LXVIII.
[In secrete seate and centre of my hearte]
The Author hath wrought this passion out of certaine verses of Stephanus Forcatulus, which are these.
Cor mihi punxit amor, sed punxit præpete telo;
figitur hoc tum plus, cum magis excutio. &c.
Carpere dictamum Cretœa nil iuuet Ida,
quo vellunt cerui spicula fixa leues.
Telephus hæc cadem fatalia vulnera sensit,
sanare vt tantum, qui facit illa, queat.
And whereas the Author in the end of this passion, alludeth
to the woundes of Telephus, he is to be vnderstoode of that
Telephus, the Sonne of Hercules, of whose wounde, being made
and healed by Achilles onely, Ouid writeth thus.
Vulnus Achillæo quod quondam fecerat hosti,
Uulneris auxilium Pelias hasta tulit
And propertius in like maner lib. 2.
Mysus et Hæmonia iuuenis qui cuspide vulnus
Senserat, hac ipsa cuspide sensit opem.
Suidas mentioneth another Telephus, an excellent Grāmarian of Pergamus.
In
secrete seate and centre of my hearte,
Unwares to me, not once suspecting ill,
Blinde Cupides hand hath fixt a deadly dart,
Whereat how ere I plucke, it sticketh still,
And workes effect like those of Arab soyle,
Whose heades are dipt in poyson steed of oyle.
If't were like those, wherewith in Ida plaine
The Crætan hunter woundes the chased deere,
I could with Dictame drawe it out againe,
And cure me so, that skarre should scarce appeare:
He alludeth to the wound of Philoctetes.
Or if Alcides shaft did make me bleed,
Machaons art would stand me in some steede.
But being, as it is, I must compare
With fatall woundes of Telephus alone,
And say, that he, whose hand hath wrought my care,
Must eyther cure my fatall wounde, or none:
Helpe therefore gentle Loue to ease my heart,
Whose paines encrease, till thou withdraw thy dart.
