_The Gods to Kings the
judgment
give to sway.
Robert Herrick
Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1654, with the variants, '_freezing_
colds and _fiery_ heats,' and 'and how she is _in every_ part'.
256. _Had Lesbia_, etc. See Catullus, _Carm_. iii.
260. _How violets came blue. _ Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1654, as
_How the violets came blue_. The first two lines read:--
"The violets, as poets tell,
With Venus wrangling went".
Other variants are _did_ for _sho'd_ in l. 3; _Girl_ for _Girls_; _you_
for _ye_; _do_ for _dare_.
264. _That verse_, etc. Herrick repeats this assurance in a different
context in the second of his _Noble Numbers_, _His Prayer for
Absolution_.
269.
_The Gods to Kings the judgment give to sway. _ From Tacitus, _Ann. _
vi. 8 (M. Terentius to Tiberius): Tibi summum rerum judicium dii dedere;
nobis obsequi gloria relicta est.
270. _He that may sin, sins least. _ Ovid, _Amor. _ III. iv. 9, 10:--
Cui peccare licet, peccat minus: ipsa potestas
Semina nequitiae languidiora facit.
271. _Upon a maid that died the day she was married. _ Cp. Meleager,
Anth. Pal.
