Petrarchs seven penitentiall psalms paraphrastically translated: With other Philosophicall Poems, and a Hymne to Christ vpon the Crosse. Written by George Chapman |
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For stay in competence.
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 | Petrarchs seven penitentiall psalms |  |
For stay in competence.
Thou that enioyst onely enough to liue,
Why grieu'st thou that the giuer does not giue
Foode with the fullest, when as much as thou
He thinkes him emptie? Tis a state so low
That I am fearefull euerie howre to sinke.
Well said. Vnthankfull fearefull, eate and drinke,
And feare to sterue still. Knowst thou not who sings
Before the theefe? The penurie of things
Whither conferres it? Drawes it not one breath
With great satietie? End not both in death?
Thy entrailes, with thy want, together shrinke;
He bursts with cruditie, and too much drinke.
Will not thy want then with a chearefull eye
Make thee expect death? whom sterne tyrannie,
Empire, and all the glut of thirstie store,
Shun with pale cheekes, affrighted euermore?
Earth is a whore, and brings vp all her brats
With her insatiate gadflie: euen her flats
High as her hils looke; lusting, lusting still,
No earthly pleasure euer hath her fill.
Turne a new leafe then: thirst for things past death;
And thou shalt neuer thinke of things beneath.
How should I thirst so, hauing no such heate?
Fast, pray, to haue it: better neuer eate,
Then still the more thou eatst the more desire.
But wilt thou quench this ouerneedie fire?
Canst thou not write, nor reade, nor keepe a gate?
Teach children, be a porter. That poore state
Were base and hatefull. Is that base to thee,
That is not thy worke? That necessitie
Inflicts vpon thee? that inuades thee to
Onely as head-aches and agues do?
That the great Ordrer of th' vniuerse sees
So good, he puts it in his master peece?
But men will scorne me. Let them then go by,
They will not touch thee: he that shifts his eye
To others eye-browes, must himselfe be blind.
Leau'st thou thy selfe for others? tis the mind
Of all that God and euery good forsakes.
If he goes thy way, follow: if he takes
An opposite course, canst thou still go along,
And end thy course? Go right, though all else wrong.
Why grieu'st thou that the giuer does not giue
Foode with the fullest, when as much as thou
He thinkes him emptie? Tis a state so low
That I am fearefull euerie howre to sinke.
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And feare to sterue still. Knowst thou not who sings
Before the theefe? The penurie of things
Whither conferres it? Drawes it not one breath
With great satietie? End not both in death?
Thy entrailes, with thy want, together shrinke;
He bursts with cruditie, and too much drinke.
Will not thy want then with a chearefull eye
Make thee expect death? whom sterne tyrannie,
Empire, and all the glut of thirstie store,
Shun with pale cheekes, affrighted euermore?
Earth is a whore, and brings vp all her brats
With her insatiate gadflie: euen her flats
High as her hils looke; lusting, lusting still,
No earthly pleasure euer hath her fill.
Turne a new leafe then: thirst for things past death;
And thou shalt neuer thinke of things beneath.
How should I thirst so, hauing no such heate?
Fast, pray, to haue it: better neuer eate,
Then still the more thou eatst the more desire.
But wilt thou quench this ouerneedie fire?
Canst thou not write, nor reade, nor keepe a gate?
Teach children, be a porter. That poore state
Were base and hatefull. Is that base to thee,
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Inflicts vpon thee? that inuades thee to
Onely as head-aches and agues do?
That the great Ordrer of th' vniuerse sees
So good, he puts it in his master peece?
But men will scorne me. Let them then go by,
They will not touch thee: he that shifts his eye
To others eye-browes, must himselfe be blind.
Leau'st thou thy selfe for others? tis the mind
Of all that God and euery good forsakes.
If he goes thy way, follow: if he takes
An opposite course, canst thou still go along,
And end thy course? Go right, though all else wrong.
But you are learn'd, and know Philosophie
To be a shift to salue necessitie:
Loue syllogismes, figures, and to make
All men admire how excellent you spake.
Your caution is to keepe a studious eye,
Lest you be caught with carpes of sophistrie:
To be a man of reading, when alas,
All these are caught in a Plebeians case.
None such poore fooles, incontinent, couetous,
Atheisticall, deceitfull, villanous.
Shew me thy studies end, and what may be
Those weights and measures, that are vsde by thee,
To mete these ashes barreld vp in man.
Is not the wreath his, that most truly can
Make a man happie? And (in short) is that
Any way wrought more, then in teaching what
Will make a man most ioyfully embrace
The course his end holds, and his proper place?
Not suffering his affections to disperse,
But fit the maine sway of the vniuerse.
To be a shift to salue necessitie:
Loue syllogismes, figures, and to make
All men admire how excellent you spake.
Your caution is to keepe a studious eye,
Lest you be caught with carpes of sophistrie:
To be a man of reading, when alas,
All these are caught in a Plebeians case.
None such poore fooles, incontinent, couetous,
Atheisticall, deceitfull, villanous.
Shew me thy studies end, and what may be
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To mete these ashes barreld vp in man.
Is not the wreath his, that most truly can
Make a man happie? And (in short) is that
Any way wrought more, then in teaching what
Will make a man most ioyfully embrace
The course his end holds, and his proper place?
Not suffering his affections to disperse,
But fit the maine sway of the vniuerse.
| Petrarchs seven penitentiall psalms | |