I, and she wished, albeit not from her heart,
That he would leave her turret and depart.
The mirthful god of amorous pleasure smiled
To see how he this captive nymph beguiled;
For hitherto he did but fan the fire,

And kept it down, that it might mount the
higher.

Now wax'd she jealous lest his love abated, Fearing her own thoughts made her to be hated.

Therefore unto him hastily she goes,

And, like light Salmacis, her body throws
Upon his bosom, where with yielding eyes
She offers up herself a sacrifice

To slake her anger, if he were displeased:
O, what god would not therewith be appeased?
Like Æsop's cock, this jewel he enjoyed,
And as a brother with his sister toyed,
Supposing nothing else was to be done,
Now he her favour and goodwill had won.
But know you not that creatures wanting sense,
By nature have a mutual appetence,

And, wanting organs to advance a step,
Mov'd by love's force, unto each other lep?
Much more in subjects having intellect
Some hidden influence breeds like effect.

Albeit Leander, rude in love and raw,

Long dallying with Hero, nothing saw

That might delight him more, yet he suspected
Some amorous rites or other were neglected.

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Therefore unto his body hers he clung:
She, fearing on the rushes to be flung,

Strived with redoubled strength; the more she strived,
The more a gentle pleasing heat revived,
Which taught him all that elder lovers know;
And now the same gan so to scorch and glow,
As in plain terms, yet cunningly, he'd crave 2 it:
Love always makes those eloquent that have it.
She, with a kind of granting, put him by it,
And ever, as he thought himself most nigh it,
Like to the tree of Tantalus, she fled,
And, seeming lavish, saved her maidenhead.
Ne'er king more sought to keep his diadem,
Than Hero this inestimable gem :

Above our life we love a steadfast friend;
Yet when a token of great worth we send,
We often kiss it, often look thereon,

And stay the messenger that would be gone;

No marvel, then, though Hero would not yield
So soon to part from that she dearly held :
Jewels being lost are found again; this never;
'Tis lost but once, and once lost, lost for ever.

Now had the Morn espied her lover's steeds;
Whereat she starts, puts on her purple weeds,

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1 Rooms were strewed with rushes before the introduction of carpets. Shakespeare, like Marlowe, attributed the customs of his own day to ancient times. Cf. Cymb. ii. 2—

"Our Tarquin thus

Did softly press the rushes ere he wakened

The chastity he wounded."

2 Old eds. "crau'd."

And, red for anger that he stayed so long,
All headlong throws herself the clouds among.
And now Leander, fearing to be missed,
Embraced her suddenly, took leave, and kissed:
Long was he taking leave, and loath to go,
And kissed again, as lovers use to do.
Sad Hero wrung him by the hand, and wept,
Saying, "Let your vows and promises be kept: "
Then standing at the door, she turned about,
As loath to see Leander going out.

And now the sun, that through th' horizon peeps,
As pitying these lovers, downward creeps;
So that in silence of the cloudy night,
Though it was morning, did he take his flight.
But what the secret trusty night concealed,
Leander's amorous habit soon revealed:
With Cupid's myrtle was his bonnet crowned,
About his arms the purple riband wound,
(Wherewith she wreath'd her largely-spreading hair;
Nor could the youth abstain, but he must wear
The sacred ring wherewith she was endowed,
When first religious chastity she vowed;

Which made his love through Sestos to be known,
And thence unto Abydos sooner blown
Than he could sail; for incorporeal Fame,
Whose weight consists in nothing but her name,
Is swifter than the wind, whose tardy plumes
Are reeking water and dull earthly fumes.

Home when he came, he seemed not to be there,
But, like exiled air thrust from his sphere,

Set in a foreign place; and straight from thence,
Alcides-like, by mighty violence,

He would have chas'd away the swelling main,

,i 120

That him from her unjustly did detain.

Like as the sun in a diameter

Fires and inflames objects removed far,
And heateth kindly, shining laterally;

So beauty sweetly quickens when 'tis nigh,

But being separated and removed,

Burns where it cherished, murders where it loved.
Therefore even as an index to a book,

So to his mind was young Leander's look.

O, none but gods have power1 their love to hide!
Affection by the countenance is descried;
The light of hidden fire itself discovers,
And love that is concealed betrays poor lovers.
His secret flame apparently was seen :
Leander's father knew where he had been,
And for the same mildly rebuk'd his son,
Thinking to quench the sparkles new-begun.
But love, resisted once, grows passionate,
And nothing more than counsel lovers hate;
For as a hot proud horse highly disdains

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To have his head controlled, but breaks the reins, ACTION

Spits forth the ringled 2 bit, and with his hoves
Checks the submissive ground; so he that loves,

1 Some eds. give "O, none have power but gods."

2 "In ages and countries where mechanical ingenuity has but few outlets it exhausts itself in the constructions of bits, each more peculiar in form or more torturing in effect than that which has preceded it. I have

The more he is restrain'd, the worse he fares:
What is it now but mad Leander dares?
"O Hero, Hero!" thus he cried full oft;
And then he got him to a rock aloft,

Where having spied her tower, long star'd he on't,
And pray'd the narrow toiling Hellespont
To part in twain, that he might come and go;
But still the rising billows answer'd, "No."
With that, he stripp'd him to the ivory skin,
And, crying, "Love, I come," leap'd lively in:
Whereat the sapphire-visaged god grew proud,
And made his capering Triton sound aloud,
Imagining that Ganymede, displeas'd,
Had left the heavens; therefore on him he seiz'd.
Leander strived; the waves about him wound,
And pull'd him to the bottom, where the ground
Was strewed with pearl, and in low coral groves
Sweet-singing mermaids sported with their loves
On heaps of heavy gold, and took great pleasure
To spurn in careless sort the shipwreck treasure;
For here the stately azure palace stood,
Where kingly Neptune and his train abode.
The lusty god embrac'd him, called him "Love,"
And swore he never should return to Jove:
But when he knew it was not Ganymed,
For under water he was almost dead,

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seen collections of these instruments of torments, and among them some of which Marlowe's curious adjective would have been highly descriptive. It may be, however, that the word is 'ring-led,' in which shape it would mean guided by the ring on each side like a snaffle."- Cunningham.