The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 | Page 6

his pipe began to play,
And with smooth speech
her fancy to assay,
Till in his twining arms he lock'd her fast,
And
then he woo'd with kisses; and at last,
As shepherds 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 410 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 used such cunning,
As she,
to hear his tale, let off her running
(Maids are not won by brutish

force and might,
But speeches full of pleasures and delight); 420 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; 430 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, 440 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[23] of human life;
At his
fair-feather'd feet the engines laid,
Which th' earth from ugly Chaos'
den upweigh'd. 450 These he regarded not; but did entreat
That Jove,
usurper of his father's seat,
Might presently be banish'd into hell,

And agèd Saturn in Olympus dwell.
They granted what he crav'd; and
once again
Saturn and Ops began their golden reign:
Murder, rape,
war, and[24] lust, and treachery,
Were with Jove clos'd in Stygian
empery.
But long this blessèd time continu'd not:
As soon as he his
wishèd purpose got, 460 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 mount 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; 470 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[25]
are,
Shall, discontent, run into regions far;
And few great lords in
virtuous deeds shall joy
But be surpris'd with every garish toy, 480
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 injurèd.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The Arguments are by Chapman, who also divided Marlowe's
portion of the form into the First and Second Sestiad.
[2] Eds. 1600, 1606, 1613, "Sea-borders."--Ed. 1598, according to
Malone, has "sea-borderers;" and so eds. 1629, 1637.
[3] Some editions give "wore."
[4] Some eds. have "rockt," which may be the right reading.
[5] So ed. 1637.--The earlier editions that I have seen read "may."
[6] Cf. _Venus and Adonis_ (l. 3)--
"_Rose-cheek'd Adonis_ hied him to the chace."
[7] So _Hamlet_ i. 1--
"The _moist star_,
Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands."
[8] "_Thrilling_--tremulously moving."--_Dyce._ Perhaps the meaning
rather is _penetrating_--drilling its way through--"the gloomy sky."
[9] Variegated (Lat. _discolor_).
[10] Dyce quotes a passage of Harington's _Orlando Furioso_ where

"flowre" (floor) rhymes with "towre."
[11] Ed. 1600 and later 4tos. "Tail'd." For the coupling of "Vailed" with
"veiling," cf. 2. _Tamb._ v. iii. 6. "pitch their pitchy tents."
[12] This line is quoted in _As you like it_, iii. 5:--
"Dead shepherd, now I find thy saw of might,--
_Who ever lov'd, that
lov'd not at first sight._"
[13] "A periphrasis of Night." Marginal note in ed. 1598.
[14] Lines 199-204, 221-222, are quoted, not quite accurately, by
Matthew in _Every Man in his Humour_, iv. 1.
[15] Some eds. give "between."
[16] Cf. Shakespeare, _Sonnet_ cxxxvi.--
"Among a number one is reckoned none."
[17] Some eds. read "sweet."
[18] Cf. Second Sestiad, l. 73--
"She with a kind of granting _put_ him _by_ it."
[19] This