1651 POEMS
Reading edition
THE DEDICATION
To Love.
Thou, whose sole name all passions doth comprise, Youngest and oldest of the Deities; Born without parents, whose unbounded reign Moves the firm earth, fixeth the floating main, Inverts the course of heaven; and from the deep Awakes those souls that in dark Lethe sleep, By thy mysterious chains seeking t' unite, Once more, the long-since torn Hermaphrodite. He, who thy willing pris'ner long was vow'd, 10And uncompell'd beneath thy sceptre bow'd, Returns at last in thy soft fetters bound, With victory, though not with freedom crown'd: And, of his dangers pass'd a grateful sign, Suspends this tablet at thy numerous shrine.
The Dedication. In 1647 printed at p. 49 with the title 'Conclusion, to Love', and obviously intended to end that collection, but a number of unpaged leaves were subsequently added containing the complimentary verses addressed to Fletcher and others. The following variants occur: 11 'by thy kind power unbound'. 12 'At least with freedom, though not conquest crown'd'. 14 'Suspends these papers'. Stanley also appended a list of Greek quotations justifying the cento. There is an intrinsic interest attaching to them in that they may have suggested a similar process to Gray. A further comparison-contrast may also interest some as to the lines themselves—that of the famous and magnificent opening of Mr. Swinburne's Tristram of Lyonesse.
The notes annotate the following phrases:—1 '(a) all passions', 2 '(b) Youngest and (c) oldest', 3 '(d) Born', 4 '(e) Moves', 7 '(f) By thy mysterious ...' The Greek has been slightly corrected in spelling and accents.
(a) Alexis apud Athenaeum:
συνενηνεγμένος Πανταχόθεν ἐν ἑνὶ τόπῳ πόλλ' εἴδη φέρων, Ἡ τόλμα μὲν γὰρ ἀνδρός, ἡ δὲ δειλία Γυναικός, &c.
Sophocles:
Κύπρις οὐ Κύπρις μόνον, Ἀλλ' ἔστι πάντων ὀνομάτων ἐπώνυμος.
(b) Plato, Sympos.: Φημὶ νεώτατον αὐτὸν εἶναι θεῶν, καὶ ἀεὶ νέον.
(c. d) Plato: Τὸ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς πρεσβυτάτοις εἶναι τῶν θεῶν τίμιον. Τεκμήριον δὲ τούτου· γονεῖς γὰρ ἔρωτος οὔτ' εἰσὶν, οὔτε λέγονται ὑπ' οὐδενὸς οὔτε ἰδιώτου οὔτε ποιητοῦ.
(e) Oppian. Cyneg. 2:
Γαῖα πέλει σταθερὴ, βελέεσσι δὲ σοῖσι δονεῖται· Ἄστατος ἔπλετο πόντος, ἀτὰρ σύ γε καὶ τὸν ἔπηξας· Ἤλυθες εἰς αἰθῆρ', οἶδεν δέ σε μακρὸς Ὄλυμπος. Δειμαίνει δέ σε πάντα, καὶ οὐρανὸς εὐρὺς ὕπερθε Γαίης ὅσσα τ' ἔνερθε καὶ ἔθνεα λυγρὰ καμόντων Οἳ λήθης μὲν ἄφυσσαν ὑπὸ στόμα νηπαθὲς ὕδωρ.
(f) Plato: Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ τρία ἦν τὰ γένη τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων (sc. ἄρρεν, θῆλυ, καὶ ἀνδρόγυνον). Mox addit, Ἔστι δὴ οὖν ἐκ τόσου ὁ ἔρως ἔμφυτος ἀλλήλων τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ τῆς ἀρχαίας φύσεως συναγωγεὺς καὶ ἐπιχειρῶν ποιῆσαι ἕν ἐκ δυοῖν, ⟨καὶ⟩ ἰάσασθαι τὴν φύσιν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην. Phil. Jud. περὶ τῆς κοσμοποιίας. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐπλάσθη ἡ γυνὴ θεασάμενος ἀδελφὸν εἶδος καὶ συγγενῆ μορφὴν ἠσμένισε τῇ θέᾳ ἔρως δὲ ἐπιγινόμενος καθάπερ ἑνὸς ζώον διττὰ τμήματα διεστηκότα συναγωγὼν εἰς ταὐτὸν ἁρμόττεται.