Classic Poem

No w, to retire from whence our Rimes doe range,
And touch the soule, & mind's mind at the soule
We see the bodie's state the minde may change;
So may the minde the bodie's state controule;
Thus they the state of one another rule:
The soule's soule is the minde , and the minde's minde
Is that, where Reason doth her lawes enrowle:
Yet fuming Passions both of them may blinde,
When body , with them both are ill inclin'd.

Phillipides , that comedies compil'd
Orecoming one that with him did contend
In that light Art , (when hope was quite exil'd)
A suddaine ioy wrought his as suddaine end
Like fate did one Diagoras attend,
Who, see'ng his three sonnes at Olimpus crown'd
For deedes there done (which All did much commend)
He them embracing, straite fell dead to ground,
Because his ioy was more then hart could bound.

As extreame suddaine ioy doth kill the hart ,
Leaving it bloudlesse which is ioie's effect
(For ioy sends bloud amaine to ev'ry part)
So, extreame griefe the hart may so affect
(Or suddaine feare) that life may it reiect;
For both revoke the sp'rites, bloud , and kind heate ,
And to harte's Center doe the same direct,
Which place bee'ng little, and their throng so great,
Expels the Vitall spirits from their seate .

Marc Lepidus , divorced from his wife
Whom he intirely lou'd, with extreame griefe
(For it conceav'd) he quickly lost his life;
So loue reft life , that erst was life's reliefe,
For loue of that his woe was fountaine chiefe
So, with a suddaine feare haue many died
Which name I neede not, sith I would be briefe:
By it the haires haue suddainely bin died,
As by graue writers is exemplifide.

Of no lesse force (though lesse the reason be)
Is shamefastnesse , in some of mighty minde
One Diodorus died because that hee
Could not assoile a Question him assign'd:
The like of Homer we recorded finde;
Who died with shame for being so vnsound
Not to be able (like one double blinde)
To answere that, base Fishers did propound;
So sense of shame did sense and life confound.

These Passions are the suffrings of the soule ,
That make the Inne to suffer with the Ghest
For, Perturbations both togither rowle
Here, there, and ev'ry where, as they thinke best;
Kinde-heate they fire, or quench with their vnrest:
For, some (as all obserue) haue died with ioy ,
And some with griefe , haue bin life -dispossest:
For in extreames, they Nature so annoy,
As (being suddaine) her they quite destroy.

Yet Mirth in measure, kindly warmes the bloud ,
And spreads the Sp'rits , b'inlarging of the hart
This mirth in measure is the only moode
That cuts the throat of Physicke , and her Art ,
And makes her Captaines from her coulors start;
It makes our yeares as many as our haires
Then, on earth's stage who play a meery part ,
Shall much more more then much offend their heires
By overlong prolonging their desires.

Then, should I liue by Nature over long,
For I to mirth by nature am too prone;
But Accident in me doth nature wrong,
By whom vntimely shee'l be overthrone:
For Melancholy in my Soule inthrones
Her selfe gainst Nature , through crosse Accident ,
Where shee vsurpeth, that is not her owne;
And Nature makes to pine with discontent
That shee should so be reft her regiment.

Thus as the Corpes the qualities compound,
So are th' Affections moist, dry, hot and cold ,
The last are humor'd as the first abound:
Ioy (hot and moist) the Sanguine most doth hold,
As sorrow (cold and dry) possesse the Olde
Meane ioie's a meane to make men moist, and hot,
In which two qualities Health hath her Hold .
But griefe the heat consumes, and bloud doth rot,
Which health impaires, and cuts life's Gordian knot

And as meane mirth man's age makes most extreame;
So doth it cloth the bones with frolicke flesh
For, to the partes it makes the bloud to streame,
Which makes them grow, & doth them ioy-refresh;
This mirth the hart must haue when head is fresh,
For wyny mirth proceedeth from excesse ,
And all excesse doth but make nature nesh,
Vnable to endure time's long processe,
How ere it may spend time in drunkennesse .

This correspondence then twixt flesh , and sp'rite ,
Should make our Mouth the House of Temperance
For the Corpes ' qualities will answere right
Her rule of Diet; Then intemperance ,
The Head and Hart doth odiously entrance:
The Harte's affects , produce the Heade's effects ,
Which make the Soule and Bodie's concordance:
Then sith the Bodie breeds the Soule's affects ,
The Soule should feede the the same with right respects .

Respect of Health , respect of name , and fame ,
Depending oNour moderation,
Should be of force to make vs vse the same;
But, when the Bodie's depravation
Toucheth the soule , and bothe's damnation,
All these respectes should (being things so deere)
Inflame Desire's immoderation
Coldly to vse hott wines & belly cheere ,
For belly- gods are but the Divell's Deere

Sith sicknesse then in bodie , and in soule ,
From tempers ill , and ill affections flo,
Witt ought Will's appetites to over rule
When they (to follow sense ) from Reason go;
And bring them to the bent of wisdom's Bo:
For, sith our soules by Knowledge things discerne,
From whence the will hath pow'r of willing too.
If Knowledge then be to them both a Sterne ,
They should do nought but what of her they learne.

And so they doe, but their Guide being blinde
Of the right Eie no mervel though they runne
Too much on the left hand from place assign'd,
Directed by Delight , the sense's sunne ;
But Cloudes of sinne our Knowledge over-runne,
Which make her run awrie in rightest waies ,
Whereby our silly soules are oft vndunne,
When as shee weenes to winne immortall praise,
And crowne her Craft with everlasting Baies .

Who learnes a trade must haue a time to learne;
For without time an Habit is not gain'd:
So diverse skills the soule cannot discerne,
Vntill they be by exercize obtain'd
For by it onely Habittes are attain'd:
Which Habitts stretch not onely to our Deedes ,
But to our suffrings , beeing wrong'd, or pain'd,
For Custome's force another Nature breedes,
And pyning soule with patience it feedes.

Vnto a soule impatient (seldome crost)
Each Daie a yeare , each yeare an Age doth seeme;
But a meeke soule with troubles often tost,
The time , though long, doth ordinarie deeme;
For Time and Troubles she doth light esteeme:
This well appeares in sicknesse , (though most ill)
At first we still doe worst of it misdeeme,
But staying long with vs we make our will
Familiar with it, so endure it still.

Affiction's water cooles the heate of sinne ,
And brings soule-health; But at the first like frost
It soule benummes, as it were starv'd therein,
And sense , and Life and sp'rit thereby were lost:
The Crosse doth quell to Hell the seldome crost:
Hence is it, Christ doth with his Crosse acquaint
Those that be his, whereof they glory'ng boast,
For that the Crosse wel borne creates the Saint ,
As it to Fiendes transformeth them that faint.

Affiction , Ladie of the happy life,
(And Queene of mine, though my life happlesse be)
Give my Soule endlesse peace , in endlesse strife ,
For thou hast powre to giue them both to me,
Because they both haue residence in thee:
Let me behold my best part in thfne Eies ,
That so I may mine imperfections see;
And seeing them I may my selfe despise,
For that selfe-love , doth from selfe-liking rise.

Enfold me in thine Armes , and with a kisse
Of coldest comfort, comfort thou my hart:
Breath to my Soule that mortified is,
Immortall pleasure in most mortall Smart:
Be ieloues of me, play a Louer's part:
Keepe Pleasure from my sense , with sense of paine ,
And mixe the same with pleasure by thine Arte ;
That so I may with ioy the griefe sustaine,
Which ioye in griefe by thy deere loue I gaine.

When from our selves we are estranged quite,
(Though it be strange, we so estrang'd should be)
Thou mak'st vs know our selves at the first sight
And bring'st vs to our selves , our selues to see;
So that we throughly know our selues by thee:
But bright Voluptu snesse doth blinde our Eyes
That we can nothing see, (and lesse foresee)
But what within her gaudy Bozome lies,
Being a Mappe of glorious miseries .

Pleasure , thou Witch to this bewitching World
Eare -charming Siren , sold to sweetest Synne ,
Wherwith our Hartes (as with Cords) is ensnarl'd.
That breake the Cords we cannot being in,
How blest had we bin, had'st thou never bin?
For hadst not thou bin, Griefe had nere had beeing ,
Sith at thine end, all sorrow doth begin,
And it with thee hath too good ill agreeing:
That 's leagu'd in ill , and in good disagreeing.
From those in whom it's not habitual
With but a touch of Faith , though nere so small.

That I may touch the Subiect of my Rimes
More home, (though homely I the same doe touch)
And for, my travell'd Muse might breath somtimes,
And, that the Reader too might doe as much,
(Lest that prolixitie might make him grutch)
Here shall shee make a stande , and looke a-backe,
As Riders rancke on Steepes haue customes such
To breath their bony- Nags , when winde they lacke,
And courage them againe like toile to take