Can my epistle speak; you may behold
More than my words or writings can unfold.
Nor fear the bruit of war, or threat'ning steel,
When we are fled, to dog us at the heel;
Or that all Grecia will their powers unite :
Of many ravish'd, can you one recite
Whom war repurchas'd? These be idle fears;
Rough blustering Boreas fair Orithea bears
Unto the land of Thrace, yet Thrace still free,
And Athens rais'd no rude hostility.
In winged Pegasus did Jason sail;
And from great Colchos he Medea steal :
Yet Thessaly you see can show no scar
Of former wounds in the Thessalian war.
He that first ravish'd you, in such a fleet
As ours is, Ariadne brought from Crete.
Yet Minos and duke Theseus were agreed;
About that quarrel not a breast did bleed.
Less is the danger (trust me) than the fear,
That in these vain and idle doubts appear.
But say, rude war should be proclaim'd at length,
Know I am valiant and have sinewy strength.
The weapons that I use are apt to kill:
Asia besides more spacious fields can fill
With armed men, than Greece. Amongst us are
More perfect soldiers, more beasts apt for war.
Nor can thy husband Menelaus be
Of any high spirit and magnanimity;
Or so well prov'd in arms for, Helen, I,
Being but a lad, have made my enemies fly;
Regain'd the prey from out the hands of thieves,
Who had despoil'd our herds, and stolen our beeves. By such adventures I my name obtain❜d: (Being but a lad) the conquest I have gain'd
Of young men in their prime, who much could do ; Deiphobus, Ilioneus too
I have o'ercome in many sharp contentions:
Nor think these are my vain and forg'd inventions ;
Or that I only hand to hand can fight;
My arrows when I please shall touch the white :
I am expert i' th' quarry and the bow;
You cannot boast your heartless husband so.
Had you the power in all things to supply me,
And should you nothing in the world deny me ;
To give me such a Hector to my brother,
You could not, the earth bears not such another.
By him alone all Asia is well mann'd ;
He like an enemy 'gainst Greece shall stand;
Oppos'd to your best fortunes, wherefore strive you ?
You do not know his valour that must wive you,
Or what hid worth is in me; but at length
You will confess when you have prov'd my strength.
Thus either war shall still our steps pursue,
Or Greece shall fall in Troy's all-conquering view.
Nor would I fear for such a royal wife,
To set the universal world at strife.
To gain rich prizes men will venture far;
The hope of purchase makes us bold in war.
If all the world about you should contend,
Your name should be eterniz'd without end;
Only be bold; and fearless may we sail
Into my country with a prosperous gale!
If the gods grant me my expected day,
It to the full shall all these covenants pay.
No sooner came mine eye unto the sight
Of thy rude lines, but I must needs re-write.
Dar'st thou (O shameless) in such heinous wise,
The laws of hospitality despise ?
And being a stranger from thy conntry's reach,
Solicit a chaste wife to wedlock's breach ?
Was it for this our free Tænarian port
Receiv'd thee and thy train, in friendly sort ;
And when great Neptune nothing could appease,
Gave thee fair harbour from the stormy seas;
Was it for this our kingdom's arms spread wide
To entertain thee from the water side?
Yet thou of foreign soil remote from hence,
A stranger, coming we scarce know from whence,
Is perjur'd, wrong the recompence of right?
Is all our friendship guerdon'd with despite ;
I doubt me then, whether in our court doth tarry
A friendly guest, or a fierce adversary,
Nor blame me, for if justly you consider,
And these presumptions well compare together,
So simple my complaint will not appear,
But you yourself must needs excuse my fear.
Well, hold me simple, much it matters not,
Whilst I preserve my chaste name far from spot?
For when I seem touch'd with a bashful shame,
It shews how highly I regard my fame.
When I seem sad, my countenance is not feign'd;
And when I lour, my look is unconstrain'd.
But say my brow be cloudy, my name's clear,
And reverently you shall of Helen hear.
No man from me adulterate spoils can win ;
For to this hour I've sported without sin;
Which makes me in my heart the more to wonder,
What hope you have in time to bring me under ;
Or from mine eye what comfort thou canst gather,
To pity thee, and not despise thee rather.
Because once Theseus hurry'd me from hence,
And did to me a kind of violence ;
Follows it therefore, I am of such price,
That ravish'd once, I should be ravish'd twice?
Was it my fault, because I striv'd in vain,
And wanted strength his fury to restrain?
He flatter'd, and spake fair, I struggled still;
And what he got, was much against my will.
Of all his toil, he reap'd no wished fruit,
For with my wrangling I withstood his suit.
At length I was restor'd, untouch'd, and clear;
In all my rape, I suffer'd nought but fear;
A few untoward kisses he (Got wot)
Dry, without relish by much striving got,
And them with much ado. and to his cost,
Of further favours he could never boast;
I doubt your purpose aims at greater blisses,
And hardly would alone be pleas'd with kisses.
Thou hast some further aim, and seek'st to do,
What, Jove defend, I should consent unto.
He bore not thy bad mind, but did restore me
Unblemish'd to the place from whence he bore me.
The youth was bashful, and thy boldness lack'd,
And, 'tis well known, repented his bold fact;
Theseus repented, so should Paris do,
Succeed in love, and in repentance too.
Nor am I angry; who can angry be
With him that loves her? If your heart agree
With your kind words, your suit I could applaud,
So I were sure you lines were void of fraud,
I cast not those strange doubts, or this dispense,
Like one that were bereft of confidence ;
Not that I with myself am in disgrace,
Or do not know the beauty of my face;
But because too much trust hath damag'd such
As have believ❜d men in their loves too much.
And now the general tongue of women saith,
Men's words are full of treason, void of faith.
Let others sin, and hours of pleasure waste,
'Tis rare to find the sober matron chaste.
Why? Say it be that sin prevails with fair ones,
May not my name be rank’d among the rare ones ?
Because my mother Læda was beguil'd,
Must I stray too, that am her eldest child?
I must confess my mother made a rape,
But Jove beguil'd her in a borrow'd shape.
When she (poor soul) nor dreamt of god nor man,
He trod her like a milk-white feather'd swan.
She was deceiv'd by error; if I yield
To your unjust request, nothing can shield
Me from reproach; I cannot plead concealing;
'Twas in her, error; 'tis in me, plain dealing.
She happily err'd; he that her honour spilt,
Had in himself full power to salve the guilt.
Her error happy'd me too (I confess)
If to be Jove's child be a happiness.
T'omit high Jove, of whom I stand in awe,
As the great grand-sire to our father-in law;
To pass the kin I claim from Tantalus,
From Pelops, and from noble Tindarus;
Læda by Jove, in shape of swan, beguil'd,
Herself so chang'd, and by him made with child,
Prove Jove my father. Then you idly strive,
Your name from gods and princes to derive.
What need you of old Priam make relation,
Laomedon, or your great Phrygian nation ;
Say all be true; what then? He of whom most
To be of your alliance you so boast,
Jove (five degrees at least) from you remov'd,
To be the first from me, is plainly prov'd.
And tho' (as I believ'd well) Troy may stand
Powerful at sea, and full of strength by land;
And no dominion to your state superior,
I hold our clime nothing to Troy inferior.
Say, you in riches pass us, or in number
Of people, whom you boast your streets to cumber;
Yet yours a barbarous nation is, I tell you,
And in that kind do we of Greece excel you.
Your rich epistle doth such gifts present,
As might the goddesses themselves content,
And woo them to your pleasure: but if I
Shall pass the bounds of shame, and tread awry ;
If ever you should put me to my shifts,
Yourself should move me more than all your gifts,
Or if I ever shall transgress by stealth,
It shall be for your sake, not for your wealth.
But as your gifts I scorn not, so such seem
Most precious, where the giver we esteem.
More than your presents it shall Helen please,
That you for her have past the stormy seas;
That she hath caus'd your toil, that you respect her,
And more than all your Trojan dames affect her.
But you're a wag in troth; the notes and signs
You make at table, in the meats and wines,
I have observ'd, when I least seem'd to mind them,
For at the first my curious eye did find them.
Sometimes (you wanton) your fix'd eye advances
His brightness against mine, darting sweet glances,
Out-gazing me with such a steadfast look,
That my dazzl'd eyes their splendour have forsook ;
And then you sigh, and by and by you stretch
Your amorous arm outright, the bowl to reach
That next me stands, making excuse to sip
Just in the self-same place that kiss'd my lip.
How oft have I observ'd your finger make
Tricks and conceited signs, which straight I take?
How often doth your brow your smooth thoughts cloke;
When, to my seeming, it hath almost spoke ?
And still I fear'd my husband would have spy'd you;
In troth you are to blame, and I must chide you.
You are too manifest a lover (tush)
At such known signs I could not choose but blush ;
And to myself I oft was forc'd to say,
This man at nothing shames. Is this (I pray)
Ought, save the truth? Oft times upon the board
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