Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	know_v	see_v	world_n	7,132	5	4.8452	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14497	Virgils Eclogues translated into English: by W.L. Gent; Bucolica. English	Virgil.; Lathum, William.; Vives, Juan Luis, 1492-1540.	1628 (1628)	STC 24820; ESTC S119264	75,407	208

Carmen in the Latin hath many acceptions as beeing used both in the better and worse sense sometime it is taken for Incantation which some say is verbis solis vel etiam rebus adiunctis aliquid supra naturam moliri either meerely by a set forme of words which wee call a charme or some other ceremonious action together with the words to assay to bring something to passe above the common course of nature by power whereof they at-tempt the effecting of some ill or the helping some ill allready done or the preventing some ill to bee done And Iulius Firmicus lib 1. Mathes observes that there are some Persons whose Horoscope is under the forepart of Scorpio who naturally prove Inchanters or good Witches as wee call them that with certain powerfull words shall have skill to cure and mitigate paynes aches and Agues and uncharme and unbewitch things that have been bewitcht inchanted by others Now the Poet heere alludes to the old received opinion of the superstitious Romans who when they saw the Moon in the Eclipse thought that shee suffered great pain by reason of some mischievous Inchantment that was upon her and during the time of her absence in her wane when they could not see her as at other times that some strong witchcraft had wrested her from her place in the firmament down to the Earth and that by powerfull and skilfull Countercharmes shee was releeved and brought forth of her darkness and painfull passion again at which ridiculous conceit Iuvenal in his sixth Satyre scoffs notably deriding their ringing of pots and pans blowing of trumpets and horns and such like confused lowd noyses as the onely remedy to succour her and bring her to her selfe again Circe transform'd Vlisses men c. Someime Carmen is taken in th●e ill sense as heer wh●re it is sai● Circe the famous sorceress transformed Vlisses his men into other shapes so that by power of words metrically disposed or other wi●e and pronounced against any man or woman a charme shall worke so strong upon their fancy and distempered Imagination and spoile the reason in such sort that for a time they shall verily conceive themselves to bee Hoggs or Doggs or of some other shape and forme and adapt themselves really to the nature of those things to which they think themselves turned such a kind of Inchantment was that also of the Praetides which thought themselves to bee Cowes though there is no doubt but the Poets in these and the like feigned transformations did aime at some reall truth indeede alltogether beyond that which the outward vizard of the fable doth seeme to import Charmes the could Serpent c. Sometime Carmen is taken for a ●ong as heere by my Autho● alluding to the custome practised by Antiquity upon the Adder a venemous and harme●ull kind of Serpent whom by certaine words digested into meeter and set to some musicall tune they wrought so vehemently upon his senses that they cast him into a deadly transe for the while the powerfull effect of this charme of Musick may bee seene daily amongst Nurses who use to lull their wayward Infants asleepe with the melody of their songs And that which is reported of Alexander Musitiā Timotheus declares aboundantly the strength and power thereof who playing to the King new set to supper a Phrigian strayne which is a lusty warlike melody it wrought so upon his courage that forgetting his meate hee in a rage called for his Armes as if hee had had a sodaine alarum from the enemy which his Musitian perceiving changed his stroke into the Lidyan or Ionique ayre and presently his mind was also changed and hee sate him down as still and peaceably as if hee had been at his Councell Table But as an instar omnium of all other proofes for the excellent vertue of Musick let us imagine wee see David with his melody charming the evill spirit that so tormented King Saul and if wee beleeve Bodin hee will tell us that no house is haunted with spirits where much Musick is used and hee tells us the Reason because it presents still to the Divells memory that blessed Place where hee had once a happy Interest where there is Melody and sweete Harmony beyond expression so that Musick ever since torments his sowle worse then Hell it selfe And if this fancy be true the Invention of ringing of Bells to cleere the ayre of bad spirits may seeme to have some grownd of reason and probability to defend it seeing the Harmony of Bells I know shall have many to maintaine it for none of the meanest Musicks in the world The could Serpent c. Hee is said to bee could because of his poyson which is of a quality extremely could Sometime Carmen is a charme or formall set of words in nature of a Conjuration Such was that which the Auncient Romans used at the besieging of Citties by which they did call foorth the Tutelar Gods and Goddesses of their enemies lest otherwise they might seem to presume to make warr and offer violence also unto them Sometime Carmen was by them used in the nature of a Curse whereby they were wont to forespeake the Army of their Enemies such was that perhaps which Balak intreated Balaam to practise against the Host of Israel Macrobius sets down the formality of both these lib. 3. cap. 9. Saturnal Circe transform'd c. Circe was a notorious sorceress and exquisitely skilfull in that damned art of poysoning and one of the arrantest Light-skirts of her time shee poysoned her husband King of Sarmatia and usurped his Kingdome but was soon spued out by the people for her cruelty and banished the land shee loved Glaucus and transformed Scilla his sweete-heart into a Sea-monster to possess him wholly to her selfe shee changed Vlisses companions into swine shee suffered Vlisses afterward to get her with child and for that curtesie restored his people to their former shape shee turned Picus King of the Latins into a byrd of his name for that hee had praised his wife Canens before her for worth and excellence By all which fictions the Poets have painted her out for a noted woman who may seem to have been some rare and beautifull creature and used her beauty and excellent skill in Musick as baites to intice men who beeing even bewitched with her delicacy had no power to forsake her but spent their whole time in Luxury and effeminate wantonness and pleasure with her a life suiting better indeed with swine then with the divine soul of a reasonable man shee was a prime one amongst those Mulieres quinque literarum Women of five letters who have made the fifth an unfortunate number in beeing blemished with the names of many infamous and notoriously noted Curtizans such as Medea Flora Elena Lhais Trine Thais with Iulia and Livia the daughter and Neece to Caesar whom hee termed his Vomicas his two Impostumes for the uncleannesse of their lives beside Ioane a Queene of Naples

prove Dametas not to be Master of the Flocke but a meere by hyreling for wages VVhose is this Pastorall verse quoth hee is it Melibe's some base infamous Rhymester such as Maevius or Bavius or the like No saith hee it is Aegons by whom he meanes some rare excellent Poet namely Gallus or Cynna Poore Sheepe Vnfortunate Pastoralls to come into vnworthy hands for whilst Cynna Pollio Gallus and others famous and exquisite in that kinde of verse excellently able and as it were the Masters of that art doe contend with mee for grace and admiration of the Peeres and the People a stragler and a stranger hath heere shuffled into place and thrust into the study of the Muses singing Pastoralls barren and dry without any grace at all and like a Theefe hath stolne the true beauty and comelinesse from this a●t venting his owne ex-tempore stuffe voide of wit and invention To taxe men thus The woord Vir in the Latine is often vsed as a woord of honour and is referred to vertue and strength of the Minde or Body As Cicero in his 2 Philippickes That cause saith hee requires a Man that is a person of wisdome and vnderstanding and therfore Dametas termes himselfe by the title of Man as though that other were so base and vilde a Rakeshame that hee did not deserve to be reckoned amongst the number of reasonable Creatures in respect of himselfe I know who once saw you c. VVee have seene your foolish ridiculous Poems which the scorned and vnworthy vulgars doe reade but the gentle crue of Nobles and true heroick spirits doe deride And here hee hath most artificially expressed the manner of seeing and looking at him in contempt and with disdaigne namely with the corners of his Eye or askew as we say So as Pliny reports the Lyon cannot abide to bee looked on The Goates did at thee leere c. Pliny saith that the Goat beeing a most salacious Beast if hee see any other Creature ingendring together hee is so inrag'd with lust at the very sight that hee runnes at them with all his force and from hence the Poet expressing heerein under the nature of the Goate Damons disposition may seeme to allude to the disdaign which the learned sort held his verses in that manner of looking askance beeing a posture betokening contempt and scorne In what Chappell c. The Nymphes had sundry Chappell 's in the fields dedicated to them where they vsed to frequent Saw I not thee c. Hee accuseth him of filching from the Greeke and Latin so palpably that other Poets did take him with the manner and obrayded and made as it were hue and cry after him for his theft Whither runnes hee so fast c. Hee well hath expressed the rustick manner of speech in this and this woord hee carries with it the force of scorn disdain For know that Goate doth vnto mee belong c. The commendation of this Poem which thou doest obraid mee to have stollen I would have you well know is due to mee purchased by my Ingeny and Invention Neither would other Poets deny it mee were they not hindred by authority of Antiquitie which beares so much sway in the opinion of the vulgar that they attribute smally to new writers though never so woorthy esteeming skill and excellency by yeeres and age as Horace saith I le pawne this Heifer c. I whom thou obraidest as an hireling to another will pawne this Heifer to let thee know that I have a stock of mine owne Nought dare I of my Flocke c. Virgil saith hee will pawne downe of his Cattle This hath relation to the excellency of the argument and subject of his song Menalcas saith hee may not gage his Flock out hee will lay willingly two Cups curiously turned and wrought This hath relation to the neat artificiall handling of the matter and the newnesse of the fashion Selfe Alcimedon c. I want not elegance and delicate fine delivery of my mind and I can expresse my selfe in the newest manner of phrase and ornament which is now of any other affected and refuse not to set up my rest and venture my wager vpon that bett but this is not woorth the speaking of compared with true profitable solid matter For the compt neate elegancy of woords is but the flowers but the sense is the fruite Say then as heere c. Hee setts downe heere that the fittest time for singing or composing verses is the Spring and the mynd beeing not onely quiet but merry If so Palemon c. Remnius Palemon was a most excellent Grammarian and Tutor to Fabius Quintilianus Such was his pride and arrogance that hee would vsually vaunt that Learning had her first beeing at his birth and at his death all learning would likewise dye Hee was woont likewise out of pride and scorne to tearme Marcus Varro that great learned Roman Porcum literatum the learned Hog Hee was likewise woont to brag that it was prophetically as it might seeme done by Virgil to vse his name heere in his Bucolickes foreseeing that Palemon in poetry should prove so exquisite that all Poets and Rhetoricians shall honour and admire him as their Iudge and umpire of their learned contentions Hee further gloryed much to recount how a sort of theeves did once spare him and dismist him untouched and unrifled when they once heard his name Hee was so luxurious as hee bathed often in a day at last hee became so poore that hee was inforced his living to become a vine-dresser Iove all fulfills c. This sentence is taken from the Poet Aratus that is Iove fills all things with his bounty and blessings otherwise it were impossible for them to abide and continue in their beeing and therefore with whom can they more proper●y begin than with his honour from whom all things have their beginning And Phabus favours mee c. Heerein hee alludes to Augustus who being yet very young having performed great services was thought to bee the sonne of Apollo but afterward in processe of time hee was called himselfe by that name of Apollo And all I could c. Menalcas saith that hee had sent also Country gifts to wit a Co●ntry song and meant to send another By the ten orenges or golden apples some interpret Virgils ten Eglogues but I leave that indifferent Send mee my Phillis c. I pray thee Augustus suffer mee to invite Pollio to this banquet which I make for my birthday that is my Country feast suffer mee to dedicate this woorke of my Pastoralls unto him as for thee Augustus I will invite thee when I sacrifice a Calfe for my Corne that is I will sing thy name in a verse of a higher straine Pollio loves mine c. Heere without any figure hee names Pollio plainely and that his Country verses and Pastoralls were well liked of him Pierian Ladies c. Yee Muses feede a fat Calfe for Pollio who so willingly reades your