Her robe was scarlet; black her head's attire; And through her naked breast shin'd streams of fire,
As when the rarified air is driven
In flashing streams, and opes the darken'd heaven. In her white hand a wreath of yew she bore; And, breaking th' icy wreath sweet Hero wore, She forc'd about her brows her wreath of yew, And said, "Now, minion, to thy fate be true, Though not to me; endure what this portends:* Begin where lightness will, in shame it ends. Love makes thee cunning; thou art current now, By being counterfeit: thy broken vow Deceit with her pied garters must rejoin, And with her stamp thou countenances must coin ;
Coyness, and pure + deceits, for purities, And still a maid wilt seem in cozen'd eyes, And have an antic face to laugh within, While thy smooth looks make men digest thy sin. But since thy lips (least thought forsworn) for-
Be never virgin's vow worth § trusting more!" When Beauty's dearest did her goddess hear Breathe such rebukes 'gainst that she could not clear,
Dumb sorrow spake aloud in tears and blood, That from her grief-burst veins, in piteous flood, From the sweet conduits of her favour|| fell. The gentle turtles did with moans¶ make swell Their shining gorges; the white black-ey'd swans Did sing as woful epicedians,
As they would straightways die: when Pity's
The goddess Ecte,** that had ever been Hid in at watery cloud near Hero's cries, Since the first instant of her broken eyes, Gave bright Leucote voice, and made her speak, To ease her anguish, whose swoln breast did break
With anger at her goddess, that did touch Hero so near for that she us'd so much; And, thrusting her white neck at Venus, said: "Why may not amorous Hero seem a maid,
* portends] V. R. "protends."
Coyness, and pure] V. R. "Coyne, and impure." wilt] V. R. "will."
§ vow worth] V. R. "vow with," and "now with." favour] i. e. countenance.-V. R. "sauor." moans] V. R. "moane."
** Ecte] Derived, perhaps, rather from ixrýza (metaph.
to let melt away, to pine away), than from res (pity).
Though she be none, as well as you suppress In modest cheeks your inward wantonness? How often have we drawn you from above, T'exchange with mortals rites for rites in love! Why in your priest, then, call you that offence, That shines in you, and is* your influence?" With this, the Furies stopp'd Leucote's lips, Enjoin'd by Venus; who with rosy whips Beat the kind bird. Fierce lightning from her
Did set on fire fair Hero's sacrifice,
Which was her torn robe and enforced hair; And the bright flame became a maid most fair For her aspect: her tresses were of wire, Knit like a net, where hearts, set allt on fire, Struggled in pants, and could not get releast; Her arms were all with golden pincers drest, And twenty-fashion'd knots, pulleys, and brakes, And all her body girt‡ with painted snakes; Her down-parts in a scorpion's tail combin'd, Freckled with twenty colours; pied wings shin'd Out of her shoulders; cloth had never dye, Nor sweeter colours never viewèd eye, In scorching Turkey, Cares,§ Tartary, Than shin'd about this spirit notorious; Nor was Arachne's web so glorious. Of lightning and of shreds she was begot; More hold in base dissemblers is there not. Her name was Eronusis. || Venus flew From Hero's sight, and at her chariot drew This wondrous creature to so steep a height, That all the world she might command with sleight
Of her gay wings; and then she bade her haste,- Since Hero had dissembled, and disgrac'd Her rites so much,- and every breast infect With her deceits: she made her architect Of all dissimulation; and since then Never was any trust in maids or ¶ men. O, it spited
Fair Venus' heart to see her most delighted, And one she choos'd, for temper** of her mind, To be the only ruler of her kind,
So soon to let her virgin race be ended! Not simply for the fault a whit offended, But that in strife for chasteness with the Moon, Spiteful Diana bade her shew but one
That was her servant vow'd, and liv'd a maid; And, now she thought to answer that upbraid, Hero had lost her answer: who knows not Venus would seem as far from any spot Of light demeanour, as the very skin 'Twixt Cynthia's brows? sin is asham'd of sin. Up Venus flew, and scarce durst up for fear Of Phoebe's laughter, when she pass'd her sphere:
And so most ugly-clouded was the light,
That day was hid in day; night came ere night; And Venus could not through the thick air pierce,
Till the day's king, god of undaunted verse,
Because she was so plentiful a theme To such as wore his laurel anademe, Like to a fiery bullet made descent, And from her passage those fat vapours rent, That, being not throughly rarified to rain, Melted like pitch, as blue as any vein; And scalding tempests made the earth to shrink
Under their fervor, and the world did think In every drop a torturing spirit flew, It pierc'd so deeply, and it bɩ rn'd so blue. Betwixt all this and Hero, Hero held Leander's picture, as a Persian shield; And she was free from fear of worst success: The more ill threats us, we suspect the less: As we grow hapless, violence subtle grows, Dumb, deaf, and blind, and comes when no man knows.
The Argument of the Fifth Sestiad.
Day doubles her accustom'd date, As loath the Night, incens'd by Fate, Should wreck our lovers. Hero's plight; Longs for Leander and the night: Which ere her thirsty wish recovers, She sends for two betrothed lovers, And marries them, that, with their crew, Their sports, and ceremonies due, She covertly might celebrate, With secret joy, her own estate. She makes a feast, at which appears The wild nymph Teras, that still bears An ivory lute, tells ominous tales, And sings at solemn festivals.
Now was bright Hero weary of the day, Thought an Olympiad in Leander's stay. Sol and the soft-foot Hours hung on his arms, And would not let him swim, foreseeing his
Day was so long, men walking fell asleep; The heavy humours that their eyes did steep Made them fear mischiefs. The hard streets were beds
For covetous churls and for ambitious heads, That, spite of Nature, would their business ply: All thought they had the falling epilepsy, Men grovell'd so upon the smother'd ground; And pity did the heart of Heaven confound. The Gods, the Graces, and the Muses came Down to the Destinies, to stay the frame Of the true lovers' deaths, and all world's tears: But Death before had stopp'd their cruel ears. All the celestials parted mourning then, Pierc'd with our human miseries more than men: Ah, nothing doth the world with mischief fill, But want of feeling one another's ill!
With their descent the day grew something fair,
And cast a brighter robe upon the air. Hero, to shorten time with merriment, For young Alcmane† and bright Mya‡ sent, Two lovers that had long crav'd marriage-dues At Hero's hands: but she did still refuse; For lovely Mya was her consort vow'd
In her maid § state, and therefore not allow'd
with] V. R. "for."
Alcmane] Qy. "Alemæon"?
Mya] "Qy. 'Maia '?"-Ed. 1821.
§ maid] V. R. "maids."
To amorous nuptials: yet fair Hero now Intended to dispense with her cold vow, Since hers was broken, and to marry her: The rites would pleasing matter minister To her conceits, and shorten tedious day. They came; sweet Music usher'd th' odorous way,
And wanton Air in twenty sweet forms danc'd After her fingers; Beauty and Love advanc'd Their ensigns in the downless rosy faces Of youths and maids, led after by the Graces. For all these Hero made a friendly feast, Welcom'd them kindly, did much love protest, Winning their hearts with all the means she might,
That, when her fault should chance t' abide the light,
Their loves might cover or extenuate it, And high in her worst fate make pity sit.
She married them; and in the banquet came, Borne by the virgins. Hero striv'd to frame Her thoughts to mirth: ay me! but hard it is To imitate a false and forced bliss; Ill may a sad mind forge a merry face, Nor hath constrainèd laughter any grace. Then laid she wine on cares to make them sink:
Who fears the threats of Fortune, let him drink. To these quick nuptials enter'd suddenly Admired Teras* with the ebon thigh; A nymph that haunted the green Sestian groves, And would consort soft virgins in their loves, At gaysome triumphs and on solemn days, Singing prophetic elegies and lays, And fingering of a silver lute she tied+ With black and purple scarfs by her left side. Apollo gave it, and her skill withal,
And she was term'd his dwarf, she was so small: Yet great in virtue, for his beams enclos'd His virtues in her; never was propos'd Riddle to her, or augury, strange or new, But she resolv'd‡ it; never slight tale flew From her charm'd lips without important sense, Shown in some grave succeeding consequence.
This little sylvan, with her songs and tales, Gave such estate to feasts and nuptials, That though ofttimes she forewent tragedies, Yet for her strangeness still she pleas'd their § eyes;
* Teras] "rípas, portentum."-Ed. 1821. lute she tied, &c.] i. e. lute which she tied, &c. resolv'd] i. e. solved.
And for her smallness they admir'd her so, They thought her perfect born, and could not grow.
All eyes were on her. Hero did command An altar deck'd with sacred state should stand At the feast's upper end, close by the bride, On which the pretty nymph might* sit espied. Then all were silent; every one so hears, As all their senses climb'd into their ears: And first this amorous tale, that fitted well Fair Hero and the nuptials, she did tell.
Hymen, that now is god of nuptial rites, And crowns with honour Love and his delights, Of Athens was a youth, so sweet of face, That many thought him of the female race; Such quickening brightness did his clear eyes dart,
Warm went their beams to his beholder's heart, In such pure leagues his beauties were combin'd, That there your nuptial contracts first were
For as proportion, white and crimson, meet In beauty's mixture, all right clear and sweet, The eye+ responsible, the golden hair, And none is held, without the other, fair; All spring together, all together fade; Such intermix'd affections + should invade Two perfect lovers; which being yet unseen, Their virtues and their comforts copied been In beauty's concord, subject to the eye; And that, in Hymen, pleas'd so matchlessly, That lovers were esteem'd in their full grace, Like form and colour mix'd in Hymen's face; And such sweet concord was thought worthy then
Of torches, music, feasts, and greatest men: So Hymen look'd, that even the chastest mind He mov'd to join in joys of sacred kind; For only now his chin's first down consorted His head's rich fleece, in golden curls contorted; And as he was so lov'd, he lov'd so too: So should best beauties, bound by nuptials, do. Bright Eucharis, who was by all men said The noblest, fairest, and the richest maid Of all th' Athenian damsels, Hymen lov'd With such transmission, that his heart remov'd From his white breast to hers: but her estate, In passing his, was so interminate
*might] V. R. "may." teye] V. R. "eyes"
affections] V. R. "affection."
For wealth and honour, that his love durst feed On naught but sight and hearing, nor could breed
Hope of requital, the grand prize of love; Nor could he hear or see, but he must prove How his rare beauty's music would* agree With maids in consort; therefore robbed he His chin of those same few first fruits it bore, And, clad in such attire as virgins wore, He kept them company; and might right well, For he did all but Eucharis excel
In all the fairt of beauty: yet he wanted Virtue to make his own desires implanted In his dear Eucharis; for women never Love beauty in their sex, but envy ever.
His judgment yet, that durst not suit address, Nor, past due means, presume of due success, Reason gat Fortune in the end to speed
Of zealous sacrifice, were made a prey
To barbarous rovers, that in ambush lay, And with rude hands enforc'd their shining spoil, Far from the darken'd city, tir'd with toil: And when the yellow issue of the sky Came trooping forth, jealous of cruelty To their bright fellows of this* under-heaven, Into a double night they saw them driven,- A horrid cave, the thieves' black mansion; Where, weary of the journey they had gone, Their last night's watch, and drunk with their sweet gains,
Dull Morpheus enter'd, laden with silken + chains, Stronger than iron, and bound the ‡ swelling veins And tirèd senses of these lawless swains. But when the virgin lights thus dimly burn'd, O, what a hell was heaven in! how they mourn'd,
To his best prayers: but strange it seem'd, And wrung their hands, and wound their gentle
That Fortune should a chaste affection bless: Preferment seldom graceth bashfulness. Nor grac'd it Hymen yet; but many a dart, And many an amorous § thought, enthrill'd || his heart,
Ere he obtain'd her; and he sick became, Forc'd to abstain her sight; and then the flame Rag'd in his bosom. O, what grief did fill him! Sight made him sick, and want of sight did kill him.
The virgins wonder'd where Diætia stay'd, For so did Hymen term himself, a maid. At length with sickly looks he greeted them: "Tis strange to see 'gainst what an extreme stream A lover strives; poor Hymen look'd so ill, That as in merit he increased still
By suffering much, so he in grace decreas'd: Women are most won, when men** merit least: If Merit look not well, Love bids stand by; Love's special lesson is to please the eye. And Hymen soon recovering all he lost, Deceiving still these maids, but himself most, His love and he with many virgin dames, Noble by birth, noble by beauty's flames, Leaving the town with songs and hallow'd lights, To do great Ceres Eleusina rites
Into the shapes of sorrow! golden storms
Fell from their eyes; as when the sun appears, And yet it rains, so shew'd their eyes their tears: And, as when funeral dames watch a dead corse, Weeping about it, telling with remorse § What pains he felt, how long in pain he lay, How little food he eat, what he would say; And then mix mournful tales of others' deaths, Smothering themselves in clouds of their own
At length, one cheering other, call for wine; The golden bowl drinks || tears out of their eyne, As they drink wine from it; and round it goes, Each helping other to relieve their woes; So cast these virgins' beauties mutual ¶ rays, One lights another, face the face displays; Lips by reflection kiss'd, and hands hands shook, Even by the whiteness each of other took.
But Hymen now us'd friendly Morpheus' aid, Slew every thief, and rescu'd every maid: And now did his enamour'd passion take Heart from his hearty deed, whose worth did make
His hope of bounteous Eucharis more strong; And now came Love with Proteus, who had long Juggled the little god with prayers and gifts, Ran through all shapes, and varied all his shifts,
this] V. R. "the."
+ silken] V. R. "silke." the V. R. "their." § remorse i e pity. drinks] V. R. "drinke." mutrial] V. R. 'mortall."
To win Love's stay with him, and make him love him;
And when he saw no strength of sleight could move him
To make him love or stay, he nimbly turn'd Into Love's self, he so extremely burn'd.
With Love fought Hymen's beauty and his valure,*
Which scarce could so much favour+ yet allure To come to strike, but fameless idle stood: Action is fiery valour's sovereign good. But Love, once enter'd, wish'd no greater aid
And thus came Love, with Proteus and his Than he could find within; thought thought
T'encounter Eucharis: first, like the flower That Juno's milk did spring,* the silver lily, He fell on Hymen's hand, who straight did spy The bounteous godhead, and with wondrous joy Offer'd it + Eucharis. She, wondrous coy,
Drew back her hand: the subtle flower did woo it,
The brib'd, but incorrupted, garrison
Sung "Io Hymen;" there those songs begun, And Love was grown so rich with such a gain, And wanton with the ease of his free reign, That he would turn into her roughest frowns To turn them out; and thus he Hymen crowns King of his thoughts, man's greatest empery:
And, drawing it near, mix'd so you could not This was his first brave step to deity.
As two clear tapers mix in one their light, So did the lily and the hand their white. She view'd it; and her view the form bestows Amongst her spirits; for, as colour flows From superficies of each thing we see, Even so with colours forms emitted be;
Home to the mourning city they repair, With news as wholesome as the morning air, To the sad parents of each savèd maid: But Hymen and his Eucharis had laid This plat, to make the flame of their delight Round as the moon at full, and full as bright. Because the parents of chaste Eucharis
And where Love's form is, Love is; Love is Exceeding Hymen's so, might cross their bliss;
He enter'd at the eye; his sacred storm
Rose from the hand, Love's sweetest instrument: It stirr'd her blood's sea so, that high it went, And beat in bashful waves 'gainst the white shore
Of her divided cheeks; it rag'd the more, Because the § tide went 'gainst the haughty wind
Of her estate and birth: and, as we find, In fainting ebbs, the flowery Zephyr hurls The green-hair'd Hellespont, broke in silver curls,
'Gainst Hero's tower; but in his blast's retreat, The waves obeying him, they after beat, Leaving the chalky shore a great way pale, Then moist it freshly with another gale; So ebb'd and flow'd in Eucharis's face, Coyness and Love striv'd which had greatest grace;
Virginity did fight on Coyness' side,
Fear of her parents' frowns, and female pride Loathing the lower place, more than it loves The high contents desert and virtue moves.
* spring] See note*, p. 297.
tit] V. R. "in."
t you] V. R. "she."
§ the] V. R. "their."
flow'd] V. R. "flood."
And as the world rewards deserts, that law Cannot assist with force; so when they saw Their daughter safe, take vantage of their own, Praise Hymen's valour much, nothing bestown; Hymen must leave the virgins in a grove Far off from Athens, and go first to prove, If to restore them all with fame and life, He should enjoy his dearest as his wife. This told to all the maids, the § most agree: The riper sort,|| knowing what 'tis to be The first mouth of a news so far deriv'd, And that to hear and bear news brave folks liv'd. As being a carriage special hard to bear Occurrents, these occurrents being so dear, They did with grace protest, they were content T'accost their friends with all their compli-
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