Poems and Dramas of Fulke Greville :: :: University of Virginia Library

What are Mens liues, but labyrinths of error,
Shops of deceit, and Seas of misery?
Yet Death yeelds so small comfort, so much terror;
Gaine, Honour, Pleasure, such illusions be;
As though against life, each man whet his wit,
Yet all Mens hearts, and sense, take part with it.

2

Of which three baytes, yet Honour seemes the chiefe,
And is vnto the world, like goodly weather,
Which giues the spirits life, the thoughts reliefe,
Delight, and trauell reconciles together:
So as the Learn'd, and Great, no more admire it,
Then euen the silly Artisans aspire it.

3

This made the foure rare masters, which begun
Faire Artemysia's husbands dainty tombe,
When death tooke her, before their worke was done,
And so bereft them of all hopes to come;
That they would yet their own work perfect make,
Euen for their workes, and their selfe-glories sake.

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4

Among the Worthies, Hercules is noted,
For Fame, to haue neglected Gaine, and Pleasure;
Cleombrotus to haue beene so deuoted
To pease his deeds by her nice weights and measure,
As he, that to his state made his life thrall,
Yet to saue both, would not let Honour fall.

5

Which great desire, hatch'd vp in these vast Spirits,
Liues as a relicke of Mans discreation;
When he affected to be Iudge of merits;
Or eccho, which giues all Sounds moderation:
An image too sublime for Thrones to beare,
Who all what they command not, euer feare.

6

What was it then, made Aristotle raise
These imbound spirits to so high a rate?
Call them ingenious, ciuill, worthy praise?
The Answer's plaine, that neuer any State
Could rise, or stand, without this thirst of Glory,
Of noble workes, as well the mould as story.

7

For else, what Gouernour would spend his dayes,
In enuious trauell, for the publike good?
Who would in Bookes, search after dead mens wayes?
Or in the Warre, what Souldier lose his blood?
Liu'd not this Fame in clouds, kept as a crowne;
Both for the Sword, the Scepter, and the Gowne.

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8

It therefore much concernes each publike State,
To hoyse these costlesse sayles vp to the skye,
For it is held a symptome of ill fate,
When Crownes doe let this thirst of Glory dye;
Which doth enlarge States, by enlarging hearts,
And out of deedes teach Schooles to fashion Arts.

9

Thus see we, both the force, and vse of Fame;
How States and Men haue honour by her stile,
As Ecchoes that enuiron orders frame,
Which disproportion waiteth to beguile.
Fame walls in Truth, and cherisheth her end,
Knowes neither why, nor how, yet is her friend.

10

For in the worlds corrupted trafficke here,
Goodnesse puts onely tincture on our gall,
The light of Truth, doth but in clouds appeare,
Hardly discern'd, and not obey'd at all:
No man yeelds glory vnto him that makes him,
For if he doe, he sees the world forsakes him.

11

Now in this twilight of Deliberation,
Where Man is darke, because he will not see:
Must he not trust to his selfe-constellation?
Or else grow confident, he cannot be?
Assuming this, hee makes himselfe his end,
And what he vnderstands, that takes to friend.

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12

In which strange oddes, betweene the earth and skie,
Examine but the state of euery heart;
Flesh feeles and feares strong inequality;
Horrors of sinne cannot be free'd by art:
Humours are mans religion, Power his lawes,
His Wit confusion, and his Will the cause.

13

Nor is it thus, with Man himselfe alone.
His theaters, and trophies, are not free;
I mean all States, all Gouernments, all Thrones,
That haue no basis, but his Policy;
They all alike feele dissolution ready,
Their owne subsistence failing, and vnsteady.

14

Rebellion in the members to the head,
Aduantage in the head, to keepe them vnder,
The sweet consent of sympathie quite dead,
Selfenesse euen apt to teare it selfe asunder:
All Gouernments, like Man himselfe within,
Being restlesse compositions of the sinne.

15

So as in this estate of Mans defection,
Confus'd amongst the good, and ill, he goes;
Both gathers and distributeth infection,
Chuseth and changeth, builds and ouerthrows;
For Truth and Goodnesse, hauing left his heart,
He and his Idols are but words of Art.

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16

Among which number, men must reckon Fame,
Wit, Superstition, Learning, Lawes that binde,
Without our Maker, this worlds crased frame,
All which constraine, but not instruct the minde;
Gouerne the euils part, with her confusion,
Which haue no throne nor being, but delusion.

17

Then to cast faith on Fame, or these foundations,
Or not to thinke, as all these nothing were,
So backe to nothing, they shall haue gradation,
Since Time must ruine all that she did beare,
Were not to know these drams of mortall seed,
In curing one, still more diseases breed.

18

And yet to part this worlds declining frame,
And let some pillars stand while others fall,
I meane make Vertues bodies vnto Fame,
That be indeed hypocrisies of hell;
And smother Fame againe with Vertues name,
Must needs exile all hope of doing well:
God being vnbeleeued, or vnknowne,
And humane Wisdome with it selfe o'rethrown.

19

For to be good the world finds it too hard,
And to be nothing to subsistence is
A fatall, and unnaturing award;
So as betweene perfection, and vnblisse,
Man, out of man, will make himselfe a frame,
Seekes outward helpe, and borrowes that of Fame.

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20

Yet doth there rise from abstract contemplation,
A gilt or painted image in the braine,
Of humane vertues, Fames disestimation,
Which, like an Art, our nature so restraines,
As while the pride of action wee suppresse,
Man growes no better, and yet States grow lesse.

21

Hence they that by their words would Gods become,
With pride of thought depraue the pride of deeds,
Vpon the actiue cast a heauy doome,
And marre weake strengths, to multiply strong weeds:
While they conclude Fames trumpets, voice, and pen,
More fit for crafty States, than worthy Men.

22

For Fame they still oppose euen from those grounds,
That proue as truely all things else as vaine.
They giue their vertues onely humane bounds,
And without God subuert to build againe
Refin'd Ideas, more than flesh can beare,
All foule within, yet speake as God were there.

23

Mans power to make himselfe good, they maintaine:
Conclude that Fate is gouern'd by the wise;
Affections they supplant, and not restraine;
Within our selues, they seat Felicities;
With things as vaine, they vanity beat downe,
And by selfe-ruine, seeke a Sampsons crowne:

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24

Glory's dispraise, being thus with glory tainted,
Doth not as goodnesse, but as euils doe
Shine, by informing others beauties painted,
Where bashfull Truth vayles neighbours errors too;
All humane pride is built on this foundation,
And Art on Art, by this seekes estimation.

25

Without his God, Man thus must wander euer,
See moates in others, in himselfe no beames,
Ill ruines good, and ill erecteth neuer,
Like drowning torrents, not transporting streames:
The vanity from nothing hath her being,
And makes that essence good, by disagreeing.

26

Yet from these grounds, if Fame wee ouerthrow,
We lose mans eccho, both of wrong and right;
Leaue good and ill, indifferent here below;
For humane darkenesse, lacking humane light,
Will easily cancell Natures feare of shame,
Which workes but by intelligence with Fame.

27

And cancell this, before Gods truth be knowne;
Or knowne, but not beleeued, and obeyed;
What seeming good rests in us of our owne?
How is corruption from corrupting staid?
The chaine of Vertues, which the flesh doth boast,
Being since our fall, but names of Natures lost.

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28

In humane commerce, then let Fame remaine,
An outward mirrour of the inward minde,
That what man yeelds, he may receiue againe,
And his ill doing, by ill hearing finde:
For then, though Power erre, though Lawes be lame,
And Conscience dead, yet ill auoyds not shame.

29

But let vs leaue these stormy orbs of passion,
Where humours onely ballance one another,
Making our trophies of a mortall fashion,
And vanity of euery act the mother;
For inward peace, being neuer wrought by Fame,
Proues mans worth is no Nature, but a name.

30

Therefore let this cleare streame, beare downe together
Fame, and Philosophie her slie opposer;
As hauing nothing of their owne in either,
Worthy to make each by the other loser:
Since if by Christian rules, their depths be taken,
The body and the shadow both are shaken.

31

For where the father of Philosophie,
Vpon the common vertues, but aboue,
Doth raise and build his Magnanimity,
A greatnesse not with little Fame in loue,
Hard to finde out, as Goodnesse is with vs,
And without Goodnesse, meere ridiculous:

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32

Let Truth examine where this vertue liues,
And hold it vaine, if not produc'd in act;
Man is corrupt, and no perfection giues,
What euer in him others praise enact:
So as if Fame be vnto goodnesse due;
It onely can in God, be great and true:

33

For Mans chiefe vertue, is Humilitie;
True knowledge of his wants, his height of merit;
This pride of minde, this Magnanimity,
His greatest vice, his first seducing spirit;
With venimous infection of his fall,
To Serpent-like appearance euer thrall.

34

Further we vrge against this masters grounds,
That our first Adam, imag'd is to vs,
In that mixt pride, that worth-exceeding bounds,
Where on Schooles build their true Magnanimous:
Since to be like his Maker he affected,
And being lesse still thought himselfe neglected.

35

Which spirituall pride (no doubt) possesseth still
All fleshly hearts, where thirst of Honour raues,
For sit vpon the seat of God they will,
As did those Princes, who in stead of graues
Made Idols, Altars, Temples to be rais'd,
Wherein, like gods, they were ador'd and prais'd.

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36

And such againe, hath Gods seene Church brought forth,
As doe in Peters chaire Gods power assume:
Such was Menecrates of little worth,
Who Ioue, the Sauiour, to be call'd presum'd,
To whom of incense Phillip made a feast,
And gaue pride scorne and hunger to digest.

37

Againe, to take the true Anatomy
Of these, and search in life what sure foundation
For humane good, or greatnesses there be,
In all the swelling stiles of Ostentation;
What hopes they promise, on what grounds they build,
What pain they ask, & then what fruit they yeeld.

38

Wee shall discerne the roote of this Ambition
To be conceipt, that glory doth containe
Some supernaturall sparke, or apparition,
More than the common humour can attaine:
Since to be reuerenc'd, lou'd, obey'd, and knowne,
Man must effect, with powers aboue his owne.

39

Ah silly Creature, curst Mortality!
What canst thou know, that knowest not Mans estate
To be but Vice, gilt with hypocrisie;
Which doth the life it most resembles, hate,
And yet affects that cleare vnshadow'd light,
Wherein her darke deformities show bright?

202

40

So that for thee to passe the piercing eyes,
Light tongues, and listning eares of curious Fame,
Where to vse trafficke to thy preiudice,
As with a trumpet publishing thy shame;
Which all but fooles, who know their own hearts least,
Rather seeke to conceale, than manifest.

41

Besides, to be well knowne finds out oppressors,
By which the World still honours thee the lesse;
For who be throughly knowne, are euer loosers,
If Fame belye not Mans vnworthinesse,
Where to the iust, in thought, as well as deede,
What other trumpet doth the Conscience neede?

42

Yet in Mans youth, perchance, Fame multiplies
Courage, and actiue vnderstandingnesse,
Which cooles in Age, and in experience dyes,
Like Fancies smoke, Opinions wantonnesse:
Yet who knowes, whether old age qualifies
This thirst of Fame, with vnderstandingnesse,
With selfe-despaire, or disabilities?
Whether experience, which makes Fame seeme lesse,
Be wit, or feare, from narrownesse arising,
True noblenesse as none of these despising?

43

Neuerthelesse fraile Man doth still aspire
Vnto this welbeleeuing reuerence,
As helpes, to raise his masked errors higher,
And so by great improuements in the sense,
Extend Mankind unto the bounds of praise,
Farre aboue Order, Law, and Duties wayes.

203

44

Or if this reuerence be not the fire,
Wherein Mankind affects to mould his state;
Then is it loue which they by Fame aspire,
An imposition of the highest rate
Set upon people, by their owne desire,
Not making Powers, but Natures magistrate:
Whether in people, worth, or chance worke this,
Is knowne to them, that know what Mankind is.

45

For true to whom are they, that are vntrue
To God, and nothing seriously intend,
But tumult, fury, fancy, hope of new?
Neuer all pleas'd with Ioue, if he descend;
Vnconstant, like confusion in a minde,
Not knowing why it hates, nor why 'tis kinde.

46

To proue this by example, take Camillus,
Scipio, Solon, Metellus, Aristides,
Themistocles, Lycurgus, or Rutillius,
And by their change of humors toward these,
Let vs conclude, All people are vniust,
And ill affections end in malice must.

47

Besides, the essence of this glorious name,
Is not in him that hath, but him that giues it:
If people onely then distribute Fame,
In them that vnderstand it not, yet liues it:
And what can their applause within vs raise,
Who are not conscious of that worth they praise?

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48

Nor is it by the Vulgar altogether,
That Fame thus growes a wonder of nine dayes;
The wise and learned plucke away her feathers,
With enuious humors, and opposing wayes:
For they depraue each other, and descrie,
Those staues, and beards, these Augurs traffick by.

49

Plato (tis true) great Homer doth commend,
Yet from his Common-weale did him exile;
Nor is it words that doe with words contend,
Of deeds they vary, and demurre of stile:
How to please all, as no words yet could tell;
So what one act did all yet censure well?

50

For proofe, what worke more for the publike good,
Than that rare Librarie of dead mens treasure,
Collected by the Ægyptian royall blood?
Which Seneca yet censures at his pleasure;
No elegance, nor princely industry,
But rather pompe, and studious luxury.

51

Nay, his owne ephithete Studious, he corrected,
Inferring that for pride, not Studies vse,
The luxurie of Kings had them collected:
So what in scorne of Criticall abuse,
Was said of bookes, of Fame will proue the state,
That Readers censures are the Writers fate.

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52

Thus show our liues, what Fame and Honour be,
Considered in themselves, or them that gaue them;
Now there remaines a Curiosity,
To know euen what they are, to those that haue them:
Namely vnordinate to get or vse,
Difficult to keepe, and desperate to lose.

53

And for the first, if Fame a monster be,
As Virgil doth describe her, then she must
Come from a monstrous birth and progenie:
And if she be the child of Peoples lust,
Then must she (without doubt) be basely borne,
And, like her parents, neuer vniforme.

54

For what indeed more monstrous, or more base,
Than these Chimera's of distempered mindes,
Borne of Opinion, not of Vertues race,
From whence it growes, that these Fame-hunting kindes,
Proue like those Woers, which the Mistris sought,
Yet basely fell, and with the Maids grew naught.

55

They walke not simply good, or euill waies,
But feete of numbers, none of which returne;
As Polypus with stones, so they with praise,
Change colours, and like Proteus their forme,
Following the Peoples lust, who, like their clothes,
Still shift conceit of truth and goodnesse both.

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56

These honour none, but such as boast their pride,
And ready heads for all times humours be;
So as not eminent vertue is the tide
Which carries Fame, but swolne iniquity:
What shall wee iudge of Sylla and Marius then?
But Satyrs, Centaures, demi-beasts and men.

57

Such as false glory sought by being head
Of the Patrician, or Plebeian faction;
By which that Mistresse State was ruined,
Diuision euer bringing in contraction;
Among the learn'd so Epicurus wan
His Fame, by making Pleasure God of man.

58

Diogenes by mockes, Heraclitus by teares,
Democritus by smiles; and by such ladders climes
Each Sect and Heresie, to Honours spheares,
With new opinions, in misguided times,
Subuerting nature, grace, ciuillity,
By scandalous, satyricall scurrility.

59

Thus Aretine of late got reputation,
By scourging Kings, as Lucian did of old
By scorning Gods, with their due adoration;
And therefore to conclude, we may be bold,
That Peoples loue with euill acts is wonne,
And either lost, or kept, as it begunne.

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60

What winde then blowes poore Man into this sea,
But Pride of heart, and Singularity?
Which weary of true vertues humble way,
And not enduring Mans equality,
Seeketh by Wit, or Sophistry to rise;
And with good words, put off ill merchandise.

61

Of which Ambitions, time obserues three kindes:
Whereof the first, and least vnnaturall
Is, when fraile man some good in himselfe findes;
But ouer-priz'd; defects, not peas'd at all:
Like Bankrupts, who in auditing their States,
Of debts, and of expence forget the rates.

62

And of these Solons fooles, who their owne wants
Cannot discerne, if there were not too many,
Our inward frailties easily would supplant
Outward ambitions, and not suffer any
To vsurpe those swelling stiles of Domination,
Which are the Godheads true denomination.

63

The second wee may terme politicall,
Which value men by place, and not by worth,
Not wisely, thinking we be Counters all,
Which but the summes of Gouernment set forth:
Wherein, euen those that are the highest placed,
Not to their owne, but others ends are graced.

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64

So that from Pharoahs Court to Iethros Cell,
If men with Moyses could their hearts retire,
In Honour they should enuilesse excell,
And by an equall ballance of desire,
Liue free from clouds of humane hope, and feare,
Whose troubled circles oft strange Meteors beare.

65

The last sort is, that popular vaine pride,
Which neither standeth vpon worth nor place,
But to applause, and selfe-opinion ty'd,
Like Esops Iay, whom others feathers grace,
Himselfe as good, and glorious esteemeth,
As in the glasse of Flattery he seemeth.

66

This makes him fond of Praise, that knows it lyes;
The cruell tyrant thinkes his grace renown'd,
Euen while the earth with guiltlesse bloud he dyes;
And his Magnificence, euen then resound
When he doth rauine all before his eyes:
Of which vaine minds, it may be truly said,
Who loue false praise, of false scornes are afraid.

67

Besides, as this Ambition hath no bound;
So grows it proud, and instantly vniust,
Enforcing short-breath'd Fame aloud to sound,
By pardoning debts, and by defrauding trust;
Whence the Agrarian mandates had their grounds,
As all veiles else, that couer Soueraigne lust:
For fire and People doe in this agree,
They both good Seruants, both ill Masters be.

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68

Thus we discerne what courses they must hold,
That make this humour of applause their end:
They haue no true, and so no constant mould;
Light Change is both their enemy and friend:
Herostratus shall proue, Vice gouernes Fame;
Who built that Church, he burnt, hath lost his name.

69

Yet when this brittle Glory thus is gotten,
The keeping is as painefull, more confuse:
Fame liues by doing, is with rest forgotten,
Shee those that would enioy her doth refuse:
Wooed (like a Lais) will be and obseru'd;
Euer ill kept, since neuer well deseru'd.

70

And if true Fame with such great paine be wonne,
Wonne, and preseru'd, of false what can we hope?
Since Ill with greater cost than good is done:
Againe, what hath lesse Latitude or scope
To keep, than that which euery Change bereaues,
That time, Mans own heart, or the world receiues?

71

Lastly, this Fame hard gotten, worse to keepe,
Is neuer lost, but with despaire, and shame,
Which makes Mans nature, once fallen from this steepe,
Disdaine their being should out-last their name:
Some in self-pitty, some in exile languish,
Others rebell, some kill themselues in anguish.

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72

Like Relatiues, thus stand the World and Fame,
Twinnes of one wombe, that lose, or win together;
With Vulcan's nets they catch each others shame,
Diuide with God, and so are losers euer;
Alone they are but Nothings, well disguis'd,
And if compar'd, more worthily despis'd.

73

But now I heare the voice of Power, and Art,
A fatall dissolution straight proclaime,
Closely to be inweau'd in euery heart,
By vndermining thus the World, and Fame;
For wound Fame in the world, the world in it,
They aske whats left to stir vp humane Wit.

74

Are God, Religion, Vertue, then but name,
Or need these heauenly beings earthly aid,
To gouerne vnder, as aboue this frame?
Must good Mens deeds, with ill Mens words be payd?
When we are dead, is merit dead with vs?
Shall breath determine God, and Vertue thus?

75

Some Schooles made Fame a Shadow, some a Debt
To vertue, some a Handmaid, none her end:
For like a God, she others striues to get,
Affects no honour, needs nor fame, nor friend:
Moued, shee moues man to adore her mouer,
And onely giues her selfe to those that loue her.

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76

Hence did the Romans, Mountebankes of Fame,
Build Fame, and Vertue temples, so in one,
As thorough Vertue all men to it came,
Yet vnto Vertue, men might passe alone;
Expressing Fame a consequence, no cause,
A power that speakes, not knowing by what lawes.

77

But let true wisedome carry vp our eyes,
To see how all true vertues figured bee,
Angel-like, passing to and from the skies,
By Israels ladder, whose two ends are free
Of Heauen, and Earth; to carry vp, and downe,
Those pure souls, which the Godhead means to crowne.

78

And if you aske them, whether their pure wings,
Be charrets, to beare vp those fleshly prides
Of Crowne-rooft Miters, Church-unroofing Kings,
Conquest and Fame, whose ebbe, and flowing tides,
Bring forth diuiding tytles, captiu'd lawes,
Of Mans distresse, and ignorance the cause?

79

These Vertues answer, they be powers diuine;
Their heauen, faith; obiect, eternity:
Deuised in earth, those ruines to refine,
Vnder whose weight our Natures buried lye;
Faith making Reason perfect, as before
It fell, for lacke of faith, beleeuing more.

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80

Abcees they are, which doe vnteach againe
That knowledge, which first taught vs not to know
The happy state, wherein we did remaine,
When we for lacke of euill, thought not so;
New making Paradise, where we began,
Not in a garden, but the heart of Man.

81

And as to Serpents, which put off their skinne,
Nature renewes a naturall complexion,
So when the goodnesse doth vncase the sinne,
Health so renewed can neuer take infection:
The World inchants not, Hell hath lost her might,
For what mist can eclipse the Infinite?

82

Which pure reflexions, what dimme eye can see,
And after either World, or Fame admire?
Comparison expels the vanitie;
Immortall here, is obiect of desire:
Nature abhorres this supernaturall,
And scorn'd of flesh, as God is, they be all.

83

Yet hath the goodnesse this of Infinite,
That they who hate it, praise; who hurt it, feare;
Who striue to shadow, help to show her light;
Her rootes, not Fame, but loue, and wonder beare.
God, that to passe, will haue his Iustice come,
Makes sin the Thiefe, the Hangman, & the doom.

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84

These wooe not, but command the voice of Fame,
For liue they, dye they, labour they, or rest,
Such glorious lights are imag'd in their frame,
As Nature feeles not, Art hath not exprest:
All what the world admires comes from within;
A doome, whereby the sinne, condemnes the sinne.

85

Then make the summe of our Ideas this,
Who loue the world, giue latitude to Fame,
And this Man-pleasing, Gods displeasing is;
Who loue their God, haue glory by his name:
But fixe on Truth, who can, that know it not?
Who fixe on error, doe but write to blot.

86

Who worship Fame, commit Idolatry,
Make Men their God, Fortune and Time their worth,
Forme, but reforme not; meer hypocrisie,
By shadowes, onely shadowes bringing forth,
Which must, as blossomes, fade ere true fruit springs,
Like voice, and eccho ioyn'd, yet diuers things.