Part 68 (1/2)
”Quincia obiit, sed non Quincia sola obiit, Quincia obiit, sed c.u.m Quincia et ipse obii; Risus obit, obit gratia, lusus obit.
Nec mea nunc anima in pectore, at in tumulo est.”
”Quincia my dear is dead, but not alone, For I am dead, and with her I am gone: Sweet smiles, mirth, graces, all with her do rest, And my soul too, for 'tis not in my breast.”
How many doting lovers upon the like occasion might say the same? But these are toys in respect, they will hazard their very souls for their mistress'
sake.
”Atque aliquis interjuvenes miratus est, et verb.u.m dixit, Non ego in caelo cuperem Deus esse, Nostram uxorem habens domi Hero.”
”One said, to heaven would I not desire at all to go, If that at mine own house I had such a fine wife as Hero.”
Venus forsook heaven for Adonis' sake,--[5483]_caelo praefertur Adonis_.
Old Janivere, in Chaucer, thought when he had his fair May he should never go to heaven, he should live so merrily here on earth; had I such a mistress, he protests,
[5484] ”Caelum diis ego non suum inviderem, Sed sortem mihi dii meam inviderent.”
”I would not envy their prosperity, The G.o.ds should envy my felicity.”
Another as earnestly desires to behold his sweetheart he will adventure and leave all this, and more than this to see her alone.
[5485] ”Omnia quae patior mala si pensare velit fors, Una aliqua n.o.bis prosperitate, dii Hoc precor, ut faciant, faciant me cernere coram, Cor mihi captivum quae tenet hocce, deam.”
”If all my mischiefs were recompensed And G.o.d would give we what I requested, I would my mistress' presence only seek, Which doth mine heart in prison captive keep.”
But who can reckon upon the dotage, madness, servitude and blindness, the foolish phantasms and vanities of lovers, their torments, wishes, idle attempts?
Yet for all this, amongst so many irksome, absurd, troublesome symptoms, inconveniences, fantastical fits and pa.s.sions which are usually incident to such persons, there be some good and graceful qualities in lovers, which this affection causeth. ”As it makes wise men fools, so many times it makes fools become wise; [5486]it makes base fellows become generous, cowards courageous,” as Cardan notes out of Plutarch; ”covetous, liberal and magnificent; clowns, civil; cruel, gentle; wicked, profane persons, to become religious; slovens, neat; churls, merciful; and dumb dogs, eloquent; your lazy drones, quick and nimble.” _Feras mentes domat cupido_, that fierce, cruel and rude Cyclops Polyphemus sighed, and shed many a salt tear for Galatea's sake. No pa.s.sion causeth greater alterations, or more vehement of joy or discontent. Plutarch. _Sympos. lib. 5. quaest. 1_, [5487] saith, ”that the soul of a man in love is full of perfumes and sweet odours, and all manner of pleasing tones and tunes, insomuch that it is hard to say (as he adds) whether love do mortal men more harm than good.”
It adds spirits and makes them, otherwise soft and silly, generous and courageous, [5488]_Audacem faciebat amor_. Ariadne's love made Theseus so adventurous, and Medea's beauty Jason so victorious; _expectorat amor timorem_. [5489]Plato is of opinion that the love of Venus made Mars so valorous. ”A young man will be much abashed to commit any foul offence that shall come to the hearing or sight of his mistress.” As [5490]he that desired of his enemy now dying, to lay him with his face upward, _ne amasius videret eum a tergo vulneratum_, lest his sweetheart should say he was a coward. ”And if it were [5491]possible to have an army consist of lovers, such as love, or are beloved, they would be extraordinary valiant and wise in their government, modesty would detain them from doing amiss, emulation incite them to do that which is good and honest, and a few of them would overcome a great company of others.” There is no man so pusillanimous, so very a dastard, whom love would not incense, make of a divine temper, and an heroical spirit. As he said in like case, [5492]
_Tota ruat caeli moles, non terreor_, &c. Nothing can terrify, nothing can dismay them. But as Sir Blandimor and Paridel, those two brave fairy knights, fought for the love of fair Florimel in presence--
[5493] ”And drawing both their swords with rage anew, Like two mad mastives each other slew, And s.h.i.+elds did share, and males did rash, and helms did hew; So furiously each other did a.s.sail, As if their souls at once they would have rent, Out of their b.r.e.a.s.t.s, that streams of blood did trail Adown as if their springs of life were spent, That all the ground with purple blood was sprent, And all their armour stain'd with b.l.o.o.d.y gore, Yet scarcely once to breath would they relent.
So mortal was their malice and so sore, That both resolved (than yield) to die before.”
Every base swain in love will dare to do as much for his dear mistress'
sake. He will fight and fetch, [5494]Argivum Clypeum, that famous buckler of Argos, to do her service, adventure at all, undertake any enterprise.
And as Serra.n.u.s the Spaniard, then Governor of Sluys, made answer to Marquess Spinola, if the enemy brought 50,000 devils against him he would keep it. The nine worthies, Oliver and Rowland, and forty dozen of peers are all in him, he is all mettle, armour of proof, more than a man, and in this case improved beyond himself. For as [5495]Agatho contends, a true lover is wise, just, temperate, and valiant. [5496]”I doubt not, therefore, but if a man had such an army of lovers” (as Castilio supposeth) ”he might soon conquer all the world, except by chance he met with such another army of inamoratos to oppose it.” [5497]For so perhaps they might fight as that fatal dog and fatal hare in the heavens, course one another round, and never make an end. Castilio thinks Ferdinand King of Spain would never have conquered Granada, had not Queen Isabel and her ladies been present at the siege: [5498]”It cannot be expressed what courage the Spanish knights took, when the ladies were present, a few Spaniards overcame a mult.i.tude of Moors.” They will undergo any danger whatsoever, as Sir Walter Manny in Edward the Third's time, stuck full of ladies' favours, fought like a dragon. For _soli amantes_, as [5499]Plato holds, _pro amicis mori appetunt_, only lovers will die for their friends, and in their mistress'
quarrel. And for that cause he would have women follow the camp, to be spectators and encouragers of n.o.ble actions: upon such an occasion, the [5500]Squire of Dames himself, Sir Lancelot or Sir Tristram, Caesar, or Alexander, shall not be more resolute or go beyond them.
Not courage only doth love add, but as I said, subtlety, wit, and many pretty devices, [5501]_Namque dolos inspirat amor, fraudesque ministrat_, [5502]Jupiter in love with Leda, and not knowing how to compa.s.s his desire, turned himself into a swan, and got Venus to pursue him in the likeness of an eagle; which she doing, for shelter, he fled to Leda's lap, _et in ejus gremio se collocavit_, Leda embraced him, and so fell fast asleep, _sed dormientem Jupiter compressit_, by which means Jupiter had his will.
Infinite such tricks love can devise, such fine feats in abundance, with wisdom and wariness, [5503]_quis fallere possit amantem_. All manner of civility, decency, compliment and good behaviour, _plus solis et leporis_, polite graces and merry conceits. Boccaccio hath a pleasant tale to this purpose, which he borrowed from the Greeks, and which Beroaldus hath turned into Latin, Bebelius in verse, of Cymon and Iphigenia. This Cymon was a fool, a proper man of person, and the governor of Cyprus' son. but a very a.s.s, insomuch that his father being ashamed of him, sent him to a farmhouse he had in the country, to be brought up. Where by chance, as his manner was, walking alone, he espied a gallant young gentlewoman, named Iphigenia, a burgomaster's daughter of Cyprus, with her maid, by a brook side in a little thicket, fast asleep in her smock, where she had newly bathed herself: ”When [5504]Cymon saw her, he stood leaning on his staff, gaping on her immovable, and in amaze;” at last he fell so far in love with the glorious object, that he began to rouse himself up, to bethink what he was, would needs follow her to the city, and for her sake began to be civil, to learn to sing and dance, to play on instruments, and got all those gentlemanlike qualities and compliments in a short s.p.a.ce, which his friends were most glad of. In brief, he became, from an idiot and a clown, to be one of the most complete gentlemen in Cyprus, did many valorous exploits, and all for the love of mistress Iphigenia. In a word, I may say thus much of them all, let them be never so clownish, rude and horrid, Grobians and s.l.u.ts, if once they be in love they will be most neat and spruce; for, [5505]_Omnibus rebus, et nitidis nitoribus antevenit amor_, they will follow the fas.h.i.+on, begin to trick up, and to have a good opinion of themselves, _venustatem enim mater Venus_; a s.h.i.+p is not so long a rigging as a young gentlewoman a tr.i.m.m.i.n.g up herself against her sweetheart comes.
A painter's shop, a flowery meadow, no so gracious aspect in nature's storehouse as a young maid, _nubilis puella_, a Novitsa or Venetian bride, that looks for a husband, or a young man that is her suitor; composed looks, composed gait, clothes, gestures, actions, all composed; all the graces, elegances in the world are in her face. Their best robes, ribands, chains, jewels, lawns, linens, laces, spangles, must come on, [5506]_praeter quam res pat.i.tur student elegantiae_, they are beyond all measure coy, nice, and too curious on a sudden; 'tis all their study, all their business, how to wear their clothes neat, to be polite and terse, and to set out themselves. No sooner doth a young man see his sweetheart coming, but he smugs up himself, pulls up his cloak now fallen about his shoulders, ties his garters, points, sets his band, cuffs, slicks his hair, twires his beard, &c. When Mercury was to come before his mistress,
[5507] ------”Chlamydemque ut pendeat apte Collocat, ut limbus totumque appareat aurum.”
”He put his cloak in order, that the lace.
And hem, and gold-work, all might have his grace.”
Salmacis would not be seen of Hermaphroditus, till she had spruced up herself first,