Chapter 18

DvmTempvslabitvr,Occasionēfronte capillatā remorātvr. 7.From David’s “Occasio arrepta neglecta&c” 1605

DvmTempvslabitvr,Occasionēfronte capillatā remorātvr. 7.

From David’s “Occasio arrepta neglecta&c” 1605

Very appropriately in illustration of these and other passages in Shakespeare may we refer to John David’s work, “Occasioarrepta neglecta” (4to, Antwerp, 1605),—Opportunity seized or neglected. It contains twelve curiously beautiful plates by Theodore Galle, showing the advantages of seizing the Occasion, the disadvantages of neglecting it. We choose an example, it is Schema 7, cap. 1, p. 117. (SeePlate XII.)

“While Time is passing onward men keep Occasion back by seizing the hair on her forehead.”

Various speakers are introduced,—

“Time.Now the need is to visit other climes of earthAnd other youths. Ye warned then, bid farewell.B.What this heat of sudden flight?C.If flight indeed at lengthFor thee is fix’d, her swift wings let the bald goddessAt least rest here.Occasion.Why to no purpose words in airWaste ye? hence elsewhere, no delay, I go; farewell.E.Should she flee? rather her scattered locks in frontSeize hold of.Occasion.Alas! freely I follow, at your own homesWill tarry, till in just measure I prolong my stay.Faith.I praise your spirit, for by friendly force the goddessRejoices to be compelled.”

“Time.Now the need is to visit other climes of earth

And other youths. Ye warned then, bid farewell.

B.What this heat of sudden flight?

C.If flight indeed at length

For thee is fix’d, her swift wings let the bald goddess

At least rest here.

Occasion.Why to no purpose words in air

Waste ye? hence elsewhere, no delay, I go; farewell.

E.Should she flee? rather her scattered locks in front

Seize hold of.

Occasion.Alas! freely I follow, at your own homes

Will tarry, till in just measure I prolong my stay.

Faith.I praise your spirit, for by friendly force the goddess

Rejoices to be compelled.”

The line, “her scattered locks in front seize hold of,” has its parallel inOthello(act iii. sc. 1, l. 47, vol. viii. p. 505),—

“he protests he loves you,And needs no other suitor but his likingsTo take the safest occasion by the frontTo bring you in again.”

“he protests he loves you,

And needs no other suitor but his likings

To take the safest occasion by the front

To bring you in again.”

Classical celebrities, whether hero or heroine, wrapt round with mystery, or half-developed into historical reality, may also form portion of our Mythological Series.

The grand character in Æschylus,Prometheus Bound, is depicted by at least four of the Emblematists. The hero of suffering is reclining against the rock on Caucasus, to which hehad been chained; a vulture is seated on his broad chest and feeding there. Alciat’s Emblem, from the Lyons edition of 1551, or Antwerp, 1581, number 102, has the motto which reproves men for seeking the knowledge which is beyond them:Things which are above us, are nothing to us,—they are not our concern. The whole fable is a warning.

Quæ ſupra nos, nihil ad nos.Alciat, 1551.Caucaſi a æternùm pendens in rupe PrometheusDiripitur ſacri præpetis vngue iecur.Et nollet feciſſe hominem: figulosq́₃queperoſusAccenſam rapto damnat ab igne facem.Roduntur variis prudentum pectora curis,Qui cœli affectant ſcire, deûmqúe vices.“On the Caucasian rock Prometheus eternally suspended,Has his liver torn in pieces by talons of an accursed bird.And unwilling would he be to have made man; and hating the pottersDooms to destruction the torch lighted from stolen fire.Devoured by various cares are the bosoms of the wise,Who affect to know secrets of heaven, and courses of gods.”

Quæ ſupra nos, nihil ad nos.

Alciat, 1551.

Caucaſi a æternùm pendens in rupe PrometheusDiripitur ſacri præpetis vngue iecur.Et nollet feciſſe hominem: figulosq́₃queperoſusAccenſam rapto damnat ab igne facem.Roduntur variis prudentum pectora curis,Qui cœli affectant ſcire, deûmqúe vices.“On the Caucasian rock Prometheus eternally suspended,Has his liver torn in pieces by talons of an accursed bird.And unwilling would he be to have made man; and hating the pottersDooms to destruction the torch lighted from stolen fire.Devoured by various cares are the bosoms of the wise,Who affect to know secrets of heaven, and courses of gods.”

Caucaſi a æternùm pendens in rupe Prometheus

Diripitur ſacri præpetis vngue iecur.

Et nollet feciſſe hominem: figulosq́₃queperoſus

Accenſam rapto damnat ab igne facem.

Roduntur variis prudentum pectora curis,

Qui cœli affectant ſcire, deûmqúe vices.

“On the Caucasian rock Prometheus eternally suspended,Has his liver torn in pieces by talons of an accursed bird.And unwilling would he be to have made man; and hating the pottersDooms to destruction the torch lighted from stolen fire.Devoured by various cares are the bosoms of the wise,Who affect to know secrets of heaven, and courses of gods.”

“On the Caucasian rock Prometheus eternally suspended,

Has his liver torn in pieces by talons of an accursed bird.

And unwilling would he be to have made man; and hating the potters

Dooms to destruction the torch lighted from stolen fire.

Devoured by various cares are the bosoms of the wise,

Who affect to know secrets of heaven, and courses of gods.”

Similarly as a dissuasive from vain curiosity, Anulus, in his“Picta Poesis”(Lyons, 1555, p. 90), sets up the notice,—

CVRIOSITAS FVGIENDA.“Curiosity must be shunned.”Aneau, 1555.Mittearcana Dei cœlumq́₃queinquirere quid ſit.Nec ſapias pluſquàm debet homo ſapere.Caucaſeo vinctus monet hoc in rupe PrometheusScrutator cœli, fur & in igne Iouis.Cui cor edax Aquila in rediuiuo vulnere rodit.Materia pœnis ſufficiente ſuis.Ἣ δὲ προμηθέι’ ἂχοςοςδάκνει κέαρ ἔντερον ἔνδονΚαρδιοβρόσκοςοςὃμως ἂετοςοςἐσθὶν ἂχοςος.

CVRIOSITAS FVGIENDA.“Curiosity must be shunned.”

CVRIOSITAS FVGIENDA.

“Curiosity must be shunned.”

Aneau, 1555.

Mittearcana Dei cœlumq́₃queinquirere quid ſit.Nec ſapias pluſquàm debet homo ſapere.Caucaſeo vinctus monet hoc in rupe PrometheusScrutator cœli, fur & in igne Iouis.Cui cor edax Aquila in rediuiuo vulnere rodit.Materia pœnis ſufficiente ſuis.

Mittearcana Dei cœlumq́₃queinquirere quid ſit.

Nec ſapias pluſquàm debet homo ſapere.

Caucaſeo vinctus monet hoc in rupe Prometheus

Scrutator cœli, fur & in igne Iouis.

Cui cor edax Aquila in rediuiuo vulnere rodit.

Materia pœnis ſufficiente ſuis.

Ἣ δὲ προμηθέι’ ἂχοςοςδάκνει κέαρ ἔντερον ἔνδονΚαρδιοβρόσκοςοςὃμως ἂετοςοςἐσθὶν ἂχοςος.

Ἣ δὲ προμηθέι’ ἂχοςοςδάκνει κέαρ ἔντερον ἔνδον

Καρδιοβρόσκοςοςὃμως ἂετοςοςἐσθὶν ἂχοςος.

The device is almost the same with Alciat's,—the stanzas, however, are a little different,—

“Forbear to inquire the secrets of God, and what heaven may be.Nor be wise more than man ought to be wise.Bound on Caucasian rock this does Prometheus warn,Scrutator of heaven and thief in the fire of Jove.His heart the voracious Eagle gnaws in ever reviving wound,Material sufficient this for all his penalties.”—“As for Prometheus pain gnaws his heart the bosom within,So is pain the eagle that consumes the heart.”

“Forbear to inquire the secrets of God, and what heaven may be.

Nor be wise more than man ought to be wise.

Bound on Caucasian rock this does Prometheus warn,

Scrutator of heaven and thief in the fire of Jove.

His heart the voracious Eagle gnaws in ever reviving wound,

Material sufficient this for all his penalties.”—

“As for Prometheus pain gnaws his heart the bosom within,So is pain the eagle that consumes the heart.”

“As for Prometheus pain gnaws his heart the bosom within,

So is pain the eagle that consumes the heart.”

The“Microcosme,”first published in 1579, fol. 5, celebrates in French stanzas Prometheus and his cruel destiny; a fine device accompanies the emblem, representing him bound not to Caucasus, but to the cross.

“Promethee s’ estant guindé iusques aux cieuxPour desrober le feu des redoubables Dieux,Pour retribution de ceste outrecuidanceFut par eux poursuiui d’une rude vengeance.Il fut par leur decret à la croix attaché,La ou pour expier deuenant son peché,L'Aigle de Iupiter le becquetoit sans cesse,Si que ce patient estoit en grand oppressé.”

“Promethee s’ estant guindé iusques aux cieux

Pour desrober le feu des redoubables Dieux,

Pour retribution de ceste outrecuidance

Fut par eux poursuiui d’une rude vengeance.

Il fut par leur decret à la croix attaché,

La ou pour expier deuenant son peché,

L'Aigle de Iupiter le becquetoit sans cesse,

Si que ce patient estoit en grand oppressé.”

But Reusner’sEmblems(bk. i. Emb. 27, p. 37, edition 1581), and Whitney’s (p. 75), adopt the same motto,O vita misero longa,—“O life, how long for the wretched.” The stanzas of the latter may be accepted as being in some degree representative of those of the former,—

“To Caucasus, behouldePromethevschain’de,Whose liuer still, a greedie gripe dothe rente:He neuer dies, and yet is alwaies pain’de,With tortures dire, by which the Poëttes ment,That hee, that still amid misfortunes standes,Is sorrowes slaue, and bounde in lastinge bandes.For, when that griefe doth grate vppon our gall,Or surging seas, of sorrowes moste doe swell,That life is deathe, and is no life at all,The liuer rente, it dothe the conscience tell:Which being launch’de, and prick’d, with inward care,Although wee liue, yet still wee dyinge are.”

“To Caucasus, behouldePromethevschain’de,

Whose liuer still, a greedie gripe dothe rente:

He neuer dies, and yet is alwaies pain’de,

With tortures dire, by which the Poëttes ment,

That hee, that still amid misfortunes standes,

Is sorrowes slaue, and bounde in lastinge bandes.

For, when that griefe doth grate vppon our gall,Or surging seas, of sorrowes moste doe swell,That life is deathe, and is no life at all,The liuer rente, it dothe the conscience tell:Which being launch’de, and prick’d, with inward care,Although wee liue, yet still wee dyinge are.”

For, when that griefe doth grate vppon our gall,

Or surging seas, of sorrowes moste doe swell,

That life is deathe, and is no life at all,

The liuer rente, it dothe the conscience tell:

Which being launch’de, and prick’d, with inward care,

Although wee liue, yet still wee dyinge are.”

How Shakespeare applies this mythic story appears in theTitus Andronicus(act ii. sc. 1, l. 14, vol. vi. p. 451), where Aaron, speaking of his queen, Tamora, affirms of himself,—

“Whom thou in triumph longHast prisoner held, fetter’d in amorous chains,And faster bound to Aaron’s charming eyesThan is Prometheus tied to Caucasus.”

“Whom thou in triumph long

Hast prisoner held, fetter’d in amorous chains,

And faster bound to Aaron’s charming eyes

Than is Prometheus tied to Caucasus.”

And still more clearly is the application made,1 Henry VI.(act iv. sc. 3, l. 17, vol. v. p. 71), when Sir William Lucy thus urges York,—

“Thou princely leader of our English strength,Never so needful on the earth of France,Spur to the rescue of the noble Talbot,Who now is girdled with a waist of ironAnd hemm’d about with grim destruction:”

“Thou princely leader of our English strength,

Never so needful on the earth of France,

Spur to the rescue of the noble Talbot,

Who now is girdled with a waist of iron

And hemm’d about with grim destruction:”

and at York’s inability, through “the vile traitor Somerset,” to render aid, Lucy laments (l. 47, p. 72),—

“Thus, while the vulture of seditionFeeds in the bosoms of such great commanders,Sleeping neglection doth betray to lossThe conquest of our scarce cold conqueror,That ever living man of memory,Henry the Fifth.”

“Thus, while the vulture of sedition

Feeds in the bosoms of such great commanders,

Sleeping neglection doth betray to loss

The conquest of our scarce cold conqueror,

That ever living man of memory,

Henry the Fifth.”

It may readily be supposed that in writing these passages Shakespeare had in memory, or even before him, the delineations which are given of Prometheus, for the vulture feeding on the heart belongs to them all, and the allusion is exactly one of those which arises from a casual glance at a scene or picture without dwelling on details.

This casual glance indeed seems to have been the way in which our Dramatist appropriated others of the Emblem sketches. In the well-known quarrel scene between Brutus and Cassius, inJulius Cæsar(act iv. sc. 3, l. 21, vol. vii. p. 389), Brutus demands,—

“What, shall one of us,That struck the foremost man of all this worldBut for supporting robbers, shall we nowContaminate our fingers with base bribes,And sell the mighty space of our large honoursFor so much trash as may be grasped thus?I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon,Than such a Roman.”

“What, shall one of us,

That struck the foremost man of all this world

But for supporting robbers, shall we now

Contaminate our fingers with base bribes,

And sell the mighty space of our large honours

For so much trash as may be grasped thus?

I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon,

Than such a Roman.”

The expression is the perfect counterpart of Alciat’s 164th Emblem (p. 571, edition Antwerp, 1581); the motto, copied by Whitney (p. 213), is,Inanis impetus,—“A vain attack.”

“By night, as at a mirror, the dog looks at the lunar orb:And seeing himself, believes another dog to be on high,And barks: but in vain is his angry voice driven by winds,The silent Diana ever onward goes in her course.”[132]

“By night, as at a mirror, the dog looks at the lunar orb:

And seeing himself, believes another dog to be on high,

And barks: but in vain is his angry voice driven by winds,

The silent Diana ever onward goes in her course.”[132]

The device engraved on Alciat’s and Whitney’s pages depicts the full moon surrounded by stars, and a large dog baying. Whitney’s stanzas give the meaning of Alciat's, and also of Beza's, which follow below,—

“By shininge lighte, of wannisheCynthiasraies,The dogge behouldes his shaddowe to appeare:Wherefore, in vaine aloude he barkes, and baies,And alwaies thoughte, an other dogge was there:But yet the Moone, who did not heare his queste,Hir woonted course, did keep vnto the weste.This reprehendes, those fooles which baule, and barke,At learned men, that shine aboue the reste:With due regarde, that they their deedes should marke,And reuerence them, that are with wisedome bleste:But if they striue, in vaine their winde they spende,For woorthie men, the Lorde doth still defende.”

“By shininge lighte, of wannisheCynthiasraies,

The dogge behouldes his shaddowe to appeare:

Wherefore, in vaine aloude he barkes, and baies,

And alwaies thoughte, an other dogge was there:

But yet the Moone, who did not heare his queste,

Hir woonted course, did keep vnto the weste.

This reprehendes, those fooles which baule, and barke,At learned men, that shine aboue the reste:With due regarde, that they their deedes should marke,And reuerence them, that are with wisedome bleste:But if they striue, in vaine their winde they spende,For woorthie men, the Lorde doth still defende.”

This reprehendes, those fooles which baule, and barke,

At learned men, that shine aboue the reste:

With due regarde, that they their deedes should marke,

And reuerence them, that are with wisedome bleste:

But if they striue, in vaine their winde they spende,

For woorthie men, the Lorde doth still defende.”

Beza, ed. 1580.

The same device to a different motto,“Despicit alta canis,”—The dog despises high things,—is adopted by Camerarius,Ex Anim. quadrup., p. 63, edition 1595,—

“Why carest thou for the angry thorns of a vain speaking tongue?Diana on high cares not for the loud-barking dog.”[133]

“Why carest thou for the angry thorns of a vain speaking tongue?

Diana on high cares not for the loud-barking dog.”[133]

We will conclude our “baying” with Beza’s 22nd Emblem.The Latin stanza is sufficiently severe,—

“Luna velut toto collustrans lumine terras,Frustra allatrantes despicit alta canes:Sic quisquis Christum allatrat Christíve ministros,Index stultitiæ? spernitor vsque suæ.”

“Luna velut toto collustrans lumine terras,

Frustra allatrantes despicit alta canes:

Sic quisquis Christum allatrat Christíve ministros,

Index stultitiæ? spernitor vsque suæ.”

i.e.

“As the moon with full light shining over the lands,From on high doth despise dogs barking in vain:So whoso is barking at Christ or Christ’s ministers,The scorner is the pointer out even of his own folly.”

“As the moon with full light shining over the lands,

From on high doth despise dogs barking in vain:

So whoso is barking at Christ or Christ’s ministers,

The scorner is the pointer out even of his own folly.”

In connection with the power of music Orpheus is named by many writers of the sixteenth century; and among the Emblematists the lead may be assigned to Pierre Coustau in “Le Pegme” (Lyons, 1560, p. 389),—

Sur la harpe d’Orpheus.La force d’Eloquence.Coustau, 1560.De ſon gentil & fort melodieuxD'vn inſtrument, Orpheus feit mouuoirRocs & patitz de leur places & lieux.C’eſt eloquence ayant force & pouuoirD’ẽbler les cueurs de tous part son ſçavoir;C’eſt l’orateur qui au fort d’eloquence,Premierement ſouz méme demouranceGens beſtiaulx, & par ferocité, &c.

Sur la harpe d’Orpheus.La force d’Eloquence.

Sur la harpe d’Orpheus.

La force d’Eloquence.

Coustau, 1560.

De ſon gentil & fort melodieuxD'vn inſtrument, Orpheus feit mouuoirRocs & patitz de leur places & lieux.C’eſt eloquence ayant force & pouuoirD’ẽbler les cueurs de tous part son ſçavoir;C’eſt l’orateur qui au fort d’eloquence,Premierement ſouz méme demouranceGens beſtiaulx, & par ferocité, &c.

De ſon gentil & fort melodieux

D'vn inſtrument, Orpheus feit mouuoir

Rocs & patitz de leur places & lieux.

C’eſt eloquence ayant force & pouuoir

D’ẽbler les cueurs de tous part son ſçavoir;

C’eſt l’orateur qui au fort d’eloquence,

Premierement ſouz méme demourance

Gens beſtiaulx, & par ferocité, &c.

“On the Harp of Orpheus.The Power of Eloquence.“With sound gentle and very melodiousOf an instrument Orpheus caused to moveRocks and pastures from their place and home.It is eloquence having force and powerTo steal the hearts of all his learning shows,It is the orator who by strength of eloquenceFirst brings even under influenceBrutal people, and from fiercenessGathers them; and who to benevolenceFrom fierceness then reclaims.

“On the Harp of Orpheus.The Power of Eloquence.

“On the Harp of Orpheus.

The Power of Eloquence.

“With sound gentle and very melodiousOf an instrument Orpheus caused to moveRocks and pastures from their place and home.It is eloquence having force and powerTo steal the hearts of all his learning shows,It is the orator who by strength of eloquenceFirst brings even under influenceBrutal people, and from fiercenessGathers them; and who to benevolenceFrom fierceness then reclaims.

“With sound gentle and very melodious

Of an instrument Orpheus caused to move

Rocks and pastures from their place and home.

It is eloquence having force and power

To steal the hearts of all his learning shows,

It is the orator who by strength of eloquence

First brings even under influence

Brutal people, and from fierceness

Gathers them; and who to benevolence

From fierceness then reclaims.

ANarration Philosophiquefollows for three pages, discoursing on the power of eloquence.

Musicæ, & Poeticæ vis,—“The force of Music and Poetry,”—occupies Reusner’s 21st Emblem (bk. iii. p. 129), oddly enough dedicated to a mathematician, David Nephelite. Whitney’s stanzas (p. 186),Orphei Musica,—“The Music of Orpheus,”—bear considerable resemblance to those of Reusner, and are sufficient for establishing the parallelism of Shakespeare and themselves.

“Lo, Orphevswith his harpe, that sauage kinde did tame:The Lions fierce, and Leopardes wilde, and birdes about him came.For, with his musicke sweete, their natures hee subdu’de:But if wee thinke his playe so wroughte, our selues wee doe delude.For why? besides his skill, hee learned was, and wise:And coulde with sweetenes of his tonge, all sortes of men suffice.And those that weare most rude, and knewe no good at all:And weare of fierce, and cruell mindes, the worlde did brutishe call.Yet with persuasions sounde, hee made their hartes relente,That meeke, and milde they did become, and followed where he wente.Lo, these, the Lions fierce, these, Beares, and Tigers weare:The trees, and rockes, that lefte their roomes, his musicke for to heare.But, you are happie most, who in suche place doe staye:You neede notThraciaseeke, to heare some impe ofOrphevsplaye.Since, that so neare your home, Apollos darlinge dwelles;WhoLinvs, &Amphionstaynes, andOrphevsfarre excelles.For, hartes like marble harde, his harmonie dothe pierce:And makes them yeelding passions feele, that are by nature fierce.But, if his musicke faile: his curtesie is suche,That none so rude, and base of minde, but hee reclaimes them muche.Nowe since you, by deserte, for both, commended are:I choose you, for a Iudge herein, if truthe I doe declare.And if you finde I doe, then ofte therefore reioyce:And thinke, I woulde suche neighbour haue, if I might make my choice.”

“Lo, Orphevswith his harpe, that sauage kinde did tame:

The Lions fierce, and Leopardes wilde, and birdes about him came.

For, with his musicke sweete, their natures hee subdu’de:

But if wee thinke his playe so wroughte, our selues wee doe delude.

For why? besides his skill, hee learned was, and wise:

And coulde with sweetenes of his tonge, all sortes of men suffice.

And those that weare most rude, and knewe no good at all:

And weare of fierce, and cruell mindes, the worlde did brutishe call.

Yet with persuasions sounde, hee made their hartes relente,

That meeke, and milde they did become, and followed where he wente.

Lo, these, the Lions fierce, these, Beares, and Tigers weare:

The trees, and rockes, that lefte their roomes, his musicke for to heare.

But, you are happie most, who in suche place doe staye:

You neede notThraciaseeke, to heare some impe ofOrphevsplaye.

Since, that so neare your home, Apollos darlinge dwelles;

WhoLinvs, &Amphionstaynes, andOrphevsfarre excelles.

For, hartes like marble harde, his harmonie dothe pierce:

And makes them yeelding passions feele, that are by nature fierce.

But, if his musicke faile: his curtesie is suche,

That none so rude, and base of minde, but hee reclaimes them muche.

Nowe since you, by deserte, for both, commended are:

I choose you, for a Iudge herein, if truthe I doe declare.

And if you finde I doe, then ofte therefore reioyce:

And thinke, I woulde suche neighbour haue, if I might make my choice.”

In a similar strain, from theMerchant of Venice(act v. sc. 1, l. 70, vol. ii. p. 361), we are told of the deep influence which music possesses over—

“a wild and wanton herdOr race of youthful and unhandled colts.”

“a wild and wanton herd

Or race of youthful and unhandled colts.”

The poet declares,—

“If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound,Or any air of music touch their ears,You shall perceive them make a mutual stand,Their savage eyes turn’d to a modest gazeBy the sweet power of music: therefore the poet[134]Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones and floods;Since nought so stockish, hard and full of rage,But music for the time doth change his nature.The man that hath no music in himself,Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils:The motions of his spirit are dull as night,And his affections dark as Erebus:Let no such man be trusted.”

“If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound,

Or any air of music touch their ears,

You shall perceive them make a mutual stand,

Their savage eyes turn’d to a modest gaze

By the sweet power of music: therefore the poet[134]

Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones and floods;

Since nought so stockish, hard and full of rage,

But music for the time doth change his nature.

The man that hath no music in himself,

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,

Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils:

The motions of his spirit are dull as night,

And his affections dark as Erebus:

Let no such man be trusted.”

And in theTwo Gentlemen of Verona(act iii. sc. 2, l. 68, vol. i. p. 129), the method is developed by which Silvia, through the conversation of Proteus, may be tempered “to hate young Valentine” and Thurio love. Proteus says,—

“You must lay lime to tangle her desiresBy wailful sonnets, whose composed rhymesShould be full-fraught with serviceable vows.Duke.Ay,Much is the force of heaven-bred poesy.Pro.Say that upon the altar of her beautyYou sacrifice your tears, your sighs, your heart:Write till your ink be dry, and with your tearsMoist it again; and frame some feeling lineThat may discover such integrity:For Orpheus’ lute was strung with poets’ sinews;Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones.Make tigers tame, and huge leviathansForsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands.”[135]

“You must lay lime to tangle her desires

By wailful sonnets, whose composed rhymes

Should be full-fraught with serviceable vows.

Duke.Ay,

Much is the force of heaven-bred poesy.

Pro.Say that upon the altar of her beauty

You sacrifice your tears, your sighs, your heart:

Write till your ink be dry, and with your tears

Moist it again; and frame some feeling line

That may discover such integrity:

For Orpheus’ lute was strung with poets’ sinews;

Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones.

Make tigers tame, and huge leviathans

Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands.”[135]

Again, in proof of Music’s power, consultHenry VIII.(act iii. sc. 1, l. 1, vol. vi. p. 56), when Queen Katharine, in her sorrowfulness, says to one of her women who were at work around her,—

“Take thy lute, wench: my soul grows sad with troubles;Sing and disperse ’em if thou canst: leave working.”

“Take thy lute, wench: my soul grows sad with troubles;

Sing and disperse ’em if thou canst: leave working.”

The sweet simple song is raised,—

“Orpheus with his lute made treesAnd the mountain tops that freeze,Bow themselves when he did sing:To his music plants and flowersEver sprung, as sun and showersThere had made a lasting spring.Everything that heard him play,Even the billows of the sea,Hung their heads, and then lay by.In sweet music is such art,Killing care and grief of heartFall asleep, or hearing die.”

“Orpheus with his lute made treesAnd the mountain tops that freeze,Bow themselves when he did sing:To his music plants and flowersEver sprung, as sun and showersThere had made a lasting spring.

“Orpheus with his lute made trees

And the mountain tops that freeze,

Bow themselves when he did sing:

To his music plants and flowers

Ever sprung, as sun and showers

There had made a lasting spring.

Everything that heard him play,Even the billows of the sea,Hung their heads, and then lay by.In sweet music is such art,Killing care and grief of heartFall asleep, or hearing die.”

Everything that heard him play,

Even the billows of the sea,

Hung their heads, and then lay by.

In sweet music is such art,

Killing care and grief of heart

Fall asleep, or hearing die.”

How splendidly does the dramatic poet’s genius here shine forth! It pours light upon each Emblem, and calls into day the hidden glories. His spirit breathes upon a dead picture, and rivalling Orpheus himself, he makes the images breathe and glance and live.

The mythic tale of Actæon transformed into a stag, and hunted by hounds because of his rudeness to Diana and hernymphs, was used to point the moral of widely different subjects. Alciatus (Emb. 52, ed. 1551, p. 60) applies it “to the harbourers of assassins” and makes it the occasion of a very true but very severe reflection.

Alciat, 1551.

“Of thieves and robbers evil-omen’d bands the city throughGo thy companions; and a cohort girded with dreadful swords.And so, O prodigal, thou thinkest thyself of generous mind,Because thy cooking pot allures very many of the bad ones.Lo, a new Actæon, who after he assumed the horns,Himself gave himself a prey to his own dogs.”

“Of thieves and robbers evil-omen’d bands the city through

Go thy companions; and a cohort girded with dreadful swords.

And so, O prodigal, thou thinkest thyself of generous mind,

Because thy cooking pot allures very many of the bad ones.

Lo, a new Actæon, who after he assumed the horns,

Himself gave himself a prey to his own dogs.”

The device is graphically drawn: Actæon is in part embruted; he is fleeing with the dogs close upon him. Supposing Shakespeare to have seen this print, it represents to the life Pistol’s words in theMerry Wives of Windsor(act ii. sc. 1, l. 106, vol. i. p. 186),—

“Prevent, or go thou,Like Sir Actæon he, with Ringwood at thy heels.”

“Prevent, or go thou,

Like Sir Actæon he, with Ringwood at thy heels.”

“Ex domino servus,”—The slave out of the master,—is another saying which the tale of Actæon has illustrated. The application is from Aneau’s“Picta Poesis,”fol. 41. On the left hand of the tiny drawing are Diana and her nymphs, busied in the bath, beneath the shelter of an overhanging cliff,—on the right is Actæon, motionless, with a stag’s head; dogs are around him. The verses translated read thus,—

“Horns being bestowed upon Actæon when changed to a stag,Member by member his own dogs tore him to pieces.Alas! wretched the Master who feeds wasteful parasites;A ready prepared prey he is for his fawning dogs!It suggests, he is mocked by them and devoured,And out of a master is made a slave, bearing horns.”

“Horns being bestowed upon Actæon when changed to a stag,

Member by member his own dogs tore him to pieces.

Alas! wretched the Master who feeds wasteful parasites;

A ready prepared prey he is for his fawning dogs!

It suggests, he is mocked by them and devoured,

And out of a master is made a slave, bearing horns.”

But Sambucus in hisEmblems(edition 1564, p. 128), and Whitney after him (p. 15)—making use of the same woodcut, only with a different border—adapt the Actæon-tragedy to another subject and moral, and take the words,Pleasure purchased by anguish.

Voluptas ærumnoſa.Sambucus, 1564.

Voluptas ærumnoſa.

Sambucus, 1564.

Qvinimis exercet venatus, ac ſine fineHaurit opes patrias, prodigit inque canes:Tantus amor vani, tantus furor vſque recurſat,Induat ut celeris cornua bina feræ.Accidit Actæon tibi, qui cornutus ab ortu,À canibus propriis dilaceratus eras.Quàm multos hodie, quos paſcit odora canum vis.Venandi ſtudium conficit, atque vorat.Seria ne ludis poſtponas, commoda damnis,Quod ſupereſt rerum ſic ut egenus habe.Sæpe etiam propria qui interdum vxore relictaDeperit externas corniger iſta luit.

Qvinimis exercet venatus, ac ſine fine

Haurit opes patrias, prodigit inque canes:

Tantus amor vani, tantus furor vſque recurſat,

Induat ut celeris cornua bina feræ.

Accidit Actæon tibi, qui cornutus ab ortu,

À canibus propriis dilaceratus eras.

Quàm multos hodie, quos paſcit odora canum vis.

Venandi ſtudium conficit, atque vorat.

Seria ne ludis poſtponas, commoda damnis,

Quod ſupereſt rerum ſic ut egenus habe.

Sæpe etiam propria qui interdum vxore relicta

Deperit externas corniger iſta luit.

Stanzas which may thus be rendered,—

“Whoever too eagerly hunting pursues, and without moderationDrains paternal treasures and lavishes them on dogs:So great the love of the folly, so strong does the passion returnThat it clothes him in the twin horns of the swift stag.It happened, Actæon, to thee, who though horned from thy birth,By thy own dogs into pieces wast torn.At this day how many, whom the dogs’ quick scent delights,The strong passion for hunting wastes and devours.Put not off serious things for sports,—advantages for losses:As one in need so hold fast whatever things remain:Often even the horn bearer, his own wife forsaken,Loves desperately strangers, and pays penalties for crimes.”

“Whoever too eagerly hunting pursues, and without moderation

Drains paternal treasures and lavishes them on dogs:

So great the love of the folly, so strong does the passion return

That it clothes him in the twin horns of the swift stag.

It happened, Actæon, to thee, who though horned from thy birth,

By thy own dogs into pieces wast torn.

At this day how many, whom the dogs’ quick scent delights,

The strong passion for hunting wastes and devours.

Put not off serious things for sports,—advantages for losses:

As one in need so hold fast whatever things remain:

Often even the horn bearer, his own wife forsaken,

Loves desperately strangers, and pays penalties for crimes.”

We here see that Sambucus has adopted the theory of the old grammarian or historian of Alexandria, Palæphatus, who informs us,—

“Actæon by race was an Arcadian, very fond of dogs. Many of them he kept, and hunted in the mountains. But he neglected his own affairs, for men then were all self-workers; they had no servants, but themselves tilled the earth; and that man was the richest, who tilled the earth and was the most diligent workman. But Actæon being careless of domestic affairs, and rather going about hunting with his dogs, his substance was wasted. And when he had nothing left, people kept saying: the wretched Actæon was eaten up by his own dogs.”

A very instructive tale this for some of our Nimrods, mighty hunters and racers in the land; but it is not to be pressed too strictly into the service of the parsimonious.

From the same motto Whitney (p. 15) keeps much closer to the mythological narrative,[136]—

“Actæon heare, vnhappie man behoulde,When in the well, hee sawe Diana brighte,With greedie lookes, hee waxed ouer boulde,That to a stagge hee was transformed righte,Whereat amasde, hee thought to runne awaie,But straighte his howndes did rente hym, for their praie.By which is ment, That those whoe do pursueTheire fancies fonde, and thinges vnlawfull craue,Like brutishe beastes appeare vnto the viewe,And shall at lengthe, Actæons guerdon haue:And as his houndes, soe theire affections base,Shall them deuowre, and all their deedes deface.”

“Actæon heare, vnhappie man behoulde,

When in the well, hee sawe Diana brighte,

With greedie lookes, hee waxed ouer boulde,

That to a stagge hee was transformed righte,

Whereat amasde, hee thought to runne awaie,

But straighte his howndes did rente hym, for their praie.

By which is ment, That those whoe do pursueTheire fancies fonde, and thinges vnlawfull craue,Like brutishe beastes appeare vnto the viewe,And shall at lengthe, Actæons guerdon haue:And as his houndes, soe theire affections base,Shall them deuowre, and all their deedes deface.”

By which is ment, That those whoe do pursue

Theire fancies fonde, and thinges vnlawfull craue,

Like brutishe beastes appeare vnto the viewe,

And shall at lengthe, Actæons guerdon haue:

And as his houndes, soe theire affections base,

Shall them deuowre, and all their deedes deface.”

Very beautifully, inTwelfth Night(act i. sc. 1, l. 9, vol. iii. p. 223), is this idea applied by Orsino, duke of Illyria,—

“O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou!That, notwithstanding thy capacityReceiveth as the sea, nought enters there,Of what validity and pitch soe’er,But falls into abatement and low price,Even in a minute! so full of shapes is fancyThat it alone is high fantastical.Cur.Will you go hunt, my lord?Duke.What, Curio?Cur.The hart.Duke.Why, so I do, the noblest that I have:O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,Methought she purged the air of pestilence!That instant was I turn’d into a hart;And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds,E’er since pursue me.”

“O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou!

That, notwithstanding thy capacity

Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,

Of what validity and pitch soe’er,

But falls into abatement and low price,

Even in a minute! so full of shapes is fancy

That it alone is high fantastical.

Cur.Will you go hunt, my lord?

Duke.What, Curio?

Cur.The hart.

Duke.Why, so I do, the noblest that I have:

O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,

Methought she purged the air of pestilence!

That instant was I turn’d into a hart;

And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds,

E’er since pursue me.”

The full force and meaning of the mythological tale is, however, brought out in theTitus Andronicus(act ii. sc. 3, l. 55, vol. vi. p. 459), that fearful history of passion and revenge. Tamora is in the forest, and Bassianus and Lavinia make their appearance,—

“Bass.Who have we here? Rome’s royal empress,Unfurnish’d of her well-beseeming troop?Or is it Dian, habited like her,Who hath abandoned her holy groves,To see the general hunting in this forest?Tam.Saucy controller of my private steps!Had I the power that some say Dian had,Thy temples should be planted presentlyWith horns, as was Actæon’s, and the houndsShould drive upon thy new-transformed limbs,Unmannerly intruder as thou art!”

“Bass.Who have we here? Rome’s royal empress,

Unfurnish’d of her well-beseeming troop?

Or is it Dian, habited like her,

Who hath abandoned her holy groves,

To see the general hunting in this forest?

Tam.Saucy controller of my private steps!

Had I the power that some say Dian had,

Thy temples should be planted presently

With horns, as was Actæon’s, and the hounds

Should drive upon thy new-transformed limbs,

Unmannerly intruder as thou art!”

Arion rescued by the Dolphin is another mythic tale in which poets may well delight. Alciatus (Emblem 89, edition 1581), directs the moral, “against the avaricious, or those to whom a better condition is offered by strangers.” Contrary to the French writers of time and place, the emblem presents in the samedevice the harpist both cast out of the ship and riding triumphantly to the shore.

In auaros, vel quibus melior conditio abextraneis offertur.Emblema LXXXIX.Alciat, 1581.

In auaros, vel quibus melior conditio abextraneis offertur.Emblema LXXXIX.

In auaros, vel quibus melior conditio ab

extraneis offertur.

Emblema LXXXIX.

Alciat, 1581.

Delphiniinſidens vada cærula ſulcat Arion,Hocʠ3aures mulcet, frenat & ora ſono.Quàm ſit auari hominis, non tam mens dira ſerarũ est;Quiʠ3viris rapimur, piſcibus eripimur.

Delphiniinſidens vada cærula ſulcat Arion,

Hocʠ3aures mulcet, frenat & ora ſono.

Quàm ſit auari hominis, non tam mens dira ſerarũ est;

Quiʠ3viris rapimur, piſcibus eripimur.

i.e.

“On the dolphin sitting Arion ploughs cerulean seas,With a sound he soothes the ears, with a sound curbs the mouth.Of wild creatures not so dreadful is the mind, as of greedy man;We who by men are pillaged, are by fishes rescued.”

“On the dolphin sitting Arion ploughs cerulean seas,

With a sound he soothes the ears, with a sound curbs the mouth.

Of wild creatures not so dreadful is the mind, as of greedy man;

We who by men are pillaged, are by fishes rescued.”

With this thought before him Whitney (p. 144) at the head of his stanzas has placed the strong expression, “Man is a wolf to man.”[137]Cave canem,—“Beware of the dog,”—is certainly a far more kindly warning; but the motto,Homo homini lupus, tallies exactly with the conduct of the mariners.

“Nomortall foe so full of poysoned spite,As man, to man, when mischiefe he pretendes:The monsters huge, as diuers aucthors write,Yea Lions wilde, and fishes weare his frendes:And when their deathe, by frendes suppos’d was sought,They kindnesse shew’d, and them from daunger brought.Arionlo, who gained store of goulde,In countries farre: with harpe, and pleasant voice:Did shipping take, and toCorinthvswoulde,And to his wishe, of pilottes made his choise:Who rob’d the man, and threwe him to the sea,A Dolphin, lo, did beare him safe awaie.”

“Nomortall foe so full of poysoned spite,

As man, to man, when mischiefe he pretendes:

The monsters huge, as diuers aucthors write,

Yea Lions wilde, and fishes weare his frendes:

And when their deathe, by frendes suppos’d was sought,

They kindnesse shew’d, and them from daunger brought.

Arionlo, who gained store of goulde,In countries farre: with harpe, and pleasant voice:Did shipping take, and toCorinthvswoulde,And to his wishe, of pilottes made his choise:Who rob’d the man, and threwe him to the sea,A Dolphin, lo, did beare him safe awaie.”

Arionlo, who gained store of goulde,

In countries farre: with harpe, and pleasant voice:

Did shipping take, and toCorinthvswoulde,

And to his wishe, of pilottes made his choise:

Who rob’d the man, and threwe him to the sea,

A Dolphin, lo, did beare him safe awaie.”

A comment from St. Chrysostom,super Matth.xxii., is added,—

“As a king is honoured in his image, so God is loved and hated in man. He cannot hate man, who loves God, nor can he, who hates God, love men.”

Reference is also made to Aulus Gellius (bk. v. c. 14, vol. i. p. 408), where the delightful story is narrated of the slave Androclus and the huge lion whose wounded foot he had cured, and with whom he lived familiarly for three years in the same cave and on the same food. After a time the slave was taken and condemned to furnish sport in the circus to the degraded Romans. That same lion also had been taken, a beast of vast size, and power and fierceness. The two were confronted in the arena.

“When the lion saw the man at a distance,” says the narrator, “suddenly, as if wondering, he stood still; and then gently and placidly as if recognising drew near. With the manner and observance of fawning dogs, softly and blandly he wagged his tail and placed himself close to the man’s body, and lightly with his tongue licked the legs and hands of the slave almost lifeless from fear. The man Androclus during these blandishments of thefierce wild creature recovered his lost spirits; by degrees he directed his eyes to behold the lion. Then, as if mutual recognition had been made, man and lion appeared glad and rejoicing one with the other.”

Was it now, from having this tale in mind that, in theTroilus and Cressida(act v. sc. 3, l. 37, vol. vi. p. 247), these words were spoken to Hector?—

“Brother, you have a vice of mercy in you,Which better fits a lion than a man.”

“Brother, you have a vice of mercy in you,

Which better fits a lion than a man.”

Arion sauué par vn Dauphin, is also the subject of a well executed device in the “ΜΙΚΡΟΚΟΣΜΟΣ” (edition Antwerp, 1592),[138]of which we give the French version (p. 64),—

“Arion retournant par mer en sa patrieChargé de quelque argẽt, vid que les mariniersAniméz contre luy d’une auare furiePretendoyent luy oster sa vie & ses deniers.Pour eschapper leurs mains & changer leur courage,Sur la harpe il chanta vn chant melodieuxMais il ne peut fleschir la nature sauuageDe ces cruels larrons & meurtriers furieux.Estant par eux ietté deans la mere profonde,Vn Dauphin attiré au son de l’instrument,Le chargea sur son dos, & au trauers de l’ondeLe portant, le sauua miraculeusement.Maintes fois l’innocent à qui on fait offenseTrouue plus de faueur es bestes qu’es humains:Dieu qui aime les bons les prend en sa defense,Les gardant de l’effort des hommes inhumains.”

“Arion retournant par mer en sa patrieChargé de quelque argẽt, vid que les mariniersAniméz contre luy d’une auare furiePretendoyent luy oster sa vie & ses deniers.

“Arion retournant par mer en sa patrie

Chargé de quelque argẽt, vid que les mariniers

Animéz contre luy d’une auare furie

Pretendoyent luy oster sa vie & ses deniers.

Pour eschapper leurs mains & changer leur courage,Sur la harpe il chanta vn chant melodieuxMais il ne peut fleschir la nature sauuageDe ces cruels larrons & meurtriers furieux.

Pour eschapper leurs mains & changer leur courage,

Sur la harpe il chanta vn chant melodieux

Mais il ne peut fleschir la nature sauuage

De ces cruels larrons & meurtriers furieux.

Estant par eux ietté deans la mere profonde,Vn Dauphin attiré au son de l’instrument,Le chargea sur son dos, & au trauers de l’ondeLe portant, le sauua miraculeusement.

Estant par eux ietté deans la mere profonde,

Vn Dauphin attiré au son de l’instrument,

Le chargea sur son dos, & au trauers de l’onde

Le portant, le sauua miraculeusement.

Maintes fois l’innocent à qui on fait offenseTrouue plus de faueur es bestes qu’es humains:Dieu qui aime les bons les prend en sa defense,Les gardant de l’effort des hommes inhumains.”

Maintes fois l’innocent à qui on fait offense

Trouue plus de faueur es bestes qu’es humains:

Dieu qui aime les bons les prend en sa defense,

Les gardant de l’effort des hommes inhumains.”

To the Emblems we have under consideration we meet with this coincidence inTwelfth Night(act i. sc. 2, l. 10, vol. iii. p. 225); it is the Captain’s assurance to Viola,—

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