SALMACIS AND HERMAPHRODITVS Salmacida spolia sine sanguine sudore Imprinted at London for Iohn Hodgets And are to be sold at his shop in Fleetestreet at the signe of the Flowre de Luce neere Fetter-lane 1602. To the true patronesse of all Poetrie CALIOPE IT is a statute in deepe wisdomes lore That for his lines none should a patrō chuse By wealth or pouerty by lesse or more But who the same is able to peruse Nor ought a man his labours dedicate Without a true and sensible desert To any power of such a mighty state And such a wise Defendresse as thou art Thou great and powerfull Muse then pardon mee That I presume thy Mayden-cheeke to stayne In dedicating such a worke to thee Sprung from the issue of an idle brayne I vse thee as a woman ought to bee I consecrate my idle howres to thee In laudem Authoris LIke to the weake estate of a poore friend To whom sweet fortune hath bene euer slow VVhich dayly doth that happy howre attend VVhen his poore state may his affection shew So fares my loue not able as the rest To chaunt thy prayses in a lofty vayne Yet my poore Muse doth vow to doe her best And wanting wings shee 'le tread an humble strayne I thought at first her homely steps to rayse And for some blazing Epithites to looke But then I fear'd that by such wondrous prayse Some men would grow suspicious of thy booke For hee that doth thy due deserts reherse Depriues that glory from thy worthy verse W. B. To the Authour EYther the goddesse drawes her troupe of loues From Paphos where she erst was held diuine And doth vnyoke her tender-necked Doues Placing her seat in this small papry shrine Or the sweet Graces through th'Idalian groue Led the blest Author in their daunced rings Or wanton Nymphs in watry bowres haue woue With fine Mylesian threds the verse he sings Or curious Pallas once againe doth striue With prowd Arachne for illustrious glory And once againe doth loues of gods reuiue Spinning in silken twists a lasting story If none of these then Venus chose his sight To leade the steps of her blind sonne aright I. B. To the Author THe matchlesse Lustre of faire poesie Which erst was bury'd in old Romes decayes Now 'gins with height of rising maiesty Her dust-wrapt head from rotten tombes to rayse And with fresh splendor gilds her toplesse crest Rearing her palace in our Poets brest The wanton Ouid whose inticing rimes Haue with attractiue wonder forc't attention No more shall be admir'd at for these times Produce a Poet whose more mouing passion VVill teare the loue-sick mirtle from his browes T' adorne his Temple with deserued bowes The strongest Marble feares the smallest rayne The rusting Canker eates the purest gold Honours best dye dreads enuies blackest stayne The crimson badge of beautie must waxe old But this faire issue of thy fruitfull brayne Nor dreads age enuie cankring rust or rayne A. F. The Author to the Reader I Sing the fortunes of a lucklesse payre Whose spotlesse soules now in one body be For beauty still is Prodromus to care Crost by the sad starres of natiuitie And of the strange inchauntment of a well Gi'n by the gods my sportiue Muse doth write Which sweet-lipt Ouid long agoe did tell Wherein who bathes strait turnes Hermaphrodite I hope my Poeme is so liuely writ That thou wilt turne halfe-mayd with reading it Salmacis and Hermaphroditus MY wanton lines doe treate of amorous loue Such as would bow the hearts of gods aboue Then Venus thou great Citherean Queene That hourely tripst on the Idalian greene Thou laughing Erycina daygne to see The verses wholly consecrate to thee Temper them so within thy Paphian shrine That euery Louers eye may melt a line Commaund the god of Loue that little King To giue each verse a sleight touch with his wing That as I write one line may draw the tother And euery word skip nimbly o're another There was a louely boy the Nymphs had kept That on the Idane mountaines oft had slept Begot and borne by powers that dwelt aboue By learned Mercury of the Queene of loue A face he had that shew'd his parents fame And from them both conioynd he drew his name So wondrous fayre he was that as they say Diana being hunting on a day Shee saw the boy vpon a greene banke lay him And there the virgin-huntresse meant to slay him Because no Nymphes did now pursue the chase For all were strooke blind with the wantons face But when that beauteous face Diana saw Her armes were nummed shee could not draw Yet did she striue to shoot but all in vaine Shee bent her bow and loos'd it streight againe Then she began to chide her wanton eye And fayne would shoot but durst not see him die She turnd and shot and did of purpose misse him Shee turnd againe and did of purpose kisse him Then the boy ran for some say had he stayd Diana had no longer bene a mayd Phoebus so doted on this rosiat face That he hath oft stole closely from his place When he did lie by fayre Leucothoes side To dally with him in the vales of Ide And euer since this louely boy did die Phoebus each day about the world doth flie And on the earth he seekes him all the day And euery night he seekes him in the sea His cheeke was sanguine and his lip as red As are the blushing leaues of the Rose spred And I haue heard that till this boy was borne Roses grew white vpon the virgin thorne Till one day walking to a pleasant spring To heare how cunningly the birds could sing Laying him downe vpon a flowry bed The Roses blush'd and turnd themselues to red The Rose that blush'd not for his great offence The gods did punish and for impudence They gaue this doome that was agreed by all The smell of the white Rose should be but small His haire was bushie but it was not long The Nymphs had done his tresses mighty wrong For as it grew they puld away his haire And made abilliments of gold to weare His eyes were Cupids for vntill his birth Cupid had eyes and liu'd vpon the earth Till on a day when the great Queene of loue Was by her white doues drawn frō heauen aboue Vnto the top of the Idalian hill To see how well the Nymphs their charge fulfill And whether they had done the goddesse right In nursing of her sweet Hermaphrodite VVhom when she saw although complete full Yet she complaynd his eyes were somewhat dull And therefore more the wanton boy to grace She puld the sparkling eyes from Cupids face Fayning a cause to take away his sight Because the Ape would sometimes shoot for spight But Venus set those eyes in such a place As grac't those cleare eyes with a clearer face For his white hand each goddesse did him woo For it was whiter then the driuen snow His
heauenly sight of the most beauteous boy That euer was The Nymph was pleas'd with this Hoping to reape some vnaccustom'd blisse By the sweet pleasure that she should enioy In the blest sight of such a melting boy Therefore at his request she did obtaine The burning wheeles that he had lost againe VVhich when he had receiu'd he left the land And brought them thither where his Coach did stand And there he set them on for all this space The horses had not stirr'd from out their place VVhich when he saw he wept and 'gan to say VVould Mercury had stole my wheeles away When Phaeton my hare-brain'd issue tride What a laborious thing it vvas to guide My burning chariot theÌ„ he might haue pleas'd me And of one fathers griefe he might haue eas'd me For then the Steeds would haue obayd his will Or else at least they would haue rested still When he had done he tooke his whip of steele Whose bitter smart he made his horses feele For he did lash so hard to end the day That he was quickly at the Westerne sea And there with Thaetis did he rest a space For he did neuer rest in any place Before that time but euer since his wheeles Were stole away his burning chariot reeles Tow'rds the declining of the parting day Therefore he lights and mends them in the sea And though the Poets fayne that Ioue did make A treble night for faire Alcmena's sake That he might sleepe securely with his loue Yet sure the long night was vnknowne to Ioue But the Sunnes wheeles one day disordred more Were thrise as long amending as before Now was the Sunne inuiron'd with the Sea Cooling his watrie tresses as he lay And in dread Neptunes kingdome while he sleeps Faire Thaetis clips him in the watry deeps The Mayre-maids and the Tritons of the West Strayning their voyces to make Titan rest And while the blacke night with her pitchie hand Tooke iust possession of the swarfie land He spent the darkesome howres in this delight Giuing his power vp to the gladsome night For ne're before he was so truely blest To take an houre or one poore minutes rest But now the burning god this pleasure feeles By reason of his newly crazed wheeles There must he stay vntill lame Vulcan send The fierie wheeles which he had tooke to mend Now al the night the Smith so hard had wrought That ere the Sunne could wake his wheeles were brought Titan being pleas'd with rest and not to rise And loth to open yet his slumbring eyes And yet perceiuing how the longing sight Of mortals wayted for his glittring light He sent Aurora from him to the skie To giue a glimsing to each mortall eye Aurora much asham'd of that same place That great Apollos light was wont to grace Finding no place to hide her shamefull head Paynted her chaste cheeks with a blushing red Which euer since remain'd vpon her face In token of her new receiu'd disgrace Therefore she not so white as she had beene Lothing of eu'ry mortall to be seene No sooner can the rosie fingred morne Kisse eu'ry flowre that by her dew is borne But from her golden window she doth peepe When the most part of earthly creatures sleepe By this bright Titan opened had his eyes And 'gan to ierke his horses through the skies And taking in his hand his fierie whip He made AEous and swift AEthon skip So fast that straight he dazled had the sight Of faire Aurora glad to see his light And now the Sunne in all his fierie haste Did call to mind his promise lately past And all the vowes and othes that he did passe Vnto faire Salmacis the beauteous lasse For he had promis'd her she should enioy So louely faire and such a well shap't boy As ne're before his owne all-seeing eye Saw from his bright seate in the starry skye Remembring this he sent the boy that way Where the cleare fountain of the fayre Nymph lay There was he comne to seeke some pleasing brooke No sooner came he but the Nymph was strooke And though she hasted to imbrace the boy Yet did the Nymph awhile deferre her ioy Till she had bound vp her loose flâ—gging haire And ordred well the garments she did weare Fayning her count'nance with a louers care And did deserue to be accounted fayre And thus much spake she while the boy abode O boy most worthy to be thought a god Thou mayst inhabit in the glorious place Of gods or maist proceed from humane race Thou mayst be Cupid or the god of wine That lately woo'd me with the swelling vine But whosoe're thou art O happy he That was so blest to be a sire to thee Thy happy mother is most blest of many Blessed thy sisters if her wombe bare any Both fortunate and O thrise happy shee Whose too much blessed brests gaue suck to thee If any wife with thy sweet bed be blest O she is farre more happy then the rest If thou hast any let my sport be sto'ne Or else let me be she if thou hast none Here did she pause awhile and then she sayd Be not obdurate to a silly mayd A flinty heart within a snowy brest Is like base mold lockt in a golden chest They say the eye 's the Index of the heart And shewes th' affection of eche inward part There loue playes liuely there the little god Hath a cleare cristall Palace of abode O barre him not from playing in thy heart That sports himselfe vpon eche outward part Thus much she spake then her tongue was husht At her loose speach Hermaphroditus blusht He knew not what loue was yet loue did shame him Making him blush and yet his blush became him Then might a man his shamefast colour see Like the ripe apple on the sunny tree Or Iuory dide o're with a pleasing red Or like the pale Moone being shadowed By this the Nymph recouer'd had her tongue That to her thinking lay in silence long And sayd Thy cheeke is milde O be thou so Thy cheeke saith I then do not answere no Thy cheeke doth shame then doe thou shame she sayd It is a mans shame to deny a mayd Thou look'st to sport with Venus in her towre And be belou'd of euery heauenly powre Men are but mortals so are women too Why should your thoughts aspire more then ours doo For sure they doe aspire Else could a youth Whose count'nance is so full of spotlesse truth Be so relentlesse to a virgins tongue Let me be woo'd by thee but halfe so long With halfe those tearmes doe but my loue require And I will easly graunt thee thy desire Ages are bad when men become so slow That poore vnskilfull mayds are forc't to woo Her radiant beauty and her subtill arte So deepely strooke Hermaphroditus heart That she had wonne his loue but that the light Of her translucent eyes did shine too bright For long he look'd vpon the louely mayd And at the last
legge was straighter then the thigh of Ioue And he farre fairer then the god of loue When first this wel-shapt boy beauties chiefe king Had seene the labour of the fifteenth spring How curiously it paynted all the earth He 'gan to trauaile from his place of birth Leauing the stately hils where he was nurst And where the Nymphs had brought him vp at first He lou'd to trauaile to the coasts vnknowne To see the regions farre beyond his owne Seeking cleare watry springs to bathe him in For he did loue to wash his iuory skinne The louely Nymphes haue oft times seene him swimme And closely stole his clothes from off the brim Because the wanton wenches would so fayne See him come nak'd to aske his clothes againe He lou'd besides to see the Lycian grounds And know the wealthy Carians vtmost bounds Vsing to trauaile thus one day he found A cristall brooke that tril'd along the ground A brooke that in reflection did surpasse The cleare reflection of the clearest glasse About the side there grew no foggy reedes Nor was the fount compast with barren weedes But liuing turfe grew all along the side And grasse that euer flourisht in his pride Within this brook a beauteous Nymph did dwell Who for her comely feature did excell So faire she vvas of such a pleasing grace So straight a body and so sweet a face So soft a belly such a lustie thigh So large a forehead such a cristall eye So soft and moyst a hand so smooth a brest So faire a cheeke so well in all the rest That Iupiter would reuell in her bowre Were he to spend againe his golden showre Her teeth were whiter then the mornings milke Her lip was softer then the softest silke Her haire as farre surpast the burn sht gold As siluer doth excell the basest mold Ioue courted her for her translucent eye And told her he would place her in the skye Promising her if she would be his loue He would ingraue her in the heauen aboue Telling this louely Nymph that if he would He could deceiue her in a showre of gold Or like a Swanne come to her naked bed And so deceiue her of her maiden-head But yet because he thought that pleasure best Where each consenting ioynes each louing brest He would put off that all-commaunding crowne Whose terrour strooke th' aspiring Giants downe That glittering crown whose radiāt sight did tosse Great Pelion from the top of mighty Osse He would depose from his world-swaying head To taste the amorous pleasures of her bed This added he besides the more to grace her Like a bright starre he would in heauens vault place her By this the proud lasciuious Nymph was mou'd Perceiuing by great Ioue shee was belou'd And hoping as a starre she should ere long Be sterne or gracious to the Sea-mans song For mortals still are subiect to their eye And what it sees they striue to get as hie Shee was contented that almighty Ioue Should haue the first and best fruits of her loue For women may be likened to the yeere Whose first fruites still do make the dayntiest cheere But yet Astraea first should plight her troth For the performance of Ioues sacred oth Iust times decline and all good dayes are dead When heauenly othes had need be warranted This heard great Iupiter and lik'd it well And hastily he seekes Astraeas cell About the massie earth searching her towre But she had long since left this earthly bowre And flew to heauen aboue lothing to see The sinfull actions of humanitie Which when Ioue did perceiue he left the earth And flew vp to the place of his owne birth The burning heauenly throne where he did spy Astraeas palace in the glittering skie This stately towre was builded vp on hie Farre from the reach of any mortall eye And from the palace side there did distill A little water through a little quill The dewe of iustice which did seldome fall And when it dropt the drops were very small Glad was great Ioue when he beheld her towre Meaning a while to rest him in her bowre And therefore sought to enter at her dore But there was such a busie rout before Some seruing men and some promooters bee That he could passe no foote without a fee But as he goes he reaches out his hands And payes each one in order as he stands And still as he was paying those before Some slipt againe betwixt him and the dore At length with much adoo he past them all And entred straight into a spacious hall Full of darke angles and of hidden wayes Crooked Maeanders infinite delayes All which delayes and entries he must passe Ere he could come where iust Astraea was All these being past by his immortall wit Without her doore he saw a porter sit An aged man that long time there had beene Who vs'd to search all those that entred in And still to euery one he gaue this curse None must see Iustice but with emptie purse This man searcht Ioue for his owne priuate gaine To haue the money which did yet remaine Which was but small for much was spent before On the tumultuous rout that kept the dore When he had done he brought him to the place Where he should see diuine Astraeas face Then the great King of gods and men in went And saw his daughter Venus there lament And crying lowd for iustice whom Ioue found Kneeling before Astraea on the ground And still she cry'd and beg'd for a iust doome Against blacke Vulcan that vnseemely groome Whome she had chosen for her onely loue Though she was daughter to great thundring Ioue And though the fairest goddesse yet content To marrie him though weake and impotent But for all this they alwayes were at strife For euermore he rayld at her his wife Telling her still Thou art no wife of mine Anothers strumpet Mars his concubine By this Astraea spyde almighty Ioue And bow'd her finger to the Queene of loue To cease her sute which she would heare anon When the great King of all the world was gone Then she descended from her stately throne Which seat was builded all of Iasper stone And o're the seat was paynted all aboue The wanton vnseene stealths of amorous Ioue There might a man behold the naked pride Of louely Venus in the vale of Ide When Pallas and Ioues beauteous wife and she Stroue for the prise of beauties raritie And there lame Vulcan and his Cyclops stroue To make the thunderbolts for mighty Ioue From this same stately throne she down descēded And sayd The griefs of Ioue should be amended Asking the King of gods what lucklesse cause What great contēpt of state what breach of lawes For sure she thought some vncouth cause befell That made him visit poore Astraeas cell Troubled his thought and if she might decide it VVho vext great Ioue he dearely should abide it Ioue onely thankt her and beganne to show His cause of comming for each one
doth know The longing words of Louers are not many If they desire to be inioyd of any Telling Astraea It might now befall That she might make him blest that blesseth all For as he walk'd vpon the flowry earth To which his owne hands whilome gaue a birth To see how streight he held it and how iust He rold this massy pondrous heape of dust He laid him downe by a coole riuer side Whose pleasant water did so gently slide With such soft whispering for the brook was deepe That it had lul'd him in a heauenly sleepe When first he laid him downe there was none neere him For he did call before but none could heare him But a faire Nymph was bathing when he wak'd Here sigh'd great Ioue and after brought forth nak'd He seeing lou'd the Nymph yet here did rest Where iust Astraea might make Ioue be blest If she would passe her faithfull word so farre As that great Ioue should make the mayd a starre Astraea yeelded at which Ioue was pleas'd And all his longing hopes and feares were eas'd Ioue tooke his leaue and parted from her sight Whose thoughts were ful of louers sweet delight And she ascended to her throne aboue To heare the griefes of the great Queene of loue But she was satisfide and would no more Rayle at her husband as she did before But forth she tript apace because she stroue With her swift feet to ouertake great Ioue She skipt so nimbly as she went to looke him That at the palace doore she ouertooke him Which way was plaine and broad as they went out And now they could see no tumultuous rout Here Venus fearing lest the loue of Ioue Should make this mayd be plac'd in heauen aboue Because she thought this Nymph so wondrous bright That she would dazel her accustom'd light And fearing now she should not first be seene Of all the glittring starres as shee had beene But that the wanton Nymph would eu'ry night Be first that should salute eche mortall sight Began to tell great Ioue she grieu'd to see The heauen so full of his iniquity Complayning that eche strumpet now was grac'd And with immortall goddesses was plac'd Intreating him to place in heauen no more Eche wanton strumpet and lasciuious whore Ioue mad with loue harkned not what she sayd His thoughts were so intangled with the mayd But furiously he to his Palace lept Being minded there till morning to haue slept For the next morne as soone as Phoebus rayes Should yet shine coole by reason of the seas And ere the parting teares of Thaetis bed Should be quite shak't from off his glittring head Astraea promis'd to attend great Ioue At his owne Palace in the heauen aboue And at that Palace she would set her hand To what the loue-sick god should her command But to descend to earth she did deny She loath'd the sight of any mortall eye And for the compasse of the earthly round She would not set one foot vpon the ground Therefore Ioue meant to rise but with the sunne Yet thought it long vntill the night was done In the meane space Venus was drawne along By her white Doues vnto the sweating throng Of hammering Black-smithes at the lofty hill Of stately Etna whose top burneth still For at that burning mountaynes glittring top Her cripple husband Vulcan kept his shop To him she went and so collogues that night With the best straines of pleasures sweet delight That ere they parted she made Vulcan sweare By dreadfull Stix an othe the gods do feare If Ioue would make the mortall mayd a starre Himselfe should frame his instruments of warre And tooke his othe by blacke Cocitus Lake He neuer more a thunder-bolt would make For Venus so this night his sences pleas'd That now he thought his former griefs were eas'd She with her hands the black-smiths body bound And with her Iu'ry armes she twyn'd him round And still the faire Queene with a prety grace Disperst her sweet breath o're his swarty face Her snowy armes so well she did display That Vulcan thought they melted as they lay Vntill the morne in this delight they lay Then vp they got and hasted fast away In the white Chariot of the Queene of loue Towards the Palace of great thundring Ioue Where they did see diuine Astraea stand To passe her word for what Ioue should command In limpt the Blacke-smith after stept his Queene Whose light arrayment was of louely greene When they were in Vulcan began to sweare By othes that Iupiter himselfe doth feare If any whore in heauens bright vault were seene To dimme the shining of his beauteous Queene Each mortall man should the great gods disgrace And mocke almightie Ioue vnto his face And Giants should enforce bright heauen to fall Ere he would frame one thunderbolt at all Ioue did intreat him that he would forbeare The more he spoke the more did Vulcan sweare Ioue heard his words and 'gan to make his mone That mortall men would plucke him from his throne Or else he must incurre this plague he said Quite to forgoe the pleasure of the mayd And once he thought rather then lose her blisses Her heauenly sweets her most delicious kisses Her soft embraces and the amorous nights That he should often spend in her delights He would be quite thrown down by mortal hands From the blest place where his bright palace stands But afterwards hee saw with better sight He should be scorn'd by euery mortall wight If he should want his thunderbolts to beate Aspiring mortals from his glittering seate Therefore the god no more did woo or proue her But left to seeke her loue though not to loue her Yet he forgot not that he woo'd the lasse But made her twise as beauteous as she was Because his wonted loue he needs would shew This haue I heard but yet scarce thought it true And whether her cleare beautie was so bright That it could dazel the immortall sight Of gods and make them for her loue despaire I do not know but sure the maid was faire Yet the faire Nymph was neuer seene resort Vnto the sauage and the bloudy sport Of chaste Diana nor was euer wont To bend a bow nor euer did she hunt Nor did she euer striue with pretie cunning To ouergoe her fellow Nymphs in running For she was the faire water-Nymph alone That vnto chaste Diana was vnknowne It is reported that her fellowes vs'd To bid her though the beauteous Nymph refus'd To take or painted quiuers or a dart And put her lazy idlenesse apart Nor tooke she painted quiuers nor a dart Nor put her lazy idlenesse apart But in her cristall fountaine oft she swimmes And oft she washes o're her snowy limmes Sometimes she comb'd her soft discheuel'd hayre Which with a fillet tide she oft did weare But sometimes loose she did it hang behind When she was pleas'd to grace the Easterne wind For vp and downe it would her tresses hurle And as she went it
made her loose hayre curle Oft in the water did she looke her face And oft she vs'd to practise what quaint grace Might well become her and what comely feature Might be best fitting so diuine a creature Her skinne was with a thinne vaile ouerthrowne Through which her naked beauty clearely shone She vs'd in this light rayment as she was To spread her body on the dewy grasse Sometimes by her owne fountaine as she walkes She nips the flowres from off the fertile stalkes And with a garland of the sweating vine Sometimes she doth her beauteous front in-twine But she was gathring flowres with her white hand When she beheld Hermaphroditus stand By her cleare fountaine wondring at the sight That there was any brooke could be so bright For this was the bright riuer where the boy Did dye himselfe that he could not enioy Himselfe in pleasure nor could taste the blisses Of his owne melting and delicious kisses Here did she see him and by Venus law She did desire to haue him as she saw But the fayre Nymph had neuer seene the place Where the boy was nor his inchanting face But by an vncouth accident of loue Betwixt great Phoebus and the sonne of Ioue Light-headed Bacchus for vpon a day As the boy-god was keeping on his wayâ— Bearing his Vine leaues and his Iuie bands To Naxâ—s where his house and temple stands He saw the Nymph and seeing he did stay And threw his leaues and Iuie bands away Thinking at first she was of heauenly birth Some goddesse that did liue vpon the earth Virgin Diana that so liuely shone When she did court her sweet Endimion But he a god at last did plainely see She had no marke of immortalitie Vnto the Nymph went the yong god of wine Whose head was chaf'd so with the bleeding vine That now or feare or terrour had he none But 'gan to court her as she sate alone Fayrer then fayrest thus began his speech Would but your radiant eye please to inrich My eye with looking or one glaunce to giue Whereby my other parts might feede and liue Or with one sight my sences to inspire Far liuelier then the stole Promethean fire Then might I liue then by the sunny light That should proceed from thy thrise-radiant sight I might suruiue to ages but that missing At that same word he would haue faine bin kissing I pine fayre Nymph O neuer let me dye For one poore glaunce from thy translucent eye Farre more transparent then the clearest brooke The Nymph was taken with his golden hooke Yet she turn'd backe and would haue tript away But Bacchus forc't the louely mayd to stay Asking her why she struggled to be gone Why such a Nymph should wish to be alone Heauen neuer made her faire that she should vaunt She kept all beautie it would neuer graunt She should be borne so beauteous from her mother But to reflect her beauty on another Then with a sweet kisse cast thy beames on mee And I le reflect them backe againe on thee At Naxos stands my Temple and my Shrine Where I do presse the lusty swelling Vine There with greene Iuie shall thy head be bound And with the red Grape be incircled round There shall Silenus sing vnto thy praise His drunken reeling songs and tickling layes Come hither gentle Nymph Here blusht the maid And faine she would haue gone but yet she staid Bacchus perceiu'd he had o'recome the lasse And downe he throwes her in the dewy grasse And kist the helplesse Nymph vpon the ground And would haue stray'd beyond that lawful bouÌ„d This saw bright Phoebus for his glittering eye Sees all that lies below the starry skye And for an old affection that he bore Vnto this louely Nymph long time before For he would ofttimes in his circle stand To sport himselfe vpon her snowy hand He kept her from the sweets of Bacchus bed And 'gainst her wil he sau'd her maiden-head Bacchus perceiuing this apace did hie Vnto the Palace of swift Mercury But he did find him farre below his birth Drinking with theeues and catch-poles on the earth And they were drinking what they stole to day In consultation for to morrowes prey To him went youthfull Bacchus and begun To shew his cause of griefe against the Sunne How he bereft him of his heauenly blisses His sweet delights his Nectar-flowing kisses And other sweeter sweetes that he had wonne But for the malice of the bright-fac't Sunne Intreating Mercury by all the loue That had bene borne amongst the sonnes of Ioue Of which they two were part to stand his friend Against the god that did him so offend The quaint-tongu'd issue of great Atlas race Swift Mercury that with delightfull grace And pleasing accents of his fayned tongue Hath oft reform'd a rude vnciuill throng Of mortals that great messenger of Ioue And all the meaner gods that dwell aboue He whose acute wit was so quicke and sharpe In the inuention of the crooked Harpe He that 's so cunning with his iesting slights To steale from heauenly gods or earthly wights Bearing a great hate in his grieued brest Against that great commaunder of the West Bright-fac't Apollo for vpon a day Yong Mercury did steale his beasts away Which the great god perceiuing streight did shew The pearcing arrowes and the fearefull bow That kild great Pithon with that did threat him To bring his beasts againe or he would beat him Which Mercury perceiuing vnespide Did closely steale his arrowes from his side For this old grudge he was the easlyer wonne To helpe young Bacchus 'gainst the fierie Sunne And now the Sunne was in the middle way And had o'recome the one halfe of the day Scorching so hot vpon the reeking sand That lies vpon the neere Egyptian land That the hot people burnt e'ne from their birth Do creepe againe into their mother earth When Mercury did take his powerfull wand His charming Cadusaeus in his hand And a thicke â—euer which he vs'd to weare When ought from Ioue he to the Sunne did beare That did protect him from the piercing light Which did proceed from Phoebus glittring sight Clad in these powerfull ornaments he flies With out-stretcht wings vp to the azure skies Where seeing Phoebus in his orient shrine He did so well reuenge the god of wine That whil'st the Sun wonders his Chariot reeles The craftie god had stole away his wheeles Which when he did perceiue he downe did slide Laying his glittring Coronet aside From the bright spangled firmament aboue To seeke the Nymph that Bacchus so did Ioue And found her looking in her watry glasse To see how cleare her radiant beauty was And for he had but little time to stay Because he meant to finish out his day At the first sight he'gan to make his mone Telling her how his fiery wheeles were gone Promising her if she would but obtaine The wheeles that Mercury had stolne againe That he might end his day she should enioy The