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The poems and verse-translations of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor

For the first time collected and edited after the author's own text: With introduction. By the Rev. Alexander B. Grosart [in Miscellanies of The Fuller Worthies' Library]

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V. Aurea Grana.


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V. Aurea Grana.

Verse Translations.

I. From “Deus Justificatus or a Vindication of the Glory of the Divine Attributes in the Question of Original Sin: in a Letter to a Person of Quality.” 1656 (12o) and 1657 (folio).

1. THE FALL.


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Man was the worke of God, fram'd by His hands;
Him did the Serpent cheat, that to death's bands
He was subjected for his sin: for this was all:
He tasted good and evill by his Fall.
[_]

[Sic apud Lactant. ii. 13: fol. Cæsenæ, 1646. Aliter in edd-recent.]



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2. GUILT AND DESTINY.

No guilt upon Mankinde can lie
For what's the fault of Destiny.
[_]

[Seneca Œdip, line 1019.]


3. ORIGINAL SIN.

Nor did it please our God, when that our state
Was chang'd, to adde a crime unto our fate.
[_]

[‘Hoc placet’, &c.—Lucan vii., 58.]


4. NO MASTERS: ONE MASTER.


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If Aristotle be deceiv'd, and say that's true
What nor himself nor others ever knew,
I leave his text, and let his schollers talke
Till they be hoarse or weary in their walke:
When wise men erre, though their fame ring like bells,
I scape a danger when I leave their spells.
[_]

[In Poemate cui nomen ‘Zodiacus vitæ’, lib. viii. sive ‘scorpio’, p. 187.—Basil 1563. 8vo.—]


5. THE SOFT ANSWER.


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Some weaknesse to each man by birth descends,
To me too great a kindnesse Nature lends.
[_]

[Propertius: lib. ii. el. 22.17.]


6. HINDRANCES.


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He that will sow his field with hopefull seed,
Must every bramble, every thistle weed;
And when each hindrance to the graine is gone,
A fruitfull crop shall rise of corn alone.
[_]

[al. ‘liberat,’ ‘resecat.’ Boethius, lib. iii. metr. 1.]


7. CONSCIENCE.

He that is guilty of a sin
Shal rue the crime that he lies in.
[_]

[Lege ‘Exemplo. . . . . . malo’ Juvenal, Sat. xiii. I.]


8. TRUE IF NEW.

Fear not to own what's said because 'tis new;
Weigh well and wisely if the thing be true.
Truth and not conquest is the best reward;
'Gainst falsehood onely stand upon thy guard.
[_]

[Lib. ii. lines 1039 et seqq.]



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II. From “A Discourse of the Nature, Offices, and Measures of Friendship” 1657 and 1673 (folio) and 1678 (12o.)

9. FRIENDSHIPS.

Where Vertue dwells there friendships make,
But evil neighbourhoods forsake.
[_]

[Pythag. carm. aur. 5: Theogn. lin. 113.]


10. LOVE FOR LOVE.

They lov'd each other with a love
That did in all things equal prove. [OMITTED]
The world was under Saturn's reign
When he that lov'd was lov'd again.
[_]

[Idyll xii. 15.]



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11. MUTUAL FRIENDS.

Let God give friends to me for my reward,
Who shall my love with equal love regard;
Happy are they, who when they give their heart
Find such as in exchange their own impart.
[_]

[Theogn. line 337: Bion, ap. Stob. floril, tit. lxiii. (de Venere, &c.) 28.]


12. A FRIEND NOT MONEY.

When Fortune frowns upon a man,
A friend does more than money can.
[_]

[Auct. incert. ap. Grot. excerpt. ex trag. et com. p. 945. Paris 1626. 4o.]


13. A NOBLE FRIENDSHIP.


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By wine and mirth and every daye's delight
We choose our friends to whom we think we might
Our souls intrust; but fools are they that lend
Their bosome to the shadow of a friend.
[_]

[Line 3rd πατερ . . οιετ', edd. recentt: ap. Plutarch de frat. am. t vii. p. 872.]


14. UNSELFISHNESS IN FRIENDSHIP.

Lands, gold, and trifles many give or lend:
But he that stoops in fame is a rare friend;
In friendship's orbe thou art the brightest starre,
Before thy fame mine thou preferrest far.
[_]

[Martial, lib. viii, ep. 18: Ibid, lin. 3.]



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15. BROTHERS.

It is not often you shall see
Two brothers live in amity.
[_]

[Ovid, Met. i., 145.]


16. FRIENDSHIP IMMORTAL.


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To me though distant let thy friendship fly;
Though men be mortal, friendships must not die;
Of all things else ther's great satiety.
[_]

[Theogn lin. 595.]


17. HELP IN ADVERSITY.


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Friends are to friends as lesser gods, while they
Honour and service to each other pay:
But when a dark cloud comes, grudge not to lend
Thy head, thy heart, thy fortune to thy friend.
[_]

[Poet incert.—Grot. excerpt. p. 945.]


The End.