Thou deign'st unequal lines should thee rehearse;
Thou fight'st against me, using mine own verse.
Thy lofty style with mine I not compare:
Small doors unfitting for large houses* are.
Light am I, and with me, my care, light Love;
Not stronger am I than the thing I move.
Venus without me should be rustical;
This goddess' company doth to me befal.
What gate thy stately words cannot unlock,
My flattering speeches soon wide-open knock.
And I deserve more than thou canst in verity,
By suffering much not borne by thy severity.
By me Corinna learns, cozening her guard,
To get the door with little noise unbarr'd;
And slipp'd from bed, cloth'd in a loose night-
gown,

To move her feet unheard in setting+ down.
Ah, how oft on hard doors hung I engrav'd,
From no man's reading fearing to be sav'd!
But, till the keeper § went forth, I forget not,||
The maid to hide me in her bosom let not.¶
What gift with me was on her birth-day sent,
But cruelly by her was drown'd and rent?
First of thy mind the happy seeds I knew ; **
Thou hast + my gift, which she would from thee
sue."

She left. I said, "You both I must beseech,
To empty air §§ may go my fearful speech.
With sceptres and high buskins th' one would
dress me;

So through the world | should bright renown express me.

The other gives my love a conquering name; Come, therefore, and to long verse shorter frame. Grant, Tragedy, thy poet time's least tittle: ¶¶ Thy labour ever lasts; she asks but little."

She gave me leave. Soft loves, in time make hast;*

Some greater work will urge me on at last.

ELEGIA II+

Ad amicam cursum equorum spectantem.

I SIT not here the noble horse to see; Yet, whom thou favour'st, pray may conqueror be.

To sit and talk with thee I hither came,
That thou mayst know with love thou mak'st me
flame.

Thou view'st the course; I thee: let either heed
What please them, and their eyes let either feed.
What horse-driver thou favour'st most, is best,
Because on him thy care doth hap to rest.
Such chance let me have: I would bravely run,
On swift steeds mounted, till the race were done:
Now would I slack the reins, now lash their hide,
With wheels bent inward now the ring-turn ride.
In running if I see thee, I shall stay,

And from my hands the reins will slip away.
Ah, Pelops from his coach was almost fell'd,
Hippodamia's looks while he beheld !

Yet he attain'd, by her support, to have her:
Let us all conquer by our mistress' favour.
In vain why fli'st back! force conjoins us now:
The place's laws this benefit allow.

But spare my wench, thou at her right hand seated;

By thy side's touching, ill she is entreated.§
And sit thou rounder,|| that behind us see;
For shame, press not her back with thy hard

But by my pain to purge her perjuries,
Cozen'd, I am the cozener's sacrifice.
God is a name, no substance, fear'd in vain,
And doth the world in fond belief detain;
Or if there be a god, he loves fine wenches,
And all things too much in their sole power
drenches.

Mars girts his deadly sword on for my harm;
Pallas' lance strikes me with unconquer'd arm;
At me Apollo bends his pliant bow;

At me Jove's right hand lightning hath to throw.
The wronged gods dread fair ones to offend,
And fear those, that to fear them least intend.
Who now will care the altars to perfume?
Tut, men should not their courage so consume.
Jove throws down woods and castles with his
fire,

But bids his darts from perjur'd girls retire.
Poor Semele, among so many, burn'd;
Her own request to her own torment turn'd:*
But when her lover came, had she drawn back,
The father's thigh should unborn Bacchus lack.
Why grieve I, and of heaven reproaches pen?
The gods have eyes and breasts as well as men.
Were I a god, I should give women leave,
With lying lips my godhead to deceive;
Myself would swear the wenches true did swear,
And I would be none of the gods severe.
But yet their gift more moderately use,
Or in mine eyes, good wench, no pain transfuse.

ELEGIA IV.+

Ad virum servantem conjugem.

RUDE man, 'tis vain thy damsel to commend
To keeper's trust: their wits should them defend.
Who, without fear, is chaste, is chaste in sooth:
Who, because means want, doeth not, she doth.
Though thou her body guard, her mind is stain'd;
Nor, 'less she will,‡ can any be restrain'd.
Nor canst by watching keep her mind from sin;
All being shut out, th' adulterer is within.
Who may offend, sins least; power to do ill,
The fainting seeds of naughtiness doth kill.

* Her own request to her own torment turn'd] A wrong version of "Officio est illi pœna reperta suo."

+ Elegia IV.] Not in ed. A.

'less she will] i. e. unless, &c.-Old eds. "least she will."-Marlowe's copy of Ovid had "ni velit, ulla," &c.

Forbear to kindle vice by prohibition;
Sooner shall kindness gain thy will's fruition.
I saw a horse against the bit stiff-neck'd,
Like lightning go, his struggling mouth being
check'd

When he perceiv'd the reins let slack, he stay'd,
And on his loose mane the loose bridle lay'd.
How to attain what is denied we think,
Even as the sick desire forbidden drink.
Argus had either way an hundred eyes,
Yet by deceit Love did them all surprise.
In stone and iron walls Danäe shut,
Came forth a mother, though a maid there put.
Penelope, though no watch look'd unto her,
Was not defil'd by any gallant wooer.

What's kept, we covet more; the care makes theft:

Few love what others have unguarded left.
Nor doth her face please, but her husband's love:
I know not what men think should thee so
move.*

She is not chaste that's kept, but a dear whore;+
Thy fear is than her body valu'd more.
Although thou chafe, stoln pleasure is sweet

play:

She pleaseth best, "I fear," if any say.
A free-born wench no right 'tis up to lock;
So use we women of strange nations' stock.
Because the keeper may come say, "I did it,"
She must be honest to thy servant's credit.
He is too clownish, whom a lewd wife grieves,
And this town's well-known customs not believes;
Where Mars his sons not without fault did

breed,

Remus and Romulus, Ilia's twin-born seed.
Cannot a fair one, if not chaste, please thee?
Never can these by any means agree.
Kindly thy mistress use, if thou be wise;
Look gently, and rough husbands' laws despise.
Honour what friends thy wife gives,-she'll give

many;

Least labour so shall win great grace of any.
So shalt thou go with youths to feasts together,
And see at home much that thou ne'er brought'st
thither.+

* I know not what men think should thee so more] One would hardly imagine that the original has "Nescio quid, quod te ceperit, esse putant."

+ She is not chaste that's kept, but a dear whore] Perhaps faulty pointing in Marlowe's copy of Ovid occasioned this erroneous version of "Non proba sit, quam vir servat, sed adultera; cara est."

thou ne'er brought'st thither] Marlowe's copy of Orid had " qua non tuleris.”

ELEGIA VI.*

Ad amnem, dum iter faceret ad amicam.

FLOOD with reed-grown + slime-banks, till I be past,

Thy waters stay; I to my mistress hast.‡

Thou hast no bridge, nor boat with ropes to throw,

That may transport me, without oars to row. Thee I have pass'd, and knew thy stream none such,

When thy wave's brim did scarce my ankles touch.

With snow thaw'd from the next hill now thou gushest,§

And in thy foul deep waters thick thou rushest. What helps my haste? what to have ta'en small rest?

What day and night to travel in her quest ?
If, standing here, I can by no means get
My foot upon the further bank to set.
Now wish I those wings noble Perseus had,
Bearing the head with dreadful adders ¶ clad;
Now wish the chariot whence corn-fields were
found

First to be thrown upon the untill'd ground:
I speak old poets' wonderful inventions;
Ne'er was, nor [e'er] shall be, what my verse
mentions.

Rather, thou large bank-overflowing river,
Slide in thy bounds; so shalt thou run for ever.

Elegia VI.] Not in ed. A.-" This, which is the sixth elegy of Ovid, is numbered V. in the edition from which we print,-an error caused by the omission of a translation of the fifth elegy, and running throughout the remainder of the Book. The same mistake occurs in the 'Certaine Elegies', although it only contains two from the third Book. This circumstance furnishes a strong reason for concluding that the 'Certaine Elegies' was a selection from the present edition." Editor of 1826, -who here writes very ignorantly and rashly. In numbering the Elegies of this Book, Marlowe followed his copy of the original. The poem, which in the more recent editions of Ovid stands as Elegia V. of Liber iii (“Nox erat; et somnus lassos submisit ocellos," &c.), does not occupy that place (nor, indeed, any place among the Elegies) in the earlier editions, where, consequently, the present Elegy forms the Fifth of Book Three. With respect to certaine of Ovid's Elegies, &c. (see list of editions, p. 312), the type and spelling of that collection would alone be sufficient to prove its priority in publication to All Ovid's Elegies.

treed-grown] Old eds. "redde-growne."

hast] i. e. haste, -for the rhyme.

§ gushest] Old eds. "rushest.

thick] So ed. B.-Ed. C "new."

¶ dreadful adders] Old eds. "dreadfull Arrowes."— "Terribili

.... angue."

Trust me, land-stream, thou shalt no envy lack,
If I a lover be by thee held back.
Great floods ought to assist young men in love;
Great floods the force of it do often prove.

In mid Bithynia,* 'tis said, Inachus

Grew pale, and, in cold fords, hot lecherous. Troy had not yet been ten years' siege' outstander,

When nymph Neæra rapt thy looks, Scamander.
What, not Alpheus in strange lands to run,
Th' Arcadian virgin's constant love hath won?
And Crusa + unto Xanthus first affied,
They say, Peneus near Phthia's town did hide.
What should I name Asop,‡ that Thebe lov'd,
Thebe who mother of five daughters prov'd?
If, Achelöus, I ask where thy horns stand,
Thou say'st, broke with Alcides' angry hand.
Not Calydon nor Ætolia did please;

One Deïanira was more worth than these.
Rich Nile, by seven mouths to the vast sea

Where's thy attire? why wander'st here alone?
To stay thy tresses white veil hast thou none?
Why weep'st, and spoil'st with tears thy watery
eyes?

And fiercely knock'st thy breast that open lies?
His heart consists of flint and hardest steel,
That, seeing thy tears, can any joy then feel.*
Fear not to thee our court stands open wide;
There shalt be lov'd: Ilia, lay fear aside.
Thou o'er a hundred nymphs or more shalt
reign,

For five-score nymphs or more our floods

contain.

Nor, Roman stock, scorn me so much, I crave:
Gifts than my promise greater thou shalt have."
This said he. She her modest eyes held down;
Her woful bosom a warm shower did drown.
Thrice she prepar'd to fly, thrice she did stay,
By fear depriv'd of strength to run away.
Yet, rending with enragèd thumb her tresses,
Her trembling mouth these unmeet sounds
expresses;

"O, would in my forefathers' tomb deep laid
My bones had been, while yet I was a maid!
Why, being a vestal, am I woo'd to wed,
Deflower'd and stainèd in unlawful bed?
Why stay I? men point at me for a whore;
Shame, that should make me blush, I have no
more." +

This said, her coat hoodwink'd her fearful eyes,+ And into water desperately she flies.

'Tis said the slippery stream held up her breast,
And kindly gave her what she liked best.
And I believe some wench thou hast affected;
But woods and groves keep your faults unde-
tected.

While thus I speak, the waters more abounded, §
And from the channel all abroad surrounded.
Mad stream, why dost our mutual joys defer?
Clown, from my journey why dost me deter?
How wouldst thou flow, wert thou a noble flood?
If thy great fame in every region stood?
Thou hast no name, but com'st from snowy
mountains ;||

No certain house thou hast, nor any fountains;

Thy springs are naught but rain and melted

snow,

Which wealth cold winter doth on thee bestow
Either thou'rt muddy in mid-winter tide,
Or, full of dust, dost on the dry earth slide.
What thirsty traveller ever drunk of thee?
Who said with grateful voice “Perpetual be"?
Harmful to beasts and to the fields thou proves:
Perchance these others, me mine own loss moves.
To this I fondly* loves of floods+ told plainly;
I shame so great names to have us'd so vainly.
I know not what expecting, I erewhile
Nam'd Achelöus, Inachus, and Nile.‡
But for thy merits I wish thee, white stream,§
Dry winters aye, and suns in heat extreme.

ELEGIA VII.

Quod, ab amica receptus, cum ea coire non potuit, conqueritur.

EITHER she was foul,¶ or her attire was bad,
Or she was not the wench I wish'd t'have had.
Idly I lay with her, as if I lov'd not,**
And, like a burden, griev'd the bed that mov'd

not.

Though both of us perform'd our true intent,

Yet could I not cast anchor where I meant.
She on my neck her ivory arms did throw,
Her arms far whiter++ than the Scythian snow;
And eagerly she kiss'd me with her tongue,
And under mine her wanton thigh she flung;
Yea, and she sooth'd me up, and call'd me
"Sir," ++

And us'd all speech that might provoke and stir.
Yet, like as if cold hemlock I had drunk,
It mocked me, hung down the head, and sunk.
Like a dull cypher or rude block I lay;
Or shade or body was I,§§ who can say?

* fondly] "demens."

tfloods] So ed. B.-Ed. C "floude."

Nile] Old eds. "Ile."

§ white stream] Marlowe's copy of Ovid had "nuse candide torrens."

|| Either] Marlowe's copy of Ovid had “Aut non **in this line; and, in the next, "Aut, puto."

foul] "non formosa,"

** lov'd not] So eds. B, C.-Ed. A “lovede her not.” tt Her arms jar whiter, &c.] So eds. B, C.-Ed. A "That were as white as is the Seithian snow."-But "Sithonid nive" means-Thracian snow.

"Sir"] So ed. A.-Eds. B, C, "sire."-"Dominum." §§] So eds. B, C.-Ed. A "Io."