruell Sythe did lop:
These Tigris ryuer norisht vp, that choakes his whyrlpoale deepe
With stronger streame. Danubius those in fostring waue did keepe.
Those did Hidaspus mynister, who by the parching zone
With lukewarme siluer channell runnes, so rych with precious stone.
And Bethis sonne, who gaue the name vnto his countrey great,
And with his shallowe soarde agaynst the Spanyshe seas doth beat
This hearbe aboade the edge of knyfe in dawning of the day
Ere Phœbus Face gan peepe, bedect with glittring goulden spray
His slender stalke was snepped of in deepe of silent nyght,
His corne was cropt, whyle she wt charme her poysned nayles did dight.
Shee chops the deadly hearbes, & wrings the squesed clottered bloud
Of Serpentes out: and filthy byrdes of irkesome miry mud:
She tempers with the fame and eake: she brayes the heart of Owle
Foreshewing death with glaring Eyes, and moaping Uysage foule,
Of shryke Owle hoarce alyue she takes the durty stinking guts,
All these the framer of this feate in dyuers percels puts.
This hath in it deuouring force of greedy spoyling flame,
The frosen ysie dulling coulde engenders by the same.
Shee chauntes on those the magicke verse, that workes no lesser harme,
With bustling frantickely shee stampes, and ceaseth not to charme.
My shiuering minde amazed is, agast, and sore dismayde:
My chillish lims with quaking colde do tremble all afrayde.
Such plagues & vengeāce is at hand, in what exceding wise
Do sharp assaults of greedy griefe still more & more arise,
And of it selfe in smothering breast enkindlesse greater heate?
Oft haue I seene how ramping rage hath forced her to freate.
133
And eke bewitched ghosts of heauen in plunging plagues to trayle:
But now Medea beates her busie brayne to bring to passe
A myschiefe greater, greater farre, then euer any was.
Erewhile when hence she tript away astonished so sore,
And of her poyson closset close shee entred had the dore:
Shee powreth out her Iewels all, abrode to light shee brings
That which she dreading lothed long, most irksome vgly things:
She mumbling coniures vp by names of ills the rable rout,
In hugger mugger cowched long, kept close, vnserched out:
All pestlent plagues she calles vpon, what euer Libie lande,
In frothy boyling stream doth worke, or muddy belching sande:
What tearing torments Taurus breedes, with snowes vnthawed still
Where winter flawes, and hory knit hard the craggy hill,
She layes her crossing hands vpon each monstrous coniurde thing,
And ouer it her magicke verse with charming doth she sing:
A mowsie, rowsie, rusty route with cancred Scales Iclad
From musty, fusty, dusty dens where lurked long they had,
Doe craull: a wallowing serpent huge, his cōbrous Corps out drags,
In fiery foming blaring mouth his forked tongue hee wags.
He stares about with sparkling eyes, if some he might espy,
Whom snapping at with stinging spit he might constrayne to dy:
But hearing once the magycke verse he husht as all a gast,
His body boalne big, wrapt in lumps on twining knots hee cast.
And wambling to and fro his tayle in linkes he rowles it round.
Not sharp enough (quoth she) the plagues & tooles that hollow groūd
Engenders for my purpose are, to heauen vp will I call,
To reach me stronger poyson down, to frame my feate with all.
Now is it at the very poynt, Medea thou assay,
To bring about some farther fetch, then common Witches may.
Let downe, let downe, that sprawling Snake that doth his body spred,
As doth a running brooke abroade his myghty channell shed.
Whose swelling knobs of wondrous sise & boystrous bobbing bumpes
Doth thumpe the great & lesser beare that feele his heauy lumpes.
The bygger beare with golden gleede the greekish fleete doth guyde:
But by the lesse the Sidon ships their passage haue espide.
He that with pinch of griping fist doth bruse the adders twayne,
His strening hard & clasping hande, let him vnknit agayne.
And crushe their squeased venome out, come further thou our charme
O slymy serpent Python, whom Dame Iuno sent to harme
[133]
With whom Latona traueling did grone with pynching payne.
O Hydra whom in Lerna poole Alcides gaue the foyle,
And all the noysome vermen vyle that Hercules did spoyle.
Which when on sunder they were cut with slysing deadly knyfe,
Can knit agayne their sodred partes, and so recouer lyfe.
Help wakefull Dragon Argos, whom first magicke wordes of myne
Made Morpheus locke thy sleepy liddes, and shut thy slugring eyne.
Then hauing brought aboue the ground of Serpents all the rout,
Of filthy weedes the ranckest bane shee pyckes, and gathers out,
That spryng on knotty Eryx hill where passage none is founde,
Among the ragged Rockes, or what on Caucasus his grounde
Doth grow that still is clad in Coate of hoary moary frost.
That euermore vnmelt abydes, whose spattred fylde is soste
With gubbs of bloud, yt spowteth from Prometheus gaping maw,
Whose guts with twitching talent out the gastly gripe doth draw.
Or any other venemous herbe amonge the Medes that growes,
That with their sheafe of arowes sharp in field do scare their foes.
Or what the light held Parthian to serue her turne can sende,
Or els the rych Arabians, that dyp theyr arrowes ende
In poyson strong: the iuyce of all Medea out doth wrynge,
That vnderneath the frosen poale in Svveuia land doth sprynge.
Whose noble state Hircinus woode doth high enhaunce and reare,
Or what the pleasaunte soyle doth yeelde in pryme of smiling veare,
When nature byddes the byrd begin her shrowding nest to builde,
Or when the churlyshe Boreas blast sharpe winter hath exilde,
The trym aray of braunche and bough to cloth the naked tree,
And euery thinge with bitter coulde of Snowe congealed bee.
In any pestilent flower on stalke of any hearbe doth growe,
Or noysome ioyce doth lye in rotten wrythen rootes alowe,
Hath any force in breading bane, those takes shee in her hande.
Some plaugy hearbes did Athos yeelde that mount of Thessayle lande.
And other Pindus roches hye and some vppon the top
Of Pingeus, but tender twigges the cruell Sythe did lop:
These Tigris ryuer norisht vp, that choakes his whyrlpoale deepe
With stronger streame. Danubius those in fostring waue did keepe.
Those did Hidaspus mynister, who by the parching zone
With lukewarme siluer channell runnes, so rych with precious stone.
And Bethis sonne, who gaue the name vnto his countrey great,
And with his shallowe soarde agaynst the Spanyshe seas doth beat
134
Ere Phœbus Face gan peepe, bedect with glittring goulden spray
His slender stalke was snepped of in deepe of silent nyght,
His corne was cropt, whyle she wt charme her poysned nayles did dight.
Shee chops the deadly hearbes, & wrings the squesed clottered bloud
Of Serpentes out: and filthy byrdes of irkesome miry mud:
She tempers with the fame and eake: she brayes the heart of Owle
Foreshewing death with glaring Eyes, and moaping Uysage foule,
Of shryke Owle hoarce alyue she takes the durty stinking guts,
All these the framer of this feate in dyuers percels puts.
This hath in it deuouring force of greedy spoyling flame,
The frosen ysie dulling coulde engenders by the same.
Shee chauntes on those the magicke verse, that workes no lesser harme,
With bustling frantickely shee stampes, and ceaseth not to charme.
| Hippolytus, Medea, Agamemnon, Herculas Oetaeus | |