The Wisdome of Solomon Paraphrased Written by Thomas Middleton |
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| III. |
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| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
| XIII. |
Chapter XIII.
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| XIIII. |
| XV. |
| XVI. |
| XVII. |
| XVIII. |
| XIX. |
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Chapter XIII.
The Wisdome of Solomon Paraphrased |  |
Chapter XIII.
Uer. 1
The branch must needs be weake, if roote be so,
The roote must needs be weake, if branches fall,
Nature is vaine, man cannot be her foe,
Because from nature, and at natures call:
Nature is vaine, and wee proceede from nature,
Vaine therfore is our birth, and vaine our feature.
The roote must needs be weake, if branches fall,
Nature is vaine, man cannot be her foe,
Because from nature, and at natures call:
Nature is vaine, and wee proceede from nature,
Vaine therfore is our birth, and vaine our feature.
One body may haue two diseases sore,
Not being two, it may be ioynde to two,
Nature is one it selfe, yet two and more,
Vaine, ignorant of God, of good, of show,
Which not regards the things which god hath don,
And what things are to doe, what new begun.
Not being two, it may be ioynde to two,
Nature is one it selfe, yet two and more,
Vaine, ignorant of God, of good, of show,
Which not regards the things which god hath don,
And what things are to doe, what new begun.
Uer. 2
Why doe I blame the tree? when tis the leaues,
Why blame I nature? for her mortall men,
Why blame I men? tis she, tis she that weaues,
That weaues, that wafts vnto destructions pen:
Then being blamefull both, because both vaine,
I leaue to both, their vanities due paine.
Why blame I nature? for her mortall men,
Why blame I men? tis she, tis she that weaues,
That weaues, that wafts vnto destructions pen:
Then being blamefull both, because both vaine,
I leaue to both, their vanities due paine.
To prize the shadow at the substance rate,
Is a vaine substance of a shadowes hue,
To thinke the sonne to be the fathers mate,
Earth to rule earth, because of earthly view:
To thinke fire winde, ayre stars, water, and heau'n,
To be as Gods, from whom their selues are giu'n.
Is a vaine substance of a shadowes hue,
To thinke the sonne to be the fathers mate,
Earth to rule earth, because of earthly view:
To thinke fire winde, ayre stars, water, and heau'n,
To be as Gods, from whom their selues are giu'n.
Ver. 3
Fire as a God? oh irreligious sound,
Winde as a God? oh vaine, oh vainest voice,
Aire as a God? when tis but duskie ground,
Star as a God? when tis but Phœbes choice:
Water a God? which first by God was made,
Heauen a God? which first by God was laide.
Winde as a God? oh vaine, oh vainest voice,
Aire as a God? when tis but duskie ground,
Star as a God? when tis but Phœbes choice:
Water a God? which first by God was made,
Heauen a God? which first by God was laide.
Say all hath beautie, excellence, array,
Yet beautifide they are, they were, they bee,
By Gods bright excellence of brightest day,
Which first implanted our first beuties tree:
If then the painted outside of the show,
Bee radiant, what is the inward row.
Yet beautifide they are, they were, they bee,
By Gods bright excellence of brightest day,
Which first implanted our first beuties tree:
If then the painted outside of the show,
Bee radiant, what is the inward row.
Uer. 4
If that the shadowe of the bodies skin,
Bee so illumin'd with the sun-shin'd soule,
What is the thing it selfe which is within,
More wrencht, more cleansde, more purifi'd from foul:
If elementall powers haue Gods thought,
Say what is God, which made them all of nought.
Bee so illumin'd with the sun-shin'd soule,
What is the thing it selfe which is within,
More wrencht, more cleansde, more purifi'd from foul:
If elementall powers haue Gods thought,
Say what is God, which made them all of nought.
It is a wonder for to see the skie,
And operation of each ayrye power,
A meruaile, that the heau'n should be so hie,
And let fall such a low distilling shower:
Then needs must hee bee high, higher then all,
Which made both hie and lowe with one tongues call.
And operation of each ayrye power,
A meruaile, that the heau'n should be so hie,
And let fall such a low distilling shower:
Then needs must hee bee high, higher then all,
Which made both hie and lowe with one tongues call.
Uer. 5
The workeman mightier is then his hand-worke,
In making that which else would be vnmade,
The nere-thought thing, doth alwaies hidden lurke,
Without the maker in a making trade:
For had not God made man, man had not beene,
But nature had decayde, and nere beene seene.
In making that which else would be vnmade,
The nere-thought thing, doth alwaies hidden lurke,
Without the maker in a making trade:
For had not God made man, man had not beene,
But nature had decayde, and nere beene seene.
The workman neuer shewing of his skill,
Doth liue vnknowne to man, though knowne to wit,
Had mortall birth beene neuer in Gods will,
God had beene God, but yet vnknowne in it:
Then hauing made the glory of earths beautie,
Tis reason earth should reuerence him in dutie.
Doth liue vnknowne to man, though knowne to wit,
Had mortall birth beene neuer in Gods will,
God had beene God, but yet vnknowne in it:
Then hauing made the glory of earths beautie,
Tis reason earth should reuerence him in dutie.
Uer. 6
The sauadge people haue a supreame head,
A king, though sauadge as his subiects are,
Yet they with his obseruances are lead,
Obaying his beheasts what ere they were:
The Turkes, the infidels, all haue a Lord,
Whom they obserue in thought, in deed, in word.
A king, though sauadge as his subiects are,
Yet they with his obseruances are lead,
Obaying his beheasts what ere they were:
The Turkes, the infidels, all haue a Lord,
Whom they obserue in thought, in deed, in word.
And shall we; differing from their sauage kinde,
Hauing a soule to liue and to beleeue,
Be rude in thought, in deed, in word, in minde,
Not seeking him which should our woes releeue:
Oh no deere brethren, seeke our God, our fame,
Then if wee erre we shall haue lesser blame.
Hauing a soule to liue and to beleeue,
Be rude in thought, in deed, in word, in minde,
Not seeking him which should our woes releeue:
Oh no deere brethren, seeke our God, our fame,
Then if wee erre we shall haue lesser blame.
Ver. 7
How can wee erre, wee seeke for ready way,
Oh that my tongue could fetch that word againe,
Whose very accent makes me go astray,
Breathing that erring wind into my braine:
My word is past and cannot be recalde,
It is like aged time, now waxen balde.
Oh that my tongue could fetch that word againe,
Whose very accent makes me go astray,
Breathing that erring wind into my braine:
My word is past and cannot be recalde,
It is like aged time, now waxen balde.
For they which goe astray in seeking God,
Doe misse the ioyefull narrow-footed path,
(Ioyfull, thrice ioyfull way to his abode,)
Nought seeing but their shadowes in a bath:
Narcissus-like pining to see a show,
Hindring the passage, which their feete should goe.
Doe misse the ioyefull narrow-footed path,
(Ioyfull, thrice ioyfull way to his abode,)
Nought seeing but their shadowes in a bath:
Narcissus-like pining to see a show,
Hindring the passage, which their feete should goe.
Uer. 8 9
Narcissus fantasie did die to kisse,
O sugred kisse dide with a poisoned lip,
The fantasies of these do die to misse,
Oh tossed fantasies, in follies ship:
He dide to kisse the shadow of his face,
These liue and die to lifes and deaths disgrace.
O sugred kisse dide with a poisoned lip,
The fantasies of these do die to misse,
Oh tossed fantasies, in follies ship:
He dide to kisse the shadow of his face,
These liue and die to lifes and deaths disgrace.
A fault without amends, crime without ease,
A sin without excuse, death without aide,
To loue the world, and what the world did please,
To know the earth, wherin their sinnes are laide:
They knew the world, but not the L. that framde it
They knew the earth, but not the L. that namde it.
A sin without excuse, death without aide,
To loue the world, and what the world did please,
To know the earth, wherin their sinnes are laide:
They knew the world, but not the L. that framde it
They knew the earth, but not the L. that namde it.
Uerse 10
Narcissus drownde himselfe, for his selfes shew,
Striuing to heale himselfe, did himselfe harme,
These drownde them selues on earth, with their selues woe,
Hee in a water-brooke by furies charme;
They made dry earth wet with their follys weepīg,
Hee made wet earth dry, with his furies sleeping.
Striuing to heale himselfe, did himselfe harme,
These drownde them selues on earth, with their selues woe,
Hee in a water-brooke by furies charme;
They made dry earth wet with their follys weepīg,
Hee made wet earth dry, with his furies sleeping.
Then leaue him to his sleepe: returne to those,
Which euer wake in miseries constraints,
Whose eyes are hollow caues, and made sleeps foes,
Two dungeons darke with sin, blind with complaints:
They called images which man first found,
Immortall Gods: for which, their tongs are bound.
Which euer wake in miseries constraints,
Whose eyes are hollow caues, and made sleeps foes,
Two dungeons darke with sin, blind with complaints:
They called images which man first found,
Immortall Gods: for which, their tongs are bound.
Ver. 11 12
Golde was a God with them, a golden God,
Like children in a pageant of gay toyes,
Adoring images for saints abode,
Oh vaine vaine spectacles of vainer ioyes:
Putting their hope in blocks, their trust in stones;
Hoping to trust, trusting to hope in mones.
Like children in a pageant of gay toyes,
Adoring images for saints abode,
Oh vaine vaine spectacles of vainer ioyes:
Putting their hope in blocks, their trust in stones;
Hoping to trust, trusting to hope in mones.
As when a carpenter cuts downe a tree,
Meet for to make a vessell for mans vse,
He pareth all the barke most cunningly,
With the sharp shauer of his kniues abuse,
Ripping the feely wombe with no entreate,
Making her woundy chips to dresse his meat.
Meet for to make a vessell for mans vse,
He pareth all the barke most cunningly,
With the sharp shauer of his kniues abuse,
Ripping the feely wombe with no entreate,
Making her woundy chips to dresse his meat.
Uer. 13 14
Her bodies bones are often rough and hard,
Crooked with ages growth, growing with crookes,
And full of wether-chinkes, which seasons marrde,
Knobbie and rugged, bending in like hookes:
Yet knowing age can neuer want a fault,
Encounters it with a sharpe knifes assault.
Crooked with ages growth, growing with crookes,
And full of wether-chinkes, which seasons marrde,
Knobbie and rugged, bending in like hookes:
Yet knowing age can neuer want a fault,
Encounters it with a sharpe knifes assault.
And carues it well though it be selfe-like ill,
Obseruing leasure, keeping time and place,
According to the cunning of his skill,
Making the figure of a mortall face:
Or like some vgly beast in ruddy mould,
Hiding each crannie with a painters fould.
Obseruing leasure, keeping time and place,
According to the cunning of his skill,
Making the figure of a mortall face:
Or like some vgly beast in ruddy mould,
Hiding each crannie with a painters fould.
Ver. 15 16
It is a world to see, to marke, to view,
How age can botch vp age, with crooked thread,
How his olde hands, can make an olde tree new,
And dead-like hee, can make another dead:
Yet makes a substantiue, able to beare it,
And she an adiectiue, nor see, nor heare it.
How age can botch vp age, with crooked thread,
How his olde hands, can make an olde tree new,
And dead-like hee, can make another dead:
Yet makes a substantiue, able to beare it,
And she an adiectiue, nor see, nor heare it.
A wall it is it selfe, yet wall with wall,
Hath great supportance bearing either part,
The image like an adiectiue would fall,
Were it not closed with an yron hart:
The workman being olde himselfe, doth know,
What great infirmities olde age can show.
Hath great supportance bearing either part,
The image like an adiectiue would fall,
Were it not closed with an yron hart:
The workman being olde himselfe, doth know,
What great infirmities olde age can show.
Uerse 17
Therefore to stop the riuer of extreames,
Hee burst into the flowing of his wit,
Tossing his braines with more then thousand theams,
To haue a wooden stratagem so fit:
Woodden, because it doth belong to wood,
His purpose may be wise, his reason good.
Hee burst into the flowing of his wit,
Tossing his braines with more then thousand theams,
To haue a wooden stratagem so fit:
Woodden, because it doth belong to wood,
His purpose may be wise, his reason good.
His purpose wise? no, foolish, fond, and vaine,
His reason good? no, wicked, vild, and ill;
To be the authour of his owne liues paine,
To be the tragick actor of his will:
Praying to that which he before had fram'd,
For welcome faculties, (and not asham'd.)
His reason good? no, wicked, vild, and ill;
To be the authour of his owne liues paine,
To be the tragick actor of his will:
Praying to that which he before had fram'd,
For welcome faculties, (and not asham'd.)
Ver. 18 19
Calling to follie, for discretions sence,
Calling to sicknes, for sick bodies health,
Calling to weakenes, for a stronger fence,
Calling to pouertie, for better wealth:
Praying to death, for life, for this hee praide,
Requiring helpe of that, which wanteth aide.
Calling to sicknes, for sick bodies health,
Calling to weakenes, for a stronger fence,
Calling to pouertie, for better wealth:
Praying to death, for life, for this hee praide,
Requiring helpe of that, which wanteth aide.
Desiring that of it, which he not had,
And for his iourney, that which cannot goe,
And for his gaine, her furdrance, to make glad,
The worke which he doth take in hand to doe:
These windie words do rush against the wall,
Shee cannot speake, twill sooner maker her fall.
And for his iourney, that which cannot goe,
And for his gaine, her furdrance, to make glad,
The worke which he doth take in hand to doe:
These windie words do rush against the wall,
Shee cannot speake, twill sooner maker her fall.
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Chapter XIII.
The Wisdome of Solomon Paraphrased | |