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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The amorous Zodiack.
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 | Ouids Banquet of Sence |  |
The amorous Zodiack.
1
I neuer see the Sunne, but suddainlyMy soule is mou'd, with spite and ielousie
Of his high blisse in his sweete course discerned:
And am displeasde to see so many signes
As the bright Skye vnworthily diuines,
Enioy an honor they haue neuer earned.
2
To thinke heauen decks with such a beautious showA Harpe, a Shyp, a Serpent, and a Crow,
And such a crew of creatures of no prises,
But to excite in vs th' vnshamefast flames,
With which (long since) Ioue wrongd so many Dames,
Reuiuing in his rule, theyr names and vices.
3
Deare Mistres, whom the Gods bred heere beloweT'expresse theyr wondrous powre and let vs know
That before thee they nought did perfect make
Why may not I (as in those signes the Sunne)
Shine in thy beauties, and as roundly runne,
To frame (like him) an endlesse Zodiack.
4
With thee Ile furnish both the yeere and Sky,Running in thee my course of destinie:
And thou shalt be the rest of all my mouing,
But of thy numberles and perfect graces
(To giue my Moones theyr ful in twelue months spaces)
I chuse but twelue in guerdon of my louing.
5
Keeping euen way through euery excellence,Ile make in all, an equall residence
Of a newe Zodiack: a new Phœbus guising,
When (without altering the course of nature)
Ile make the seasons good, and euery creature
Shall henceforth reckon day, from my first rising.
6
To open then the Spring-times golden gate,And flowre my race with ardor temperate,
Ile enter by thy head, and haue for house
In my first month, this heauen-Ram-curled tresse:
Of which, Loue all his charme-chaines doth addresse:
A Signe fit for a Spring so beautious.
7
Lodgd in that fleece of hayre, yellow, and curld,Ile take high pleasure to enlight the world,
And fetter me in gold, thy crisps implies,
Earth (at this Spring spungie and langorsome
With enuie of our ioyes in loue become)
Shall swarme with flowers, & ayre with painted flies.
8
Thy smooth embowd brow, where all grace I see,My second month, and second house shall be:
Which brow, with her cleere beauties shall delight
The Earth (yet sad) and ouerture confer
To herbes, buds, flowers, and verdure gracing Ver,
Rendring her more then Sommer exquisite.
9
All this fresh Aprill, this sweet month of Uenus,I will admire this browe so bounteous:
This brow, braue Court for loue, and vertue builded,
This brow where Chastitie holds garrison,
This brow that (blushlesse) none can looke vpon,
This brow with euery grace and honor guilded.
10
Resigning that, to perfect this my yeereIle come to see thine eyes: that now I feare:
Thine eyes, that sparckling like two Twin-borne fires,
(Whose lookes benigne, and shining sweets doe grace
Mays youthfull month with a more pleasing face)
Iustly the Twinns signe, hold in my desires,
11
Scorcht with the beames these sister-flames eiect,The liuing sparcks thereof Earth shall effect
The shock of our ioynd-fires the Sommer starting:
The season by degrees shall change againe
The dayes, theyr longest durance shall retaine,
The starres their amplest light, and ardor darting.
12
But now I feare that thronde in such a shine,Playing with obiects, pleasant and diuine,
I should be mou'd to dwell there thirtie dayes:
O no, I could not in so little space,
With ioy admire enough theyr plenteous grace,
But euer liue in sun-shine of theyr rayes:
13
Yet this should be in vaine, my forced willMy course designd (begun) shall follow still;
So forth I must, when forth this month is wore,
And of the neighbor Signes be borne anew,
Which Signe perhaps may stay mee with the view
More to conceiue, and so desire the more.
14
It is thy nose (sterne to thy Barke of loue)Or which Pyne-like doth crowne a flowrie Groue,
Which Nature striud to fashion with her best,
That shee might neuer turne to show more skill:
And that the enuious foole, (vsd to speake ill)
Might feele pretended fault chokt in his brest.
15
The violent season in a Signe so bright,Still more and more, become more proude of light,
Should still incense mee in the following Signe:
A signe, whose sight desires a gracious kisse,
And the red confines of thy tongue it is,
Where, hotter then before, mine eyes would shine.
16
So glow those Corrals, nought but fire respiringWith smiles, or words, or sighs her thoughts attiring
Or, be it she a kisse diuinely frameth;
Or that her tongue, shookes forward, and retires,
Doubling like feruent Syrius, summers fires
In Leos mouth, which all the world enflameth.
17
And now to bid the Boreall signes adewI come to giue thy virgin-cheekes the view
To temper all my fire, and tame my heate,
Which soone will feele it selfe extinct and dead,
In those fayre courts with modestie dispred
With holy, humble, and chast thoughts repleate.
18
The purple tinct, thy Marble cheekes retaine,The Marble tinct, thy purple cheekes doth staine
The Lillies dulie equald with thine eyes,
The tinct that dyes the Morne with deeper red,
Shall hold my course a Month, if (as I dread)
My fires to issue want not faculties.
19
To ballance now thy more obscured gracesGainst them the circle of thy head enchates
(Twise three Months vsd, to run through twise three houses
To render in this heauen my labor lasting,
I hast to see the rest, and with one hasting,
The dripping tyme shall fill the Earth carowses.
20
Then by the necke, my Autumne Ile commence,Thy necke, that merrits place of excellence
Such as this is, where with a certaine Sphere
In ballancing the darknes with the light,
It so might vvey, vvith skoles of equall weight
Thy beauties seene with those doe not appeare.
21
Now past my month t'admire for built most pureThis Marble piller and her lyneature,
I come t'inhabit thy most gracious teates,
Teates that feede loue vpon the white riphees,
Teates where he hangs his glory and his trophes
When victor from the Gods war he retreats.
22
Hid in the vale twixt these two hils confinedThis vale the nest of loues, and ioyes diuined
Shall I inioy mine ease; and fayre be passed
Beneath these parching Alps; and this sweet cold
Is first, thys month, heauen doth to vs vnfold
But there shall I still greeue to bee displaced.
23
To sort from this most braue and pompous signe(Leauing a little my ecliptick lyne
Lesse superstitious then the other Sunne)
The rest of my Autumnall race Ile end
To see thy hand, (whence I the crowne attend,)
Since in thy past parts I haue slightly runne.
24
Thy hand, a Lilly gendred of a RoseThat wakes the morning, hid in nights repose:
And from Apollos bed the vaile doth twine,
That each where doth, th' Idalian Minion guide;
That bends his bow; that eyes, and leaues vntyed
The siluer ribbands of his little Ensigne.
25
In fine, (still drawing to th' Antartick Pole)The Tropicke signe, Ile runne at for my Gole,
Which I can scarce expresse with chastitie,
I know in heauen t'is called Capricorne
And with the suddaine thought, my case takes horne,
So (heauen-like,) Capricorne the name shall be.
26
This (wondrous fit) the wintry Solstice seaseth,Where darknes greater growes and day decreseth,
Where rather I would be in night then day,
But when I see my iournies doe encrease
Ile straight dispatch me thence, and goe in peace
To my next house, where I may safer stay.
27
This house alongst thy naked thighs is found,Naked of spot; made fleshy, firme and round,
To entertayne loues friends with feeling sport;
These, Cupids secret misteries enfold,
And pillers are that Venus Phane vphold,
Of her deare ioyes the glory, and support.
28
Sliding on thy smooth thighs to thys months end;To thy well fashiond Calues I will descend
That soone the last house I may apprehend,
Thy slender feete, fine slender feete that shame
Thetis sheene feete, which Poets so much fame,
And heere my latest season I will end.
LENUOY.
29
Deare Mistres, if poore wishes heauen would heare,I would not chuse the empire of the water;
The empire of the ayre, nor of the earth,
But endlesly my course of life confining
In this fayre Zodiack for euer shining,
And with thy beauties make me endles mirth.
30
But gracious Loue, if ielous heauen denyMy life this truely-blest varietie,
Yet will I thee through all the world disperse,
If not in heauen, amongst those brauing fires
Yet heere thy beauties (which the world admires)
Bright as those flames shall glister in my verse.
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