the Author's EpigrammeEpigram.
The Hesperian apples of the Cyprian dame
Gave to the nimble youth a victors fame:
Who close pursu'dpursued by the Swift virgins Speed
Throws one in view, that soeso heehe might proceed:
Hee'sHe's gone, SheeShe after, fleet or more than wind
Whilst with another lure heehe affects her mind,
Diverting once againeagain the DamsellsDamsels chase;
But hold, they neither yet have lost the race:
On on they runnerun, the youth a third lets fall,
And then Atalanta yeildsyields herselfeherself and all.
Hippomenes the Strength of Sulphur is,
SheeShe wife of Hermes is o'recomeovercome by his:
Who mixing louelove in Cybels sacred place,
Mov'dMoved her chastchaste soulesoul to wrath by that disgrace,
Transmuting in revenge their formallformal state
Into a LyonLion and a LyonsLions mate.
*
*[vertical line in left margin ll. 17-25]
This princely chase the better to pourtrayportray,
My Muse describes it in a triple way,
Depicting first the Speed retarding fruit,
One runnerun before, the third in hotthot pursuit:
Your eyes with ease these Emblems may behold,
But reason must the mysteryesmysteries unfold:
These things I've made familiar, that the mind
The treasures here inclosdenclosed may seekeseek and find:
What wealth i'thin the world or health in medicine lyeslies
These two united LyonsLions doedo comprizecomprise.
EPIGRAMMA AUTHORIS.
Hesperii precium juvenis tulit impiger horti
Dante Deâ pomum Cypride tergeminum:
Idɋ́Idque sequens fugientis humo glomeravit ad ora
Virginis, hinc tardas contrahit illa moras:
Mox micat is, micat hæaec mox ante fugacior Euris,
Alteratum spargens aurea dona solo,
Ille morabatur vestigia lenta puellæae
Rursus, at hæaec rursus dat sua terga fugæae;
Tertia donec amans iterârit pondera, cessit
Victori merces hinc Atalanta suo.
Hippomenes virtus est sulphuris, illa fugacis
Mercurii, in cursu femina victa mare est.
Qui postquam cupido se complectuntur amore
In fano Cybeles, corrigit ira Deam;
Pelle leonina vindex &et vestiit ambos,
Inde rubent posthac corpore, suntɋ́suntque feri.
Hujus ut exprimeret simulacra simillima cursus
Voce tibi ternâ dat mea Musa fugas:
Una manet simplex, pomúmque refert remorans vox,
Altera sed fugiens, tertia ritè sequens.
Auribus ista tuis, oculísque Emblemata prostent,
At ratio arcanas expetat inde notas:
Sensibus hæaec objecta tuli, intellectus ut illis
Illicibus caperet, quæae preciosa latent.
Orbis quicquid opum, vel habet Medicina salutis,
Omne Leo geminus suppeditare potest.