praise I pardon crave it shall suffice If Reader thou do not my Verse despise Yet in the front these verses placed be If with thy liking it at least agree Who meets this Orphan Volume poor in worth Within your City harborage afford To win more favour not by him set forth But ravish'h from the funeral of his Lord. This therefore which presents its own defect At pleasure with a friendly hand correct ELEGIE VII To his unconstant friend whose love He findes doth now unconstant prove And like a Glow-worm seems to shine But yields no heat in hardest time LEt Rivers now flow back unto their Spring And let the Sun from West his course begin The earth shall now with shining stars be fill'd The skies unto the furrowing plough shall yield The water shall send forth a smoaking flame The fire shall yield forth water back again All things shall go against old natures force And no part of the world shall keep his course This I presage because I am deceiv'd Of him whose love most faithful I believ'd What made thy hollow thoughts so soon reject me What did'st thou fear when fortune did afflict me That thou would'st never comfort me at all Or mourn at my living Funeral That name of friendship which should holy be Is not esteem'd or reckon'd of by thee What had it been to have seen a maim'd friend And with the rest some words of comfort lend And if no tears for me thou couldst have shed With fained pitty might'st have something sed Thou might'st have done as some who I ne're knew And in the common voice have bid adiew And lastly while thou mightest take the pain To see my face ne're to be seen again And might'st have then which ne're shall more befall Give and receive a farewel last of all Which others did whom no strict league did binde And made their tears the witness of their minde For were not we in love joyn'd each to other By length of time and living both together My business and my sports were known to thee And so were thy affairs well known to me Did not I know thee well at Rome of late Whom I for mirth-sake did associate Are these things vanisht into empty wind Drown'd in the Lethe of a faithless mind I do not think that thou wert born at Rome Whither alas I never more shall come But on some Rock here in the Pontick land Or Scythian Mountains that so wildly stand And veins of flint are every where disperst In slender branches through thy Iron brest And sure thy Nurse some cruel Tiger was Who gave thee suck as she along did pass Else thou hadst made my grief by application Thy own nor wouldst thou need this accusation But since to encrease the burthen of my grief My first of miseries found such poor relief Repair this breach of love that in the end Thy now complain'd of love I may commend ELEGIE VIII He shews his friend that vulgar love Is fortunes shadow and doth move With it then does congratulate His worth deserving better fate MAist thou live happy even till thou dye Who readst this work here with a friendly eye And may my prayers unto the Gods nor fail For thee which for my self did ne're prevail While thou art fortunate thou shalt have friends But in adversity their friendship ends Thou see'st how Doves to new built houses come While as the ruin'd Tower all birds do shun The empty Barns no vermine ever haunt And no friend comes to him that is in want While the Sun shines our shadows then will stay But when o're-cast it vanishes away So do the people follow fortunes light Which clouded once they vanish out of sight But may these truths to thee most false still seem Which by my ill chance have confirmed been A great resort of friends unto me came While I kept up my well-known house and name But when it fell my ruine they did shun And all at once to fly from me begun Nor do I wonder if they thunder fear That blasteth every thing it cometh near Yet a friend constant in adversity Caesar approves even in his enemy Nor is he wont to be displeas'd to see Those that have loved once still friends should be Even Troas when that he Orestes knew Did praise that love which Pylades did shew And that Patroclus was Achilles friend Though in his foe brave Hector doth commend When Theseus went down with his friend to Hell Pluto was griev'd to see them love so well And Turnus did with tears commiserate Euryalus and Nisus dismal fate Friendship is in an enemy approv'd Yet how few with these words of mine are mov'd For such my state of fortune now appears I ought to keep no measure in my tears Yet though my own times are unfotunate They are made more clear even by thy better fate I saw dear friend that this to thee would come When a less wind did drive thy ship along If spotlesse life deserve to be esteem'd No man deserveth more to be esteem'd If liberal Arts can any man advance Thou mak'st each cause good by thy eloquence And mov'd herewith I do to thee presage A glorious Scene upon the worldly stage Not thunder told me this nor yet the sight Of sheeps entrails nor birds voyce or flight Reason did me this augury afford When as I saw thy mind with vertue stor'd And now do gratulate this my divination In that thy venues have such publication Would I had kept in darknesse out of sight My studies which I wish had ne're known light For as thy fame from eloquence doth grow So from my verse my ruine first did flow Thou know'st my life and how I did abstain From those same Arts of Love which I did frame Thou know'st I writ it in my younger daies In jesting manner not to merit praise Though I dare nothing urge in my defence I think I may excuse my late offence Excuse me then nor e're forsake thy friend But as thou hast begun so also end ELEGIE IX Ovid here his ship doth praise That carried him through many Seas YEllow Minerva doth my ship maintan Which of her painted Helmet bears the name For with the least wind she will nimbly sail And go with Oars when as the wind doth fail She will out-sail her company out-right And fetch up any ship that is in sight She can endure the waves which on her bear Yet will she never open any leake I boarded her in the Corinthian bay From whence she stoutly brought me on my way By Pallas help by whom she was protected Through many dangerous seas she was directed And may she now cut through the Pontick strand And bring me safely to the Getick Land Who when that she had carryed me at last Through the Ionian Seas when we had past Along those coasts we stood to the left hand And so we came unto the Imbrian Land Then with a gentle wind she sailed on And touch'd at
and take some thunder back again Enough of punishment will still remain Thy wrath is milde thou grantest me to live And the right of a Citizen to me didst give Nor was my substance given away and than Thy Edicts calls me not a banisht man All which I fear'd cause I did thee incense But thy wrath was more milde than my offence To banish me to Pontus thou didst please While that my Ship did cut the Scythian Seas Thus sent at the Euxine shores I landed straight Which under the cold Pole are scituate Nor with the cold aire here more vex'd am I Nor hoary frost which on the clods doth lie Or that they are ignorant of the Latin tongue And Graecian speech by Getick is o'rcome As that I am encompass'd round with war So that within the walls we scarce safe are Sometimes there 's peace but yet no trust therein We fear the wars until the wars begin So I remove may Charibdis me devour And send me down unto the Stygian power In Aetna's scorching flame I 'le burn with ease Or be thrown into the Leucadian seas For to be miserable I do not refuse But yet a safer misery I would chuse ELEGIE III. To Bacchus that he would but speak To Caesar and for him entreat BAcchus this day the Poets keep to thee If in the time I not deceived be Tying sweet garlands round about their head While much in praise of wine by them is said Mongst whom while I was suffered by my fate I made up one whom thou didst not then hate But now plac'd under the stars of the Bear Sarmatia holds me to the Getes so near I that did lead a life from labour free In my study or in the Muses company Now Geticks weapons lash on every hand Having suffered much before by sea and land Whether fate or angry Gods did this assign Or that the Parcae frown'd at my birth time Yet by thy power thou shouldst have helped me One of the adorers of thy live tree Or can no God ever alter that decree Which once the fatal Ladys Prophesie Thou by desert in Heaven a seat dost hold And mad'st thy way through labours manifold Nor did thy Country always thee contain But to the Geles and snowy Strymon came To Persis and to Ganges wandring stream And all those waters Indians drink unclean The Parcae that the fatal threads do spin To thee twice born twice this decree did sing If I by the Example of the Gods may go A hard estate of life doth keep me low And in as heavy a manner as he fell Whom Jove for bragging did from Thebes expel When thou heardst thy Poet was thus thunder-struck For thy mothers sake some grief thou mightst have took And looking on thy Poets might'st say thus One here is wanting that much honour'd us Help Bacchus and may so a double vine Burden the Elme the grapes being full of wine So may the Bacchae with the Satyres be Ready to make an amazed cry to thee And may Lycurgus bones be hardly prest And Pentheus ghost from torment never rest So may thy wives clear crown within the sky Shine ever and excel those stars are nigh Come hither and help me in my sad estate Remember I was one of thine of late The gods have one society strive to encline Great Caesar's power by that same power of thine And you Poets that my fellow students be Take wine and after pray the same for me And let some of you when Ovids name he hears Set down the cup and mingle it with tears Saying when he doth all the rest espy Where 's Ovid once one of our company Do this if my candour did deserve your love Or if I ne're did any line reprove If while I reverence former men that writ I am held equal not beneath in wit If with Apollo's favour you would frame A verse then keep among you still my name ELEGIE VI. This Letter here doth well descry Ovid's grief and misery And it praiseth much a friend That was constant to the end I Ouids Letter from the Euxine Land Am come being tyred both by sea and land Who weeping said go thou and visit Rome Thy state is better than my fatal doom Weeping he writ me nor at his mouth would wet The seal which to his moist cheeks he did set If any one my cause of grief would know He wishes I the summ to him should show He sees no leaves in woods in fields no grass Nor how the water in full streams doth pass He may ask why Priam griev'd for Hectors sake Why Philoctetes groan'd stung by a Snake Would the Gods would put him into such a state That he should have no cause to wail his fate Yet as he ought he endures his miserys Nor like a wild horse from his bridle flys He hopes that Caesars wrath will not still last Knowing no wickedness in his faults that 's past He calls to mind great Caesar's clemency Which by himself he doth exemplifie For that he keeps his wealth and still doth live And is a Citizen all this be doth give Yet thee if thou believ'st me he doth beare Always in mind and above all things dear His Patroclus and Pylades thou shalt be His Theseus and Euryalus he calls thee Nor doth he wish his Country more to see And those things which with it now absent be Than to see thy face than hony sweeter still With which the Attick Bee the Hive doth fill Oft being sad the time to mind he doth call And grives that death did not prevent his fall When some my sudden misery did shun Nor to the threshold of my house would come He remembers thou most faithful didst remain If any two or three a few do name And though amazed he did then perceive That thou as much as he himself didst grieve Thy words and sighs he usually declares And how his bosome was wet with thy tears Of which he says he will be mindful ever Whether he see day or the earth him cover He would swear ever by his head and thine Which as his own he esteemed ac that time He shall return thy love full thanks again Nor shall thy Oxen plough the shoare in vain Defend a banish'd man I ask what he Himself doth not ask that hath well known thee ELEGIE V. Hit Wives birth he doth celebrate And prays she may be fortunate MY Wives birth-day due honour doth expect My hands do not those holy rites neglect Thus Ulysses in the farthest part of all The world did keep a solemn festival Let now my tongue forget past griefs again Which I fear hath forgot good words to frame That garment which I once a year do take I 'le near being white and unlike to my fate And a green Altar shall of turf be made And a garland round about the Altar laid Boy give me incense making a fat flame And wine that in the fire may hiss again Birth-day I wish that thou may
offended Caesars Majesty ELEGIE XI To his wise ' cause some did her defame And call her wife to a banish'd man THy Letter which thou sendst me doth complain That some one call'd thee wise to a banisht man I griev'd not that my life is ill spoke by Who now have us'd to suffer valiantly But that I am a cause of shame to thee And I think thou blushest at my misery Endure thou hast suffered more even for my sake When the Princes wrath me from thee first did take He 's deceiv'd who calleth me a banish'd man My fault a gentler punishment did attain Our ship though broke is not o'rewhelm'd or drown'd It bears up still though it no Port hath found My life my wealth my right he doth not take Which I deserv'd to lose for my faults sake To offend him was a punishment far more I wish my funeral hour had gone before But because no wickedness was in my fault To banish me he only fittest thought As to those whose numbers cannot reckon'd be So Caesar's Majesty was milde to me Therefore my verses by right as they may O Caesar do sing forth thy praise alway I beseech the Gods to shut up Heavens Gate And let thee be a God on earth in state But thou that call'st me thus a banisht man Encrease not my sorrow with a feigned name ELEGIE XII To his friend who wish'd him to delight Himself while he did verses write THou writ'st that I should pass the time away With study lest my mind with rust decay 'T is hard my friend verse is a merry taske And it a quiet mind doth always aske Our fate is droven by an adverse wind No chance more sad than mine can be assign'd Thou wouldst have Priam at his sons death jest And Niobe dance as it were at a feast Ought I to study or else to lament That alone unto the farthest Getes am sent Give me a breast with so much strength sustain'd Such as Anytus had as it is fam'd So great a weight would sink his wit at length Joves anger is above all human strength That old man which Apollo wise did call In such a case would not have wit at all Though I forget my Country and my self And have no sense at all of my lost wealth To do my office fear doth me forbid Being compass'd in with foes on every side Besides my vein grows dull being rusted o're And now it is far lesser than before The field if that it be not daily till'd Will nothing else but thornes and knot-grass yield The Horse having long stood still will badly run And be last of those that from the Lists do come The boat that hath long out of water been Grows rotten and the chinks thereof are seen Then hope not I that had an humble vein Can e're return like to my self again My wit by my long suffering is decay'd And part of my former vigour now doth fade Sometimes my Tables in my hand I take And I my words to run in feet would make I can write no verses but such as you see Fitting the place and their Authours misery And lastly glory gives strength to a strain And love of praise doth make a fruitful vein I was allur'd with hope of fame before While as a prosperous wind my sails out bore But now in glory I take not delight I had rather be unknown if that I might Because that some my verse at first did like Would'st thou have me therefore proceed to write May I speak it with your leave you sisters nine You chiefly caus'd this banishment of mine As the maker of the Bull in it did smart So I am also punish'd by my Art And now with verse I ought for to have done And being shipwrack'd I the sea should shun Suppose that study I should again assay This place is unfit for verses any way Here are no books nor none to lend an ear Nor none can understand me if they hear All places here both rude and wilde are found And filled with the fearful Getick sound I have forgot in Latine for to speak And I have learnt the language of the Gete Yet to speak truth I cannot so restrain My Muse but sometime she a verse will frame I write and then I burn those books again And thus my study endeth in a flame I cannot make a verse nor do desire Which makes me put my labour in the fire No part of my invention to you came But that which was stole or snatch'd from the flame And would that Art too had been burnt for me Which brought the Authour unto misery ELEGIE XIII Here he doth accuse his friend Because he did no letters send FRom the Gettick Land thy Ovid sends thee heath If one can send what he doth want himself For my mind from my body infected is Lest my part of me should torment miss A pain in my side me many days doth hold Which I had gotten by the winters cold If thou art well then we in part are well For thou didst under-prop me when I fell Thou gav'st me many pledges of thy heart And did'st defend me still in every part 'T is thy fault that Letters thou dost seldome send Thou performed'st deeds deny'st words to thy friend Pray mend this fault which if you shall correct In thee alone there will be no defect I would accuse thee more but it may be Thy Letter being sent came not to me May this complaint of mine seem rash and hot May I falsely think that thou hast me forgot Which as I pray for I am sure to find For I can ne're believe thou hast chang'd thy mind Gray worm-wood shall in the cold sea be scant And Sycilian Hybla shall sweet hony want E're thou in remembring of thy friend grow slack The threds sure of my fate are not so black And that thou may'st avoid so foule a crime What thou art not beware thou do not seem And as we were wont to pass the time away With some discourse till we had spent the day Let Letters carry and fetch back our words While hands and paper tongues to us affords But lest I seem too distrustful for to be And that these few lines may admonish thee Take my Farewel which word doth Letters end And may fortune better fates unto the send ELEGIE XIV Ovid shews his wife that she Shall by his books immortal be WHat a memorial my books give to thee Thou Wife more dearer than my self mai'st see Though fortune from their Authour do detract Yet by my wit thy fame shall be exact While I am read thy fame shall too be read Which cannot in the funeral fire lie dead And though thou seem'st unhappy by my fate Yet some shall wish to be in thy estate Who ' cause thou bearst part of my misery May call thee happy and may envie thee By giving riches thou no more hadst got Since the rich-mans ghost from hence doth carry nought But I have given thee fame that still shall last The greatest gift that I could give thou hast And ' cause thou dost defend me in my trouble This maketh honour come upon the double For that my voice doth ever mention thee Thy husbands love may still thy glory be And lest some call thee rash abide to the end Both me and thy faith see that thou defend For while we stood thou only didst maintain Thy goodness free from any fault or blame Which is not ruin'd by this fault of mine Thy vertue now may make thy works to shine 'T is easie to be good when we remove All occasions that may make wives not to love But in thunder if the shower she do not shun Such affection doth true marriage-love become Rare is that love which fortune doth not guide But when she flies away doth firm abide If vertue a reward to any be Shewing most courage in adversity Thy vertue in no age shall be conceal'd But through the world admired and reveal'd Thou seest Penelope doth still retain For constancy an unextinguish'd name Admetus and brave Hectors wife are sung And Hiphias wife that into fire did run The Phylacean wife by fame new life hath found Whose husband first set foot on Trojan ground I do not need thy death shew love to me And thence thou shalt get fame most easily Nor think I exhort thee cause that thou dost fail Though the ship go with oares we put on sail He that exhorts doth praise what thou dost do And by exhorting doth his liking show FINIS