Hero and Leander and Other Poems | Page 5

do, her on the ground he
laid,
And, tumbling in the grass, he often stray'd
Beyond the bounds
of shame, in being bold
To eye those parts which no eye should
behold;
And, like an insolent commanding lover,
Boasting his
parentage, would needs discover
The way to new Elysium. But she,

Whose only dower was her chastity,
Having striven in vain, was
now about to cry,
And crave the help of shepherds that were nigh.

Herewith he stay'd his fury, and began
To give her leave to rise: away
she ran;
After went Mercury, who us'd such cunning,
As she, to
hear his tale, left off her running;
(Maids are not won by brutish force
and might
But speeches full of pleasure, and delight;)
And,
knowing Hermes courted her, was glad
That she such loveliness and
beauty had
As could provoke his liking; yet was mute,
And neither
would deny nor grant his suit.
Still vow'd he love: she, wanting no
excuse
To feed him with delays, as women use,
Or thirsting after
immortality,
(All women are ambitious naturally,)

Impos'd upon her
lover such a task,
As he ought not perform, nor yet she ask;
A
draught of flowing nectar she requested,
Wherewith the king of gods
and men is feasted.
He, ready to accomplish what she will'd,
Stole
some from Hebe (Hebe Jove's cup fill'd),
And gave it to his simple
rustic love:
Which being known,--as what is hid from Jove?--
He
inly storm'd, and wax'd more furious
Than for the fire filch'd by
Prometheus;
And thrusts him down from heaven. He, wandering here,


In mournful terms, with sad and heavy cheer,
Complain'd to Cupid:
Cupid, for his sake,
To be reveng'd on Jove did undertake;
And
those on whom heaven, earth, and hell relies,
I mean the adamantine
Destinies,
He wounds with love, and forc'd them equally
To dote
upon deceitful Mercury.
They offer'd him the deadly fatal knife

That shears the slender threads of human life;
At his fair feather'd feet
the engines laid,
Which th' earth from ugly Chaos' den upweigh'd.

These he regarded not; but did entreat
That Jove, usurper of his
father's seat,
Might presently be banish'd into hell,
And aged Saturn
in Olympus dwell.
They granted what he crav'd; and once again

Saturn and Ops began their golden reign:
Murder, rape, war, and lust,
and treachery,
Were with Jove clos'd in Stygian empery.
But long
this blessed time continu'd not:
As soon as he his wished purpose got,

He, reckless of his promise, did despise
The love of th' everlasting
Destinies.
They, seeing it, both Love and him abhorr'd,
And Jupiter
unto his place restor'd:
And, but that learning, in despite of Fate,

Will amount aloft, and enter heaven-gate,
And to the seat of Jove
itself advance,
Hermes had slept in hell with Ignorance.
Yet, as a
punishment, they added this,
That he and Poverty should always kiss

And to this day is every scholar poor:
Gross gold from them runs
headlong to the boor.
Likewise the angry Sisters, thus deluded,
To
venge themselves on Hermes, have concluded
That Midas' brood
shall sit in Honour's chair,
To which the Muses' sons are only heir;

And fruitful wits, that inaspiring are,
Shall discontent run into regions
far;
And few great lords in virtuous deeds shall joy
But be surpris'd
with every garish toy,

And still enrich the lofty servile clown,
Who
with encroaching guile keeps learning down.
Then muse not Cupid's
suit no better sped,
Seeing in their loves the Fates were injured.
THE SECOND SESTIAD
THE ARGUMENT OF THE SECOND SESTIAD
Hero of love takes deeper sense,
And doth her love more recompense:


Their first night's meeting, where sweet kisses
Are th' only crowns
of both their blisses.
He swims t' Abydos, and returns:
Cold
Neptune with his beauty burns;
Whose suit he shuns, and doth aspire

Hero's fair tower and his desire.
By this, sad Hero, with love unacquainted,
Viewing Leander's face,
fell down and fainted.
He kiss'd her, and breath'd life into her lips;

Wherewith, as one displeas'd, away she trips;
Yet, as she went, full
often look'd behind,
And many poor excuses did she find
To linger
by the way, and once she stay'd,
And would have turn'd again, but
was afraid,
In offering parley, to be counted light:
So on she goes,
and, in her idle flight,
Her painted fan of curled plumes let fall,

Thinking to train Leander therewithal.
He, being a novice, knew not
what she meant,
But stay'd, and after her a letter sent;
Which joyful
Hero answer'd in such sort,
As he had hoped to scale the beauteous
fort
Wherein the liberal Graces lock'd their wealth;
And therefore to
her tower he got by stealth.
Wide-open stood the door; he need not
climb;
And she herself, before the pointed time,
Had spread the
board, with roses strew'd the room,
And oft look'd out, and mus'd he
did not come.
At last he came: O, who can tell the greeting
These
greedy lovers had at their first meeting?
He ask'd; she gave; and
nothing was denied;
Both to each other quickly were affied:
Look
how their hands, so were their hearts united,
And what he did, she
willingly requited.
(Sweet are the kisses, the embracements sweet,

When like desires and like affections meet;
For from the earth to
heaven is Cupid rais'd,
Where fancy is in equal balance pais'd.)
Yet
she this rashness suddenly repented,
And turn'd aside, and to herself
lamented,

As if her name