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IN SEVERUM. XIII. - 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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IN SEVERUM. XIII.

  • The puritan Severus oft doth read
  • This text, that doth pronounce vain speech a sin,—
  • “That thing defiles a man, that doth proceed
  • From out the mouth, not that which enters in.”
  • Hence is it that we seldom hear him swear;
  • And therefore like a Pharisee, he vaunts:
  • But he devours more capons in a year
  • Than would suffice a hundred protestants.
  • And, sooth, those sectaries are gluttons all,
  • As well the thread-bare cobbler as the knight;

    10

  • For those poor slaves which have not wherewithal,
  • Feed on the rich, till they devour them quite;
  • And so, like Pharaoh's kine, they eat up clean
  • Those that be fat, yet still themselves be lean.