most
reverend
head, to whom I owe
All that I am in arts, all that I know--
How nothing's that!
All that I am in arts, all that I know--
How nothing's that!
Ben Jonson - Discoveries Made Upon Men, and Some Poems
In that humour he
doth many senseless things, and at last falls upon the Grecian flock and
kills a great ram for Ulysses: returning to his senses, he grows ashamed
of the scorn, and kills himself; and is by the chiefs of the Greeks
forbidden burial. These things agree and hang together, not as they were
done, but as seeming to be done, which made the action whole, entire, and
absolute.
_The conclusion concerning the whole_, _and the parts_. --_Which are
episodes_. --_Ajax and Hector_. --_Homer_. --For the whole, as it consisteth of
parts, so without all the parts it is not the whole; and to make it
absolute is required not only the parts, but such parts as are true. For
a part of the whole was true; which, if you take away, you either change
the whole or it is not the whole. For if it be such a part, as, being
present or absent, nothing concerns the whole, it cannot be called a part
of the whole; and such are the episodes, of which hereafter. For the
present here is one example: the single combat of Ajax with Hector, as it
is at large described in Homer, nothing belongs to this Ajax of
Sophocles.
You admire no poems but such as run like a brewer's cart upon the stones,
hobbling:--
"Et, quae per salebras, altaque saxa cadunt,
Accius et quidquid Pacuviusque vomunt.
Attonitusque legis terrai, frugiferai. " {160a}
SOME POEMS.
TO WILLIAM CAMDEN.
CAMDEN!
most reverend head, to whom I owe
All that I am in arts, all that I know--
How nothing's that! to whom my country owes
The great renown, and name wherewith she goes!
Than thee the age sees not that thing more grave,
More high, more holy, that she more would crave.
What name, what skill, what faith hast thou in things!
What sight in searching the most antique springs!
What weight, and what authority in thy speech!
Men scarce can make that doubt, but thou canst teach.
Pardon free truth, and let thy modesty,
Which conquers all, be once o'ercome by thee.
Many of thine, this better could, than I;
But for their powers, accept my piety.
ON MY FIRST DAUGHTER.
HERE lies, to each her parents' ruth,
Mary, the daughter of their youth;
Yet, all heaven's gifts, being heaven's due,
It makes the father less to rue.
At six months' end, she parted hence,
With safety of her innocence;
Whose soul heaven's queen, whose name she bears,
In comfort of her mother's tears,
Hath placed amongst her virgin-train;
Where, while that severed doth remain,
This grave partakes the fleshly birth;
Which cover lightly, gentle earth!
ON MY FIRST SON.
FAREWELL, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy;
Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
Oh! could I lose all father, now!
doth many senseless things, and at last falls upon the Grecian flock and
kills a great ram for Ulysses: returning to his senses, he grows ashamed
of the scorn, and kills himself; and is by the chiefs of the Greeks
forbidden burial. These things agree and hang together, not as they were
done, but as seeming to be done, which made the action whole, entire, and
absolute.
_The conclusion concerning the whole_, _and the parts_. --_Which are
episodes_. --_Ajax and Hector_. --_Homer_. --For the whole, as it consisteth of
parts, so without all the parts it is not the whole; and to make it
absolute is required not only the parts, but such parts as are true. For
a part of the whole was true; which, if you take away, you either change
the whole or it is not the whole. For if it be such a part, as, being
present or absent, nothing concerns the whole, it cannot be called a part
of the whole; and such are the episodes, of which hereafter. For the
present here is one example: the single combat of Ajax with Hector, as it
is at large described in Homer, nothing belongs to this Ajax of
Sophocles.
You admire no poems but such as run like a brewer's cart upon the stones,
hobbling:--
"Et, quae per salebras, altaque saxa cadunt,
Accius et quidquid Pacuviusque vomunt.
Attonitusque legis terrai, frugiferai. " {160a}
SOME POEMS.
TO WILLIAM CAMDEN.
CAMDEN!
most reverend head, to whom I owe
All that I am in arts, all that I know--
How nothing's that! to whom my country owes
The great renown, and name wherewith she goes!
Than thee the age sees not that thing more grave,
More high, more holy, that she more would crave.
What name, what skill, what faith hast thou in things!
What sight in searching the most antique springs!
What weight, and what authority in thy speech!
Men scarce can make that doubt, but thou canst teach.
Pardon free truth, and let thy modesty,
Which conquers all, be once o'ercome by thee.
Many of thine, this better could, than I;
But for their powers, accept my piety.
ON MY FIRST DAUGHTER.
HERE lies, to each her parents' ruth,
Mary, the daughter of their youth;
Yet, all heaven's gifts, being heaven's due,
It makes the father less to rue.
At six months' end, she parted hence,
With safety of her innocence;
Whose soul heaven's queen, whose name she bears,
In comfort of her mother's tears,
Hath placed amongst her virgin-train;
Where, while that severed doth remain,
This grave partakes the fleshly birth;
Which cover lightly, gentle earth!
ON MY FIRST SON.
FAREWELL, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy;
Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
Oh! could I lose all father, now!
