XXXVIII.
[Some aske me, when, and how my loue begunne]
In the firste staffe of this Passion the Authour expresseth howe
fondly his friendes ouertrouble him, by questioninge with
him touching his loue, or accidents thereof. In the two
last verses of the second staffe he imitateth those verses of Sophocles:
ερωτι μεν νυν οστις αντανισταται
πυκτης, οπως ες χειρας, ου καλως φρονει.
ουτος γαρ αρχει και θεων οπως θελει.
which may be thus Englished,
That man, which champion like will striue with Loue
And combate hand to hand, hath little witte:
For as he list he rules the Gods aboue.
And in the last, he setteth downe his mind fully bent to persist
constantly in the loue & seruice of his Ladie: like to that,
which Stephanus Forcatulus (an excellent Ciuilian, and one of
the best Poetes of Fraunce for these many yeares) wrote vnto
his beloued Clytia:
Quin noctu pluuium citiùs mirabimur arcum,
Solque domo Hesperidum mane propinquus erit,
Quàm capias lepide me fœda obliuio nymphæ, &c?
Some
aske me, when, and how my loue begunne;
Some, where it lies, and what effectes it hath;
Some, who she is, by whome I am vndone;
Some, what I meane to treade so lewde a path;
I answere all alike, by answ'ring nought,
But, ble'st is he, whome
Cupid
neuer caught,
And yet I coulde, if sorrowe woulde permit,
Tell when and howe I fix't my fancie first,
And for whose sake I lost both will and wit,
And choase the path, wherein I liue accurst:
But such like deedes would breed a double feare,
“For loue gainesaide growes madder then before.
But note herewith, that so my thoughts are bound
To her in whome my libertie lies thrall,
That if she would voutchsafe to salue my wound.
Yet force of this my loue should neuer fall,
Till Phœbus vse to rise from out the West,
And towardes night seeke lodging in the East.
