The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3)

P. OVIDII NASONIS AMORUM

LIBER SECUNDUS

Elegia I. 233

Quod pro gigantomachia amores scribere sit coactusI, Ovid, poet, of my234 wantonness,Born at Peligny, to write more address.So Cupid wills. Far hence be the severe!You are unapt my looser lines to hear.Let maids whom hot desire to husbands lead,235And rude boys, touched with unknown love, me read:That some youth hurt, as I am, with Love's bow,His own flame's best-acquainted signs may know.And long admiring say, "By what means learned,Hath this same poet my sad chance discern'd?"I durst the great celestial battles tell,Hundred-hand Gyges, and had done it well;With Earth's revenge, and how Olympus topHigh Ossa bore, Mount Pelion up to prop;Jove and Jove's thunderbolts I had in hand,Which for236 his heaven fell on the giants' band.My wench her door shut, Jove's affairs I left,Even Jove himself out of my wit was reft.Pardon me, Jove! thy weapons aid me nought,Her shut gates greater lightning than thine brought.Toys, and light elegies, my darts I took,Quickly soft words hard doors wide-open strook.Verses reduce the hornèd bloody moon,And call the sun's white horses back237 at noon.Snakes leap by verse from caves of broken mountains,238And turnèd streams run backward to their fountains.Verses ope doors; and locks put in the post,Although of oak, to yield to verses boast.What helps it me of fierce Achill to sing?What good to me will either Ajax bring?Or he who warred and wandered twenty year?Or woful Hector whom wild jades did tear?But when I praise a pretty wench's face,She in requital doth me oft embrace.A great reward! Heroes of239 famous namesFarewell! your favour nought my mind inflames.Wenches apply your fair looks to my verse,Which golden Love doth unto me rehearse.

Elegia II. 240

Ad Bagoum, ut custodiam puellæ sibi commissæ laxiorem habeatBagous, whose care doth thy241 mistress bridle,While I speak some few, yet fit words, be idle.I saw the damsel walking yesterday,There, where the porch doth Danaus' fact242 display:She pleased me soon; I sent, and did her woo;Her trembling hand writ back she might not do.And asking why, this answer she redoubled,Because thy care too much thy mistress troubled.Keeper, if thou be wise, cease hate to cherish,Believe me, whom we fear, we wish to perish.Nor is her husband wise: what needs defence,When unprotected243 there is no expense?But furiously he follow244 his love's fire,And thinks her chaste whom many do desire:Stolen liberty she may by thee obtain,Which giving her, she may give thee again:Wilt thou her fault learn? she may make thee tremble.Fear to be guilty, then thou may'st dissemble.Think when she reads, her mother letters sent her:Let him go forth known, that unknown did enter.Let him go see her though she do not languish,And then report her sick and full of anguish.If long she stays, to think the time more short,Lay down thy forehead in thy lap to snort.Inquire not what with Isis may be done,Nor fear lest she to the theàtres run.Knowing her scapes, thine honour shall increase;And what less labour than to hold thy peace?Let him please, haunt the house, be kindly used,Enjoy the wench; let all else be refused.Vain causes feign of him, the true to hide,And what she likes, let both hold ratified.When most her husband bends the brows and frowns,His fawning wench with her desire he crowns.But yet sometimes to chide thee let her fallCounterfeit tears: and thee lewd hangman call.Object thou then, what she may well excuse,To stain all faith in truth, by false crimes' use.Of wealth and honour so shall grow thy heap:Do this, and soon thou shalt thy freedom reap.On tell-tales' necks thou seest the link-knit chains,The filthy prison faithless breasts restrains.Water in waters, and fruit, flying touch,Tantalus seeks, his long tongue's gain is such.While Juno's watchman Iö too much eyed,Him timeless245 death took, she was deified.I saw one's legs with fetters black and blue,By whom the husband his wife's incest246 knew:More he deserved; to both great harm he framed,The man did grieve, the woman was defamed.Trust me all husbands for such faults are sad,Nor make they any man that hears them glad.If he loves not, deaf ears thou dost importune,Or if he loves, thy tale breeds his misfortune.Nor is it easy proved though manifest;She safe by favour of her judge doth rest.Though himself see, he'll credit her denial,Condemn his eyes, and say there is no trial.Spying his mistress' tears he will lamentAnd say "This blab shall suffer punishment."Why fight'st 'gainst odds? to thee, being cast, do hapSharp stripes; she sitteth in the judge's lap.To meet for poison or vild facts247 we crave not;My hands an unsheathed shining weapon have not.We seek that, through thee, safely love we may;What can be easier than the thing we pray?

Elegia III. 248

Ad Eunuchum servantem dominamAy me, an eunuch keeps my mistress chaste,That cannot Venus' mutual pleasure taste.Who first deprived young boys of their best part,With self-same wounds he gave, he ought to smart.To kind requests thou would'st more gentle prove,If ever wench had made lukewarm thy love:Thou wert not born to ride, or arms to bear,Thy hands agree not with the warlike spear.Men handle those; all manly hopes resign,Thy mistress' ensigns must be likewise thine.Please her—her hate makes others thee abhor;If she discards thee, what use serv'st thou for?Good form there is, years apt to play together:Unmeet is beauty without use to wither.She may deceive thee, though thou her protect;What two determine never wants effect.Our prayers move thee to assist our drift,While thou hast time yet to bestow that gift.

Elegia IV

Quod amet mulieres, cujuscunque formæ sintI mean not to defend the scapes249 of any,Or justify my vices being many;For I confess, if that might merit favour,Here I display my lewd and loose behaviour.I loathe, yet after that I loathe I run:Oh, how the burthen irks, that we should250 shun.I cannot rule myself but where Love please;Am251 driven like a ship upon rough seas.No one face likes me best, all faces move,A hundred reasons make me ever love.If any eye me with a modest look,I burn,252 and by that blushful glance am took;And she that's coy I like, for being no clown,Methinks she would be nimble when she's down.Though her sour looks a Sabine's brow resemble,I think she'll do, but deeply can dissemble.If she be learned, then for her skill I crave her;If not, because she's simple I would have her.Before Callimachus one prefers me far;Seeing she likes my books, why should we jar?Another rails at me, and that I write,Yet would I lie with her, if that I might:Trips she, it likes me well; plods she, what than253?She would be nimbler lying with a man.And when one sweetly sings, then straight I long,To quaver on her lips even in her song;Or if one touch the lute with art and cunning,Who would not love those hands254 for their swift running?And her I like that with a majesty,Folds up her arms, and makes low courtesy.To255 leave myself, that am in love with all,Some one of these might make the chastest fall.If she be tall, she's like an Amazon,And therefore fills the bed she lies upon:If short, she lies the rounder: to speak256 troth,Both short and long please me, for I love both.I257 think what one undecked would be, being drest;Is she attired? then show her graces best.A white wench thralls me, so doth golden yellow:And nut-brown girls in doing have no fellow.If her white neck be shadowed with black hair,Why so was Leda's, yet was Leda fair.Amber-tress'd258 is she? then on the morn think I:My love alludes to every history:A young wench pleaseth, and an old is good,This for her looks, that for her womanhood:Nay what is she, that any Roman loves,But my ambitious ranging mind approves?

Elegia V. 259

Ad amicam corruptamNo love is so dear,—quivered Cupid, fly!—That my chief wish should be so oft to die.Minding thy fault, with death I wish to revel;Alas! a wench is a perpetual evil.No intercepted lines thy deeds display,No gifts given secretly thy crime bewray.O would my proofs as vain might be withstood!Ay me, poor soul, why is my cause so good?He's happy, that his love dares boldly credit;To whom his wench can say, "I never did it."He's cruel, and too much his grief doth favour,That seeks the conquest by her loose behaviour.Poor wretch,260 I saw when thou didst think I slumbered;Not drunk, your faults on the spilt wine I numbered.I saw your nodding eyebrows much to speak,Even from your cheeks, part of a voice did break.Not silent were thine eyes, the board with wineWas scribbled, and thy fingers writ a line.I knew your speech (what do not lovers see?)And words that seemed for certain marks to be.Now many guests were gone, the feast being done,The youthful sort to divers pastimes run.I saw you then unlawful kisses join;(Such with my tongue it likes me to purloin);None such the sister gives her brother grave,But such kind wenches let their lovers have.Phœbus gave not Diana such, 'tis thought,But Venus often to her Mars such brought."What dost?" I cried; "transport'st thou my delight?My lordly hands I'll throw upon my right.Such bliss is only common to us two,In this sweet good why hath a third to do?"This, and what grief enforced me say, I said:A scarlet blush her guilty face arrayed;Even such as by Aurora hath the sky,Or maids that their betrothèd husbands spy;Such as a rose mixed with a lily breeds,Or when the moon travails with charmèd steeds.Or such as, lest long years should turn the dye,Arachne261 stains Assyrian ivory.To these, or some of these, like was her colour:By chance her beauty never shinèd fuller.She viewed the earth; the earth to view, beseemed her.She lookèd sad; sad, comely I esteemed her.Even kembèd as they were, her locks to rend,And scratch her fair soft cheeks I did intend.Seeing her face, mine upreared arms descended,With her own armour was my wench defended.I, that erewhile was fierce, now humbly sue,Lest with worse kisses she should me endue.She laughed, and kissed so sweetly as might makeWrath-kindled Jove away his thunder shake.I grieve lest others should such good perceive,And wish hereby them all unknown262 to leave.Also much better were they than I tell,And ever seemed as some new sweet befell.'Tis ill they pleased so much, for in my lipsLay her whole tongue hid, mine in hers she dips.This grieves me not; no joinèd kisses spent,Bewail I only, though I them lament.Nowhere can they be taught but in the bed;I know no master of so great hire sped.263

Elegia VI. 264

In mortem psittaciThe parrot, from East India to me sent,265Is dead; all fowls her exequies frequent!Go godly266 birds, striking your breasts, bewail,And with rough claws your tender cheeks assail.For woful hairs let piece-torn plumes abound,For long shrild267 trumpets let your notes resound.Why Philomel dost Tereus' lewdness mourn?All wasting years have that complaint now268 worn.Thy tunes let this rare bird's sad funeral borrow;Itys269 a great, but ancient cause of sorrow.All you whose pinions in the clear air soar,But most, thou friendly turtle-dove, deplore.Full concord all your lives was you betwixt,And to the end your constant faith stood fixt.What Pylades did to Orestes prove,Such to the parrot was the turtle-dove.But what availed this faith? her rarest hue?Or voice that how to change the wild notes knew?What helps it thou wert given to please my wench?Birds' hapless glory, death thy life doth quench.Thou with thy quills might'st make green emeralds dark,And pass our scarlet of red saffron's mark.No such voice-feigning bird was on the ground,Thou spok'st thy words so well with stammering sound.Envy hath rapt thee, no fierce wars thou mov'dst;Vain-babbling speech, and pleasant peace thou lov'dst.Behold how quails among their battles live,Which do perchance old age unto them give.A little filled thee, and for love of talk,Thy mouth to taste of many meats did balk.Nuts were thy food, and poppy caused thee sleep,Pure water's moisture thirst away did keep.The ravenous vulture lives, the puttock270 hoversAround the air, the cadess271 rain discovers.And crow272 survives arms-bearing Pallas' hate,Whose life nine ages scarce bring out of date.Dead is that speaking image of man's voice,The parrot given me, the far world's273 best choice.The greedy spirits274 take the best things first,Supplying their void places with the worst.Thersites did Protesilaus survive;And Hector died, his brothers yet alive.My wench's vows for thee what should I show,Which stormy south winds into sea did blow?The seventh day came, none following might'st thou see,And the Fate's distaff empty stood to thee:Yet words in thy benumbèd palate rung;"Farewell, Corinna," cried thy dying tongue.Elysium hath a wood of holm-trees black,Whose earth doth not perpetual green grass lack.There good birds rest (if we believe things hidden),Whence unclean fowls are said to be forbidden.There harmless swans feed all abroad the river;There lives the phœnix, one alone bird ever;There Juno's bird displays his gorgeous feather,And loving doves kiss eagerly together.The parrot into wood received with these,Turns all the godly275 birds to what she please.A grave her bones hides: on her corps' great grave,The little stones these little verses have.This tomb approves I pleased my mistress wellMy mouth in speaking did all birds excell.

Elegia VII. 276

Amicæ se purgat, quod ancillam non ametDost me of new crimes always guilty frame?To overcome, so oft to fight I shame.If on the marble theatre I look,One among many is, to grieve thee, took.If some fair wench me secretly behold,Thou arguest she doth secret marks unfold.If I praise any, thy poor hairs thou tearest;If blame, dissembling of my fault thou fearest.If I look well, thou think'st thou dost not move,If ill, thou say'st I die for others' love.Would I were culpable of some offence,They that deserve pain, bear't with patience.Now rash accusing, and thy vain belief,Forbid thine anger to procure my grief.Lo, how the miserable great-eared ass,Dulled with much beating, slowly forth doth pass!Behold Cypassis, wont to dress thy head,Is charged to violate her mistress' bed!The gods from this sin rid me of suspicion,To like a base wench of despised condition.With Venus' game who will a servant grace?Or any back, made rough with stripes, embrace?Add she was diligent thy locks to braid,And, for her skill, to thee a grateful maid.Should I solicit her that is so just,—To take repulse, and cause her show my lust?I swear by Venus, and the winged boy's bow,Myself unguilty of this crime I know.

Elegia VIII. 277

Ad Cypassim ancillam CorinnæCypassis, that a thousand ways trim'st hair,Worthy to kemb none but a goddess fair,Our pleasant scapes show thee no clown to be,Apt to thy mistress, but more apt to me.Who that our bodies were comprest bewrayed?Whence knows Corinna that with thee I played?Yet blushed I not, nor used I any saying,That might be urged to witness our false playing.What if a man with bondwomen offend,To prove him foolish did I e'er contend?Achilles burnt with face of captive Brisèis,Great Agamemnon loved his servant Chrysèis.278Greater than these myself I not esteem:What gracèd kings, in me no shame I deem.But when on thee her angry eyes did rush,In both thy279 cheeks she did perceive thee280 blush.But being present,281 might that work the best,By Venus deity how did I protest!Thou goddess dost command a warm south blast,My self oaths in Carpathian seas to cast.For which good turn my sweet reward repay,Let me lie with thee, brown Cypass, to-day.Ungrate, why feign'st new fears, and dost refuse?Well may'st thou one thing for thy mistress use.282If thou deniest, fool, I'll our deeds express,And as a traitor mine own faults confess;Telling thy mistress where I was with thee,How oft, and by what means, we did agree.

Elegia IX. 283

Ad CupidinemO Cupid, that dost never cease my smart!O boy, that liest so slothful in my heart!Why me that always was the soldier found,Dost harm, and in thy284 tents why dost me wound?Why burns thy brand, why strikes thy bow thy friends?More glory by thy vanquished foes ascends.Did not Pelides whom his spear did grieve,Being required, with speedy help relieve?Hunters leave taken beasts, pursue the chase,And than things found do ever further pace.We people wholly given thee, feel thine-arms,Thy dull hand stays thy striving enemies' harms.Dost joy to have thy hookèd arrows shakedIn naked bones? love hath my bones left naked.So many men and maidens without love,Hence with great laud thou may'st a triumph move.Rome, if her strength the huge world had not filled,With strawy cabins now her courts should build.The weary soldier hath the conquered fields,His sword, laid by, safe, tho' rude places yields;285The dock inharbours ships drawn from the floods,Horse freed from service range abroad the woods.And time it was for me to live in quiet,That have so oft served pretty wenches' diet.Yet should I curse a God, if he but said,"Live without love," so sweet ill is a maid.For when my loathing it of heat deprives me,I know not whither my mind's whirlwind drives me.Even as a headstrong courser bears awayHis rider, vainly striving him to stay;Or as a sudden gale thrusts into seaThe haven-touching bark, now near the lea;So wavering Cupid brings me back amain,And purple Love resumes his darts again.Strike, boy, I offer thee my naked breast,Here thou hast strength, here thy right hand doth rest.Here of themselves thy shafts come, as if shot;Better than I their quiver knows them not:Hapless is he that all the night lies quiet.And slumbering, thinks himself much blessèd by it.Fool, what is sleep but image of cold death,Long shalt thou rest when Fates expire thy breath.But me let crafty damsel's words deceive,Great joys by hope I inly shall conceive.Now let her flatter me, now chide me hard,Let me286 enjoy her oft, oft be debarred.Cupid, by thee, Mars in great doubt doth trample,And thy stepfather fights by thy example.Light art thou, and more windy than thy wings;Joys with uncertain faith thou tak'st and brings:Yet Love, if thou with thy fair mother hear,Within my breast no desert empire bear;Subdue the wandering wenches to thy reign,So of both people shalt thou homage gain.

Elegia X

Ad Græcinum quod eodem tempore duas ametGræcinus (well I wot) thou told'st me once,I could not be in love with two at once;By thee deceived, by thee surprised am I,For now I love two women equally:Both are well favoured, both rich in array,Which is the loveliest287 it is hard to say:This seems the fairest, so doth that to me;And288 this doth please me most, and so doth she;Even as a boat tossed by contràry wind,So with this love and that wavers my mind.Venus, why doublest thou my endless smart?Was not one wench enough to grieve my heart?Why add'st thou stars to heaven, leaves to green woods,And to the deep289 vast sea fresh water-floods?Yet this is better far than lie alone:Let such as be mine enemies have none;Yea, let my foes sleep in an empty bed,And in the midst their bodies largely spread:But may soft290 love rouse up my drowsy eyes,And from my mistress' bosom let me rise!Let one wench cloy me with sweet love's delight,If one can do't; if not, two every night.Though I am slender, I have store of pith,Nor want I strength, but weight, to press her with:Pleasure adds fuel to my lustful fire,I pay them home with that they most desire:Oft have I spent the night in wantonness,And in the morn been lively ne'ertheless,He's happy who Love's mutual skirmish slays;And to the gods for that death Ovid prays.Let soldiers291 chase their enemies amain,And with their blood eternal honour gain,Let merchants seek wealth and292 with perjured lips,Being wrecked, carouse the sea tired by their ships;But when I die, would I might droop with doing,And in the midst thereof, set293 my soul going,That at my funerals some may weeping cry,"Even as he led his life, so did he die."

Elegia XI. 294

Ad amicam navigantemThe lofty pine, from high Mount Pelion raught,295Ill ways by rough seas wondering waves first taught;Which rashly 'twixt the sharp rocks in the deep,Carried the famous golden-fleecèd sheep.O would that no oars might in seas have sunk!The Argo296 wrecked had deadly waters drunk.Lo, country gods and know[n] bed to forsakeCorinna means, and dangerous ways to take.For thee the East and West winds make me pale,With icy Boreas, and the Southern gale.Thou shalt admire no woods or cities there,The unjust seas all bluish do appear.The ocean hath no painted stones or shells,The sucking297 shore with their abundance swells.Maids on the shore, with marble-white feet tread,So far 'tis safe; but to go farther, dread.Let others tell how winds fierce battles wage,How Scylla's and Charybdis' waters rage;And with what rock[s] the feared Ceraunia threat;In what gulf either Syrtes have their seat.Let others tell this, and what each one speaksBelieve; no tempest the believer wreaks.298Too late you look back, when with anchors weighed,The crookèd bark hath her swift sails displayed.The careful shipman now fears angry gusts,And with the waters sees death near him thrusts.But if that Triton toss the troubled flood,In all thy face will be no crimson blood.Then wilt thou Leda's noble twin-stars pray,And, he is happy whom the earth holds, say.It is more safe to sleep, to read a book,The Thracian harp with cunning to have strook.But if my words with wingèd storm hence slip,Yet, Galatea, favour thou her ship.The loss of such a wench much blame will gather,Both to the sea-nymphs and the sea-nymphs' father.Go, minding to return with prosperous wind,Whose blast may hither strongly be inclined.Let Nereus bend the waves unto this shore,Hither the winds blow, here the spring-tide roar.Request mild Zephyr's help for thy avail,And with thy hand assist thy swelling sail.I from the shore thy known ship first will see,And say it brings her that preserveth me.I'll clip299 and kiss thee with all contentation;For thy return shall fall the vowed oblation;And in the form of beds we'll strew soft sand;Each little hill shall for a table stand:There, wine being filled, thou many things shalt tell,How, almost wrecked, thy ship in main seas fell.And hasting to me, neither darksome night,Nor violent south-winds did thee aught affright,I'll think all true, though it be feignèd matter!Mine own desires why should myself not flatter?Let the bright day-star cause in heaven this day be,To bring that happy time so soon as may be.

Elegia XII. 300

Exultat, quod amica potitus sitAbout my temples go, triumphant bays!Conquered Corinna in my bosom lays.She whom her husband, guard, and gate, as foes,Lest art should win her, firmly did enclose:That victory doth chiefly triumph merit,Which without bloodshed doth the prey inherit.No little ditchèd towns, no lowly walls,But to my share a captive damsel falls.When Troy by ten years' battle tumbled down,With the Atrides many gained renown:But I no partner of my glory brook,Nor can another say his help I took.I, guide and soldier, won the field and wear her,I was both horseman, footman, standard-bearer.Nor in my act hath fortune mingled chance:O care-got301 triumph hitherwards advance!Nor is my war's cause new; but for a queen,Europe and Asia in firm peace had been;The Lapiths and the Centaurs, for a woman,To cruel arms their drunken selves did summon;A woman forced the Trojans new to enterWars, just Latinus, in thy kingdom's centre;A woman against late-built Rome did sendThe Sabine fathers, who sharp wars intend.I saw how bulls for a white heifer strive,She looking on them did more courage give.And me with many, but me302 without murther,Cupid commands to move his ensigns further.

Elegia XIII. 303

Ad Isidem, ut parientem Corinnam servetWhile rashly her womb's burden she casts out,Weary Corinna hath her life in doubt.She, secretly from304 me, such harm attempted,Angry I was, but fear my wrath exempted.But she conceived of me; or I am sureI oft have done what might as much procure.Thou that frequent'st Canopus' pleasant fields,Memphis, and Pharos that sweet date-trees yields,And where swift Nile in his large channel skipping,305By seven huge mouths into the sea is slipping.By feared Anubis' visage I thee pray,—So in thy temples shall Osiris stay,And the dull snake about thy offerings creep,And in thy pomp horned Apis with thee keep,—Turn thy looks hither, and in one spare twain:Thou givest my mistress life, she mine again.She oft hath served thee upon certain days,Where the French306 rout engirt themselves with bays.On labouring women thou dost pity take,Whose bodies with their heavy burdens ache;My wench, Lucina, I entreat thee favour;Worthy she is, thou should'st in mercy save her.In white, with incense, I'll thine altars greet,Myself will bring vowed gifts before thy feet,Subscribing Naso with Corinna saved:Do but deserve gifts with this title graved.But, if in so great fear I may advise thee,To have this skirmish fought let it suffice thee.