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Elegia VIII. Quod ab amica non recipiatur, dolet. - Christopher Marlowe, The Works of Christopher Marlowe, vol. 3 (Poems) [1598]

Edition used:

The Works of Christopher Marlowe, ed. A.H. Bullen (London: John C. Nimmo, 1885). Vol. 3.

Part of: The Works of Christopher Marlowe, 3 vols.

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Elegia VIII.2
Quod ab amica non recipiatur, dolet.

  • What man will now take liberal arts in hand,
  • Or think soft verse in any stead to stand?
  • Wit was sometimes more precious than gold;
  • Now poverty great barbarism we hold.
  • When our books did my mistress fair content,
  • I might not go whither my papers went.
  • She praised me, yet the gate shut fast upon her,
  • I here and there go, witty with dishonour.
  • See a rich chuff, whose wounds great wealth inferred,
  • For bloodshed knighted, before me preferred.

    10

  • Fool, can'st thou him in thy white arms embrace?
  • Fool, can'st thou lie in his enfolding space?
  • Know'st not this head1 a helm was wont to bear?
  • This side that serves thee, a sharp sword did wear.
  • His left hand, whereon gold doth ill alight,
  • A target bore: blood-sprinkled was his right.
  • Can'st touch that hand wherewith some one lies dead?
  • Ah, whither is thy breast's soft nature fled?
  • Behold the signs of ancient fight, his scars!
  • Whate'er he hath, his body gained in wars.

    20

  • Perhaps he'll tell how oft he slew a man,
  • Confessing this, why dost thou touch him than?2
  • I, the pure priest of Phœbus and the Muses,
  • At thy deaf doors in verse sing my abuses.
  • Not what we slothful know,3 let wise men learn,
  • But follow trembling camps and battles stern,
  • And for a good verse draw the first dart forth:4
  • Homer without this shall be nothing worth.
  • Jove, being admonished gold had sovereign power,
  • To win the maid came in a golden shower.

    30

  • Till then, rough was her father, she severe,
  • The posts of brass, the walls of iron were.
  • But when in gifts the wise adulterer came,
  • She held her lap ope to receive the same.
  • Yet when old Saturn heaven's rule possest,
  • All gain in darkness the deep earth supprest.
  • Gold, silver, iron's heavy weight, and brass,
  • In hell were harboured; here was found no mass.
  • But better things it gave, corn without ploughs,
  • Apples, and honey in oaks' hollow boughs.

    40

  • With strong ploughshares no man the earth did cleave,
  • The ditcher no marks on the ground did leave.
  • Nor hanging oars the troubled seas did sweep,
  • Men kept the shore and sailed not into deep.
  • Against thyself, man's nature, thou wert cunning,
  • And to thine own loss was thy wit swift running.
  • Why gird'st thy cities with a towerèd wall,
  • Why let'st discordant hands to armour fall?
  • What dost with seas? with th' earth thou wert content;
  • Why seek'st not heaven, the third realm, to frequent?

    50

  • Heaven thou affects: with Romulus, temples brave,
  • Bacchus, Alcides, and now Cæsar have.
  • Gold from the earth instead of fruits we pluck;
  • Soldiers by blood to be enriched have luck.
  • Courts shut the poor out; wealth gives estimation.
  • Thence grows the judge, and knight of reputation.
  • All,1 they possess: they govern fields and laws,
  • They manage peace and raw war's bloody jaws.
  • Only our loves let not such rich churls gain:
  • 'Tis well if some wench for the poor remain.

    60

  • Now, Sabine-like, though chaste she seems to live,
  • One her1 commands, who many things can give.
  • For me, she doth keeper2 and husband fear,
  • If I should give, both would the house forbear.
  • If of scorned lovers God be venger just,
  • O let him change goods so ill-got to dust.

[2]Not in Isham copy or ed. A

[1]So ed B —Ed. C “his.” (“Caput hoc galeam portare solebat.”)

[2]Then.

[3]Old eds. “knew.”

[4]Marlowe has quite mistaken the meaning of the original “Proque bono versu primum deducite pilum.”

[1]A very loose rendering of Ovid's couplet—

  • “Omnia possideant, illis Campusque Forumque
  • Serviat; hi pacem crudaque bella gerant.”

[1]So Dyce for “she” of the old eds. (“Imperat ut captae qui dare multa potest.”)

[2]The original has “Me prohibet custos' in me timet illa maritum.”