Ben Jonson (1572-1637)

Ben Jonson (1572-1637)

A Pindaric Ode

TO THE IMMORTAL MEMORY AND FRIENDSHIP OF THAT NOBLE PAIR, SIR LUCIUS CARY AND SIR H. MORISON

THE TURN

1 Brave infant of Saguntum, clear

2 Thy coming forth in that great year,

3When the prodigious Hannibal did crown

4His rage with razing your immortal town.

5 Thou looking then about,

6 Ere thou wert half got out,

7 Wise child, didst hastily return,

8 And mad'st thy mother's womb thine urn.

9How summ'd a circle didst thou leave mankind

10Of deepest lore, could we the centre find!

THE COUNTER-TURN

11 Did wiser nature draw thee back,

12 From out the horror of that sack;

13Where shame, faith, honour, and regard of right,

14Lay trampled on? The deeds of death and night

15 Urg'd, hurried forth, and hurl'd

16 Upon th' affrighted world;

17 Sword, fire and famine with fell fury met,

18 And all on utmost ruin set:

19As, could they but life's miseries foresee,

20No doubt all infants would return like thee.

THE STAND

21 For what is life, if measur'd by the space,

22 Not by the act?

23Or masked man, if valu'd by his face,

24 Above his fact?

25 Here's one outliv'd his peers

26 And told forth fourscore years:

27 He vexed time, and busied the whole state;

28 Troubled both foes and friends;

29 But ever to no ends:

30 What did this stirrer but die late?

31How well at twenty had he fall'n or stood!

32For three of his four score he did no good.

THE TURN

33 He enter'd well, by virtuous parts

34 Got up, and thriv'd with honest arts;

35He purchas'd friends, and fame, and honours then,

36And had his noble name advanc'd with men;

37 But weary of that flight,

38 He stoop'd in all men's sight

39 To sordid flatteries, acts of strife,

40 And sunk in that dead sea of life,

41So deep, as he did then death's waters sup,

42But that the cork of title buoy'd him up.

THE COUNTER-TURN

43 Alas, but Morison fell young!

44 He never fell,--thou fall'st, my tongue.

45He stood, a soldier to the last right end,

46A perfect patriot and a noble friend;

47 But most, a virtuous son.

48 All offices were done

49 By him, so ample, full, and round,

50 In weight, in measure, number, sound,

51As, though his age imperfect might appear,

52His life was of humanity the sphere.

THE STAND

53 Go now, and tell out days summ'd up with fears,

54 And make them years;

55Produce thy mass of miseries on the stage,

56 To swell thine age;

57 Repeat of things a throng,

58 To show thou hast been long,

59 Not liv'd; for life doth her great actions spell,

60 By what was done and wrought

61 In season, and so brought

62 To light: her measures are, how well

63Each syllabe answer'd, and was form'd, how fair;

64 These make the lines of life, and that's her air.

THE TURN

65 It is not growing like a tree

66 In bulk, doth make men better be;

67Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,

68To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sear:

69 A lily of a day

70 Is fairer far, in May,

71 Although it fall and die that night,

72 It was the plant and flower of light.

73In small proportions we just beauties see;

74And in short measures life may perfect be.

THE COUNTER-TURN

75 Call, noble Lucius, then, for wine,

76 And let thy looks with gladness shine;

77Accept this garland, plant it on thy head,

78And think, nay know, thy Morison's not dead.

79 He leap'd the present age,

80 Possest with holy rage,

81 To see that bright eternal day;

82 Of which we priests and poets say

83Such truths as we expect for happy men;

84And there he lives with memory, and Ben

THE STAND

85 Jonson, who sung this of him, ere he went

86 Himself, to rest,

87Or taste a part of that full joy he meant

88 To have exprest,

89 In this bright asterism,

90 Where it were friendship's schism,

91 Were not his Lucius long with us to tarry,

92 To separate these twi{\-}

93 Lights, the Dioscuri,

94 And keep the one half from his Harry.

95But fate doth so alternate the design,

96Whilst that in heav'n, this light on earth must shine.

THE TURN

97 And shine as you exalted are;

98 Two names of friendship, but one star:

99Of hearts the union, and those not by chance

100Made, or indenture, or leas'd out t' advance

101 The profits for a time.

102 No pleasures vain did chime,

103 Of rhymes, or riots, at your feasts,

104 Orgies of drink, or feign'd protests;

105But simple love of greatness and of good,

106That knits brave minds and manners more than blood.

THE COUNTER-TURN

107 This made you first to know the why

108 You lik'd, then after, to apply

109That liking; and approach so one the t'other

110Till either grew a portion of the other;

111 Each styled by his end,

112 The copy of his friend.

113 You liv'd to be the great surnames

114 And titles by which all made claims

115Unto the virtue: nothing perfect done,

116But as a Cary or a Morison.

THE STAND

117 And such a force the fair example had,

118 As they that saw

119The good and durst not practise it, were glad

120 That such a law

121 Was left yet to mankind;

122 Where they might read and find

123 Friendship, indeed, was written not in words:

124 And with the heart, not pen,

125 Of two so early men,

126 Whose lines her rolls were, and records;

127Who, ere the first down bloomed on the chin,

128Had sow'd these fruits, and got the harvest in.

Notes

1 ] Although not so titled by Jonson, a Pindaric ode in which he gives English names to the three divisions, strophe, antistrophe, and epode. See the note on Gray's Progress of Poesy. Sir Lucius Cary (1610-1643) inherited the title of Viscount Falkland in 1632. He lived in scholarly retirement on his estate of Great Tew in Oxfordshire, and was a generous patron of men of letters, including Jonson. Having espoused the Royalist cause in the Civil War, he fell at the battle of Newbury. Henry Morison was united to Cary by a close friendship and by the latter's marriage to his sister; this ode was written shortly after the death of Morison in 1629.
Saguntum. A city in Spain captured by Hannibal, 219 B.C.; Jonson took the subject of the first two stanzas from Pliny's Natural History.

24 ] fact. Deed.

64 ] The metaphor is from scansion and from musical notation.

89 ] asterism. Constellation, i.e. Cary and Morison.

92, 93 ] twilights. The word is here used in its etymological sense, "double lights".
Dioscuri. Castor and Pollux, sons of Zeus and Leda; also, the constellation Gemini.

113 ] surnames. There may be a pun.

118 ] As: that.

Online text copyright © 2003, Ian Lancashire for the Department of English, University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: Ben Jonson, The workes of Benjamin Jonson (London: R. Bishop, sold by A. Crooke, 1640). STC 14754. stc Fisher Rare Book Library (Toronto). Also British Library copy as microfilmed in English Books 1475-1640. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms. P & R 14754 * 20250
First publication date: 1640
RPO poem editor: N. J. Endicott
RP edition: 2RP 1.265.
Recent editing: 4:2002/4/3

Composition date: 1629
Form: Pindaric Ode
Rhyme: aabbccddee, aabbccddee, ababccdeedff

Ben Jonson (1572-1637)

Ode to Himself upon the Censure of his "New Inn"

1 Come, leave the loathed stage,

2 And the more loathsome age;

3Where pride and impudence, in faction knit,

4 Usurp the chair of wit!

5Indicting and arraigning every day

6 Something they call a play.

7 Let their fastidious, vain

8 Commission of the brain

9Run on and rage, sweat, censure, and condemn;

10They were not made for thee, less thou for them.

11 Say that thou pour'st them wheat,

12 And they will acorns eat;

13'Twere simple fury still thyself to waste

14 On such as have no taste!

15To offer them a surfeit of pure bread

16 Whose appetites are dead!

17 No, give them grains their fill,

18 Husks, draff to drink and swill:

19If they love lees, and leave the lusty wine,

20Envy them not, their palate's with the swine.

21 No doubt some mouldy tale,

22 Like Pericles, and stale

23 As the shrieve's crusts, and nasty as his fish--

24 Scraps out of every dish

25Thrown forth, and rak'd into the common tub,

26 May keep up the Play-club:

27 There, sweepings do as well

28 As the best-order'd meal;

29For who the relish of these guests will fit,

30Needs set them but the alms-basket of wit.

31 And much good do't you then:

32 Brave plush-and-velvet-men

33 Can feed on orts; and, safe in your stage-clothes,

34 Dare quit, upon your oaths,

35The stagers, and the stage-wrights too (your peers)

36 Of larding your large ears

37 With their foul comic socks,

38 Wrought upon twenty blocks;

39Which if they are torn, and turn'd, and patch'd enough,

40 The gamesters share your gilt, and you their stuff.

41 Leave things so prostitute,

42 And take the Alcaic lute;

43Or thine own Horace, or Anacreon's lyre;

44 Warm thee by Pindar's fire:

45And though thy nerves be shrunk, and blood be cold,

46 Ere years have made thee old,

47 Strike that disdainful heat

48 Throughout, to their defeat,

49As curious fools, and envious of thy strain,

50May blushing swear, no palsy's in thy brain.

51 But when they hear thee sing

52 The glories of thy king,

53His zeal to God, and his just awe o'er men:

54 They may, blood-shaken then,

55Feel such a flesh-quake to possess their powers,

56 As they shall cry: "Like ours

57 In sound of peace or wars,

58 No harp e'er hit the stars,

59In tuning forth the acts of his sweet reign,

60 And raising Charles his chariot 'bove his Wain."

Notes

1 ] Jonson's comedy, The New Inn (acted 1629, published 1631) was a complete failure on the stage. At the conclusion of the play he printed this ode, with the following explanatory note- "The just indignation the author took at the vulgar censure of this play by some malicious spectators begat this following Ode to Himself; see also Carew's To Ben Jonson "upon occasion of his ode of defiance".

18 ] draff. Refuse.

22 ] Pericles. A loosely constructed play, based on the old romantic tale of Apollonius of Tyre. It was published as by Shakespeare in 1608, but was not included in his collected works until 1664. Only the last three acts are now attributed to him.

23 ] shrieve's. Sheriff's. The allusion is to the food served to imprisoned debtors.

33 ] orts. Scraps. 34, 36.
quit... of. Excuse from.

37 ] comic socks. Comedies. The soccus was the low shoe worn by the Latin comedian.

40 ] gilt. Gold and guilt; a pun.

42 ] Alcaic. Characteristic of Alcæus, a Greek lyric poet (c. 600 B.C.).

47, 49 ] that... as. Such... that.

52 ] thy king. Charles I, who was generous to the poet.

60 ] Charles his chariot. Charles's chariot.

Online text copyright © 2003, Ian Lancashire for the Department of English, University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: Ben Jonson, The New Inne (London: T. Harper for T. Alchorne, 1631). STC 14780
First publication date: 1621
RPO poem editor: N. J. Endicott
RP edition: 2RP 1.263.
Recent editing: 4:2002/4/3

Form: Horatian Ode
Rhyme: aabbccddee

A. Cowley

The Praise of Pindar
In Imitation of Horace his second Ode, B. 4.

Pindarum quisquis studet æmulari, &c.

1.

1 PIndar is imitable by none;
The Phœnix Pindar is a vast Species alone.
Who e're but Dædalus with waxen wings could fly,
And neither sink too low, nor soar too high?
What could he who follow'd claim,
But of vain boldness the unhappy fame,
And by his fall a Sea to name?
Pindars unnavigable Song
Like a swoln Flood from some steep Mountain pours along.
The Ocean meets with such a Voice 10
From his enlarged Mouth, as drowns the Oceans noise.

2.

So Pindar does new Words and Figures roul
1 Down his impetuous Dithyrambique Tide,
Which in no Channel deigns t'abide,
2 Which neither Banks nor Dikes controul.
Whether th' Immortal Gods he sings
In a no less Immortal strain,
3 Or the great Acts of God descended Kings,
Who in his Numbers still survive and Reign.
Each rich embroidered Line, 20
Which their triumphant Brows around,
By his sacred Hand is bound,
4 Does all their starry Diadems outshine.

3.

Whether at Pisa 's race he please
1 To carve in polisht Verse the Conquer'ors Images,
2 Whether the Swift, the Skilful, or the Strong,
Be crowned in his Nimble, Artful, Vigorous Song:
3 Whether some brave young man's untimely fate
In words worth Dying for he celebrate,
Such mournful, and such pleasing words, 30
As joy to'his Mothers and his Mistress grief affords:
He bids him Live and Grow in fame,
4 Among the Stars he sticks his Name:
The Grave can but the Dross of him devour,
So small is Deaths, so great the Poets power.

4.

Lo, how th'obsequious Wind, and swelling Ayr
1 The Theban Swan does upwards bear
Into the walks of Clouds, where he does play,
And with extended Wings opens his liquid way.
Whilst, alas, my tim'erous Muse 40
Unambitious tracks pursues;
Does with weak unballast wings,
About the mossy Brooks and Springs;
About the Trees new-blossom'ed Heads,
About the Gardens painted Beds,
About the Fields and flowry Meads,
And all inferior beauteous things
Like the laborious Bee,
For little drops of Honey flee,
And there with Humble Sweets contents her Industrie. 50

The Muse

1.

1 GO, the rich Chariot instantly prepare;
The Queen, my Muse, will take the aire;
Unruly Phansie with strong Judgment trace,
Put in nimble-footed Wit,
Smooth-pac'ed Eloquence joyn with it,
Sound Memory with young Invention place,
Harness all the winged race.
Let the Postillian Nature mount, and let
The Coachman Art be set.
And let the airy Footmen running all beside, 10
Make a long row of goodly pride.
Figures, Conceits, Raptures, and Sentences
In a well-worded dress.
And innocent Loves, and pleasant Truths, and useful Lies,
In all their gaudy Liveries.
Mount, glorious Queen, thy travelling Throne,
And bid it to put on;
For long, though cheerful, is the way,
And Life, alas, allows but one ill winters Day.

2.

Where never Foot of Man, or Hoof of Beast, 20
The passage prest,
1 Where never Fish did fly,
And with short silver wings cut the low liquid Sky.
2 Where Bird with painted Oars did n'ere
Row through the trackless Ocean of the Air.
Where never yet did pry
The busie Mornings curious Ey.
The Wheels of thy bold Coach pass quick and free;
And all's an open Road to Thee.
3 Whatever God did Say, 30
Is all thy plain and smooth, uninterrupted way.
Nay ev'n beyond his works thy Voyages are known,
Thou'hast thousand worlds too of thine own.
Thou speakst, great Queen, in the same stile as He,
And a New world leaps forth when Thou say'st, Let it Be.

3.

1 Thou fadom'est the deep Gulf of Ages past,
And canst pluck up with ease
The years which Thou dost please,
Like shipwrackt Treasures by rude Tempests cast
Long since into the Sea, 40
Brought up again to light and publique Use by Thee.
Nor dost thou only Dive so low,
But Fly
With an unwearied Wing the other way on high,
2 Where Fates among the Stars do grow;
There into the close Nests of Time do'est peep,
And there with piercing Eye,
Through the firm shell, and the thick White do'st spie,
Years to come a forming lie,
Close in their sacred Secundine asleep, 50
Till hatcht by the Suns vital heat
Which ore them yet does brooding set
They Life and Motion get,
And ripe at last with vigorous might
Break through the Shell, and take their everlasting Flight.

4.

And sure we may
The same too of the Present say,
If Past, and Future Times do thee obey.
Thou stopst this Current, and dost make
This running River settle like a Lake, 60
[1] Thy certain hand holds fast this slippery Snake.
The Fruit which does so quickly wast,
Men scarce can see it, much less tast,
Thou Comfitest in Sweets to make it last.
[2] This shining piece of Ice
Which melts so soon away
With the Suns ray,
Thy Verse does solidate and Chrystallize.
Till it a lasting Mirror be;
Nay thy Immortal Rhyme 70
Makes this one short Point of Time, [1656: once
[3] To fill up half the Orb of Round Eternity.