Ouids Banquet of Sence A Coronet for his Mistresse Philosophie, and his amorous Zodiacke. With a translation of a Latine coppie, written by a Fryer, Anno Dom.[by George Chapman] 1400 |
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 | Ouids Banquet of Sence |  |
This motion of my soule, my fantasie
Created by three sences put in act,
Let iustice nourish with thy simpathie,
Putting my other sences into fact,
If now thou grant not, now changde that offence;
To suffer change, doth perfect sence compact:
Change then, and suffer for the vse of sence,
Wee liue not for our selues, the Eare, and Eye,
And euery sence, must serue societie.
Created by three sences put in act,
Let iustice nourish with thy simpathie,
Putting my other sences into fact,
If now thou grant not, now changde that offence;
To suffer change, doth perfect sence compact:
Change then, and suffer for the vse of sence,
Wee liue not for our selues, the Eare, and Eye,
And euery sence, must serue societie.
To furnish then, this Banquet where the tast
Is neuer vsde, and yet the cheere diuine,
The neerest meane deare Mistres that thou hast
To blesse me with it, is a kysse of thine,
Which grace shall borrow organs of my touch
T'aduance it to that inward taste of mine
Which makes all sence, and shall delight as much
Then with a kisse (deare life) adorne thy feast
And let (as Banquets should) the last be best.
Is neuer vsde, and yet the cheere diuine,
The neerest meane deare Mistres that thou hast
To blesse me with it, is a kysse of thine,
Which grace shall borrow organs of my touch
T'aduance it to that inward taste of mine
Which makes all sence, and shall delight as much
Then with a kisse (deare life) adorne thy feast
And let (as Banquets should) the last be best.
I see vnbidden Guests are boldest still,
And well you showe how weake in soule you are
That let rude sence subdue your reasons skill
And feede so spoilefully on sacred fare;
In temper of such needles feasts as this
We show more bounty still the more we spare,
Chiefly where birth and state so different is:
Ayre too much rarefied breakes forth in fire,
And fauors too farre vrg'd do end in ire.
And well you showe how weake in soule you are
That let rude sence subdue your reasons skill
And feede so spoilefully on sacred fare;
In temper of such needles feasts as this
We show more bounty still the more we spare,
Chiefly where birth and state so different is:
Ayre too much rarefied breakes forth in fire,
And fauors too farre vrg'd do end in ire.
The difference of our births (imperiall Dame)
Is heerein noted with too triuiall eyes
For your rare wits; that should your choices frame
To state of parts, that most doth royalize,
Not to commend mine owne; but that in yours
Beyond your birth, are perrils soueraignties
Which (vrgd) your words had strook with sharper powers;
Tis for mere looke-like Ladies, and for men
To boast of birth that still be childeren.
Is heerein noted with too triuiall eyes
For your rare wits; that should your choices frame
To state of parts, that most doth royalize,
Not to commend mine owne; but that in yours
Beyond your birth, are perrils soueraignties
Which (vrgd) your words had strook with sharper powers;
Tis for mere looke-like Ladies, and for men
To boast of birth that still be childeren.
Running to Father straight to helpe theyr needs,
True dignities and rites of reuerence,
Are sowne in mindes, and reapt in liuely deedes,
And onely pollicie makes difference
Twixt States, since vertue wants due imperance
Vertue makes honor, as the soule doth sence,
And merit farre exceedes inheritance,
The Graces fill loues cup, his feasts adorning,
Who seekes your seruice now, the Graces scorning.
True dignities and rites of reuerence,
Are sowne in mindes, and reapt in liuely deedes,
And onely pollicie makes difference
Twixt States, since vertue wants due imperance
Vertue makes honor, as the soule doth sence,
And merit farre exceedes inheritance,
The Graces fill loues cup, his feasts adorning,
Who seekes your seruice now, the Graces scorning.
Pure loue (said she) the purest grace pursues,
And there is contact, not by application
Of lips or bodies, but of bodies vertues,
As in our elementale Nation
Stars by theyr powers, which are theyr heat and light
Do heauenly works, and that which hath probation
By vertuall contact hath the noblest plight,
Both for the lasting and affinitie
It hath with naturall diuinitie.
And there is contact, not by application
Of lips or bodies, but of bodies vertues,
As in our elementale Nation
Stars by theyr powers, which are theyr heat and light
Do heauenly works, and that which hath probation
By vertuall contact hath the noblest plight,
Both for the lasting and affinitie
It hath with naturall diuinitie.
Ouid replied; in thys thy vertuall presence
(Most fayre Corynna) thou canst not effuse
The true and solid parts of thy pure essence
But doost thy superficiall beames produce
Of thy rich substance; which because they flow
Rather from forme then from the matters vse
Resemblance onely of thy body showe
Whereof they are thy wondrous species,
And t'is thy substance must my longings ease.
(Most fayre Corynna) thou canst not effuse
The true and solid parts of thy pure essence
But doost thy superficiall beames produce
Of thy rich substance; which because they flow
Rather from forme then from the matters vse
Resemblance onely of thy body showe
Whereof they are thy wondrous species,
And t'is thy substance must my longings ease.
Speake then sweet ayre, that giu'st our speech euent
And teach my Mistres tractabilitie,
That art to motion most obedient,
And though thy nature, swelling be and high
And occupiest so infinite a space,
Yet yeeldst to words, and art condeust thereby
Past nature prest into a little place
Deare soueraigne then, make ayre thy rule in this,
And me thy worthy seruant with a kisse.
And teach my Mistres tractabilitie,
That art to motion most obedient,
And though thy nature, swelling be and high
And occupiest so infinite a space,
Yet yeeldst to words, and art condeust thereby
Past nature prest into a little place
Deare soueraigne then, make ayre thy rule in this,
And me thy worthy seruant with a kisse.
Ouid (sayd shee) I am well pleasd to yeeld:
Bountie by vertue cannot be abusde:
Nor will I coylie lyft Mineruas shielde
Against Minerua, honor is not brusde
With such a tender pressure as a kisse,
Nor yeelding soone to words, though seldome vsde,
Nicenes in ciuill fauours, folly is:
Long sutes make neuer good a bad detection,
Nor yeelding soone, makes bad, a good affection.
Bountie by vertue cannot be abusde:
Nor will I coylie lyft Mineruas shielde
Against Minerua, honor is not brusde
With such a tender pressure as a kisse,
Nor yeelding soone to words, though seldome vsde,
Nicenes in ciuill fauours, folly is:
Long sutes make neuer good a bad detection,
Nor yeelding soone, makes bad, a good affection.
To some I know, (and know it for a fault)
Order and reuerence, are repulst in skaling,
When pryde and rudenes, enter with assault,
Consents to fall, are worse to get then falling:
Willing resistance, takes away the will,
And too much weakenes tis to come with calling:
Force in these frayes, is better man then skyll,
Yet I like skill, and Ouid if a kis
May doe thee so much pleasure, heere it is.
Order and reuerence, are repulst in skaling,
When pryde and rudenes, enter with assault,
Consents to fall, are worse to get then falling:
Willing resistance, takes away the will,
And too much weakenes tis to come with calling:
Force in these frayes, is better man then skyll,
Yet I like skill, and Ouid if a kis
May doe thee so much pleasure, heere it is.
Her moouing towards him, made Ouids eye
Beleeue the Firmament was comming downe
To take him quick to immortalitie,
And that th' Ambrosian kisse set on the Crowne:
Shee spake in kissing, and her breath infusde
Restoring syrrop to his tast, in swoune:
And hee imaginde Hebes hands had brusde
A banquet of the Gods into his sence,
Which fild him with this furious influence.
Beleeue the Firmament was comming downe
To take him quick to immortalitie,
And that th' Ambrosian kisse set on the Crowne:
Shee spake in kissing, and her breath infusde
Restoring syrrop to his tast, in swoune:
And hee imaginde Hebes hands had brusde
A banquet of the Gods into his sence,
Which fild him with this furious influence.
The motion of the Heauens that did beget
The golden age, and by whose harmonie
Heauen is preserud, in mee on worke is set,
All instruments of deepest melodie
Set sweet in my desires to my loues liking
With this sweet kisse in mee theyr tunes apply,
As if the best Musitians hands were striking:
This kisse in mee hath endlesse Musicke closed,
Like Phœbus Lute, on Nisus Towrs imposed.
The golden age, and by whose harmonie
Heauen is preserud, in mee on worke is set,
All instruments of deepest melodie
Set sweet in my desires to my loues liking
With this sweet kisse in mee theyr tunes apply,
As if the best Musitians hands were striking:
This kisse in mee hath endlesse Musicke closed,
Like Phœbus Lute, on Nisus Towrs imposed.
And as a Pible cast into a Spring,
Wee see a sort of trembling cirkles rise,
One forming other in theyr issuing
Till ouer all the Fount they circulize,
So this perpetuall-motion-making kisse,
Is propagate through all my faculties,
And makes my breast an endlesse Fount of blisse,
Of which, if Gods could drink, theyr matchlesse fare
Would make them much more blessed then they are.
Wee see a sort of trembling cirkles rise,
One forming other in theyr issuing
Till ouer all the Fount they circulize,
So this perpetuall-motion-making kisse,
Is propagate through all my faculties,
And makes my breast an endlesse Fount of blisse,
Of which, if Gods could drink, theyr matchlesse fare
Would make them much more blessed then they are.
But as when sounds doe hollow bodies beate,
Ayre gatherd there, comprest, and thickned,
The selfe same way shee came doth make retreate,
And so effects the sounde reecchoed
Onely in part, because shee weaker is
In that redition, then when first shee fled:
So I alas, faint eccho of this kisse,
Onely reiterate a slender part
Of that high ioy it worketh in my hart.
Ayre gatherd there, comprest, and thickned,
The selfe same way shee came doth make retreate,
And so effects the sounde reecchoed
Onely in part, because shee weaker is
In that redition, then when first shee fled:
So I alas, faint eccho of this kisse,
Onely reiterate a slender part
Of that high ioy it worketh in my hart.
And thus with feasting, loue is famisht more,
Without my touch are all things turnd to gold,
And till I touch, I cannot ioy my store:
To purchase others, I my selfe haue sold,
Loue is a wanton famine, rich in foode,
But with a richer appetite controld,
An argument in figure and in Moode,
Yet hates all arguments: disputing still
For Sence, gainst Reason, with a sencelesse will.
Without my touch are all things turnd to gold,
And till I touch, I cannot ioy my store:
To purchase others, I my selfe haue sold,
Loue is a wanton famine, rich in foode,
But with a richer appetite controld,
An argument in figure and in Moode,
Yet hates all arguments: disputing still
For Sence, gainst Reason, with a sencelesse will.
| Ouids Banquet of Sence | |