Humours Heau'n on Earth With The Ciuile Warres of Death and Fortune. As also The Triumph of Death: Or, The Picture of the Plague, according to the Life, as it was in Anno Domini. 1603. By Iohn Dauies of Hereford |
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Humours Heauen on Earth. |
 | Humours Heau'n on Earth |  |
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Humours Heauen on Earth.
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Vpon a time (thus olde wiues Tales begin,Then listen Lordings to an old wises Tale)
There were three men, that were, & were not kin,
(Reedeme this Riddle) at the Wine or Ale,
Did striue who most should grace the deerest Sin,
For which the daintiest Soules are set to sale:
For Soules that are most delicate for Sense,
Gainst stings of honied sinnes haue least defence.
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The first (for first Ile tell you eithers nameTo shew their natures) hight Poliphagus:
A greasie guttes, of most vnweldie frame;
The second named was Epithymus:
Light as a feather, apt to lightest game:
The third and last, hight Hyselophronus;
That still lookt on himselfe, as if he saw
That which the Gods did loue, and Men did awe.
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Nor is it vtterly impertinentVnto the matter subiect, to describe
The Weedes they ware, which were as different,
As was their Names, their Natures, & their Tribe;
The Habit sheweth how the heart is bent:
For, still the Heart the Habit doth prescribe:
And no externall signes can more bewray
The inwardest Affects then garments may.
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Poliphagus a Sute of Satten ware,Made wide and side; and yet his sides did swell,
So that his Trusse did couer scarse the bare,
And so his Panch (an homely Tale to tell)
Was fill'd with filth, that eu'ry stich did stare
Of that which casd it; and of grease did smell:
Which so re-glosst the Sattens glosse, that it
Was varnisht like their vailes that turne the Spit.
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His Buttons and the Holes, that held them fast,His brest made stil to striue which best could hold
But yet that breast made one another brast,
And so it selfe did swell as burst it would;
Who was some two elles compasse in the waste,
And had not seene his knees since two daies old:
No Points he vs'd; whose bumme and Belly burst,
Held vp his Sloppes, as strait as they were trusst.
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A paire of button'd Buskins casd his Legges,Which were all Calfe from Hams vnto the Heele;
And after him (like clogges) the same he dregges:
His Shooes were lin'd, that he no cold might feele;
The Soales whereof thicke Corke asunder gegs,
Made broad (without Indents) lest he might reele:
And ouer all, he ware a slabberd Gowne,
Which cloakt his Buttockes hugely ouergrowne!
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Thus haue we casd the Slouen, saue the Head;And wittingly we doe the same forbeare;
Because his Shoulders stoode in his Heads stead,
Which hardly did aboue their pitch appeare:
The lumpe of flesh was all so ouer-fed,
As he no man, but some Behemoth were:
For they whose ioy is all in drinke and meate,
Thogh mean they be, they needs must be too great
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Epithymus (the wanton) on his Crowne,A Crowne of Roses ware lasciuiously;
A falling Band of Cut-worke (richly sowne)
Did his broad Shoulders quite ore-canopy:
A waste-coate wrought with floures (as they had growne)
In colour'd silke, lay open to the eie:
And, as his Bosome was vnbutton'd quite,
So were his Points, vntrusst for ends too light!
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His Doublet was Carnation, cut with greeneRich Taffataes, quite through in ample Cuttes;
That so his Wast-coate might, ech where be seene,
When lusty Dames should eie this lusty Guttes:
And many Fauours hung the Cuttes betweene,
And many more, more light, in them he shuttes!
So that a vacant place was hardly found
About this Fancy, so well-fauour'd round.
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His Hose was French, and did his doublet sute,For Stuffe and Colour; to which sow'd there were
Silke-stockings, which sate strait his thighs about,
To make his leg and thigh more quaint appeere:
Their colour was, as was the vpper Sute,
Saue that the quirkes with gold and gawdie geere
Were so embosst, that as the Gallant goes,
The glosse did light his feete to saue his toes.
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His Shooes were like to Sandalls, for they wereSo caru'd aboue with many a curious Cut,
That through the same the stocking did appeere,
And in the Lachets were such Ribbands put,
As shadow'd all the foote from Sunne well neere,
Though, in Rose-forme, the ribband vp was shut:
And to make vp aright this Woman-Man,
He at his face still fenced with a fan.
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But Hyselophronus vnlike to him,Was richly clad, but much more graue it was;
For, he could not endure such colours trim,
Yet vs'd trimme colours to bring drifts to passe:
A Backe too bright, doth argue Braines too dim:
For, no such Asse as is the golden Asse:
But he that State to catch, doth know the knacke,
Hides all his haughtie thoughts in humble blacke.
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His Hat was Beauer of a middle sise,The Band, silke-Sipers foure-fold wreath'd about:
A shallow Cambricke Ruffe, with Sets precise,
Clos'd with a button'd string, that still hung out;
Wherewith he plai'd, while he did Plottes deuise;
To gull the Multitude, and rule the Rout:
His Sute was Satten, pinckt, and laced thicke,
As fit, as faire, without each peeuish tricke.
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His Cloke cloth-rash with veluet throughly lin'd,(As plaine as Plainenesse) without welt, or garde,
To seeme, thereby, to be as plaine in Mind;
For, he to seeme good, still had good regarde:
His rapier hilts wer blackt, which brightly shin'd,
A veluet Scobbard did that weapon warde:
The Hangers and the Girdle richly wrought,
With Silke of poorest colour, deerely bought.
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His Stockings (sutable vnto the same)Were of blacke silke, and crosse-wise gartered:
The Knot whereof a Roses forme did frame,
Which neare the ham the sable leaues did spred:
His Shooes were veluet, which his foote became,
Thus was he clad, from foote vnto the Head:
Who still was still, as one of iudgement staid,
Before he heard, and poiz'd, what others saide.
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While first (puft-panch) Poliphagus bespake,(But panted as he spake for want of winde;
And at each word his fat for feare did quake,
Lest that winds want that fat should melt, or bind,
O that (quoth he) then reached to perbrake)
Mans Necke were like a Cranes, then should we find
More pleasure in our meat & drink, because
T'would longer passe, with pleasure to our mawes.
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Eating and Drinking sweetly eates vp TimeThat eates vp all; then, feeding most of all
We ought to loue; for, we are made of Slime;
Then should we feed (lest we to slime should fall)
That so our flesh, by fat, to fat should climbe;
Fat Capons, Turkies, Fezants we may call
The Ladders to Perfection, and t'ascend
By such Degrees, is mans perfections end.
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Deere Taste (quoth he) the life of all my ioy),Can they be blest that say thou bredst our curse,
When thou dost sweeten all our liues annoy,
That else were Hell it selfe, or rather worse?
For my part, I esteeme that Tale a Toy;
And thinke that Taste alone doth Nature nurse:
If thou be Natures Nurse, then say I dare,
Thou nursest That that makes vs what we are.
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Who are by nature Demi-gods at least;Gramercies Taste, that mak'st vs so to be:
Man, but for thee, were farre worse then a beast;
And, beasts were worse then nothing, but for thee:
For, man, and beasts do toile but for the taste;
Then if our taste should faile vs, curst were we:
Sith both are borne to labor but for foode;
That rather would offend; then doe vs good.
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The mouth, & Maw are Pleasures blisfull Bowres,Where she lies dallying with her loue Delight:
The Maw (Charibdis which Delight deuoures)
Takes frō the mouth what giu's the mēbers might;
Is That an Idol which such good procures?
Or should it not be seru'd by Natures right,
That keepes fraile Nature in her vitall heate,
That else would pine for want of tasting meate?
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O! taste, and see how sweete the Lord; but whieDo I enforce what forcelesse I esteeme?
Yet, sith it's held for written-Veritie,
Ile sucke sweete from that weede, and holy seeme:
The sou'raign'st sense, enthron'd is in the Eie;
Yet Taste, this Truth (if truth) doth better deeme:
For, taste, and see, first taste, and after see,
Implies that Taste, of Sight hath sou'raigntie.
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O tis the Well from whence the Senses draweTheir summum bonum; sweet'st, thogh short, delite:
The right hie-way to Mirth, lies to the Mawe;
The way to mirth that cheares the flesh, & sprite;
That warms the blood, & frozen harts doth thaw,
In spight of Nature, foiling Natures spight:
Then, who distasts these sweet Lauds of the Taste,
His Taste is senslesse, and his Wittes are waste.
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Aske Proofe, how all the Veines do flow with ioyWhen as the Mouth takes in confected Sweetes;
Or when the Pallate doth her Powres imploy
To meet sweet Wines, which she with smacks regreets:
What hart so faint, that thē can feare anoy,
Though Hell it selfe with all the Senses meets?
Giue strong drink to the damn'd, & they'l sustaine,
In Paines despight, with ease, the spight of Paine.
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What Care can once but touch a merry hart,That's merry made with precious blood of grapes?
And, who can choose but play a frolicke part,
That by strong Sacke, frō Sorrows sacke escapes:
Smart, them annoyes that feele, or thinke on smart,
But not those that with Wine are Pleasures rapes:
For, while they gape to let in, out to run,
They feele, & think on nought but Healths begun.
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Thus did this gormandizing EpicureInsist in praise of That which Taste commends;
And, (for winde lab'ring) labour'd past his powre
To make Mans gorge his god, for godlesse ends:
When loe, Epithymus (to make it sure)
In part approu'd his reasons; yet he bends
His pow'r to proue the wenching practicke part,
To yeeld the ioy which most affects the hart.
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These Girles (quoth he) so they be faire, and yong,Are they alone that most do rauish Sense;
For which, no lesse then for our foode we long;
The Touch, being furthest from th'Intelligence,
With much more libertie, and ioy among,
Doth play her part to proue her excellence:
It tickles all our veins with lustful pleasure,
Which the mean while, hath neither mean nor mesure.
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What Heart's so cold that is not set on fire,With a trans-lucent beaming sunne-brightface?
But, of that face to haue the hearts desire,
The Heart cannot desire a greater grace:
Who couets not bright Beauties golden wire,
His Sprite is abiect, and his thoughts are base:
Sith those wires winde about the turning thought,
And tie it to rich pleasures dearely bought.
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Who meets with flesh that meltswith tendernesse,And melts not in Desires ay-burning flames?
Whose kisses, steept in Sucket, Heau'n do presse
From lips diuine, too worthy for such names;
Can any Eies looke into Beauties Presse,
And with her trimmest trinckets make no games?
No humane Eies (I weene) if christaline,
But ioy to see themselues in Eies diuine.
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To see a Body more then Lilly-white,With azur'd veines imbrodred here and there,
To see this blisfull Body naked quite,
And to behold Loues Hold some other where,
What Thing, with ioy, can more intrāce the sight,
Sith to the sight Loues Heauen doth appeare?
Then adde to this, a Looke that saith approch,
It wil the Vessell of all Sweetnesse broch.
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O! to embrace her that embraceth allThat Beauty can embrace, is to infold
In mortall Armes, Armes supernaturall,
Of pow'r both Gods and Men (insnar'd) to hold;
And make them, as they please, to rise, or fall,
Seruing Loues Soueraigne as Vassals should:
For, Gods, and men do most obsequiously,
By nature, serue diuine Formositie.
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He that orethrew what ere his strength withstood,And vnderpropt the weight of Heauens frame,
Loue, made to spinne in weake vnmanly moode:
And He, for wisedome, that had greatest fame,,
Loue so, with Lust, inflam'd his coldest blood:
That He a thousand had to quench the same
For, no Age, Wisedome, Pow'r, or Policie,
Haue pow'r t'impugne diuine Formositie!
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Aske Mars the sterne and stubberne god of warre,How much frail Beuty made him (crouchīg) bow:
Nay aske (if men may aske) the Thunderer
The high'st of gods, by lordly Loue brought low)
Why he did make his mansion in a Starre,
Yet fell from heau'n an earthly Dame to know,
But that both Gods and Men, most lowlily,
By nature, serue diuine Formositie!
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Giue me a Wench that hath the skill, and wit,To let me (loue-sicke) bloud in Lustes right vaine;
And can, with pleasure, ease me in the fit,
Yet ease me so, that Loue may still complaine
Of heate, that is for Lusts life onely fit,
Which to the life of Loue yeelds pleasant paine;
That can so humour me, and what I feele,
That she may hurt me still, my hurt to heale.
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Such a Crafts-mistris, in the Arte of Loue,Doth crowne the Touch with an imperiall kisse;
For, she makes Touching tast ioy farre aboue
The reach of Arte to tell men what it is:
For feelinglie, she can both staie, and moue
About the Center of Loues boundlesse blisse
Then boundlesse is the Touches excellence
That, by a Lasse, can so beheau'n the sense.
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Thus did this Orator of LecheryDilate the short sweete of his liues delight;
Which, Hyselophronus did not deny,
(As though quite opposit) but bent his might,
To proue high'st blisse was borne of Maiesty;
Begot by Potency, right or vnright:
The greatest ioy to Greatnesse appertaines
For ioy doth raign (quoth he) in that which raigns.
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A roiall Robe, a Scepter, Mound, and CrowneAre the true Signals of the truest ioy:
They neede not feare the threat of Sorrows frown
That can confound, all causers of anoy:
The hand of Maiesty puts vp, and downe
The meanes of mirth, and those that mirth destroy:
Hee's a rare Clarke that Regnum can declyne
And Meus, Mea, Meum ad in fine.
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What Hart is not enlarg'd, with ioy, as muchAs it can hold, when pow'r is more enlarg'd
Then Earth can hold; or, on the same none such,
When all by him, and he by none, is charg'd?
No not so much as with the smallest touch,
Touching his life, lest such be life-discharg'd:
It is the greatest glorie of Mans state,
When man, like God, doth raigne inspite of Hate.
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To eate and drinke, and do the acts of lust,Is common vnto Beasts, as well as Men;
What praise get they that do what needs they must;
But such as shames the praised now and then?
For, so may men be praisd for deedes vniust,
Sith Men, by nature, wrong their Bretheren:
But, to correct Men, with directing Rods,
Is proper vnto none but Demi-gods.
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The Spheare of Greatnes (like the highest sphere,That turnes the neather with resistlesse sway)
Is the high'st step to his Throne without Peere;
And, to the Sunne that makes eternall day;
Where Blisse abounds an euerlasting yeare,
For which the most deuout doe inly pray:
Then, Greatnes is the great'st good vnder heau'n,
Which vnto none but Gods on Earth is giu'n.
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O! how it rapts the Eie of Maiestie,To see all downe-cast vnderneath her feete;
That may, if please her, march vpon the Hie,
Till she with none, but with the Lowly meete:
Then, Wisedomes reach doth tend to Emperie;
And none but fooles neglect it as vnmeete:
It is the highest Note that Arte can reach,
To rule the voice when Sou'raigntie doth preach.
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And what a glorie is't to mortall Man,That when he bends his high-erected front,
Death in the foldes doth play the Artezan,
And kill, but with alooke, the highest Count:
Yet, with a word (like Him that all things can)
To create others, making them to mount;
Then, who hath pow'r all men to marre or make,
Must be a God, that life doth giue, and take.
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A Seepter's Circes Rod; which Men and BeastsDoth easlie tame, how wilde so ere they bee:
For, Birds that in the Stars doe build their neasts,
Farre, farre aboue all Birds, of prey doe flee:
To which pitch if they mount, they scorch their crests;
For, heat so high is in extreame degree:
Highnesse is sacred, and the sacred Hie,
With their pow'rs wing aboue all perills flie!
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O! tis a blisfull glitt'ring glorious state,Able to make Mortalitie diuine;
Which, with inspection, binds the hands of Fate,
And, like the Sunne, among the Stars doth shine,
Till Nature doth the Flesh inanimate;
And in the mouthes of Men mens fames enshrine:
Then, if in Earth be any diuine thing,
It's more then God, if it be not a King.
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Poliphagus, though he his Intralls seru'd,As if they were his Fancies Soueraignes,
Or rather Gods, by which he was preseru'd,
Yet hee allowance to their fancie faines;
That so fraternitie might be conseru'd,
Which concord, in conceit, together chaines;
And, thus immod'rately doth moderate
The diffrence of the doubtfull Questions state.
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All our Desires (quoth he) may well concurre,Because they ayme at earthly pleasure all;
For, Pompe which thou preferr'st, is as a Spurre,
To make flesh runne to pleasures corporall:
For, flesh, in meane estate, doth meanely sturre,
As wanting meanes to make it sensuall:
But, where Aboundance is, there doth abound
All pleasures, which or sense, or wit hath found.
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Then, sith our appetites may well conspireT'effect the pleasure most affecting sense,
There is no cause to differ in Desire;
Sith vnion may attone that difference,
Which, like a sweete Compound, may be entire,
Entire to make sweete pleasures confluence:
They are the sweetest accents of the voice,
When diffrent Parts accord, sense to reioice.
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Therefore lets frolicke it; Care kills a Cat;Else lies the Prouerbe, which Truth onely makes;
Thought is a Canker feeding on our fat;
And makes our bones ore-laden, leane as Rakes:
What bones so senslesse be, to like of that;
Sith Bones, when bare they be, asunder shakes:
O tis most holsome and the Creame of Wit,
To breede good blood, good foode still feeding it.
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Pleasure doth end, when ended is Lifes date:Then sith that is so certainely vnsure,
We hate our selues if we doe pleasure hate,
Which makes our liues immortally endure;
For, Mirth the liueliest lumpes doth animate,
And, to old age doth Eagles youth procure:
If such a Cause then yeeldes such sweete effects,
Sowre is the Cause that such a Cause reiects.
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We nothing want, if we want not a will,To giue full satisfaction to our sense:
And if all Wants be wanting to our ill,
The fault is ours, if ours be such offence:
We may, if so wee lust, our lusts fulfill:
Then what remaines, but banish abstinence,
And, with full Sailes of Powër, passe those Seas,
Where Pleasure flowes, to Hau'ns of lustfull ease.
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Let leane-fac'd leaden sprited Saturnists,(Who, madde with melancholy, mirth detest)
Prate what they list to bring all in the Lists
Of Moderation; who cannot disgest
The honied Sweetes that feede true Iouialists,
We hauing sense, to proue what pleaseth best,
Will not, lest Sorrow stabbe giue Sense the lie;
For, they but faine to liue, that faine would die.
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And, were we Furies of infernall kinde,By kinde, we then should pleasure take in paine:
But, being men, and men of perfect minde,
By nature, we from all annoy refraine:
Who doth not so, as mad men, men should binde
Till they be dead, or in their wittes againe:
For, they are Fiends (not men) the foes of ioy,
That please their Soules in all that sense annoy.
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Tell me not of a Stoicke (senslesse Stocke)That makes an Idoll of I wot not what;
Is't vertue in a man to be a Blocke?
And beare vnmou'd, what life doth ruinate?
These are the wisemen, that wisemen do mocke;
Whose senslesse folly all men wonder at:
It's vertue in a man of sense, say I,
To liue as liuing, and not liuing die.
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Are they not murd'rers of themselues, that willThinke life away, and not thinke how to liue?
As good they hang'd themselues, as do more ill;
For lesse, much lesse, they do kinde Nature grieue,
Who quickly die, then who are dying still;
Both which to life, like violence do giue:
Then let thē be stak't throgh, when dead they are,
That run thēselues throgh with the sword of care.
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I value Vertue at too high a price,Thē to be bought & sold for worthlesse Thought;
That Vertue is not halfe so good as Vice,
That brings a man, before his time, to nought:
Such Vertue then, can trone but Babes entice,
That seek thīgs hurtful, which shuld not be soght:
In Vertues Schoole no Babes can learne, but those
That know the good frō bad, & ioyes from woes.
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For, Nature were a step dame if she shouldProduce her Darlings but to thought and care:
But, she is kinde, as her kinde children hold,
Producing them for things that blisfull are;
Who, being many, are more manifold;
For, rare ioyes are ordain'd for Creatures rare:
Then let them be orewhelm'd with all annoy,
That may, and will not, swimme in Seas of Ioy.
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The other twaine, with many pleasing smiles,Whiles he was speakīg, his speech seem'd to praise,
(Who seem'd to glorie in himselfe the whiles)
And now, by word, well-word they what he saies;
And, all agree, by whatsoeuer guiles,
In all delights, to beguile nights and daies:
So, thus resolu'd they fully execute,
All that wherein they are so resolute.
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But now, as wak'ned from a tedious sleepe;Logus, chiefe guide of Psyche, their chiefe guide
(While they were plunged in all pleasures deepe)
Thus gan their sensuall-senslesse Soules to chide:
Whither, O whither runne ye, ye lost sheepe,
Not weying in what danger ye abide?
The Blinde eates many a flie; and so doe you,
That chew sweet poyson, which ye should eschue.
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But ere wee further prosecute her speach,We will describe their Garments (as we may)
For as we said the Coate and Cut do teach
Sight to discerne what mood the mind doth sway:
Logus was clad, as could no State impeach,
Sith she was cloth'd with mean, thogh cleane aray:
For, she with Garments farre more fit, then faire,
But sauegard sought from Passions of the Aire.
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But, Psyche (whom she guided) like a QueeneWas richly deckt, with ornaments diuine:
Who liu'd so closely that she scarce was seene,
Yet through her Pallace did her glory shine,
As if at least she had a Goddesse beene;
Whose virtues were apparant to the Eine:
Her Ornaments were Wit, Will, Memory,
Which richly roab'd her with Regality.
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Vpon her sacred Head she ware a Crowne(Like that of Ariadnes) all of Starres,
To light her feete in darke waies, and vnknowne,
And keepe the safest way in Passions warres;
Those Starres were royall vertues of her owne
(Which some call Cardinall) her gard in Iarres:
Who was deckt inly with Pow'r, Grace, and Arte,
Being wholy in the whole, and in each Part.
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Her Vnderstandings Pow'r that Pow'r did line,Which Heau'n and Earth religiously adore;
And in her Will she ware Grace most diuine,
But in her Memory she Artes did store;
That made the Whole most gloriously to shine,
But most diuinely did those three decore!
Affects and Fantasies her Seruants were,
Which were all cloakt with Good, how ill so ere.
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Hir prīcely train, which was of works wel wroght,Was borne by Iudgement her chiefe Officer:
Then, Contemplation held her, as she ought,
By the right Arme, so that she could not steere
Frō those right waies, whereon before she thoght:
And double-Diligence before did cleere:
The outward Senses her Purueiours were,
To whom the Common-sense was Treasorer.
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Thus were these two attended and araid,Which I haue thus described by the way;
And now to prosecute what Logus said
From thence where I before did make him stay;
Quoth hee, what meane ye thus to be betraid
By sinfull Sense, which seekes but your decay?
You are to seeke to know her Fallacies,
But know them not by seeking in this wise.
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How neere to temporall and eternall deathYou are (God wot) ye wot not, ne yet care;
Not weying how worlds weale wastes with your breath,
And that your breaths within your nostrills are;
Which to the Aire you must of force bequeath,
Perhaps forthwith, at least ere ye beware:
If temp'rall death attach ye in this plight,
Your temp'rall daies will turne t'eternall night.
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To yong and old Death is indifferent;The Court and Cottage he frequents alike:
Yet, of the twaine, he Courts doth more frequent;
And loues those, that do mind him least, to strike:
He wounds the lustfull, vaine, and insolent
With their owne weapons, quickly to the quicke:
For, euer he doth enuy lifes delight,
And makes the same most subiect to his might.
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How can vaine pleasures please men, hauing senseTo feele the sweete and sowre of sinne, and grace?
For, if they feele the sting of Conscience,
All pleasures of the flesh will giue it place:
That grieues the Will, that grieues th'Intelligence,
Which take no pleasure in their owne disgrace:
But still the lusts offraile flesh to fulfill,
Is to disgrace Intelligence, and Will.
67
The obiect of the Will is perfect Good;Which, the Intelligence to her presents;
That neuer yet was found in roiall food,
In dainty Dames, or regall gouernments;
By Vnderstanding these are vnderstood
To yeeld but short, and counterfet Contents:
If so they do, how madde are they the while,
That giue their pretious Soules for things so vile?
68
The wisest yet that euer breath'd this Aire(Of sinfull race) who in his wisedomes might
Made proofe of all that was sweet, great, or faire,
Yea of all pleasures which the sense delight,)
Said of them all (like Wisedoms truest Heire)
They were than skumme of Vanitie more light:
If such great Wisedome found them to be such,
They are much more thē fools that loue thē much.
24
69
Aske eu'ry sense what pleasure they doe proueIn all their obiects: they must needes replie,
(Sith consciēce knows it) nought to gaine our loue;
For, we loue nought but what we good do trie:
But, Proofe these pleasures doe, in fine, reproue;
Sith they no sooner liue, but sooner die:
For, Triall knowing them to be but vaine,
Kills their delight ere we it entertaine.
70
And, Crownes are Hiues, where stinging cares do swarme;Pomp's but the White whereat fell Enuy shoots:
which are as trees, whēce groes their owners harm;
Harms are the fruit; crowns, flours; & kīgdōs, roots:
The Arme of flesh, is but a feeble Arme;
And, in such strong Extreames it little bootes:
He knowes not yet the nature of a Crowne,
That knows not none may call the same his owne.
71
What bootes a purple Robe, when purple bloodDoth issue from the wofull wearers hart?
And, of such issue there's more likelihood
Then issue of his loines to take his part;
For, oft such issue doth him little good,
Who conquer Nature, by the aide of Arte:
They learne by Arte weake Nature to command,
When Crowns betwixt the Sire & Son doe stand.
25
72
Sou'raignes, are subiect to extreame despight,For lo, a Dog, sometimes, supplide their place:
A King of Norway, conquering in fight
The King of Swethland, for the more disgrace,
Did make a Dog their King, to shew his spight,
And made thē neere him, that were neere as bace:
Then are they worse then dogges that damne their soules
To catch a kingdom, that a dog cōtroules.
73
What ioy can be accompanied with feare,Sith that companion doth all ioy confound?
But terrene ioyes about with them do beare
An hell of feare, wherein true Hell is found:
For, where's vnsuretie, feare must needs be there;
And all's vnsure that surgeth from the ground
Of this vast Sea of extreame miserie,
True Antitype of true felicitie.
74
Besides, no pompe (how euer glorious)No ioy or pleasure, if sublunarie,
But brings sacietie soone with their vse,
As they best know that haue best meanes to trie;
And none haue right ioy but the righteous;
For, ne'r doth saciate their felicitie,
Which doth content Desire, and Feare exclude,
Which is the summe of true Beatitude.
26
75
Then, if my power ore your Soueraigne,If my words (rules of Reason) can perswade,
Vaine pleasures fly; throgh which ye fly to paine;
Which still haue marr'd, but neuer any made:
Containe your selues, and you shall ioy containe;
If you be good, then glorious is your trade:
For, nought is great on Earth, but that great hart,
That scornes all ioyes by Nature bred, or Art.
76
Rouze vp your selues, shake off this sloth of sprite;Put on the mind that men of mind becomes:
Away with all effeminate delight,
That none but worse then women ouercomes:
Shew your selues men of strength in Frailties spite;
For, graceles ioyes possesse but graceles groomes:
O, tis Dominion in the high'st degree,
When men to Reasons rules obedient bee.
77
Hereat their Conscience touched to the quicke,Beganne, halfe fainting, inwardly to bleede:
No pricke more mortal then the consciēce pricke;
It makes our faith to faint, and kills our Creede:
Yet, frozen in their dregges, therein they sticke,
Without all feeling that which must succeede:
And, with hard harts (thogh said for their behoofs)
They Logus thus reprooue, for his reproofes.
27
78
What wight art thou (presumptuous that thou art)That com'st to Councell, yer thou called bee?
By what pow'r dost thou this? by what desart
Think'st thou we all should be controld by thee?
We know no pow'r thou hast, nor wit, nor Art
To take the guidance of our actions free;
Being a meere stranger to vs and our state,
Yet dost from either more then derogate.
79
Thou would'st bee taught (that thus presum'st to teach)To know good maners, persons, time and place;
These circūstances they should know that preach,
Or else they may disgrace their Sermons grace;
And those that liue by preaching do beseech,
Not sharply checke, which tendeth to disgrace:
Then think we o're our passions haue great powre,
That giue thee sweet aduice for cheeke so sowre.
80
You may be gon, we need no councellors,That breathe out worse thē wormwood with their words;
We are twice seau'n, and our owne gouernors,
Your proffred seruice no good sent affords:
We are the highest Powres Compettitors,
And fight for pleasure with our sense, and swords:
We are resolu'd to satisfie desire
With all the comforts that it can require.
28
81
Doth Loue (quoth Logus) with ourselues begin?It seemes not so, for with yourselues it ends:
Foes to your selues, sith you are folde to sinne;
Yet will not see whereto that purchase tends:
To lose your Soules, and all the world to win,
Is the worst fortune, that fell Fortune sends:
O be indulgent to your Soules, for whie,
Life died it selfe, that so they might not die.
82
I am that Logus, which your Soueraigne(Great sou'raigne Psyche) gaue you for your guide:
Which you would ne'r vouchsafe to entertaine,
Though, vnimploied, I still with you abide:
I pray you then (for your eternall gaine)
That now at last I may with you reside,
To doe you seruice, which if you will vse,
Ile make your life and death most glorious.
83
Let not my plainenesse with you, make yee plaineOf my sterne Course; for, sith I am the Sterne
That rules the Mind, I must her so restraine
(When Passions rise) that she, by me, may learne
The way to weale, which she seekes to attaine,
Which she, by my direction shall discerne:
Now, if the Sterne resist repugnant windes,
The Bark, to which she's bound, to her she bindes.
29
84
Yee oft haue heard, that Sores quite mortified,(If euer they be cured as they ought)
Must haue sharpe Corrasiues thereto appli'd,
Else one sore part may bring the whole to nought:
Then leaue your Gluttony, your Lust, and Pride;
Be sober, chaste, and meeke, in deed, and thought:
This must you doe; and I must needes say this,
Except I should both say and doe amisse.
85
Should I, your Guide, winke when ye go astray?Or see you runne in by-paths of offence?
Else drawe ye further on, out of the way,
And by all waies soothe vp your erring sense?
So should I, like a traitor, you betray;
Which would, in time, your Souls to hate incense:
O then let me haue leaue your Soules to loue,
Which least I do, when least I you reproue.
86
Repentance oft (too oft) comes too too late,(Though, better late then neuer to repent)
But ne'r too soone can Grace it animate;
For, Men, beyond their birth, are euill bent:
So, yer they sinne, they are in sinfull state;
For, sinne in their conception's resident:
Then sith yer men Be (whole) it Is (in part)
Repentance should take Being yer the Hart.
30
87
Time past, is gone, in it none can repent,If in that Time they did the same neglect:
The Time to come (although incontinent)
Is as vnsure, as is that rare effect:
Therefore the present Time for it is lent,
Which strait is gone, then doe it not reiect:
Sith so small time may all your time ingrosse,
The losse of it may be your vtter losse.
88
But, what auailes an Angells tongue to moueA fiend to goodnesse, that by kind is ill?
From which he is resolu'd ne'r to remoue;
No more can Reason their desires fulfill,
(Though with all reason he doth seeke their loue)
For, they desire to liue corruptly still;
And thus, with bitter taunts they do requite
His loue, that euer loues to guide them right.
89
What ere thou art (quoth they) we know thee not;Nor will we know thee, sith we know thou art
Repugnant to vs; and, thou seem'st a Sot,
To seeke to gaine loue by contentions Art:
Thou neuer knew'st, or else thou hast forgot,
That manners like, do still like loue impart:
Therefore farewell, except thou worse wilt fare,
We are resolu'd, in what resolu'd we are.
31
90
So they to excesse fell excessiuely;Sinning, with griefe, that they could sin no more:
Now, they inlarge their Bounds of libertie,
Although it were but too too loose before:
Like Water they lappe vp iniquitie,
Which, through thē, ouerflows both Sea & Shore:
A cauterized Conscience being checkt,
Becomes farre worse, in Cause, and in Effect.
91
Logus thus cast from their societie,Waxt passing pensiue (as one desolate)
Because his Councell was no more set by,
And, with their mother Phusis fell at bate;
As being assur'd in her the fault did ly,
That they from him so much did derogate:
Yet, knew one Praxis, Phusis follower,
Had made them worse, then she them made, by far.
92
But by the way we should not do amisse,To shew how Ladie Phusis was araid,
(Sith shee the mother of each matter is)
Yer we do prosecute what Logus said:
For, so her nature may be knowne by this,
As outward, inward Things haue oft bewraid:
For, though it seeme the Tale, by force, to part,
Its recompenced with Descriptions Art.
32
93
Vpon her Head she ware a Crowne of Corne,Like that of Ceres; sauing that the same
Was mixt (like Achelous his plenteous Horne)
With fruits of eu'ry kinde, which her became;
Her Haire by her was still disheuled worne,
Who naked was, yet her hand hid her shame:
Or if a Vaile she ware, it was but when
She was to come among licentious men.
94
About her Necke she ware a CarcanetOf eu'ry Iemme as it created was:
About her Wrists, in Bracelet-wise, were set
The ores of Gold and Siluer, Lead, and Brasse:
Thus haue we made this Ladies Counterfet,
Who being bare, as barely must it passe:
And now returne we eft to Logus speach,
Who thus to Phusis chidingly did preach.
95
Phusis (quoth he) I speake with griefe of hart,I needs must chide, sith your fault it procures;
Because you haue not plaid a mothers part
Touching the breeding of these Sonnes of yours:
I know you haue, by nature, so much Art,
As might make them obey their Gouernours:
And, that you doe not, it is your disgrace,
That kill your Children with a kinde embrace.
33
96
You may, perhaps, suppose your selfe you cleereBy saying, Praxis hath abus'd you much;
In alt'ring of their natures, which were deere,
For that from you they all receiued such;
Which could not be, if you not faultie were,
For, you might haue restrain'd them with a touch:
If then you had corrected Praxis lore,
They would haue bin farre better then before.
97
Little do Mothers know what hurt they do,By their indulgence, to their saucie Sonnes;
They make them wanton and rebellious too;
For, let loose Nature, it to loosenesse runnes;
Till Soule and Body it doth quite vndoe;
For, Custome ill good nature ouer-runnes:
But, if the Mother be as Mothers ought,
She wil by Vse amend what Vse hath wrought.
98
Phusis, not being vs'd such checkes to take,Beganne to kindle with disdainefull ire;
And, like a doating mother, she doth make
A stiffe defence, for her sonnes lewd desire:
Alas (quoth she) should they all ioyes forsake,
Which both their yeares, and natures do require?
Or should they wear their days in wastful thought
To bring themselues, and me with them, to nought?
34
99
You are no friend of theirs, if so you would;And, if not theirs, then mine you cannot be:
For, me and them in one Loues Band doth hold;
Whom factiously you seeke to disagree:
I take their part but as a Mother should,
That her deere Childrens good desires to see:
For, it a tender Mother doth become,
As life to loue the Children of her wombe.
100
And, are they not of flesh and blood compos'd?Then can such mixture be aught else but fraile?
Or would you haue them otherwise dispos'd
Then Adams heires, that hold but by the Taile?
And flesh and blood to strength are still oppos'd;
Yet strength, in weaknes, gainst it doth preuaile:
Sith so it is, my Sonnes may be excus'd,
That haue in weakenes powrefull pleasures vs'd.
101
Now well I see (quoth Logus) thy fond loueMakes thee vnapt to iudge what's requisite;
But, how if their loose liues the monster moue
(Monstrous Gehenna) to deuoure them quite?
For, he loues such to eate, as such do proue;
May you not thanke your selfe for such despite?
If Babes do burne them in a Candles flame,
Are they, or those that giue it them, too blame?
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102
These heauy words suncke deepe in Phusis minde,Who (as astonied) at the same did muse;
Breath'd short, in passion, as if wanting winde,
Yet at the last, his Spirite she vp did rowze,
And askt of Logus, in the kindest kinde,
What practise she to saue her Sonnes might vse:
I hate, as Hell, that Monster, and I would
My Sons (quoth she) frō him, by force, with-hold.
103
Now Logus, glad her nature had such grace,Said, for mine owne part, I will but aduise,
Not deale with them; sith they did me disgrace;
Therefore I councell, that in any wise
You hie to Lady Aletheias Place,
And there inuoke her aide, with carefull Cries;
Who is indu'd with power, will, and skill,
To tell them of their misse, and mend their ill.
104
Entreate her, who will soone intreated bee,(For, she doth loue to satisfie Good-will)
To go vnto thy Sonnes of each degree,
And tell them of this Monster, made to spill
All those that liue secure in Pleasures glee,
And greedily their hungry lusts fulfill;
I will (said Phusis;) but where doth she dwell?
Thou know'st (deare Logus) but I cannot tell.
36
105
She wonted was (said he) to neighbour mee;But since that Fraus and Dolus (wicked Twinnes)
The World produc'd, I do her seldome see;
For, she from my sights reach so slily rinnes,
As though to her I were an enemy,
Or made prodigious through my subiects sinnes:
Who prosecute her with extreame despight,
That now she euen loathes to see the light.
106
Shall I (quoth Phusis) on the Earth her finde?Hardly (quoth Logus) being chas'd from thence.
In th'Aire, or Water then, or in the Winde;
Or else within the Fires Circumference
Is she (quoth she?) said Logus, these by kinde
Are mutable, and full of difference;
Which she cannot abide, for she is one,
And rather will, then with such, liue alone.
107
Is she to Heau'n return'd (quoth she) againe?That's like (said Logus) but th'art ne'r the neere:
For, without her, thou canst not Heau'n attaine;
For, all by her must come, that must come there.
Alas (said she) how shall I her obtaine,
Sith I must haue herselfe her selfe to cleere?
For, as without the Sunne, none sees the Sunne,
So, without her, none wots where she doth wonne.
37
108
This once (quoth Logus) I will thee directThe best I can, but cannot as I could;
I oft haue heard, and finde true, by effect,
That she is seene about the Mansion old
Of father Chronus, which he did erect
For him, and her, (his daughter deere) to hold;
Or, Thanatus, his Man, who riddes away
That which his Master bringeth to decay.
109
Which Man, and Masters habites we might paint,Though we but Chalke, & Coles, and Ashes had:
For, Chronus clad is like a mortall Saint
In skinnes of Beasts, to shew how life doth fade;
(Which of their age did seem to make complaint)
Girt with an Halter, or with Girth as bad:
Vpon whose Head, in stead of Hat, there stoode
An Houre-glasse, as an Embleme of his moode.
110
His Haire was white as was the driuen Snow,And from his Head it seem'd to hang, by drifts
Turn'd vp againe; eu'n as the same doth show
When it doth hang, so driuen vpon Clifts:
His Beard, beneath his girdle-stead did grow,
Which, platted, in his bosome oft he shifts:
Whose right hand did a Sithe, still mouing weld,
And in his left, an Horologe he held.
38
111
His Man hight Thanatus, bare to the bones,Was more then naked from the toppe to toe:
All hairelesse, toothlesse, eielesse, stocks, or stones,
Are all as quicke, though he much more can doe:
And all he said, I was as you are, once;
Which was in sullen silence spoken to:
Vpon a Spade he leanes, as if he did
By his day-labour liue, call'd Wincke, all hid.
112
To these did Logus Phusis wish to wendWhich were to her the loathsom'st wights aliue;
And hardly thought that Logus was her frend,
(Although she could not otherwise beleeue
Sith her and hers she sought still to defend
That would to her such wofull councell giue:
And, with the water swelling in her eies,
She thus to Logus mournefully replies.
113
Alas (quoth she) and to them must I goe?To their most hatefull houses must I hie,
That are the greatest workers of my woe,
And faine would haue me vtterly to die?
What words can please a prowd insulting foe,
That holds in scorne his foes humilitie?
Then, what hope haue I with them to preuaile,
Who, though I kneele to them, will me assaile?
39
114
What shall I say? alas, what shall I do?To winne their fauour, that will not be wonne?
To go to them, I shall my selfe vndo;
For, though I kisse their feete, they'l me ore-runne:
If not, they'l paine me, and compell me to;
Both which, if I do go, I cannot shunne:
I am amaz'd, I know not what to say,
If go, I die; if no, my Sonnes decay.
115
What shall I do? deere Logus, tell me what?O happy were I, if this feare were past:
There is no cause (quoth Logus) to feare that
That no wight liuing can auoide at last;
The Stag, the Rauen, and the nine-liu'd Cat
Must know those houses, then be not agast,
But go on boldly with erected Front,
Where you shall see her liue in high account.
116
If at the first you cannot see her face,Their Porter Nosus will you soone direct
Vnto her priuy chamber, where her grace
Will talke with you, in secret, in effect:
But, see you bribe the Porter of the place
With Calor naturalis, most select:
So may you passe securely through each Gate,
That leades to this obscured Ladies State.
40
117
This Nosus was a true Anatomie(Though Thanatus be truely call'd the same)
Of mortall griefe, or curelesse maladie,
Whose Head was hāp'red (which him ill became)
With homely clowts (tide as vnhansomly)
And with a staffe he went as he were lame:
A Gowne (with Potions stain'd) he, girded, ware,
Who panted as he went, and went with care.
118
Foure paire of Stockings did his Legs comprize,And yet his Shancks (God wot) but little were,
Although the vpper Stockings were of Frize,
Thicke Frize, or Rugge, or else of warmer geare:
Whose Slippers were with Cotton lin'd likewise;
And yet of taking cold he still did feare:
Who lookt as he had not an houre to liue,
And eu'ry steppe he trode, his Soule did grieue.
119
His Face was of the colour of that clowtThat did his head inuolue, saue that his Face
Did looke more white: his Eies both seemed out,
For, they were sunck, & shrunke out of their place:
His Nose was sharper then an Adders snowt;
His Tong, & Teeth were furr'd, in lothsome case;
His Lips were chapp'd, his Beard was driueld ore,
And euer breath'd as he should breathe no more.
41
120
And therewithall he was so waiward still,That none might please him, but he fault wold find
With the best words & deeds of meere good-will;
His bodies paines so peruerse made his mind:
His wozen whez'd when his breath it did fill,
As, through the straitest passage doth the wind:
And when he spake, his tong was furr'd so thicke,
That oft his words within the same did sticke.
121
Yet ne'rthelesse, to these must Phusis hie,For, Logus held her to't by strong perswasion,
Which thus she prest; Go, or thy Sonnes must die:
Thou needes must do it, there is no euasion:
Herein their life, or death alone doth lie;
Then, of their perill if thou haue compassion,
Thou must to These, that they may be secure,
Then liuely go; for, Loue can Hell endure.
122
Phusis, though while-ere somewhat weakned,(By reason of these vncouth Accidents)
Yet thus, by Logus, being comforted,
To his direction and aduice assents:
And now (all heart) she holdeth high the Head,
Scorning her wonted dread, and dririments;
And, in her loue to her Sonnes, thither goes,
Their case to Aletheia to disclose.
142
123
A wearie iorney had she, and a foule,But, what paine is't a mothers loue will shunne?
Who almost will forsake her deerest Soule,
Yer once forsake her deere-bought deerer Sonne:
By Logus helpe, she doth her feares controule;
And to these houses goes not, but doth runne:
And as she hies, she more and more doth learne,
This Ladies Lodging rightly to discerne.
124
When to the House of Chronus neere she drew,(Which was a Caue in Rocke of Flint cut out)
It, to the sense more horride was in shew;
For, it with Mosse was inlaid all about,
And ore the Gate, Harts-tongue, & Brābles grew;
As on the top, did Okes, old, stiffe, and stout:
Which rocks rogh sides huge mossie Beeches bare,
As if the Flint the weathers threats did feare.
125
This antique Top, where these trees did not shade,A kind of Mosse ore-sprad, as hard, as hore;
Which ne'rthelesse, did softly seeme to vade,
And grew farre shorter then it was before;
Ore which strange vermin prety Paths had made,
Which there did still increase in needlesse store:
For, in those Places where men least frequent,
There vilest vermine are most resident.
143
126
About the groundsills of this hideous house(Without) grew Nettles, Hemlocks, and the like;
Mongst whō were Snakes and vermin venomous;
Which vnawares th'vnwarie foote do strike:
Within the Caue was nought for Natures vse,
Saue water, which ther leakt throgh many a creek:
Where nought was seene but Darknes, nought was heard,
But holow Ecchoes, making Noise afeard.
127
Neere to this vncouth Caue is scituate(As t'were a vault digg'd vnderneath the same)
The House of Thanatus, which all do hate;
For, none came euer thence that thither came:
Then Chronus house its much more desolate;
More deadly too, in nature, and in name:
For, flesh doth faint, when but b'imagination
She sees this fearefull vgly Habitation.
128
The Roofe whereof, with Sculles is seeled quite;Whereon (in frets) hang shin-bones here & there:
The walls are hung with Mantles of the night;
Which, all with vermine vile, imbrod'red were:
If it, through any Chinke, receiued light,
Twas soone stopt vp with feet which it did beare:
It paued was with Ioynts and Knuckle-bones,
Set in no order, but like scatt'red stones.
44
129
The Gate whereof is made of mans iust size,Which yet receiues all men that euer were;
Vpon whose Pauement all flesh rotting lies;
And, to the sense most odious doth appeare:
For, here lie Armes, and there lie Legs, and Thies;
Hete rotten Teeth, and ragged Iaw-bones there;
Within whose pores, the worms do keep their hold
Vntill they all conuert to perfect mould.
130
No one here keepes this grim Lord company,But sullen Silence, dust, and nastie mud;
And, yet he seekes all mens societie,
For, still he feedeth on their flesh and bloud:
Hard at the Gate do mournefull mourners crie,
And teare their haire, too like the Fury-brood:
Which yet is neuer heard that house within,
For, Thanatus is deafe, and heares no din.
131
Rotten Corruption here doth reuell keepe;Where Worms (her Minions) out of mesure dance:
For, all about they trace, they turne, and creepe,
And merry make with Fleshes fowle mischance;
Who all the while lies drown'd in puddle deepe,
As full of Soile, as full of Sufferance:
Where Irksomnesse sits on a dustie Throne,
As if he were Lord of that Earth alone.
45
132
For, Beauty comes no sooner to the GateOf this true earthly Hell, but she doth looke
As if she were in worse then damned state;
And all her Graces had her quite forsooke:
The Lures of Loue, here turne to Hoods of Hate;
Hate that no Loue (thogh Loue it selfe) can brook:
For, Loue it selfe, which once three days lay there,
Fled from the same as if it hatefull were.
133
Here Zijm and Iim do loue alone to be,(Grimme Desolations sterne Consociates)
The vale of Visions this doth seeme to me,
Where Sense may see what Sense quite ruinates:
Whose Organs here, lie in varietie
Of transformation; which Sense deadly hates:
Where lie all Obiects which the sight annoy,
Yet tis the entrance to all griefe, or ioy.
134
Here Sense (saith Sense) lies in a Lethargie;Whose powres are quite supprest with Earth and Stones:
Here Rest of Labour hath the victorie:
And, Sorrows here surcease their sighs and grones;
Where lasting sleepe beguiles Calamitie:
For, Flesh feeles not, if rotten to the bones;
This is the Lake, which Men most loathe, and yet,
It is the Lethe where they griefe forget.
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Downe a darke staire (the passage to this house)On eu'ry step sits all the impes of Feare;
Confronted with Chymæraes hideous,
Which maks all men to hate their comming there;
Saue such as daily do that passage vse,
And with feete-mortifide those steps do weare:
To them it seemes not strange, how euer strange,
Those Monsters do their vgly fashions change.
137
The Elements, whereof all Flesh is made,Do, with their Children, the foure Humors, lie
Confused there, in Deaths confused Shade,
That no Eie can the one from the other spie;
But His that saw them ere they Being had,
On whom alone, they all do still rely:
This is the Picture of Not-beings Pit,
Where it doth seeme (but doth but seeme) to sit.
138
Sometimes, for pride, or praise, or both, some doBestow a stately Couer on this house;
For, worldly pompe doth presse them thereunto,
To make the glorified more glorious;
But Chronus spite that Couer doth vndoe,
Which cannot brooke the pompe of Thanatus:
It is but vaine the dead to honour then,
With other honour then with Tongue, or Pen.
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139
Hard at the doore of this confused denSit rau'nous Rauens, watching for their pray;
Which doore if Chronus opes, they enter then,
And with the Relickes, there, they prey, or play:
This Roomes description, no Pen well can pen
But such as markes the measure of Decay:
O! tis a Heau'n to heare Hell well set forth,
And Heau'n, if ill describ'd, seemes nothing worth.
140
The Rowme is little, this description great;And yet too little, for so great a Rowine,
Where all mankinde haue, and doe finde a Seate,
Vntill they haue receiu'd their later doome:
Let Aletheia then make it compleate;
Sith all descriptions true, come from her wombe:
Suffizeth me to shew but eu'n a glaunce
Of Thanatus his Houses countenaunce.
141
The Porter of this Place (as erst was sed)Is hundred-headed Nosus; much more sterne
Then Hells grim Porter, with his threefold head;
The sight of whom made Phusis hart to yerne;
But, Logus said, she, by him, should be led
The Lady Aletheia to discerne:
In hope whereof she did the better brooke
The horror of his most detested looke.
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Now, by this time, she was within his touch,Who, to him trembling came submissiuely;
And gaue him of her Calor (though not much)
That she might be the better vs'd thereby:
Nosus, whom though diseases made to grutch,
Yet, through that Calor lookt more cheerefully:
And gently, with familiar aspect,
He opes the Gate, and strait did her direct.
143
For, he denieth passage vnto noneThat makes much of him, or doth loue him well;
But, had he well the Ladie Phusis knowne,
Perhaps he would haue bin to her more fell:
For, when she gaue him Calor, she did grone,
To thinke how soone he would the same expell:
And, Phusis by no meanes can well endure,
That Nosus should her any good procure.
144
But he to her is most officious,He tenders her his guidance, and what not?
But yet the oddes twixt her and Thanatus,
(Although by Him t'was more then quite forgot)
Made Her entreate this Porter curteous,
To call that Ladie forth, whom Chronus, got:
And gaue him some more Calor in a Box,
Which gaue him strēgth to ope the Ladies Locks.
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145
Herewith he went to Aletheias Bed,Who ouer head and eares lay couer'd quite;
And being naked, yet thus couered,
He could not haue, of her, an open sight:
But, he aloofe his errand vttered;
Wherewith she rose, yet came within the night:
For, she being naked Darkenes seeks to hide her;
For, men without a Mist haue seld espide her.
146
But, out she (masked) comes to Phusis late,Who knew her not, because she came conceal'd:
But, asked who she was, who did relate,
Both who, and what, and strait her selfe reueal'd:
It me behoues (quoth she) to hide my State,
For, most men haue with me like Monsters deal'd:
Who, like to deuills, authors of vntruth,
Would force erroneous sense into my mouth.
147
I goe thus mask'd (quoth she) sith men like fiends,Of my destruction make no conscience:
Statesmen seeke for me, but for subtill ends;
Some Churchmen would haue me Non residence,
But where their pleasure, or their profit tends;
And, fond Philosophers peruert my sense:
Strong thieues, & Lawyers, wound my tender hart,
The one by force, the other by their art.
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148
The Merchant and the slie ArtificerWill, for a penny profit stifle me
With Falshoods cloake. The biting Vsurer
Doth vse me better, though but cruelly;
And, hath a will to vse mee worse by far re,
So he a farthing might the better bee:
But, of all men, that seeme me most to paine,
Vpon poore Poets I can least complaine.
149
For, though they hide me from the vulgar view,With robes (as they suppose) that sumptuous be,
Yet giue they me my right, with more then due;
As they best know, that haue best eies to see:
They are my friendly foes, false-louers true;
Which hate, in shew, but do, indeed, loue me:
Whom I wil one day feed with more then praise,
Which Manna makes thē look leane now adays.
150
All those that Offices, by coine, come by,(To come by coine, by buying Offices)
In Church or Common-weale, do me defie,
For interrupting their by-passages:
No, not so much as Somners but can spie
The way to wound me on aduantages;
In summe, all sorts are resolute herein,
To loose me quite, so they thereby may winne.
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Haue I not reason then, conceal'd to go,To shunne these Helhounds, hauing me in chase;
Who study, by all meanes, to worke my woe,
And with their craft transforme my constant face?
I were vnlike my selfe, and mine owne foe,
If I went like my selfe in such a case:
By nature, I the Ignorant do hate;
Then should I loathe, if I knew not my State.
152
But, wherefore Phusis art thou come to me?Who told thee where I lay? who found'st me out?
Thine eies are dimme, too dimme me well to see;
Then thogh thou see me, thou therof maist doubt.
Quoth Phusis, that full well I did foresee,
By Logus, therefore brought I this about;
Who told me truly who, and where thou wart,
Whose sayings, touching thee, I kon'd by hart.
153
And I am come to thee for thine aduice,Touching my children; who (as I am told
By my friend Logus) are in loue with Vice;
Or rather to that strumpet they are sold:
Who, with faire words doth sweetly them intice
To thinke, and say, and do, but as she would:
Who, as its knowne to all that knoweth ought,
(In fine) doth bring her Louers all to nought.
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They being bound to Thanatus his house,Are bound likewise (ah woe is me) from thence
On the left hand, to the land tenebrous,
Whereas Gehenna holdes his residence,
Which Monster, being more then rauenous,
Will quite deuoure their Bodies, Soules, & Sense;
The manner of whose house, no tongue can tell,
But such as can describe the lowest Hell.
155
Heere, by the way, we will awhile disgresse,And prosecute the rest of Phusis plaint,
When as wee haue describ'd this little lesse
Then more then hell, which colours cannot paint:
For what so blacke as depth of all distresse,
Where vtter darkenesse raignes without restraint?
Then sith we colours want, as all do see,
Our too light shadowes must excused bee.
156
There lie two waies from Thænatus his house,(That still are two, sith they still disagree)
One on the right hand lies, scarse now in vse,
The other on the left, vs'd commonly:
That, on the left, is full of all abuse,
And leades vnto a world of misery;
Wherein Gehennaes Hold is scituate,
Which, without Patterne, thus wee figurate.
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A ruinous Rowme, whose bottom's most profoūd;A Pit infernall full of endlesse dole;
A lothsome Lake where choaking damps abound;
A dungeon deepe, a dreadfull darkesome hole,
Wher noght but howlīgs, shriks, & grons do soūd,
And humane flesh still makes a quenchlesse Cole:
The common Burse, where none but Bugs repaire,
And Harbor full of horror and despaire.
158
Whose light is darke, which darke is palpable;Whose pleasur's paine, which pain no pen cā tell:
Whose life is death, which death is damnable:
Whose peace is strife, which strife is discords well:
Whose ease is toile, which toile's vnthinkable:
Where most obedience, learnes most to rebell:
Where all confusion raignes in endlesse date,
In a tumultuous State-disord'ring State.
159
Where toads, and vipers, snakes, and vermine vile,(Whose hissings make an hellish harmony)
With slimie gleere, the place do cleane defile,
Swimming in Suddes of all sordiditie,
While one on others backe themselues they pile
To touch the top of toplesse misery:
Where heate, and coldnes, are in their extreames,
And frozen harts do floate in sulphred streames.
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The wals are hung with Cobwebs, which cōtaineSoule-catching hellhounds, clad in Spiders shape;
The Roofe, of burning Brasse, which droppes like raine;
Frō which no one below could ere escape:
The pauement's ful of groundlesse gulfes of paine,
Which thogh they stil deuoure, they stil do gape;
Whose glowing Mawes cannot cōcoct the meate
Which there lies boiling in an hell of heate.
161
Here, weeping warbleth notes that anguish show;And, gnashing Teeth tunes Iigges vntuning ioy:
Here, Seas of boiling Lead their Bounds oreflow,
To make a boundlesse deluge of annoy:
The Sands whereof are Soules orewhelm'd with woe;
Which though destroi'd, yet death canot destroy:
For, endlesse lords of death still life do giue
To those that in that death there still do liue.
162
From whose wide open Throats great flames they cast,Which thūder forth with sense-cōfounding noise;
The din whereof makes Horrors heart agast,
Which in that den no other blisse enioyes:
Such Gall of Gall affords no better tast,
Which stil doth feed, with that which stil annoyes:
Such boistrous Bugs can yeeld no other glee,
But mirth is mone whereas such Monsters be.
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Whose foule blasphemos mouths are fraught withThat boils with heat of baneful poisō there;
Which spite they spit against the Cause of Light, spite,
Such is the enuy which to It they beare:
Yet, from their glowing eies flie sparkles bright,
As they no eies but Vulcans Forges were:
The sight whereof the sight doth so annoy,
As thogh that sight that sense wold quite destroy.
164
Imagine now you see, (as there is seene)Millions of Legions of this foule mouth'd crue,
With fangs more huge then Elephāts, more keene
Then Crocadiles chiefe grinders, to pursue
Soules diuing in those deepes to be vnseene;
Which, ouergorg'd, them vp againe do spue:
While these dogs watch to take them in the rise,
With teeth to teare, & feare them with their cries.
165
Here may you see a Goblin, grisly grim,(With hooke and line) stand fishing for a Soule;
Which, in those boiling Seas, do sinking swim;
Baiting their hooks with Salamanders foule:
Which, being hang'd he hales it to the brim,
And, all the while, as hunger-band, doth howle:
Which fingred, forthwith, in the diuells name,
In go the fangs, that inch-meale teare the same.
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Then others watch (as Spiders for a Flie)In obscure Nookes, to catch a flying Ghost;
That to those Nooks to hide it selfe, doth flie;
Which caught, they binde it, lest it should be lost,
And, to their webs of woe, with ioy they hie;
Where the poore Soule is still in torment tost:
In whom they all their deadly poison poure,
Which more then kills them, sith they it endure.
167
Now, sullen Silence raignes as all were dead,Then, sodainely a world of Clamor rings;
Whereby the much more horror still is bred;
For, sodaine feare with it most horror brings.
No heart so heauie as the hart of Lead;
Yet sodaine feare doth start it when it stings.
The Lightnings flash doth feare more than the flame
That stil is seene, and stil is seene the same.
168
Heere, in a Chimney, all of burning Brickes,Sits Grimnesse, and a red-hote Spit doth turne;
Whereon a humane Creature, melting, stickes;
Whose grease doth make the fire the more to burn;
Which Turne-spit, oft, his filthy fingers lickes,
And, with this liquor, doth his lippes adorne:
Basting the roast with what most torment giues,
Whiles the poore Creature dies, because he liues.
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But, that which is most horrid to bee heard,But much more hatefull to be felt, or seene;
These Cookes oft gash their flesh, to interlard
The same with sulphure, with woe waxen leane:
Lest the soft marrow the hard bone should guard,
From feeling woes incomparable keene:
So bone, and marrow, sinew, nerue, and vaine
Do there endure paines, farre exceeding paine!
170
In other Coasts of this infernall Realme;(Confusions Land, Gehennaes lording place,
True Antitype of new Ierusalem)
It freezeth flesh, which pines in staruing case;
Where, some do, naked, sticke amidst a streame
To yce congeal'd; whom cold winds freeze apace:
Yet draw they breath, more cold thē coldest frost,
To freeze their intralls, and congeale their ghost.
171
If any spit (for rheums cold places breede)Its blowne, in Ice-cicles, into their face:
For, those keene winds do forthwith do the deede,
And haile, of drops, make in a moments space:
On ycie morsells there the mouth must feede,
Sith mouthes to ycie morsells turne apace:
Here is cold comfort where is nought but cold,
That all congeales, on which it taketh hold.
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Here some (but new arriu'd) while blood is warme,Attempt, by motion, so to keepe the same;
But strait they cannot stirre, nor Leg, nor Arme;
For, in the offer, they freeze stiffe, and lame:
Yet hold they vitall heate (the more their harme)
For Ice, like Oile, doth feede their vitall flame:
If such a foe to life, as such a cold
Keepes life in being, life hath hatefull hold.
173
Who are so madde with paine that they do crie,O what is this we feele! we feele, O what!
Is't limbes of Flesh that brooke this agony?
All they haue rag'd with paine; but this, to that
Is like the Ocean to a fountaine drie:
This flesh, nerues, ioynts, once Racks did lacerate,
Yet that with this compar'd, was Heau'n to Hell,
O what is this we feele? Sense die, or tell.
174
It's but a moment since we hither came,Yet feele what paine Eternity inflicts;
And though eternally we feele the same,
Yet vs with what we ne'r felt, it afflicts:
Proteus like still paines new fashons frame;
And one another euer interdicts:
Is this the Soule we thought with flesh should die,
Which feeles these mortall plagues immortally?
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Here, some with hands fast frozen to their mouth,Do seeke to thaw them with their warmest breath;
But lo, the frost that breath so fast pursuth,
That it doth freeze in comming from beneath:
So, hand and mouth thereby the faster growth;
Yet liue they still, though frozen quite to death:
For, like to Alabaster Tombs they stand,
Frozen to death, yet liue at Deaths command.
176
Here, boistrous Bugbeares do at foot-ball playWith a still-tost and tumbled groning Ghost,
To catch thē heat; which done, they dāce the Hay
About it (breathlesse) being ouer-tost;
So, with transmuted formes, it to dismay
With feare that may afflict the seeing most:
While that poore Soule lies panting like an Hare,
Among foule hounds that seeke the same to share.
177
Now Matacheyns they daunce, with visage grim,And at ech chāge they chāge their horrid shapes:
And at ech turne, they torture life and limb
Of this tormented Soule, that, gasping gapes,
As if the Ghost were yeelding at the brim
Of deepe Not-beings Pit; which yet it scapes:
At point of death to liue immortally,
Is still to liue, and liuing, still to die!
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Now comes a chased Ghost that flies, for life,Before a foule-mouth'd crie of hellish hounds;
And being caught, twixt them is deadly strife,
Which of them all shall giue it deadliest wounds:
Each of whose teeth is like an Hangmans knife,
Which torments, if not utterly confounds:
O! thinke then what an hell of feare that hart
Must hold, that such infernall Hounds do start.
179
Here winds, that whistle while they freezing are,(As if they merry were for freezing so)
Bring, with their working, pitchy clouds of Care,
Wherewith they are involu'd that thither go;
Those biting frosts do, there, make all things bare,
Which make the same a naked world of woe:
Where nought but nipping frosts are felt, & seene,
Ne'r-vading griefes do flourish euer greene.
180
Here stands a Fowler, fowle, with Nets of Wire,To take a flight of Soules that staruing flee;
Late fled from whence they neuer can retire;
So, when in that fast-holding Net they bee,
He dragges them to the frost, or to the fire,
Where either are in the extream'st degree:
This is the welcome which they first receaue,
That of their life mis-spent haue tane their leaue.
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This flight thus caught, the Legions of the North,Fill all those Regions with their hellish houles;
And, with their vgliest formes, come roaring forth
To share among them those feare-shaken Soules:
The worthiest takes the Soule of smallest worth
To execute thereon the greatest doles.
Quake flesh to heare what fraile flesh heere doth feele,
For endlesse plagues turne here still like a wheele.
182
Here may you see, for anguish, some to tearTheir flesh from bones, yea bones and flesh to gnaw;
That so they may no more those torments beare,
Which make thē burst, with choler, in their Maw:
Some grate their teeth, as teeth they grīding were,
To cut the flesh which they before did saw:
And all, and some, are so with tortures tir'd,
That they seeme quietst, when they most are fir'd.
183
Here Bugs bestirre them, with a bellowing rore,(As at a Scamble we see Boyes to sturre)
Who for Soules scamble on a glowing flore;
Biting and scratching, like the Cat and Curre;
Whiles with their Talons they their prey do gore,
And thogh they striue, they do, therein concurre:
Within whose gripes the Soule, in silence grones,
For feare of feeling thousand hells at once.
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Here, in a corner sits an vgly forme,That on the matter of a liuing Corse
Finds matter of much mirth; which is, t'informe
Himselfe of all the sinews, and their force;
Who, with a knife, the flesh doth all deforme,
To pull out nerues and sinews in their course:
Which like strings, broken, hanging at a Lute;
So hang these nerues the Body all about.
185
Here may you see some others driuing nailes,Vnder the nailes of endlesse sorrowes slaues;
Some others, threshing them (like flax) with flailes;
Thē moow thē vp, in groūdlesse gulfs by thraues:
Some, playing on their hart-strīgs with their nails;
Some others, broaching them on ragged staues:
And all and some more busie farre then Bees,
To gather hony from the gall of these.
186
If Paine her vtmost pow'r awhile forbeare,(As seld she doth; for, there she's still in force)
It is suppli'd with feare, surmounting feare,
For loe, in Azur'd flames, with voices horse,
Farre off approaching grisly Formes appeare
Which feare far off, & neare at hand, much worse:
For, Fantasie with paine is more orecome,
When it is comming, then when it is come.
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And, all about in darknesse, thicke as darke;Are seene to shine (like Gloworms) vgly eies;
Which (like a Partrige sprong) ech soule do mark;
So, that to scape no Soules pow'r can deuise:
For, should they mount (as doth the nimble Lark)
A gastly Griphon doth them strait surprise:
Or should they sincke into Pits bottomlesse,
There shuld they meet the like, with like distresse.
188
In mortall life (though mortall be mens woes)Three things their vtmost rage do qualifie;
That's Comfort, Hope, and Rest; but, none of those
Come neare this place of paines extremity:
Mens Rackers, here, being tir'd, do let them loose;
But, they are Sprites that men, there, crucifie;
Who can endure all labour, without paine,
While they do Sprites (that is for ere) remaine.
189
But, if mens plaguers here immortall were,And were of pow'r, vntir'd, to plague them still,
Yet would they them, yer long, to nothing weare;
Or them with lacerating torments kill;
But all, so plagu'd, are made immortall there,
Who thogh they stil are spoil'd, yet noght cā spill:
Thē, thogh Time wears that on Time doth depēd
Yet they weare not, for Time doth them attend.
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Yea, thogh their Plaguers & themselues were suchYet, in this life, the Instruments of paine
To nought would waste, with vsing long, & much;
But, that same firie Lake doth still remaine,
Which though it quite cōfounds, but with a tuch,
Yet, it confounds but to torment againe:
And, lest the fire should out, prepar'd there is,
A Sea of Sulphure, which still feedeth this.
191
These present paines the Wit do (pining) waste;But those to come the Will do martire most:
The Memory is plagu'd with pleasures past,
And Vnderstanding with the pleasures lost:
Which on the Soule the Soule of Sorrowes cast;
For, endles Ioyes to lose, crosse-woūds our Ghost:
To haue bin well, doth but encrease our curse,
But, to lose endlesse being well, is worse.
192
Then, what remaines to ease the wounded spright,When Hope, that keeps it whole, becoms Dispaire:
For, in that dungeon of eternall night
That most doth ruine, that should most repaire:
For, Immortalitie right good, by right,
The Soule and Bodies powres doth most impaire:
Then, hauing but one good thing naturall,
Yet that made worse then Ill, how ill is All?
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There, raignes what not? (that is not to be toldWith tong, nor pen) that sense afflicts with griefe;
There is Perditions home, Damnations Hold;
Which giues death life, & death, giues life reliefe:
It is the vtmost reach of Hot and Cold,
And of Dispaire the habitation chiefe:
In summe, it is the summe of all distresse,
Which subdiuided makes it nothing lesse.
194
These are Gehennaes Consorts; these are theyThat still associate those that thither go:
This is the Place of that fell Monsters stay;
The Place where paine is infinite in woe:
The way thereto is plaine, broad, greene, and gay,
All strew'd with floures, to tice men thither so:
All which to Phusis, erst by Logus, told,
On Aletheia made her fasten hold.
195
Now, to returne to Phusis, and her plaint,Quoth she, (and her embraced all the while)
Deere Aletheia, help me, for I faint;
To thinke my Sonnes are neere this monster vile;
Who, with his Tuske, will teare, and all to taint
Their tender flesh, which filthy Lusts defile:
Which to preuent, I faine would learne of thee,
For, thou best know'st, what's best for them, & mee.
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And, for I know thou canst aright perswade,(For all thy words are held in reuerence)
I thee beseech from Vice them to disswade,
And from this Land; sith none returns frō thence:
O bid them leaue their idle wandring Trade,
And tell them of this inconuenience:
Go, Lady go, the way thou canst not misse,
To all their homes, and tel them home of this.
197
I would (quoth Aletheia) gladly goe,But that, I feare, they will entreate me ill
For Logus sake (neare kin to me, they know)
But thy desire I will herein fulfill:
For, I will go, though I my selfe forgoe,
To bar their course, and breake them of their will;
For, life is wonne, though lost, in those Assaies,
Wherein the loser gaines immortall praise.
198
Go, gracious Ladie, glory be thy guide(Quoth Lady Phusis, to this hardy Dame)
And I, meane while, will at this Gate abide,
With my friend Nosus, Porter to the same.
So, on this iourney Aletheia hi'd,
For, she, though wounded oft, was neuer lame,
In all her Actions shee's most vpright still;
For, she will neuer halt, how euer ill.
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This while sate Phusis at this narrow dore,Talking with Logus, who came to her there;
Because she did as he her will'd before;
Who told him all her hope, and all her feare;
How Aletheia did her case deplore,
And went to schoole her Children eu'ry where:
For, Hearts are eas'd when Tongs vnfold at large,
The griefes, or ioyes, which do them ouercharge.
200
Logus her course, herein, did much commend;And cheer'd her, as she could, with heu'nly words:
Praid her, with patience, to expect the end;
And comfort eu'ry way to her affords:
Strengthning her hope that now her sons would mend;
Sith Aletheias sayings would (like swords)
Subdue all rancke rebellion of the sense,
For, powrefull words winne more then violence.
201
They had not thus sate reas'ning there awhile,But Aletheia they farre off might see
Flying to them-wards ouer stoppe and Stile,
Oft looking backe, as those that chased bee;
Thē wel they knew hope did their hopes beguile,
Which they, till they had tri'd, could not foresee:
For, that which is contingent who doth kno,
Are onely wise, and none but ONE is so.
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But comming neere thē (almost breathlesse quite)She, panting, told them (windlesse as she could)
How she had bin (by vertue of her might)
About the whole world, and, with courage bold,
(For which, she said she was in painefull plight)
All Phusis children of their errors told:
To whom (quoth she) in diuerse formes I came,
Yet kept my nature, though I chang'd my name.
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Some tooke me for grosse Error, some for mad;Some, superstitious; some, hereticall:
Some, for Deceipt; and some, for Vice, as bad:
Presumptuous some; some, hipocriticall:
But, the most part, most malice to me had;
For they, at first sight, draue me to the wall:
Some seem'd to take my part with Tooth & Naile,
That did (indeed) me most of all assaile.
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The Curious rent my Maske to see my face;The Prowd, orelookt, nay, troade me vnderfeete,
The Learned, grac'd themselues with my disgrace;
Th'vnlerned (graueld) filld my mouth with Greet;
Which made me faine, and speake as one in chase,
So, all I met withall, with me did meete:
Truth gets but hate, but Adulation loue:
That this is truth, vnto my paine I proue.
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So, when I saw the perill I was in,Away I fled, thus wounded as you see;
I held it base to keepe vnscar'd my skin,
Sith mine aduenture might bring ease to thee:
But Phusis, this I did thy loue to win,
Whom I do loue, how ere thou louest me:
No dearer loue can Loue bewray then this,
To venture that, for Loue, that dearest is.
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Ah, woe is me (quoth Phusis) that thou shouldstFor my poore Loue (which thou dost well deserue)
Venture that Iewell, which thou dearest holdst,
Yet that rare hazard, not my turne to serue:
Thy will I see, in that I see thou wouldst
Venture thy life my sonnes liues to preserue:
And that thou shouldst for that be wounded so,
And they the worse for that, the worse my woe.
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Can neither Caueats of Mortalitie,(Which flow frō thy mouth with almighty force)
Nor my perswasions, more then motherly,
Giue them some feeling of their senslesse course?
Are their Soules seared with impiety,
That they for it, therein, feele no remorce?
Then what shall I a woefull mother do,
But wish I Were not, and my children too?
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But what, I pray, did Princes say to thee,When thou did'st mind them that they once must die?
They said, & therewith stabb'd at me (quoth she)
I, like a deuill, in my Throate did lie:
These, of all others, most I sought to flee;
And yet I honor roiall Maiestie:
Without my hand sustaine, Thrones reeling stand;
For, all staid Thrones are staied by my hand.
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And how (quoth Phusis) doe the Iudges liue?Many of them (replied she) doom'd me death,
Because I would not (as did others) giue
Them goldē Scabberds, Iustice Sword to sheath.
How Lawyers? They by others losses thriue,
And oft (quoth she) on all sides sell their breath.
Physitions how? They reason doubtfully
Till Fees they finger past recouery.
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Poore Poets how? while they (quoth she) do fillThe world with Fables, feed thēselues with hopes
More fabulous; so hold they but at will
Their tearme of life, of some great Lord that opes
His Mouth, more then his Purse, their Eares to fill
More then their Mawes; which greedie Famine grops:
Whose biting stomacks stil do stomack it,
The while they starue for want of wealth and wit.
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Ah these deere Harts I pitty in my hart,Who liue by sweet Lines, which do end their life;
For, to liue long, they hang themselues by Arte;
Or kill themselues with sharpe Inuentions knife:
Sith they, to liue, thus die, without desart,
Long may they liue where glorie is more rife:
For, greater glory no flesh can attaine,
Then die for glorie, so to liue againe.
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And doe my sonnes (quoth Phusis) fare but thus?O then aduise me (Lady) what to doe:
Who said, sith they no better are for vs,
Thou must Astrea (my deere Sister) wooe
To rule them with the Rod of Summumius,
Before themselues they vtterly vndoe:
And wooe thy selfe to take it patiently,
For, better thou shuldst beare, then they shuld die.
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For, if she rule them not when wilde they bee,She will ore rule them being truely tam'd,
If, in their life, she doe them not oresee,
She, in their death, will see they shalbe damn'd:
Thogh she be blind, she with mine Eies doth see,
And I doe see how life and death are fram'd:
And thus, the best aduice that I can giue,
Is them to mortifie, that they may liue.
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Which hauing said, she Logus with her tooke(To dresse her wounds) and hi'd her to her Bed;
So Phusis, being of them both forsooke,
Sate at the doore of Thanatus, neere dead,
And fell asleepe till Logus her awooke,
Who came againe to her as if he fled:
Whom when she saw, her hart receiued cheare,
And in her face the same did soone appeare.
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Logus aduis'd her strait to take aduiceOf Thanatus, and Chronus, what to do:
Which to performe, she seemed somewhat nice,
Because she thought they sought her to vndoo:
Yet, her loue to her sonnes did her entice,
Her enemies, in this behalfe, to woo:
And, thus resolu'd, she boldly rushed in
Those Gates, which erst to her had fearefull bin.
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Whose slipp'ry thresholds had neere made her fallInto the Lake of Lethe, hard at hand;
But, Logus held her vp; yet, therewithall
She grew so fearefull, that she scarse could stand;
But held by Logus, and a lomy Wall:
Then Logus her besought (that might command)
That she no more that passage would attempt,
For, tis not good the Fates too much to tempt.
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But I (quoth she) will Chronus call outright;Who forthwith came, on her sweet sounding call;
Holpe by two wings, one blacke, the other white;
And in his hand a Sithe, to cut downe All:
Who seem'd behind but low, and poore in plight;
But yet before, most pretious, trimme, and tall:
Thus came he forth, and to these Ladies said,
Who calls? and spake with motion most vnstaid.
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T'was I (quoth Logus) know'st thou not my voice;Or wilt not, sith thou wilt become vnkinde?
The time hath bin when It did thee reioyce;
Though now (it seemes) to thee it seemes but wind:
Wilt be vnconstant, so to change thy Choice?
And shall I making thee, thee fickle find?
But, if I shall, of this thou shalt be sure
Thou shalt the lesser while, for that endure.
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Thus Logus Chronus did reproue, becauseHe wold not know that voice which wel he knew;
But, Chronus he himselfe, from them, withdrawes;
As one that fear'd worse chiding to ensue:
But, Logus bade him stay, or shew a cause,
Which shews to Logus are all onely due;
Without whose help, old Chronus doth but dote,
And cannot sing or say, right Word, or Note.
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On this Iniunction, Chronus mute did stand;Yet stood as one that still on Thornes had stood;
While Logus seem'd his seruice to command,
And gaue his Tongue powre to be vnderstood:
Quoth he, let Phusis haue thy helping hand,
To make, if so thou canst, her children good:
For, they that hurt must heale, or make amends,
Then (hurting them) on thee their help depends.
221
Here Phusis, hearing how he thus was chid,Was at the point, at him, likewise to raile,
But Logus bade her (in her Eare) take heede;
For, faire words wold with Chronus most preuaile:
Wherewith her headstrong Will she bridle did,
For Logus loue, and for her sonnes auaile:
But yet she said, he did great hauocke make
Of her deere children in that Lethe Lake.
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In which respect she meekely him besought(By way of satisfaction) that he would
Preuent her Childrens going all to nought;
And, with Examples, them from that withhold:
For I their Mother, (quoth she) still haue sought
To make them liue as toward children should:
And if they perish, it shall be their blame,
For, Ile leaue nought vnsought, to let the same.
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I will, quoth Chronus; and away he flew;And, in one instant, made (the world throughout)
Babes, youths: youths, Men: Men, Old: Old, Babes anew!
Phusis, mean while, with Logus talkt, about
The hope she had that Chronus would subdue
Her sonnes to Logus rule; which He did doubt:
For, no man of a rationall discourse
Can thinke thei'l mend that still waxe worse and worse.
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While thus they talkt, they on the sodaine sawChronus, vpon his wings, returning fast;
Which in her smoothest hope did make a flaw;
For, so he fled as he had beene agast:
What news (quoth she) as he neere them did draw,
Fearing, ere she had spoke, he would be past:
What do my Children? Chronus say, O what?
Speake, speake, O speake, I long to heare of that.
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They are (quoth he) I know not what to say,Following their pleasures; and, do thinke of noght
But how they may shift me with ease away;
Yet I thereby the sooner them haue caught:
O what a world it is to see them play
(Like Apes) with each vaine toy too deerely bought,
He is no man that cannot do what not?
That wise men neuer knew, or haue forgot.
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Ay me therefore (quoth she) but didst not thouWith thy Sithe menace them, to manage them?
Didst thou not tell them thou their Backs wouldst bow,
And that this mortal life was but a dreame?
O! couldst thou not, with all this, cast them low
To mount them more to high Ierusalem?
What, haue they sense, and cannot vse the same,
That haue no kinde of sense of sinne, and shame?
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When night was come (quoth he) I told ech oneThe day was past: and when the Sabboth came,
I said a weeke was fully past, and gone:
A month expir'd, I told them of the same:
And when the Sun his compleate course had run,
I said a yeare was past, and spent, with shame:
But, they that take delight to runne awrie,
Learne so to runne by Sols course in the Skie.
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In Childhood, I did teach; in Youth, did threat:In Manhood, I reprooued: and in Age,
With their own bones, their bones I sore did beat:
And in Decrepitenesse, I worse did rage;
For, I did euen quench their vitall heat:
And to the gripes of death did them ingage.
Yet for all this, they worse and worse became,
Still spoiling me, till them I ouercame.
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What life then do my Yonglings liue (quoth she?)The life (said he) of wanton skipping Roes:
What the Yongmen? Of Goates, in Lecherie:
And what mē grown? Of Cocks, prowd, prone to bloes:
What aged men? Of wolues that greedy be
And what old Age? Of crafty Foxes those:
But, most of all, do most of all transgresse,
And all, and some offend, some more, some lesse.
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Ah out alas (cride she) what then remainesTo me, or them, but miserable woe?
But, I will trie if yet my care and paines,
Can moue them their wrong courses to forgoe:
Logus and Chronus to you it pertaines
To take my part herein, as friends should doe:
Not I (quoth Logus) for, against their will,
I can saue none, that long themselues to spill.
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So, Logus left them, and away he hideTo seeke Astrea; (who, the earth had left)
That she of Phusis sonnes might take the guide;
While Phusis ranne about (of Logus rest)
And on her sonnes, with tragicke voice, she cri'd
Pitty, O pitty, me, she cried eft:
Griefe, wāting vent, the Heart (tormented) breaks,
And Paine's not sad, while she at pleasure speakes.
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Whereat Poliphagus (whose hearing wasAll for the Belly) said, me thinke I heare
(Yet Eares the Belly wants, but let that passe)
The voice of Phusis, our kind mother deare:
The other two said, How comes this to passe
That she is come? wherewith she did appeare,
And to them said, Deere Sonnes, how do ye fare?
Exceeding well (quoth they) and frolicke are.
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But, do ye not consider (Sonnes) quoth she)How neere ye are to be deuoured quite
By that Gehenna, which I loathe to see,
(Damn'd hellish monster headsman of Delight)
Except you change your course, and warie bee
To shunne him and his hardly shunned spight?
For, that spit's hardly shun'd that hath both force
And will, to make her Obiect worse and worse.
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Alas (quoth they) we liue, as liue we should,Prolonging Life with lifes immunities;
Except the ouerthrow thereof you would,
Do not perswade vs to liue otherwise:
What thogh our Soules to pleasure quite are sold,
Are they not sold thereby to Paradise?
The Sale is good, as Reasons law maintaines,
When both the Buyer and the Seller gaines.
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Phusis (too fond, as too kinde Mothers are)Seeing them well (for well they seeme to be
That liue, how euer ill, without all care)
Was pleas'd with what she did both heare & see;
Who said, that Logus sed, they ill did fare,
And were in more then mortall ieoperdy:
But sith she saw they were in perfect plight,
She would (she said) partake of their delight.
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Indeed (quoth they) that solemne Sage we saw;Who (algates) wold haue drawne vs frō our sports:
But, whilst he drew vs, we made him withdraw
Himselfe from vs, with many mortall hurts:
He would (forsooth) haue had vs keepe his Law;
And done our Suite and Seruice to his Courts:
Then, sith he would needs Lord it ouer vs,
We as free men haue seru'd his Lordship thus.
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Would that (quoth she) ye had forborne, becauseMany obey him that do rule aright;
For, Equitie doth limit all his Lawes;
And they are held for mad, that with him fight:
Hereat, as loath t'offend, she made a pawse,
For, in their Fronts she saw the face of night:
When men looke blacke, then if you peace desire,
Looke white, for Blackenesse is the child of fire.
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Here, with a smiling, and indulgent looke,(To change their sowre look with looks more thē sweet)
She told them Aletheia vndertooke
To shew them what was for their safetie meet:
For, her (quoth they) we neuer yet forsooke,
Because we neuer yet with her did meet:
Yet haue we heard that she is too precise,
To liue with vs in Pleasures Paradise.
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But doubtlesse (quoth she) Chronus was with you;What said he to you? what was his aduice?
He to and fro (quoth they) about vs flew,
Yet to stay with vs seemed more then nice:
He coldly sought our lusts heate to subdue,
But yer we wist, we lost him a trice:
Yet, yer he went, with him wee merry made,
And made him most familiar with our Trade.
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Wherefore, we pray you, when you goe away,Leaue him with vs; For, we do well agree:
I will (quoth she) so left them at their play,
And Chronus sent to beare them company:
With whom they reuelld out the night, and day;
Though He from them still sought away to flee:
For Chronus weareth not his Wings for nought,
Sith he doth farre out flie the swiftest Thought.
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While they thus gamesomely with Chronus toy'd,(Deceiuing him with Fancies fallacies)
They heard a voice (which sorely them annoy'd)
That sommon'd them to leaue their luxuries;
Herewith by Thanatus, they were destroy'd;
To satisfie Gehennaes gurmandize:
At whose approach, old Chronus fled away,
For he could neuer yet, with neither stay.
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Chronus thus leauing them to be deuour'dBy fell Gehenna (their foe capitall)
(Of whom, by Thanatus, he was assur'd)
He fled to Phusis, and so, told her all:
Who was within the Earths womb then immur'd,
Prouiding foode for hir Broode great und small;
Assuring her He school'd them as they ought,
Till Thanatus had them past schooling brought.
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Phusis herewith tormented in the Soule,Ranne (as distracted) where sicke Fancie pleas'd;
Till, at the last, she heard her Sonnes to howle,
As those that were most damnably diseas'd:
Exclaiming on their liues, and follies fowle,
That pleas'd the Sēse with all that now displeas'd:
But such compunction neuer comes but where
The penitent doth desperate appeare.
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So, when she had well wai'd their agoniesWhich they endured in that Monsters Iawes,
And, hauing view'd the like extremities,
Proceeding from the like, or worser cause,
Of cruell Kings, that of Blood make but Size
To glew together their most bloudy Lawes:
Of corrupt Iudges; and Priests negligent,
The three that raise, or ruine Gouernment.
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The working woes of th'idle-curious;Of the Rich-couetous; and the Poore-prowde;
Rebellious Subiects; Courtiers vicious:
Lasciuious Dames; damn'd Bawdes; the cursed Crowde:
Erroneous Teachers; Poets Libellous:
Cau'ling Philosophers, (by fooles allow'd)
Of craftie Merchants; lying Aduocates:
And swearing Sea-men; roving Runnagates.
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In few, when she had seene the many woesOf all that in Gehennaes Hold abide,
She was, by Phobus, (who attended those)
Brought to the place where she did erst reside;
Where she did many Praiers sweete compose
Vnto Astrea, (whom the Heau'ns did hide)
That she would digne to teach, and to correct
The rest of her wilde Children of each Sect.
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So, at these holy Praiers her I leaue,(Sith they are neuer left that so do pray;)
Now, Poets say (that all in all perceiue)
Is this a Fiction? or a true Essay?
If both, then both are ready to deceaue
Those that wold picke this Locke without a kay:
But, be it what it will, it is the same
That is in earnest true, how ere in game.
Bene cogitata, si excidunt, non occidunt. Mimi. Publiani.
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