The Anatomy of Melancholy Part 67

[5435] "Non me per altas ire si jubeas nives, Pigeat galatis ingredi Pindi jugis, Non si per ignes ire aut infesta agmina Cuncter, paratus [5436]ensibus pectus dare, Te tunc jubere, me decet jussa exequi."

"It shall not grieve me to the snowy hills, Or frozen Pindus' tops forthwith to climb.

Or run through fire, or through an army, Say but the word, for I am always thine."

Callicratides in [5437]Lucian breaks out into this pa.s.sionate speech, "O G.o.d of Heaven, grant me this life for ever to sit over against my mistress, and to hear her sweet voice, to go in and out with her, to have every other business common with her; I would labour when she labours; sail when she sails; he that hates her should hate me; and if a tyrant kill her, he should kill me; if she should die, I would not live, and one grave should hold us both." [5438]_Finiet illa meos moriens morientis amores_. Abrocomus in [5439]Aristaenetus makes the like pet.i.tion for his Delphia, --[5440]_Tec.u.m vivere amem, tec.u.m obeam lubens_. "I desire to live with thee, and I am ready to die with thee." 'Tis the same strain which Theagines used to his Chariclea, "so that I may but enjoy thy love, let me die presently:" Leander to his Hero, when he besought the sea waves to let him go quietly to his love, and kill him coming back. [5441]_Parcite dum propero, mergite dum redeo_. "Spare me whilst I go, drown me as I return."

'Tis the common humour of them all, to contemn death, to wish for death, to confront death in this case, _Quippe queis nec fera, nec ignis, neque praecipitium, nec fretum, nec ensis, neque laqueus gravia videntur_; "'Tis their desire" (saith Tyrius) "to die."

"Haud timet mortem, cupit ire in ipsos ------obvius enses."

"He does not fear death, he desireth such upon the very swords." Though a thousand dragons or devils keep the gates, Cerberus himself, Scyron and Procrastes lay in wait, and the way as dangerous, as inaccessible as h.e.l.l, through fiery flames and over burning coulters, he will adventure for all this. And as [5442]Peter Abelard lost his t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es for his Heloise, he will I say not venture an incision, but life itself. For how many gallants offered to lose their lives for a night's lodging with Cleopatra in those days! and in the hour or moment of death, 'tis their sole comfort to remember their dear mistress, as [5443]Zerbino slain in France, and Brandimart in Barbary; as Arcite did his Emily.

[5444] ------_when he felt death, Dusked been his eyes, and faded is his breath But on his lady yet casteth he his eye, His last word was, mercy Emely, His spirit chang'd, and out went there, Whether I cannot tell, ne where_.

[5445]When Captain Gobrius by an unlucky accident had received his death's wound, _heu me miserum exclamat_, miserable man that I am, (instead of other devotions) he cries out, shall I die before I see my sweetheart Rhodanthe? _Sic amor mortem_, (saith mine author) _aut quicquid humanitus accidit, aspernatur_, so love triumphs, contemns, insults over death itself. Thirteen proper young men lost their lives for that fair Hippodamias' sake, the daughter of Onomaus, king of Elis: when that hard condition was proposed of death or victory, they made no account of it, but courageously for love died, till Pelops at last won her by a sleight.

[5446]As many gallants desperately adventured their dearest blood for Atalanta, the daughter of Schenius, in hope of marriage, all vanquished and overcame, till Hippomenes by a few golden apples happily obtained his suit.

Perseus, of old, fought with a sea monster for Andromeda's sake; and our St. George freed the king's daughter of Sabea (the golden legend is mine author) that was exposed to a dragon, by a terrible combat. Our knights errant, and the Sir Lancelots of these days, I hope will adventure as much for ladies' favours, as the Squire of Dames, Knight of the Sun, Sir Bevis of Southampton, or that renowned peer,

[5447] "Orlando, who long time had loved dear Angelica the fair, and for her sake About the world in nations far and near, Did high attempts perform and undertake;"

he is a very dastard, a coward, a block and a beast, that will not do as much, but they will sure, they will; for it is an ordinary thing for these inamoratos of our time to say and do more, to stab their arms, carouse in blood, [5448]or as that Thessalian Thero, that bit off his own thumb, _provocans rivalem ad hoc aemulandum_, to make his co-rival do as much.

'Tis frequent with them to challenge the field for their lady and mistress'

sake, to run a tilt,

[5449] "That either bears (so furiously they meet) The other down under the horses' feet,"

and then up and to it again,

"And with their axes both so sorely pour, That neither plate nor mail sustain'd the stour, But riveld wreak like rotten wood asunder, And fire did flash like lightning after thunder;"

and in her quarrel, to fight so long [5450]"till their headpiece, bucklers be all broken, and swords hacked like so many saws," for they must not see her abused in any sort, 'tis blasphemy to speak against her, a dishonour without all good respect to name her. 'Tis common with these creatures, to drink [5451]healths upon their bare knees, though it were a mile to the bottom, no matter of what mixture, off it comes. If she bid them they will go barefoot to Jerusalem, to the great Cham's court, [5452] to the East Indies, to fetch her a bird to wear in her hat: and with Drake and Candish sail round about the world for her sweet sake, _adversis ventis_, serve twice seven years, as Jacob did for Rachel; do as much as [5453]Gesmunda, the daughter of Tancredus, prince of Salerna, did for Guisardus, her true love, eat his heart when he died; or as Artemisia drank her husband's bones beaten to powder, and so bury him in herself, and endure more torments than Theseus or Paris. _Et his colitur Venus magis quam thure, et victimis_, with such sacrifices as these (as [5454] Aristaenetus holds) Venus is well pleased. Generally they undertake any pain, any labour, any toil, for their mistress' sake, love and admire a servant, not to her alone, but to all her friends and followers, they hug and embrace them for her sake; her dog, picture, and everything she wears, they adore it as a relic. If any man come from her, they feast him, reward him, will not be out of his company, do him all offices, still remembering, still talking of her:

[5455] "Nam si abest quod ames, praesto simulacra tamen sunt Illius, et nomen dulce observatur ad aures."

The very carrier that comes from him to her is a most welcome guest; and if he bring a letter, she will read it twenty times over, and as [5456]

Lucretia did by Euryalus, "kiss the letter a thousand times together, and then read it:" And [5457]Chelidonia by Philonius, after many sweet kisses, put the letter in her bosom,

"And kiss again, and often look thereon, And stay the messenger that would be gone:"

And asked many pretty questions, over and over again, as how he looked, what he did, and what he said? In a word,

[5458] "Vult placere sese amicae, vult mihi, vult pedissequae, Vult famulis, vult etiam ancillis, et catulo meo."

"He strives to please his mistress, and her maid, Her servants, and her dog, and's well apaid."

If he get any remnant of hers, a busk-point, a feather of her fan, a shoe-tie, a lace, a ring, a bracelet of hair,

[5459] "Pignusque direptum lacertis; Aut digito male pertinaci,"

he wears it for a favour on his arm, in his hat, finger, or next his heart.

Her picture he adores twice a day, and for two hours together will not look off it; as Laodamia did by Protesilaus, when he went to war, [5460]"'sit at home with his picture before her;' a garter or a bracelet of hers is more precious than any saint's relic," he lays it up in his casket, (O blessed relic) and every day will kiss it: if in her presence, his eye is never off her, and drink he will where she drank, if it be possible, in that very place, &c. If absent, he will walk in the walk, sit under that tree where she did use to sit, in that bower, in that very seat,--_et foribus miser oscula figit_, [5461]many years after sometimes, though she be far distant and dwell many miles off, he loves yet to walk that way still, to have his chamber-window look that way: to walk by that river's side, which (though far away) runs by the house where she dwells, he loves the wind blows to that coast.

[5462] "O quoties dixi Zephyris properantibus illuc, Felices pulchram visuri Amaryllada venti."

"O happy western winds that blow that way, For you shall see my love's fair face to day."

He will send a message to her by the wind.

[5463] "Vos aurae Alpinae, placidis de montibus aurae, Haec illi portate,"------

[5464]he desires to confer with some of her acquaintance, for his heart is still with her, [5465]to talk of her, admiring and commending her, lamenting, moaning, wishing himself anything for her sake, to have opportunity to see her, O that he might but enjoy her presence! So did Philostratus to his mistress, [5466]"O happy ground on which she treads, and happy were I if she would tread upon me. I think her countenance would make the rivers stand, and when she comes abroad, birds will sing and come about her."

"Ridebunt valles, ridebunt obvia Tempe, In florem viridis protinus ibi humus."

"The fields will laugh, the pleasant valleys burn, And all the gra.s.s will into flowers turn."

_Omnis Ambrosiam spirabit aura_. [5467]"When she is in the meadow, she is fairer than any flower, for that lasts but for a day, the river is pleasing, but it vanisheth on a sudden, but thy flower doth not fade, thy stream is greater than the sea. If I look upon the heaven, methinks I see the sun fallen down to shine below, and thee to shine in his place, whom I desire. If I look upon the night, methinks I see two more glorious stars, Hesperus and thyself." A little after he thus courts his mistress, [5468]

"If thou goest forth of the city, the protecting G.o.ds that keep the town will run after to gaze upon thee: if thou sail upon the seas, as so many small boats, they will follow thee: what river would not run into the sea?"

Another, he sighs and sobs, swears he hath _Cor scissum_, a heart bruised to powder, dissolved and melted within him, or quite gone from him, to his mistress' bosom belike, he is in an oven, a salamander in the fire, so scorched with love's heat; he wisheth himself a saddle for her to sit on, a posy for her to smell to, and it would not grieve him to be hanged, if he might be strangled in her garters: he would willingly die tomorrow, so that she might kill him with her own hands. [5469]Ovid would be a flea, a gnat, a ring, Catullus a sparrow,

[5470] "O si tec.u.m ludere sicut ipsa possem, Et tristes animi levare curas."

[5471]Anacreon, a gla.s.s, a gown, a chain, anything,

"Sed speculum ego ipse fiam, Ut me tuum usque cernas, Et vestis ipse fiam, Ut me tuum usque gestes.

Mutari et opto in undam, Lavem tuos ut artus, Nardus puella fiam, Ut ego teipsum inungam, Sim fascia in papillis, Tuo et monile collo.

Fiamque calceus, me Saltem ut pede usque calces."

[5472] "But I a looking-gla.s.s would be, Still to be look'd upon by thee, Or I, my love, would be thy gown, By thee to be worn up and down; Or a pure well full to the brims, That I might wash thy purer limbs: Or, I'd be precious balm to 'noint, With choicest care each choicest joint; Or, if I might, I would be fain About thy neck thy happy chain, Or would it were my blessed hap To be the lawn o'er thy fair pap.

Or would I were thy shoe, to be Daily trod upon by thee."

O thrice happy man that shall enjoy her: as they that saw Hero in Museus, and [5473]Salmacis to Hermaphroditus,

[5474] ------"Felices mater, &c. felix nutrix.-- Sed longe cunctis, longeque beatior ille, Quem fructu sponsi et socii dignabere lecti."

The same pa.s.sion made her break out in the comedy, [5475]_Nae illae fortunatae, sunt quae c.u.m illo cubant_, "happy are his bedfellows;" and as she said of Cyprus, [5476]_Beata quae illi uxor futura esset_, blessed is that woman that shall be his wife, nay, thrice happy she that shall enjoy him but a night. [5477]_Una nox Jovis sceptro aequiparanda_, such a night's lodging is worth Jupiter's sceptre.

[5478] "Qualis nox erit illa, dii, deaeque, Quam mollis thorus?"

"O what a blissful night would it be, how soft, how sweet a bed!" She will adventure all her estate for such a night, for a nectarean, a balsam kiss alone.

[5479] "Qui te videt beatus est, Beatior qui te audiet, Qui te pot.i.tur est Deus."

The sultan of Sana's wife in Arabia, when she had seen Vertomannus, that comely traveller, lamented to herself in this manner, [5480]"O G.o.d, thou hast made this man whiter than the sun, but me, mine husband, and all my children black; I would to G.o.d he were my husband, or that I had such a son;" she fell a weeping, and so impatient for love at last, that (as Potiphar's wife did by Joseph) she would have had him gone in with her, she sent away Gazella, Tegeia, Galzerana, her waiting-maids, loaded him with fair promises and gifts, and wooed him with all the rhetoric she could,-- _extremum hoc miserae da munus amanti_, "grant this last request to a wretched lover." But when he gave not consent, she would have gone with him, and left all, to be his page, his servant, or his lackey, _Certa sequi charum corpus ut umbra solet_, so that she might enjoy him, threatening moreover to kill herself, &c. Men will do as much and more for women, spend goods, lands, lives, fortunes; kings will leave their crowns, as King John for Matilda the nun at Dunmow.

[5481] "But kings in this yet privileg'd may be, I'll be a monk so I may live with thee."

The very G.o.ds will endure any shame (_atque aliquis de diis non tristibus inquit_, &c.) be a spectacle as Mars and Venus were, to all the rest; so did Lucian's Mercury wish, and peradventure so dost thou. They will adventure their lives with alacrity --[5482]_pro qua non metuam mori_--nay more, _pro qua non metuam bis mori_, I will die twice, nay, twenty times for her. If she die, there's no remedy, they must die with her, they cannot help it. A lover in Calcagninus, wrote this on his darling's tomb,