Natures Embassie Or, The Wilde-mans Measvres: Danced naked by twelve Satyres, with sundry others continued in the next Section [by Richard Brathwait] |
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THE EMBLEME.
[OF MORTALITIE.]
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 | Natures Embassie |  |
166
THE EMBLEME. [OF MORTALITIE.]
Agathocles, me thinkes I might compare thee,(So rare thou art) to some choice statuarie,
Who doth portray with Pencile he doth take,
Himselfe to th' image which he's wont to make;
How artfull thou, and gracefull too by birth,
A King, yet shewes that thou art made of earth,
Not glorying in thy greatnesse, but would seeme,
Made of the same mould other men haue bene!
A head of gold, as thou art chiefe of men,
So chiefe of mettalls makes thy Diadem;
Uictorious armes of purest iuorie,
Which intimates the persons puritie;
The other liniments compos'd of brasse,
Imply th' vndaunted strength of which thou was;
But feete of earth, shew th' ground whereon we stand,
That we're cast downe in turning of a hand.
Of which, that we might make the better vse,
Me thinkes I could dilate the Morall thus.
Man made of earth, no surer footing can
Presume vpon, then earth from whence be came,
Where firmenesse is infirmenesse, and the stay
On which he builds his strongest hopes, is clay.
And yet how strangely confident he growes,
In heauen-confronting boldnesse and in showes,
Bearing a Giants spirit, when in length,
Height, breadth, and pitch he is of Pigmeis strength.
Yea I haue knowne a very Dwarfe in sight,
Conceit himselfe a Pyramis in height,
Ietting so stately, as't were in his power
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But when Man's proud, I should esteeme't more meete
Not to presume on's strength, but looke on's feete:
Which nature (we obserue) hath taught the Swan,
And ought in reason to be done in Man.
Weake are foundations that are rer'd on sand,
And on as weake grounds may we seeme to stand,
Both subiect to be ruin'd, split and raz't,
One billow shakes the first, one griefe the last.
Whence then or how subsists this earthly frame,
That merits in it selfe no other name,
Then shell of base corruption! it's not brasse,
Marble, or iuory, which when times passe,
And our expired fates surceasse to be,
Reserue in them our liuing memorie.
No, no, this mettall is not of that proofe,
We liue as those vnder a shaking roofe,
Where euery moment makes apparent show,
For want of props of finall ouerthrow.
Thus then, me thinkes you may (if so you please)
Apply this Statue of Agathocles;
As he compos'd his royall Head of gold,
The pur'st of mettals, you are thereby told,
That th' Head whence reason and right iudgement springs,
Should not be pesterd with inferior things;
And as his actiue sinnewes, armes are said,
To shew their purenesse, to be iuored,
Like Pelops milke-white shoulders; we are giuen
To vnderstand, our armes should be to heauen,
As to their proper orbe enlarg'd, that we
Might there be made the Saints of puritie;
By rest of th' parts which were compos'd of brasse,
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We may collect, men made of selfe-same clay,
May in their strength do more then others may.
Lastly on earth, as men subsistence haue,
Their earthly feete do hasten to their graue.
| Natures Embassie | |