University of Virginia Library

In this Sonnet the Author hath imittaed one of Ronsardes

Odes; which beginneth thus.

Les Muses herent vn iour
De chaisnes de roses Amour,
Et pour le garder, le donnerent
Aus Graces & à la Beautè:
Qui voyans sa desloyautè,
Sus Parnase l'emprisonnerent. &c.

The Authour in this Sonnet expresseth his mallice towardes Uenus and her Sonne Cupid, by currying fauour with Diana, and by suing to haue the selfe same office in her walkes and forrest, which sometimes her chast and best beloued Hippolitus enioyed. Which Hippolitus (as Seruius witnesseth) dyed by the false deceipt of his Stepmother Phædra, for not yeelding ouer himselfe vnto her incestuous loue: whereuppon Seneca writeth thus,

Iuuenisque castus crimine incesta iacet,
Pudicus, insons.

The cheifest substance of this Sonnet is borrowed out of certeine Latin verses of Strozza a noble man of Italy, and one of the best Poëts in all his age: who in describing Metaphorically to his friend Antonius the true forme of his amorous estate, writeth thus:

Unda hic sunt Lachrima, Venti suspiria, Remi
Vota, Error velum, Mens malesana Ratis;
Spes Temo, Curæ Comites, Constantia Amoris
Est malus, Dolor est Anchora, Nauita Amor, &c.

The sense of this Sonnet is for the most part taken out of a letter, which Æneas Syluius wrote vnto his friend, to persuade him, that albeit he lately had published the wanton loue of Lucretia and Euryalus, yet hee liked nothing lesse then such fond Loue; and that he nowe repented him of his owne labour ouer idlely bestowed in describing the same.

The Authour in the firste staffe of this Sonnet, expresseth how Loue first went beyond him, by persuading him that all was golde which glistered. In the second, hee telleth, how time broughte hym to trueth, and Trueth to Reason: by whose good counsell he found the way from worse to better, & did ouergoe the malice of blinde Fortune. In the third staffe, he craueth pardon at euery man for the offences of his youth; and to Loue, the onely cause of his long errour, hee geueth his vltimum vale.

This whole Sonnet is nothing els but a briefe and pithy morall, and made after the selfe same vaine with that, which is last before it. The two first staffes, (excepting onely the two first verses of all) expresse the Authours alteration of minde & life, and his change from his late vaine estate and follies in loue, by a metaphore of the shipmā, which by shipwrakes chaunce is happely restoared on a sodeine vnto that land, which he a long time had most wished for.

The two first staffes of this Sonnet are altogether sententiall, and euerie one verse of them is grownded vpon a diuerse reason and authoritie from the rest. I haue thought good for breuitie sake, onelie to set downe here the authorities, with figures, whereby to applie euerie one of them to his due lyne in order as they stand. 1. Hieronimus: In delicijs difficile est seruare castitatem. 2 Ausonius: dispulit inconsultus amor &c. 3. Seneca: Amor est ociosa causa sollicitudinis. 4. Propertius: Errat, qui finem vesani quærit amoris. 5. Horatius: Semper ardentes acuēs sagittas. 6. Xenophon scribit amorem esse igne, & flamma flagrantiorem, quòd ignis vrat tangentes, et proxima tantū cremet, amor ex longinquo spectante torreat. 7. Calenti: Plurima Zelotipo sunt in amore mala. 8. Ouidius: Inferet arma tibi sæua rebellis amor. 9. Pontanus: Si vacuum sineret perfidiosus amor. 10. Marullus: Quid tantum lachrimis meis proterue Jnsultas puer? 11. Tibullus: At lasciuus amor rixa mala verba ministrat. 12. Virgilius: Bellum sæpe petit ferus exitiale Cupido.

In the latter part of this Sonnet the Authour imitateth those verses of Horace. Me tabula sacer

Votiua paries indicat vuida
Suspendisse potenti
Uestimenta maris Deo.

Whom also that renowned Florentine M. Agnolo Firenzuola did imitate long agoe, both in like manner and matter, as followeth.

O miseri coloro,
Che non prouar di donna fede mai:
Il pericol, ch'io corsi
Nel tempestoso mar, nella procella
Del lor cradel Amore,
Mostrar lo può la tauoletta posta,
E le vesti ancor molli
Sospese al tempio del horrendo Dio
Di questo mar crudele.

Here the Author by comparing the tyrannous delightes and deedes of blinde Cupid with the honest delightes & deedes of other his fellow Goddesses and Gods, doth blesse the time and howre that euer he forsooke to follow him; whom he confesseth to haue bene greate & forcible in his doings, though but litle of stature, and in apparence weakelie. Of all the names here mentioned, Hebe is seldomest redde, wherfore know they which know it not alreadie, that Hebe (as Seruius writeth) is Iunoes daughter, hauing no father, & now wife to Hercules, and Goddesse of youth, and youthlie sporting: and was cupbearer to Ioue, till she fell in the presence of all the Goddes, so vnhappelie, that they sawe her priuities, whereupon Ioue being angry, substituted Ganimedes into her office and place.

In the first and sixt line of this Passion the Authour alludeth to two sentencious verses in Sophocles; whereof the first is,

ω μωρε, θυμος δ' εν κακοις ου συμφορον,,

In Oedipo Colonæo.

O foole, in euills fretting nought auailes. The second,
το γαρ

In Trachiniis.

φανθεν τις αν δυναιτ' αγενητος ποιειν..
For who can make vndon what once is done?

In the other two staffes following, the Authour pursueth on his matter, beginning and ending euery line with the selfe same sillable he vsed in the first: wherein hee imitateth some Italian Poets, who more to trie their witts, hen for any other conceite, haue written after the like manner.

In this Passion the Authour hath but augmented the inuention of Seraphine, where he writeth in this manner.

Biastemo quando mai le labbra apersi
Per dar nome à costei, che acciò me induce.
Biastemo il tempo, & quanti giorni hò persi
A seguitar si tenebrosa luce:
Biastemo charta, inchiostro, e versi,
Et quanto Amor per me fama gliaduce;
Biastemo quando mai la vidi anchora,
El mese, l'anno, & giorno, el punto, & lhora.

A Labyrinth is a place made full of turnings & creekes, wherehence, he that is once gotten in, can hardly get out againe. Of this sorte

Pliny mentioneth foure in the world, which were most noble. One in Crete made by Dædalus, at the commaundement of king Minos, to shut vp the Minotaure in: to which monster the Atheniens by league were bound, euery yeere to send seuen of their children, to bee deuoured; which was perfourmed, till at the last, by the helpe of Ariadne, Theseus slewe the monster. An other he mentioneth to haue beene in Ægipt, which also Pomponius Mela describeth in his first booke. The third in Lemnos, wherein were erected a hūdreth & fifty pillers of singuler workmāship. The fourth in Italy, builded by Porsenna king of Herraria, to serue for his sepulchre. But in this Passion the Authour alludeth vnto that of Crite only.

In this Passion, the Authour in skoffing bitterly at Venus, and her sonne Cupid, alludeth vnto certaine verses in Ouid, but inuerteth them to an other sense, then Ouid vsed, who wrote them vpon the death of Tibullus. These are the verses, which he imitateth,

Ecce puer Veneris fert euersamque phraretram,
Et fractos arcus, & sine luce facem.

Elegiar. lib. 8

Aspice demissis vt eat miserabilis alis,
Pectoraque infesta tondat aperta manu, &c.
Net minus est confusa Uenus. &c,
Quàm iuuenis rupit cum ferus inguen aper,

The Authour in this passion alludeth to the fable of Phineus, which is sette downe at large in the Argonauticks of Apollonius, and Valerius Flaccus. He compareth him selfe vnto Phineus; his Mistres vnto the Harpyes; and his thoughtes vnto Zethes, and his desires vnto Calais, the two twinnes of Boreas; and the voyce of Ne plus vltra spoaken from Heauen to Calais and Zethes, vnto the Diuine grace, which willed him to follow no further the miseries of a Louers estate, but to professe vnfainedlie, that his Loue is past. And, last of all, the Author concludeth against the sower sawce of Loue with the French prouerbe: Pour vn plaisir mille douleurs.

The Author in this passion, telling what Loue is, easeth his heart, as it were, by rayling out right, where he can worke no other manner of reuenge. The inuention hereof, for the most part of the particulars conteyned, is taken out of certeine Latine verses, which this Authour composed vpon Quid Amor. Which because they may well importe a passion of the writer, and aptly befitte the present title of his ouerpassed Loue, he setteth them downe in this next page following, but not as accomptable for one of the hundreth passions of this booke.

This passion is an imitation of the first Sonnet in Seraphine, & grownded vpon that, which Aristotle writeth

of the Ægle, for the proofe she maketh of her birdes, by setting them to behold the Sonne. After whom Pliny hath written, as foloweth:

Aquila implumes etiamnum pullos suos percutiens, Subinde cogit aduersos intueri Solis radios: et si conniuentem humectantemque animaduertit,

præcipitat e nido, velut adulterinum atque degenerem: illum, cuius acies firma contra steterït, educat.

The Authour faineth here, that Loue, essaying with his brand, to fire the heart of some such Lady, on whome it would not worke, immediately, to trie whether the old vertue of it were extinguished or no, applied it vnto his owne brest, and therby foolishlie consumed him selfe. His inuention hath some relation vnto the Epitaph of Loue, written by M. Girolimo Parabosco;

In cenere giace qui sepolto Amore,
Colpa di quella, che morir mi face, &c.