Hero and Leander and Other Poems

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by Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman
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Title: Hero and Leander and Other Poems
Author: Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman
Editor: Ernest Rhys
Release Date: January 14, 2007 [EBook #20356]
Language: English - Latin
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
0. START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HERO AND
LEANDER AND OTHER POEMS ***
HERO AND LEANDER
AND OTHER POEMS
BY CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
CONTENTS
Hero and Leander, by Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman
Minor poems by Christopher Marlowe
शू Ûय. The Passionate Shepherd To His Love
. Fragment, first printed in "England's Parnassus," 1600

0. In obitum honoratissimi viri, Rogeri Manwood, militis,
. Quæstorii Reginalis Capitalis Baronis
. Dialogue in Verse
HERO AND LEANDER
By Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman
TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL SIR THOMAS
WALSINGHAM, KNIGHT.
Sir, we think not ourselves discharged of the duty we owe to our friend
when we have brought the breathless body to
the earth; for, albeit the
eye there taketh his ever-farewell of that beloved object, yet the
impression of the man that
hath been dear unto us, living an after-life
in our memory, there putteth us in mind of farther obsequies due unto
the
deceased; and namely of the performance of whatsoever we

may judge shall make to his living credit and to the effecting of his
determinations prevented by the stroke of death.
By these meditations
(as by an intellectual will) I suppose myself executor to the unhappily
deceased author of this
poem; upon whom knowing that in his
lifetime you bestowed
many kind favours, entertaining the parts of
reckoning and
worth which you found in him with good countenance
and
liberal affection, I cannot but see so far into the will of him dead,
that whatsoever issue of his brain should chance to
come abroad, that
the first breath it should take might be
the gentle air of your liking;
for, since his self had been accustomed thereunto, it would prove more
agreeable and
thriving to his right children than any other foster
countenance whatsoever. At this time seeing that this unfinished

tragedy happens under my hands to be imprinted, of a
double duty,
the one to yourself, the other to the deceased, I present the same to your
most favourable allowance,
offering my utmost self now and ever to
be ready at your
worship's disposing.
EDWARD BLUNT.

Note: The first two Sestiads were written by Marlowe; the last four by
Chapman, who supplied also the Arguments for the six Sestiads.
THE FIRST SESTIAD
THE ARGUMENT OF THE FIRST SESTIAD
Hero's description and her love's;
The fane of Venus where he moves

His worthy love-suit, and attains;
Whose bliss the wrath of Fates
restrains
For Cupid's grace to Mercury:
Which tale the author doth
imply.
On Hellespont, guilty of true love's blood,
In view and opposite two
cities stood,
Sea-borderers, disjoin'd by Neptune's might;
The one
Abydos, the other Sestos hight.
At Sestos Hero dwelt; Hero the fair,

Whom young Apollo courted for her hair,
And offer'd as a dower
his burning throne,
Where she should sit, for men to gaze upon.
The
outside of her garments were of lawn,
The lining purple silk, with gilt
stars drawn;
Her wide sleeves green, and border'd with a grove,

Where Venus in her naked glory strove
To please the careless and
disdainful eyes
Of proud Adonis, that before her lies;
Her kirtle
blue, whereon was many a stain,
Made with the blood of wretched
lovers slain.
Upon her head she ware a myrtle wreath,
From whence
her veil reach'd to the ground beneath:
Her veil was artificial flowers
and leaves,
Whose workmanship both man and beast deceives:

Many would praise the sweet smell as she past,
When 'twas the odour
which her breath forth cast;
And there for honey bees have sought in
vain,
And, beat from thence, have lighted there again.
About her
neck hung chains of pebble-stone,
Which, lighten'd by her neck, like
diamonds shone.
She ware no gloves; for neither sun nor wind

Would burn or parch her hands, but, to her mind,
Or warm or cool
them, for they took delight
To play upon those hands, they were so
white.
Buskins of shell, all silver'd, used she,
And branch'd with
blushing coral to the knee;
Where sparrows perch'd, of hollow pearl

and gold,
Such as the world would wonder to behold:
Those with
sweet water oft her handmaid fills,
Which, as she went, would cherup
through the bills.
Some say, for her the fairest Cupid pin'd,
And,
looking in her face, was strooken blind.
But this is true; so like was
one the other,
As he imagin'd Hero was his mother;
And oftentimes
into her bosom flew,
About her naked neck his bare arms threw,

And laid his childish head upon her breast,
And, with still panting