University of Virginia Library

The .xx. Epistle.

Acontius to Cydippe.

Abandon dreade, for to thy Louer thou
shalt frame no farther hest ne swere again:
Thy once ingaged faith I recke ynough.
Read & suruay my lines: so may this griefe
And languor leaue thy corps, which is my tene
When any limme of thine sustaineth smart.
Why blush you? and why with Uermilion taint
Be flecke your cheekes? in Dians temple so
I deeme thy face with scarlet hue infect.
Marrige and plighted troth, no crime I craue:
I loue not as a Letcher, but a spouse.
Reuoke to minde the wordes in Apple graude,
Which to thy guiltlesse handes I did proiect.
There shalt thou finde confirmde by solemne oth,
That I require: vnlesse both fixed faith
And wordes at once out of thy breast are fled.
Euen as I drad in deede, the Goddesse frettes.
O Nimph, thou rather than the Goddesse shouldst
Stand mindefull of thy hest and promise made:
And now I feare the like. But oh to more
Hir raging force is growne, and flame increast
By lingring staye. And loue that neuer was
Slender, by yeelded hope in processe springs.
Thou gauste me hope, my loue lent faith thereto
That Dian witnesde thou canst not withsaye.
She tho was prest, and noted well the wordes
And seemde with mooued tresse to giue assent.
Report that by deceite thou were intrapt,
Whilst Cupid did inforce me forge the fraude.
What ment my craft but to be linckt with thee?
That thou complainste, may well me reconcile.
Not guilefull I by vse, or nature am,
Me thou (my wenche) in fayth hast subtill made.
(If I did ought by Art) with sleightfull woordes,
The wilye Loue hath fast with mee enchainde:
I knit the knot with woordes that he pronounst,
And craftie I by Cupids councell, woxe.
Let guile sustaine the name, let me be saide
Subtille, if things be looude to winne, be craft.
Beholde, I write a fresh, and frame request,
Another fraude whereof thou mayste complaine.
If I, in that I loue, annoy thee so,
Incessantly I will: and though thou bee
Full well aduisde, I will pursue thee aye.
Others by swoord haue many Nymphes purloynd
And shall a letter forgde by craftie sleight,
To me as haynous crime obiected be?
Gods graunt I thee in faster knot may chaine.
As thou mayst neuer finde a way to start,
Nor flie thy fixed faith. A thousande tricks
There are, and I in that one trauaile toyle,
Nothing my loue permits vntride to goe.
Though doubtful be where thou wilt yeeld or no,
(The ende is in the Gods,) but thou shalt yeelde,
And be entrapt, and forst in fine to bow.
Some toyles put case thou scape? yet al the ginnes
Thou canst not passe with crafty Cupid pight:
Moe Nettes there are than thou surmisde to bee.
If Art may not auaile, to armes we will,
And I will thee, as rape atchiude enioy.
I am not he that Paris fact controlle,
Nor any that such manlike parts haue playde.
And I. But now no more: though death ensue
This rape, should lesse aggrieue than thee to lose.
Oh, would yu were worse featurde than thou art,
With reason then of me thou shouldst be sought:
Thy face doth me to valiance now procure.
Thou, and thine eyes (surpassing flaming starres,
Which were the causers of my glowing gleade)
In me this courage moues, and stoutnesse stirres,
Thy yellow golden locks, thy yuorie necke,
Thy handes, (of whome I long to be accold,
Thy feature, and thy blushing countenance
Deuoyde of Rusticks grace: and feete such as
With Thetis may cōpare, this boldnesse breedes,
More fortunate were I, if all the reast
I might condignly prayse: but doubt I nought
But that the whole vnto his parts agrees.
By this thy forme enforst, no maruell though
I sought to haue thy parling voyce his pledge.
In fine, sith that thou art constrainde to yeelde
Thy selfe beguilde, by my deceitfull sleight
(O Uirgine) be thou conquerde at the last.
Let me sustaine the hate, and reape the fruite
For hatred so endurde: So haynous cryme
And blame why doth it want his earned hire?
Hesion Aiax, Briseis Achylles tooke,
And eyther of them their Victor did ensue.
Mee spare not to accuse, ne stick to wrath
Me, so I may thee angrie wight enioy.
We that procurde the yre, will please the same
If neuer so little leysure be allowde,
And respite giuen to lessen swelling wrath
Let me besprent with teares tofore thy face
Stand, adding to my teares lamenting sounde:
And as the frequent vse of Uassels is,
When they of lashing scourge doe stande in awe,
(Groufe at thy feete, stretch out my yeelding hāds)
What? knowst yu not thy right & Mistres powre?
Cite me. In absence why am I accusde?
As Ladies woonto, giue me in charge t'appeere.
Though thou my tresses teare in stately sort,
And make my face with buffets black and blewe:
Yet all I will endure, fearing but that
My bodie should thy tender fistes annoy.
In Chaine or Gyue t'is needelesse me to binde
Inlaste in loue, that haue no powre to flee.
When so thy wrath with wreak shal be repleate,
And anger be reuendge: thy selfe shalt say
Oh God, how paciently the man doth loue?
Thy selfe shalt say (when I haue all endurde)
My seruant thou that seruste so well shalt bee.
In absence why am I (vnluckie) deemde
Guiltie? and though my cause be passing good
Yet for default of Patrone, goes to wracke?
The bill that Cupid wrote, and gaue in charge,
It is my wrong and practisde iniurie,
This onely fact in me thou must reproue.
Dian with me deserued not the bob.
If so the thing to me thou hast behight
Thou loth to yeelde, let Delia beare the same.
For being prest she sawe when thou intrapt
Didst blush, in mindfull eare the words she plast,
Abodements laide apart more fiercer than
Diana, (when she sees hir Godhead wrongde,)
There is not any God, nor halfe to sterne.
The Calydonian Boare can well recorde:
For by his meane, how cruell was the Dame
Unto hir sonne, we haue full often read.
Witnesse Acteon eke, that fedde his Houndes
That earst with them had sundrie quarries made.
The haughtie Mother too to Marble turnde,
In ruthfull sort that in Migdoni standes?
Aye me (Cydip) I dreade the troth to tell,
Least I be thought for goodding of my cause
False matter to alledge: yet needes I must
Now plead the same. This is the cause (in fayth)
That thou at Nuptiall day art so diseasde,
Unable from the sickle Couch to rise.
Dian would doe thee good, and paynes hir sore
Least yu shouldst be forsworne: she gladly would
The sicklesse, and vnbroken Hest reserue.
Thence it proceedes (as oft as thou dost seeke
To swarue thy fayth) yt she thy carkasse plagues.
Leaue off to styrre the cruell Uirgins bowe:
Yet if thou wilt to ruth she may be brought.
Spare thou thy corse with Feuers to molest,
Reserue thy featurde face for me to vse:
That countnance keepe, to set my hart on flame
By nature made, where Rose with Lillie striues
So fare my foe, and who so else doth barre
Thee to be mine, as the diseasde I liue.
My griefe is one, or when thou linckest with
An other wight, or feelste tormenting teene,
I wote not which I reck the worst of both.
Sometime it yrkes me that I breede thy doole
Deeming thy grypes by my deceite to growe,
Praying the plague of periurie to redounde
On mee, that thou mightst by my scath escape.
And oft to wit, and vnderstand thy plight,
Doubtfull (God wote) I wander to and fro,
Thy Mayd at ynches suing and thy Man.
Demaunding how thy meate, and sleepe auaile.
Wo me, that I the rules of Phisick scorne,
And put them not in vre, ne wring hir wrestes,
Ne on hir cowch for comfortes sake, doe lye.
And woe againe, that I absent me thence,
An other perhaps, whome I ne would, is prest.
He feeles thy pulses, and doth sit him downe
By thy diseased corse, hatefull to Gods,
And with the Gods of me detested too.
And whilst wt thumbe he feeles ye leaping vaynes,
He straines by meane thereof, thy snowish armes,
Handling thy breast, and by escheate perhaps
A kisse doth gaine of those thy sugred lips,
A greater guerdon than his paine deserude.
Who gaue the leaue my haruest to forereape?
Unto an others hope, who made thy way?
That bosome (friend) is mine, fowly from me
My kisses thou bereauste: wherefore do way
Thy flippant fist from that my pacted corps.
Unthrift, do way thy hands, the thing thou feelst
Is me behight: hereafter if thou doe
The like, thou shalt a Leachers name procure.
On single Nymphes, and not dispoused Maydes
Make choyse: I would thou wist, this is possest.
Beleeue not mee giue to the bargaine, eare,
And cause hir reade the wryting, to this ende
Thou deeme hir not vntrue or false to bee.
Go from anothers bridall bed, I say,
What makes thou here? go pack, this knot is tide.
Put case thou haue a partie promise eake?
Yet is thy cause and mine vnegall farre.
Shee made me perfite vow: hir Sire the Nymph
To thee behight: but nearer than hir Sire,
Unto hir selfe the sielie Mayden standes.
Hir father made a promise: she by othe
Conioynde hir selfe in league of stayde loue.
He witnesde men: She Dian did protest.
He dreades the name of Liar to sustaine:
But she the blot of periurde tongue to beare.
Of both deeme thou which is the greater feare.
And last of both the perils to compare,
Respect the euents of both, and latter lot.
She lies diseasde: he liues releast of wo.
And we with dispar mindes for hir contende
Ne hope to both, nor egall is the dread.
Thou forcest not the sute: more griefull were
Repulse to me than death: alreadie I
Imbrace the Mayde, whome then in future time
And after this mayst haue the hap to loue.
If iustice, or regarde of right did lodge
Within thy brest, yu to my flames wouldst yeelde
Now since this furious wight maintaines a strife
In wrongfull cause, (Oh Cydip) to what ende
Doe I to thee these fruitlesse lines indite?
He breedes thy doole, and makes thee be suspect
Of Dian: him (if thou be wise) renounce.
Barre, and forbid him to approch thy lodge.
These perils by his meane thou doste endure:
That would he might acquite thy corse from wo,
That forger is of these my pinching paynes
Whome if thou flee, and linck with him in loue
Whome Dian not condemnes: release of fits
Thy selfe shalt finde, and I shall be reuiude,
Uirgin exile thy feare, doubt not recure,
Reuerence the temple where thou madste ye vow
The Gods delight not with a slaughtred Oxe,
But with a fayth performde without recorde.
Some women health to gaine, and purchase ease,
Both scarring Launce, & scalding flame endure:
Other the bitter drench acquites of paine.
These needelesse are to thee: flee periurie:
Thy selfe, thy Hest, and mee reserue at once.
Pardon of passed crime by ignorance
Shall be procurde: quite from thy mind was fled
And plighted promesse quite thy thought exilde.
Thee both my woordes, and these thy present haps
Haue warned, which thy carefull corse assault
As oft as thou from pawned faith dost wrie:
When these are ouerblowne in trauell thou
Wilt craue of hir, of baron to be well
And soone releast, and haue thy throwes abridgde.
Which she will heare, and rolling in hir minde
Will aske, who was the sielie infants Sire?
Thou wilt auow. She knowes thy Hest vntrue.
Thou wilt protest, and binde with sacred othe:
But she wottes well thou canst the Gods beguile,
It nothing toucheth mee: yet greater hoe
I haue and carefull is my hart of thy
Indaungred lyfe, that now in perill stands.
Why lately did thy doubtfull Parents mourne,
For thy distresse, whom thou thy crime cōcealdste?
And why are they vnwitting of thy guilt?
Cydip, thy deedes deserue no shame at all.
Display in order thine acquaintance first
With me, as to Dian thou didst thy rites:
And how, when first (if well thou didst attende)
I saw thy face, I stayd, and gaue the gaze,
Uewing with staring eyes thy comely corse,
And whilst I muzde thereat (a sicker signe
Of frensie) from my back my vesture slid.
And after, how by hap (thou whottste not howe)
A rolling Apple trillde, with lynes ingraude
Thereon, which were by subtile sleight deuisde:
Which being read by thee, in presence of
The sacred Goddesse, bound thy faith in bande,
Which, cause Diana heard, must not be slipt.
And to the fine she made the writing know,
As earst thou didst, so reade the same againe.
Wedde (will she say) with my good will, to him
With whom ye blissefull Gods haue thee cōioynd,
Let be my sonne, whom thou to spouse hast tane,
Who so it be, shall like me, for he earst
Hath stoode in Dians grace. Thy Mother thus
Will say, if so that she thy Mother bee.
If who, and what I am, she make demaunde,
Let hir beholde, and she shall well perceiue
That well for thee Diana hath puruayde,
The famous Ile (where the Coritian Nymphes
Did lodge of yore, inuironde with the Sea
Ægæum,) Cæa cleaped is the soyle
Where I was bred: and (if thou doe account
Of gentils bloud) my Grandsires were of fame.
And we are wealthie eke, our maners are
Not fraught wt shameful crimes, suppose ther wer
Nought else? yet loue hath shackled vs yfeare.
Unsworne thou mightst selected such a spouse,
And neuer forst with such a husbande wed.
This is my dreame, Phœbe the Archeresse,
And Loue awakt, did will me write to thee:
Of whom th' ones darts haue thirled erst my hart,
Beware least th' others shafts doe thee annoy.
Our healthes are ioynde in one: Rue on thy selfe
And me: why dost thou stagger both to ease?
Which if befal, when blasted Trumpe shal soūd,
And Delos he with yeelded bloud imbrude:
The golden Image of the blissefull fruite
Shall stande aloft, with cause in myter graude.
But least thy weakened limmes, and feeble corps,
My ouer long Epistle should molest:
To fine I may in woonted maner ende,
Aconce thy friend, biddes the (Cydip) adue.