Now, by two-headed Janus,
Nature hath formed strange fellows in her time;
Some that will evermore peep through their eyes,
And laugh, like parrots, at a bagpiper;
And other of such vinegar aspect,
That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile,
Though Nestor sware the jest be laughable.
THE GODDESS FORTUNE, OCCASION, OR OPPORTUNITY.
INSCRIPTION ON THE BASE OF A STATUE AT FLORENCE.
"AH! what art thou, of more than mortal birth, Whom heaven adorns with beauty's brightest
On wings of wind why spurn'st thou thus the earth? "Known but to few, Occasion is my name.
No rest I find, for underneath my feet
The eternal circle rolls that speeds my way, And these my glittering pinions I display, That from the dazzling sight thine eyes may turn away. In full luxuriance o'er my angel face
Float my thick tresses, free and unconfined,
That through their veil my features few may trace;
But not one lock adorns my head behind;
Once passed, forever gone! no mortal might
May bid the ceaseless wheel revolve again."
"And who is she attendant on thy flight?"
"Repentance: if thou grasp at me in vain,
Then must thou in thine arms her loathéd weight
sustain.
And now, while, heedless of the truths I sing,
Vain thoughts and fond desires thy time employ,
Ah, seest thou not, on soft and silken wing,
The form that smiled so fair, - has glided by ?"
[The following is Ovid's description of Envy. Minerva, on a certain occasion, condescended to employ the fiend, and paid a visit to her cave.]
HID in a valley deep is Envy's cave,
Impervious to the sunshine and the air;
Gloomy, and full of noisome cold; wherein
Fire never glows, and darkness always broods.
Hither when came the goddess, warrior-maid,
She stood without, (she could not enter in,)
And smote upon the doorposts with her spear.
The doors unfolded, and she saw within
The monster at her meal of viper's flesh,
The food best suited to recruit her powers.
The goddess turned away her eyes; the fiend
Rose from the clammy ground and left her meal
Half eaten, and with sluggish pace advanced.
When she beheld the goddess bright in arms
And beautiful, she heaved a bitter sigh.
Paleness was o'er her face, her form was thin,
Livid her teeth, her bosom full of gall,
And adder's poison lurked beneath her tongue.
She never looks straight forward, never smiles,
Except perchance at sight of human woe;
She never sleeps; care keeps her still awake,
And pining at the most unwelcome sight
Of human joys:-rebuking and rebuked,
She is herself her own fit punishment.
No evil spirit flies so fast as Fame;
She thrives by motion, strengthening as she goes; Kept down at first by fear, soon larger grown,
She walks the earth, her forehead in the clouds. Earth, angry with the gods, produced her last, Fit sister of the rebel Titan brood;
A monster fleet of foot, and fleet of wing,
Terrific, vast. Beneath her wings concealed,
Eyes, numerous as feathers, stud her breast,
With ears as many, and as many tongues.
By night 'twixt heaven and earth the monster flies,
Screeching in darkness, sleepless, vigilant;
By day, like watchman on a tower, she sits
On humble roofs, or battlemented walls,
And agitates with terror mighty towns.
Loquacious of the evil and the false,
As willingly as herald of the true.
[As described by Shakespeare, may be taken as a companionpiece to Virgil's Fame.]
OPEN your ears! for which of you
The sense of hearing when loud Rumor speaks?
I from the orient to the drooping west,
Making the wind my posthorse, still unfold
The acts commencéd on this ball of earth.
Upon my tongues continual slanders ride,
The which in every language I pronounce,
Stuffing the ears of men with false reports.
I speak of peace when covert enmity
Under the smile of safety wounds the world.
And who but Rumor, who but only I
Make fearful musters and prepared defence,
Whilst the big year, swollen with some other grief,
Seems to portend the speedy birth of war,
HENRY IV. 2D PART. INTRODUCTION.
THE seasons alter; hoary-headed frosts
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose ;
And on old Hyems' chin, and icy crown,
An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds
Is, as in mockery, set; the spring, the summer,
The chiding autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries; and the 'mazed world
By their increase now knows not which is which.
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