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The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3)
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IN FAUSTUM. VII
Faustus, nor lord nor knight, nor wise nor old,To every place about the town doth ride;He rides into the fields470 plays to behold,He rides to take boat at the water-side,He rides to Paul's, he rides to th' ordinary,He rides unto the house of bawdry too,—Thither his horse so often doth him carry,That shortly he will quite forget to go.IN KATAM. 471 VIII
Kate, being pleas'd, wish'd that her pleasure couldEndure as long as a buff-jerkin would.Content thee, Kate; although thy pleasure wasteth,Thy pleasure's place like a buff-jerkin lasteth,For no buff-jerkin hath been oftener worn,Nor hath more scrapings or more dressings borne.IN LIBRUM. IX
Liber doth vaunt how chastely he hath liv'dSince he hath been in town, seven years472 and more,For that he swears he hath four only swiv'd,A maid, a wife, a widow, and a whore:Then, Liber, thou hast swiv'd all womenkind,For a fifth sort, I know, thou canst not find.IN MEDONTEM. X
Great Captain Medon wears a chain of goldWhich at five hundred crowns is valuèd,For that it was his grandsire's chain of old,When great King Henry Boulogne conquerèd.And wear it, Medon, for it may ensue,That thou, by virtue of this massy chain,A stronger town than Boulogne mayst subdue,If wise men's saws be not reputed vain;For what said Philip, king of Macedon?"There is no castle so well fortified,But if an ass laden with gold comes on,The guard will stoop, and gates fly open wide."IN GELAM. XI
Gella, if thou dost love thyself, take heedLest thou my rhymes unto thy lover read;For straight thou grinn'st, and then thy lover seethThy canker-eaten gums and rotten teeth.IN QUINTUM. 473 XII
Quintus his wit, infus'd into his brain,Mislikes the place, and fled into his feet;And there it wanders up and down the street,474Dabbled in the dirt, and soakèd in the rain.Doubtless his wit intends not to aspire,Which leaves his head, to travel in the mire.IN SEVERUM. XIII
The puritan Severus oft doth readThis text, that doth pronounce vain speech a sin,—"That thing defiles a man, that doth proceedFrom out the mouth, not that which enters in."Hence is it that we seldom hear him swear;And therefore like a Pharisee, he vaunts:But he devours more capons in a yearThan would suffice a hundred protestants.And, sooth, those sectaries are gluttons all,As well the thread-bare cobbler as the knight;For those poor slaves which have not wherewithal,Feed on the rich, till they devour them quite;And so, like Pharaoh's kine, they eat up cleanThose that be fat, yet still themselves be lean.IN LEUCAM. XIV. 475
Leuca in presence once a fart did let:Some laugh'd a little; she forsook the place;And, mad with shame, did eke her glove forget,Which she return'd to fetch with bashful grace;And when she would have said "this is476 my glove,""My fart," quod she; which did more laughter move.IN MACRUM. XV
Thou canst not speak yet, Macer; for to speak,Is to distinguish sounds significant:Thou with harsh noise the air dost rudely break;But what thou utter'st common sense doth want,—Half-English words, with fustian terms among,Much like the burden of a northern song.IN FAUSTUM. XVI
"That youth," said Faustus, "hath a lion seen,Who from a dicing-house comes moneyless."But when he lost his hair, where had he been?I doubt me, he477 had seen a lioness.IN COSMUM. XVII
Cosmus hath more discoursing in his headThan Jove when Pallas issu'd from his brain;And still he strives to be deliverèdOf all his thoughts at once; but all in vain;For, as we see at all the playhouse-doors,When ended is the play, the dance, and song,A thousand townsmen, gentlemen, and whores,Porters, and serving-men, together throng,—So thoughts of drinking, thriving, wenching, war,And borrowing money, ranging in his mind,To issue all at once so forward are,As none at all can perfect passage find.IN FLACCUM. XVIII
The false knave Flaccus once a bribe I gave;The more fool I to bribe so false a knave:But he gave back my bribe; the more fool he,That for my folly did not cozen me.IN CINEAM. XIX
Thou, doggèd Cineas, hated like a dog,For still thou grumblest like a masty478 dog,Compar'st thyself to nothing but a dog;Thou say'st thou art as weary as a dog,As angry, sick, and hungry as a dog,As dull and melancholy as a dog,As lazy, sleepy, idle479 as a dog.But why dost thou compare thee to a dogIn that for which all men despise a dog?I will compare thee better to a dog;Thou art as fair and comely as a dog,Thou art as true and honest as a dog,Thou art as kind and liberal as a dog,Thou art as wise and valiant as a dog.But, Cineas, I have often480 heard thee tell,Thou art as like thy father as may be:'Tis like enough; and, faith, I like it well;But I am glad thou art not like to me.IN GERONTEM. 481 XX
Geron, whose482 mouldy memory correctsOld Holinshed our famous chroniclerWith moral rules, and policy collectsOut of all actions done these fourscore year;Accounts the time of every odd483 event,Not from Christ's birth, nor from the prince's reign,But from some other famous accident,Which in men's general notice doth remain,—The siege of Boulogne,484 and the plaguy sweat,485The going to Saint Quintin's486 and New-Haven,487The rising488 in the north, the frost so great,That cart-wheel prints on Thamis' face were graven,489The fall of money,490 and burning of Paul's steeple,491The blazing star,492 and Spaniards' overthrow:493By these events, notorious to the people,He measures times, and things forepast doth show:But most of all, he chiefly reckons byA private chance,—the death of his curst494 wife;This is to him the dearest memory,And th' happiest accident of all his life.IN MARCUM. XXI
When Marcus comes from Mins',495 he still doth swear,By "come496 on seven," that all is lost and gone:But that's not true; for he hath lost his hair,Only for that he came too much on497 one.IN CYPRIUM. XXII
The fine youth Cyprius is more terse and neatThan the new garden of the Old Temple is;And still the newest fashion he doth get,And with the time doth change from that to this;He wears a hat now of the flat-crown block,498The treble ruff,499 long coat, and doublet French:He takes tobacco, and doth wear a lock,500And wastes more time in dressing than a wench.Yet this new-fangled youth, made for these times,Doth, above all, praise old George501 Gascoigne's rhymes.502IN CINEAM. XXIII
When Cineas comes amongst his friends in morning,He slyly looks503 who first his cap doth move:Him he salutes, the rest so grimly scorning,As if for ever they had lost his love.I, knowing how it doth the humour fitOf this fond gull to be saluted first,Catch at my cap, but move it not a whit:Which he perceiving,504 seems for spite to burst.But, Cineas, why expect you more of meThan I of you? I am as good a man,And better too by many a quality,For vault, and dance, and fence, and rhyme I can:You keep a whore at your own charge, men tell me;Indeed, friend Cineas, therein you excel me.505IN GALLUM. XXIV
Gallus hath been this summer-time in Friesland,And now, return'd, he speaks such warlike words,As, if I could their English understand,I fear me they would cut my throat like swords;He talks of counter-scarfs,506 and casamates,507Of parapets, curtains, and palisadoes;508Of flankers, ravelins, gabions he prates,And of false-brays,509 and sallies, and scaladoes.510But, to requite such gulling terms as these,With words to my profession I reply;I tell of fourching, vouchers, and counterpleas,Of withernams, essoins, and champarty.So, neither of us understanding either,We part as wise as when we came together.IN DECIUM. 511 XXV
Audacious painters have Nine Worthies made;But poet Decius, more audacious far,Making his mistress march with men of war,With title of "Tenth Worthy" doth her lade.Methinks that gull did use his terms as fit,Which term'd his love "a giant for her wit."IN GELLAM. XXVI
If Gella's beauty be examinèd,She hath a dull dead eye, a saddle nose,An ill-shap'd face, with morphew overspread,And rotten teeth, which she in laughing shows;Briefly, she is the filthiest wench in town,Of all that do the art of whoring use:But when she hath put on her satin gown,Her cut512 lawn apron, and her velvet shoes,Her green silk stockings, and her petticoatOf taffeta, with golden fringe around,And is withal perfum'd with civet hot,Which doth her valiant stinking breath confound,—Yet she with these additions is no moreThan a sweet, filthy, fine, ill-favour'd whore.IN SYLLAM. XXVII
Sylla is often challeng'd to the field,To answer, like a gentleman, his foes:But then doth he this513 only answer yield,That he hath livings and fair lands to lose.Sylla, if none but beggars valiant were,The king of Spain would put us all in fear.IN SYLLAM. XXVIII
Who dares affirm that Sylla dare not fight?When I dare swear he dares adventure moreThan the most brave and most514 all-daring wightThat ever arms with resolution bore;He that dare touch the most unwholesome whoreThat ever was retir'd into the spittle,And dares court wenches standing at a door(The portion of his wit being passing little);He that dares give his dearest friends offences,Which other valiant fools do fear to do,And, when a fever doth confound his senses,Dare eat raw beef, and drink strong wine thereto:He that dares take tobacco on the stage,515Dares man a whore at noon-day through the street,Dares dance in Paul's, and in this formal ageDares say and do whatever is unmeet;Whom fear of shame could never yet affright,Who dares affirm that Sylla dares not fight?IN HEYWODUM. XXIX
Heywood,516 that did in epigrams excel,Is now put down since my light Muse arose;517As buckets are put down into a well,Or as a schoolboy putteth down his hose.IN DACUM. 518 XXX
Amongst the poets Dacus number'd is,Yet could he never make an English rhyme:But some prose speeches I have heard of his,Which have been spoken many a hundred time;The man that keeps the elephant hath one,Wherein he tells the wonders of the beast;Another Banks pronouncèd long agone,When he his curtal's519 qualities express'd:He first taught him that keeps the monumentsAt Westminster, his formal tale to say,And also him which puppets represents,And also him which with the ape doth play.Though all his poetry be like to this,Amongst the poets Dacus number'd is.IN PRISCUM. XXXI
When Priscus, rais'd from low to high estate,Rode through the street in pompous jollity,Caius, his poor familiar friend of late,Bespake him thus, "Sir, now you know not me,""'Tis likely, friend," quoth Priscus, "to be so,For at this time myself I do not know."IN BRUNUM. XXXII
Brunus, which deems520 himself a fair sweet youth,Is nine and thirty521 year of age at least;Yet was he never, to confess the truth,But a dry starveling when he was at best.This gull was sick to show his nightcap fine,And his wrought pillow overspread with lawn;But hath been well since his grief's cause hath line522At Trollop's by Saint Clement's Church in pawn.IN FRANCUM. XXXIII
When Francus comes to solace with his whore,He sends for rods, and strips himself stark naked;For his lust sleeps, and will not rise before,By whipping of the wench, it be awakèd.I envy him not, but wish I523 had the powerTo make myself his wench but one half-hour.IN CASTOREM. XXXIV
Of speaking well why do we learn the skill,Hoping thereby honour and wealth to gain?Sith railing Castor doth, by speaking ill,Opinion of much wit, and gold obtain.IN SEPTIMIUM. XXXV
Septimius524 lives, and is like garlic seen,For though his head be white, his blade is green.This old mad colt deserves a martyr's praise,For he was burnèd525 in Queen Mary's days.OF TOBACCO. XXXVI
Homer of Moly and Nepenthe sings;Moly, the gods' most sovereign herb divine,Nepenthe, Helen's526 drink, which gladness brings,Heart's grief expels, and doth the wit refine.But this our age another world hath found,From whence an herb of heavenly power is brought;Moly is not so sovereign for a wound,Nor hath nepenthe so great wonders wrought.It is tobacco, whose sweet subtle527 fumeThe hellish torment of the teeth doth ease,By drawing down and drying up the rheum,The mother and the nurse of each disease;It is tobacco, which doth cold expel,And clears th' obstructions of the arteries,And surfeits threatening death digesteth well,Decocting all the stomach's crudities;528It is tobacco, which hath power to clarifyThe cloudy mists before dim eyes appearing;It is tobacco, which hath power to rarifyThe thick gross humour which doth stop the hearing;The wasting hectic, and the quartan fever,Which doth of physic make a mockery,The gout it cures, and helps ill breaths for ever,Whether the cause in teeth or stomach be;And though ill breaths were by it but confounded,Yet that vild529 medicine it doth far excel,Which by Sir Thomas More530 hath been propounded,For this is thought a gentleman-like smell.O, that I were one of these mountebanksWhich praise their oils and powders which they sell!My customers would give me coin with thanks;I for this ware, forsooth,531 a tale would tell:Yet would I use none of these terms before;I would but say, that it the pox will cure;This were enough, without discoursing more,All our brave gallants in the town t'allure.IN CRASSUM. XXXVII
Crassus his lies are no532 pernicious lies,But pleasant fictions, hurtful unto noneBut to himself; for no man counts him wiseTo tell for truth that which for false is known.He swears that Gaunt533 is three-score miles about,And that the bridge at Paris534 on the SeineIs of such thickness, length, and breadth throughout,That six-score arches can it scarce sustain;He swears he saw so great a dead man's skullAt Canterbury digg'd out of the ground,As535 would contain of wheat three bushels full;And that in Kent are twenty yeomen found,Of which the poorest every year536 dispendsFive thousand pound: these and five thousand moSo oft he hath recited to his friends,That now himself persuades himself 'tis so.But why doth Crassus tell his lies so rife,Of bridges, towns, and things that have no life?He is a lawyer, and doth well espyThat for such lies an action will not lie.IN PHILONEM. XXXVIII
Philo, the lawyer,537 and the fortune-teller,The school-master, the midwife,538 and the bawd,The conjurer, the buyer and the sellerOf painting which with breathing will be thaw'd,Doth practise physic; and his credit grows,As doth the ballad-singer's auditory,Which hath at Temple-Bar his standing chose,And to the vulgar sings an ale-house story:First stands a porter; then an oyster-wifeDoth stint her cry and stay her steps to hear him;Then comes a cutpurse ready with his539 knife,And then a country client presseth540 near him;There stands the constable, there stands the whore,And, hearkening541 to the song, mark542 not each other;There by the serjeant stands the debitor,543And doth no more mistrust him than his brother:This544 Orpheus to such hearers giveth music,And Philo to such patients giveth physic.IN FUSCUM. XXXIX
Fuscus is free, and hath the world at will;Yet, in the course of life that he doth lead,He's like a horse which, turning round a mill,Doth always in the self-same circle tread:First, he doth rise at ten;545 and at elevenHe goes to Gill's, where he doth eat till one;Then sees a play till six;546 and sups at seven;And, after supper, straight to bed is gone;And there till ten next day he doth remain;And then he dines; then sees a comedy;And then he sups, and goes to bed again:Thus round he runs without variety,Save that sometimes he comes not to the play,But falls into a whore-house by the way.IN AFRUM. XL
The smell-feast547 Afer travels to the BurseTwice every day, the flying news to hear;Which, when he hath no money in his purse,To rich men's tables he doth ever548 bear.He tells how Groni[n]gen549 is taken in550By the brave conduct of illustrious Vere,And how the Spanish forces Brest would win,But that they do victorious Norris551 fear.No sooner is a ship at sea surpris'd,But straight he learns the news, and doth disclose it;No552 sooner hath the Turk a plot devis'dTo conquer Christendom, but straight he knows it.Fair-written in a scroll he hath the namesOf all the widows which the plague hath made;And persons, times, and places, still he framesTo every tale, the better to persuade.We call him Fame, for that the wide-mouth slaveWill eat as fast as he will utter lies;For fame is said an hundred mouths to have,And he eats more than would five-score suffice.IN PAULUM. XLI
By lawful mart, and by unlawful stealth,Paulus, in spite of envy, fortunate,Derives out of the ocean so much wealth,As he may well maintain a lord's estate:But on the land a little gulf there is,Wherein he drowneth all this553 wealth of his.IN LYCUM. XLII
Lycus, which lately is to Venice gone,Shall, if he do return, gain three for one;554But, ten to one, his knowledge and his witWill not be better'd or increas'd a whit.IN PUBLIUM. XLIII
Publius, a555 student at the Common-Law,Oft leaves his books, and, for his recreation,To Paris-garden556 doth himself withdraw;Where he is ravish'd with such delectation,As down amongst the bears and dogs he goes;Where, whilst he skipping cries, "To head, to head,"557His satin doublet and his velvet hoseAre all with spittle from above be-spread;Then is he like his father's country hall,Stinking of dogs, and muted558 all with hawks;And rightly too on him this filth doth fall,Which for such filthy sports his books forsakes,Leaving old Ployden, Dyer, and Brooke alone,To see old Harry Hunkes and Sacarson.559IN SYLLAM. XLIV
When I this proposition had defended,"A coward cannot be an honest man,"Thou, Sylla, seem'st forthwith to be offended,And hold'st560 the contrary, and swear'st561 he can.But when I tell thee that he will forsakeHis dearest friend in peril of his life,Thou then art chang'd, and say'st thou didst mistake;And so we end our argument and strife:Yet I think oft, and think I think aright,Thy argument argues thou wilt not fight.IN DACUM. XLV
Dacus,562 with some good colour and pretence,Terms his love's beauty "silent eloquence;"For she doth lay more colours on her faceThan ever Tully us'd his speech to grace.IN MARCUM. XLVI
Why dost thou, Marcus, in thy miseryRail and blaspheme, and call the heavens unkind?The heavens do owe563 no kindness unto thee,Thou hast the heavens so little in thy mind;For in thy life thou never usest prayerBut at primero, to encounter fair.MEDITATIONS OF A GULL. XLVII
See, yonder melancholy gentleman,Which, hood-wink'd with his hat, alone doth sit!Think what he thinks, and tell me, if you can,What great affairs trouble his little wit.He thinks not of the war 'twixt France and Spain,564Whether it be for Europe's good or ill,Nor whether the Empire can itself maintainAgainst the Turkish power encroaching still;565Nor what great town in all the NetherlandsThe States determine to besiege this spring,Nor how the Scottish policy now stands,Nor what becomes of the Irish mutining.566But he doth seriously bethink him whetherOf the gull'd people he be more esteem'dFor his long cloak or for567 his great black featherBy which each gull is now a gallant deem'd;Or of a journey he deliberatesTo Paris-garden, Cock-pit, or the play;Or how to steal a dog he meditates,Or what he shall unto his mistress say.Yet with these thoughts he thinks himself most fitTo be of counsel with a king for wit.AD MUSAM. XLVIII
Peace, idle Muse, have done! for it is time,Since lousy Ponticus envies my fame,And swears the better sort are much to blameTo make me so well known for my ill rhyme.Yet Banks his horse568 is better known than he;So are the camels and the western hog,And so is Lepidus his printed dog569:Why doth not Ponticus their fames envy?Besides, this Muse of mine and the black featherGrew both together fresh in estimation;And both, grown stale, were cast away together:What fame is this that scarce lasts out a fashion?Only this last in credit doth remain,That from henceforth each bastard cast-forth rhyme,Which doth but savour of a libel vein,Shall call me father, and be thought my crime;So dull, and with so little sense endued,Is my gross-headed judge the multitude.J. D.IGNOTO
I570 love thee not for sacred chastity,—Who loves for that?—nor for thy sprightly wit;I love thee not for thy sweet modesty,Which makes thee in perfection's throne to sit;I love thee not for thy enchanting eye,Thy beauty['s] ravishing perfection;I love thee not for unchaste luxury,Nor for thy body's fair proportion;I love thee not for that my soul doth danceAnd leap with pleasure, when those lips of thineGive musical and graceful utteranceTo some (by thee made happy) poet's line;I love thee not for voice or slender small:But wilt thou know wherefore? fair sweet, for all.Faith, wench, I cannot court thy sprightly eyes,With the base-viol plac'd between my thighs;I cannot lisp, nor to some fiddle sing,Nor run upon a high-stretch'd minikin;I cannot whine in puling elegies,Entombing Cupid with sad obsequies;I am not fashion'd for these amorous times,To court thy beauty with lascivious rhymes;I cannot dally, caper, dance, and sing,Oiling my saint with supple sonneting;I cannot cross my arms, or sigh "Ay me,Ay me, forlorn!" egregious foppery!I cannot buss thy fist,571 play with thy hair,Swearing by Jove, "thou art most debonair!"Not I, by cock! but [I] shall tell thee roundly,—Hark in thine ear,—zounds, I can (–) thee soundly.Sweet wench, I love thee: yet I will not sue,Or show my love as musky courtiers do;I'll not carouse a health to honour thee,In this same bezzling572 drunken courtesy,And, when all's quaff'd, eat up my bousing-glass573In glory that I am thy servile ass;Nor will I wear a rotten Bourbon lock,574As some sworn peasant to a female smock.Well-featur'd lass, thou know'st I love thee dear:Yet for thy sake I will not bore mine ear,To hang thy dirty silken shoe-tires there;Nor for thy love will I once gnash a brick,Or some pied colours in my bonnet stick:575But, by the chaps of hell, to do thee good,I'll freely spend my thrice-decocted blood.THE FIRST BOOK OF LUCAN
Lucans First Booke Translated Line for Line, By Chr. Marlow. At London, the Flower de Luce in Paules Churchyard, 1600, 4to.
This is the only early edition. The title-page of the 1600 4to. of Hero and Leander has the words, "Whereunto is added the first booke of Lucan;" but the two pieces are not found in conjunction.
TO HIS KIND AND TRUE FRIEND, EDWARD BLUNT. 576Blunt,577 I propose to be blunt with you, and, out of my dulness, to encounter you with a Dedication in memory of that pure elemental wit, Chr. Marlowe, whose ghost or genius is to be seen walk the Churchyard,578 in, at the least, three or four sheets. Methinks you should presently look wild now, and grow humorously frantic upon the taste of it. Well, lest you should, let me tell you, this spirit was sometime a familiar of your own, Lucan's First Book translated; which, in regard of your old right in it, I have raised in the circle of your patronage. But stay now, Edward: if I mistake not, you are to accommodate yourself with some few instructions, touching the property of a patron, that you are not yet possessed of; and to study them for your better grace, as our gallants do fashions. First, you must be proud, and think you have merit enough in you, though you are ne'er so empty; then, when I bring you the book, take physic, and keep state; assign me a time by your man to come again; and, afore the day, be sure to have changed your lodging; in the meantime sleep little, and sweat with the invention of some pitiful dry jest or two, which you may happen to utter with some little, or not at all, marking of your friends, when you have found a place for them to come in at; or, if by chance something has dropped from you worth the taking up, weary all that come to you with the often repetition of it; censure, scornfully enough, and somewhat like a traveller; commend nothing, lest you discredit your (that which you would seem to have) judgment. These things, if you can mould yourself to them, Ned, I make no question that they will not become you. One special virtue in our patrons of these days I have promised myself you shall fit excellently, which is, to give nothing; yes, thy love I will challenge as my peculiar object, both in this, and, I hope, many more succeeding offices. Farewell: I affect not the world should measure my thoughts to thee by a scale of this nature: leave to think good of me when I fall from thee.
