The Faerie Queene

by Edmund Spenser

  That with her crooked keele the land she strooke,

  Then forth the noble Guyon sallied,

  And his sage Palmer, that him gouerned;

  But th’other by his boate behind did stay.

  They marched fairly forth, of nought ydred,

  Both firmely armd for euery hard assay,

  With constancy and care, gainst daunger and dismay.

  39 Ere long they heard an hideous bellowing

  Of many beasts, that roard outrageously,

  As if that hungers point, or Venus sting

  Had them enraged with fell surquedry;

  Yet nought they feard, but past on hardily,

  Vntill they came in view of those wild beasts:

  Who all attonce, gaping full greedily,

  And rearing fiercely their vpstarting crests,

  Ran towards, to deuoure those vnexpected guests.

  40 But soone as they approcht with deadly threat,

  The Palmer ouer them his staffe vpheld,

  His mighty staffe, that could all charmes defeat:

  Eftsoones their stubborne courages were queld,

  And high aduaunced crests downe meekely feld,

  In stead of fraying, they them selues did feare,

  And trembled, as them passing they beheld:

  Such wondrous powre did in that staffe appeare,

  All monsters to subdew to him, that did it beare.

  41 Of that same wood it fram’d was cunningly,

  Of which Caduceus whilome was made,

  Caduceus the rod of Mercury,

  With which he wonts the Stygian reahnes inuade,

  Through ghastly horrour, and eternall shade;

  Th’infernall feends with it he can asswage,

  And Orcus tame, whom nothing can perswade,

  And rule the Furyes, when they most do rage:

  Such vertue in his staffe had eke this Palmer sage.

  42 Thence passing forth, they shortly do arriue,

  Whereas the Bowre of Blisse was situate;

  A place pickt out by choice of best aliue,

  That natures worke by art can imitate:

  In which what euer in this worldly state

  Is sweet, and pleasing vnto liuing sense,

  Or that may dayntiest fantasie aggrate,

  Was poured forth with plentifull dispence,

  And made there to abound with lauish affluence.

  43 Goodly it was enclosed round about,

  Aswell their entred guestes to keepe within,

  As those vnruly beasts to hold without;

  Yet was the fence thereof but weake and thin;

  Nought feard their force, that fortilage to win,

  But wisedomes powre, and temperaunces might.

  By which the mightiest things efforced bin:

  And eke the gate was wrought of substaunce light,

  Rather for pleasure, then for battery or fight

  44 Yt framed was of precious yuory,

  That seemd a worke of admirable wit;

  And therein all the famous history

  Of Iason and Medœa was ywrit;

  Her mighty charmes, her furious louing fit,

  His goodly conquest of the golden fleece,

  His falsed faith, and loue too lightly flit,

  The wondred Argo, which in venturous peece

  First through the Euxine seas bore all the flowr of Greece.

  45 Ye might haue seene the frothy billowes fry

  Vnder the ship, as thorough them she went,

  That seemd the waues were into yuory,

  Or yuory into the waues were sent;

  And other where the snowy substaunce sprent

  With vermeil, like the boyes bloud therein shed,

  A piteous spectacle did represent,

  And otherwhiles with gold besprinkeled;

  Yt seemd th’enchaunted flame, which did Creüsa wed.

  46 All this, and more might in that goodly gate

  Be red; that euer open stood to all,

  Which thither came: but in the Porch there sate

  A comely personage of stature tall,

  And semblaunce pleasing, more then naturall,

  That trauellers to him seemd to entize;

  His looser garment to the ground did fall,

  And flew about his heeles in wanton wize,

  Not fit for speedy pace, or manly exercize.

  47 They in that place him Genius did call:

  Not that celestiall powre, to whom the care

  Of life, and generation of all

  That liues, pertaines in charge particulare,

  Who wondrous things concerning our welfare,

  And straunge phantomes doth let vs oft forsee,

  And oft of secret ill bids vs beware:

  That is our Selfe, whom though we do not see,

  Yet each doth in him selfe it well perceiue to bee.

  48 Therefore a God him sage Antiquity

  Did wisely make, and good Agdistes call:

  But this same was to that quite contrary,

  The foe of life, that good enuyes to all,

  That secretly doth vs procure to fall,

  Through guilefull semblaunts, which he makes vs see.

  He of this Gardin had the gouernall,

  And Pleasures porter was deuizd to bee,

  Holding a staffe in hand for more formalitee.

  49 With diuerse flowres he daintily was deckt,

  And strowed round about, and by bis side

  A mighty Mazer bowle of wine was set,

  As if it had to him bene sacrifide;

  Wherewith all new-come guests he gratifide:

  So did he eke Sir Guyon passing by:

  But he his idle curtesie defide,

  And ouerthrew his bowle disdainfully;

  And broke his staffe, with which he charmed semblants sly.

  50 Thus being entred, they behold around

  A large and spacious plaine, on euery side

  Strowed with pleasauns, whose faire grassy ground

  Mantled with greene, and goodly beautifide

  With all the ornaments of Floraes pride,

  Wherewith her mother Art, as halfe in scorne

  Of niggard Nature, like a pompous bride

  Did decke her, and too lauishly adorne,

  When forth from virgin bowre she comes in th’early morne.

  51 Thereto the Heauens alwayes Iouiall,

  Lookt on them louely, still in stedfast state,

  Ne suffred storme nor frost on them to fall,

  Their tender buds or leaues to violate,

  Nor scorching heat, nor cold intemperate

  T’afflict the creatures, which therein did dwell,

  But the milde aire with season moderate

  Gently attempred, and disposd so well,

  That still it breathed forth sweet spirit & holesome smell.

  52 More sweet and holesome, then the pleasaunt hill

  Of Rhodope, on which the Nimphe, that bore

  A gyaunt babe, her selfe for griefe did kill;

  Or the Thessalian Tempe, where of yore

  Faire Daphne Phoebus hart with loue did gore;

  Or Ida, where the Gods lou’d to repaire,

  When euer they their heauenly bowres forlore;

  Or sweet Parnasse, the haunt of Muses faire;

  Or Eden selfe, if ought with Eden mote compaire.

  53 Much wondred Guyon at the faire aspect

  Of that sweet place, yet suffred no delight

  To sincke into his sence, nor mind affect,

  But passed forth, and lookt still forward right,

  Bridling his will, and maistering his might:

  Till that he came vnto another gate,

  No gate, but like one, being goodly dight

  With boughes and braunches, which did broad dilate

  Their clasping armes, in wanton wreathings intricate.

  54 So fashioned a Porch with rare deuice,

  Archt ouer hea
d with an embracing vine,

  Whose bounches hanging downe, seemed to entice

  All passers by, to tast their lushious wine,

  And did themselues into their hands incline,

  As freely offering to be gathered:

  Some deepe empurpled as the Hyacint,

  Some as the Rubine, laughing sweetly red,

  Some like faire Emeraudes, not yet well ripened.

  55 And them amongst, some were of burnisht gold,

  So made by art, to beautifie the rest,

  Which did themselues emongst the leaues enfold,

  As lurking from the vew of couetous guest,

  That the weake bowes, with so rich load opprest,

  Did bow adowne, as ouer-burdened.

  Vnder that Porch a comely dame did rest,

  Clad in faire weedes, but fowle disordered,

  And garments loose, that seemd vnmeet for womanhed.

  56 In her left hand a Cup of gold she held,

  And with her right the riper fruit did reach,

  Whole sappy liquor, that with fulnesse sweld,

  Into her cup she scruzd, with daintie breach

  Of her fine fingers, without fowle empeach,

  That so faire wine-presse made the wine more sweet:

  Thereof she vsd to giue to drinke to each,

  Whom passing by she happened to meet:

  It was her guise, all Straungers goodly so to greet.

  57 So she to Guyon offred it to tast;

  Who taking it out of her tender hond,

  The cup to ground did violently cast,

  That all in peeces it was broken fond,

  And with the liquor stained all the lond:

  Whereat Excesse exceedingly was wroth,

  Yet no’te the same amend, ne yet withstand,

  But suffered him to passe, all were she loth;

  Who not regarding her displeasure forward goth.

  58 There the most daintie Paradise on ground,

  It selfe doth offer to his sober eye,

  In which all pleasures plenteously abound,

  And none does others happinesse enuye:

  The painted flowres, the trees vpshooting hye,

  The dales for shade, the hilles for breathing space,

  The trembling groues, the Christall running by;

  And that, which all faire workes doth most aggrace,

  The art, which all that wrought, appeared in no place.

  59 One would haue thought, (so cunningly, the rude,

  And scorned parts were mingled with the fine,)

  That nature had for wantonesse ensude

  Art, and that Art at nature did repine;

  So striuing each th’other to vndermine,

  Each did the others worke more beautifie;

  So diff’ring both in willes, agreed in fine:

  So all agreed through sweete diuersitie,

  This Gardin to adorne with all varietie.

  60 And in the midst of all, a fountaine stood,

  Of richest substaunce, that on earth might bee,

  So pure and shiny, that the siluer flood

  Through euery channell running one might see;

  Most goodly it with curious imageree

  Was ouer-wrought, and shapes of naked boyes,

  Of which some seemd with liuely iollitee,

  To fly about, playing their wanton toyes,

  Whilest others did them selues embay in liquid ioyes.

  61 And ouer all, of purest gold was spred,

  A trayle of yuie in his natiue hew:

  For the rich mettall was so coloured,

  That wight, who did not well auis’d it yew,

  Would surely deeme it to be yuie trew:

  Low his lasciuious armes adown did creepe,

  That themselues dipping in the siluer dew,

  Their fleecy flowres they tenderly did steepe,

  Which drops of Christall seemd for wantones to weepe.

  62 Infinit streames continually did well

  Out of this fountaine, sweet and faire to see,

  The which into an ample lauer fell,

  And shortly grew to so great quantitie,

  That like a little lake it seemd to bee;

  Whose depth exceeded not three cubits hight,

  That through the waues one might the bottom see,

  All pau’d beneath with Iaspar shining bright,

  That seemd the fountaine in that sea did sayle vpright.

  63 And all the margent round about was set,

  With shady Laurell trees, thence to defend

  The sunny beames, which on the billowes bet,

  And those which therein bathed, mote offend.

  As Guyon hapned by the same to wend,

  Two naked Damzelles he therein espyde,

  Which therein bathing, seemed to contend,

  And wrestle wantonly, ne car’d to hyde,

  Their dainty parts from vew of any, which them eyde.

  64 Sometimes the one would lift the other quight

  Aboue the waters, and then downe againe

  Her plong, as ouer maistered by might,

  Where both awhile would couered remaine,

  And each the other from to rise restraine;

  The whiles their snowy limbes, as through a vele,

  So through the Christall waues appeared plaine:

  Then suddeinly both would themselues vnhele,

  And th’amarous sweet spoiles to greedy eyes reuele.

  65 As that faire Starre, the messenger of morne,

  His deawy face out of the sea doth reare:

  Or as the Cyprian goddesse, newly borne

  Of th,Oceans fruitfull froth, did first appeare:

  Such seemed they, and so their yellow heare

  Christalline humour dropped downe apace.

  Whom such when Guyon saw, he drew him neare,

  And somewhat gan relent his earnest pace,

  His stubborne brest gan secret pleasaunce to embrace.

  66 The wanton Maidens him espying, stood

  Gazing a while at his vnwonted guise;

  Then th’one her selfe low ducked in the flood,

  Abasht, that her a straunger did avise:

  But th’other rather higher did arise,

  And her two lilly paps aloft displayd,

  And all, that might his melting hart entise

  To her delights, she vnto him bewrayd:

  The rest hid vnderneath, him more desirous made.

  67 With that, the other likewise vp arose,

  And her faire lockes, which formerly were bownd

  Vp in one knot, she low adowne did lose:

  Which flowing long and thick, her cloth’d arownd,

  And th’yuorie in golden mantle gownd:

  So that faire spectacle from him was reft,

  Yet that, which reft it, no lesse faire was fownd:

  So hid in lockes and waues from lookers theft,

  Nought but her louely face she for his looking left.

  68 Withall she laughed, and she blusht withall,

  That blushing to her laughter gaue more grace,

  And laughter to her blushing, as did fall:

  Now when they spide the knight to slacke his pace,

  Them to behold, and in his sparkling face

  The secret signes of kindled lust appeare,

  Their wanton meriments they did encreace,

  And to him beckned, to approch more neare,

  And shewd him many sights, that courage cold could reare.

  69 On which when gazing him the Palmer saw,

  He much rebukt those wandring eyes of his,

  And counseld well, him forward thence did draw.

  Now are they come nigh to the Bowre of blis

  Of her fond fauorites so nam’d a mis:

  When thus the Palmer; Now Sir, well auise;

  For here the end of all our trauell is:

  Here wonnes Acrasia, whom we must surprise,

  Else she will slip awa
y, and all our drift despise.

  70 Eftsoones they heard a most melodious sound,

  Of all that mote delight a daintie eare,

  Such as attonce might not on liuing ground,

  Saue in this Paradise, be heard elswhere:

  Right hard it was, for wight, which did it heare,

  To read, what manner musicke that mote bee:

  For all that pleasing is to liuing eare,

  Was there consorted in one harmonee,

  Birdes, voyces, instruments, windes, waters, all agree.

  71 The ioyous birdes shrouded in chearefull shade,

  Their notes vnto the voyce attempred sweet;

  Th’Angelicall soft trembling voyces made

  To th’instruments diuine respondence meet:

  The siluer sounding instruments did meet

  With the base murmure of the waters fall:

  The waters fall with difference discreet,

  Now soft, now loud, vnto the wind did call:

  The gentle warbling wind low answered to all.

  72 There, whence that Musick seemed heard to bee,

  Was the faire Witch her selfe now solacing,

  With a new Louer, whom through sorceree

  And witchcraft, she from farre did thither bring:

  There she had him now layd a slombering,

  In secret shade, after long wanton ioyes:

  Whilst round about them pleasauntly did sing

  Many faire Ladies, and lasciuious boyes,

  That euer mixt their song with light licentious toyes.

  73 And all that while, right ouer him she hong,

  With her false eyes fast fixed in his sight,

  As seeking medicine, whence she was stong,

  Or greedily depasturing delight:

  And oft inclining downe with kisses light,

  For feare of waking him, his lips bedewd,

  And through his humid eyes did sucke his spright,

  Quite molten into lust and pleasure lewd;

  Wherewith she sighed soft, as if his case she rewd.

  74 The whiles some one did chaunt this louely lay;

  Ah see, who so faire thing doest faine to see,

  In springing flowre the image of thy day;

  Ah see the Virgin Rose, how sweetly shee

  Doth first peepe forth with bashfull modestee,

  That fairer seemes, the lesse ye see her may;

  Lo see soone after, how more bold and free

  Her bared bosome she doth broad display;

  Loe see soone after, how she fades, and falles away.

  75 So passeth, in the passing of a day,

  Of mortall life the leafe, the bud, the flowre,

  Ne more doth flourish after first decay,

  That earst was sought to decke both bed and bowre,

  Of many a Ladie, and many a Paramowre:

  Gather therefore the Rose, whilest yet is prime,

  For soone comes age, that will her pride deflowre: