Classic Poem

ACT I

SCENA I

Pan , F AUNUS , and S ILVANUS , with their Attendants, enter to give welcome to the goddesses : Pan'S Shepherd hath a lamb , F AUNUS ' Hunter hath a fawn , S ILVANUS Woodman with an oaken-bough laden with acorns .

Pan incipit .

Pan. Silvanus, either Flora doth us wrong,
Of Faunus made us tarry all too long,
For by this morning mirth it should appear,
The Muses or the goddesses be near.
Faun. My fawn was nimble, Pan, and whipt apace, —
'Twas happy that we caught him up at last, —
The fattest, fairest fawn in all the chace;
I wonder how the knave could skip so fast.
Pan. And I have brought a twagger for the nones,
A bunting lamb; nay, pray you, feel; no bones:
Believe me now my cunning much I miss,
If ever Pan felt fatter lamb than this.
Sil. Sirs, you may boast your flocks and herds that bin both fresh and fair,
Yet hath Silvanus walks, i-wis, that stand in wholesome air;
And, lo, the honour of the woods, the gallant oakenbough,
Do I bestow, laden with acorns and with mast enow!
Pan. Peace, man, for shame! shalt have both lambs and dams and flocks and herds and all,
And all my pipes to make the[e] glee; we meet not now to brawl.
Faun. There's no such matter, Pan; we are all friends assembled hither,
To bid Queen Juno and her pheeres most humbly welcome hither:
Diana, mistress of our woods, her presence will not want;
Her courtesy to all her friends, we wot, is nothing scant.

P OMONA entereth with her fruit, manentibus Pan cum reliquis .

Pom. Yea, Pan, no farther yet, and had the start of me?
Why, then, Pomona with her fruit comes time enough, I see.
Come on a while; with country store, like friends, we venter forth:
Think'st, Faunus, that these goddesses will take our gifts in worth?
Faun. Yea, doubtless, for shall tell thee, dame, 'twere better give a thing,
A sign of love, unto a mighty person or a king,
Than to a rude and barbarous swain, but bad and basely born,
For gently takes the gentleman that oft the clown will scorn.
Pan. Say'st truly, Faunus; I myself have given good tidy lambs
To Mercury, may say to thee, to Phaebus, and to Jove;
When to a country mops, forsooth, chave offered all their dams,
And piped and prayed for little worth, and ranged about the grove.
Pom. God Pan, that makes your flock so thin, and makes you look so lean,
To kiss in corners.
Pan. Well said, wench! some other thing you mean.
Pom. Yea, jest it out till it go alone: but marvel where we miss
Fair Flora all this merry morn.
Faun. Some news; see where she is.

F LORA entereth to the country gods .

Pan. Flora, well met, and for thy taken pain,
Poor country gods, thy debtors we remain.
Flo. Believe me, Pan, not all thy lambs and ewes,
Nor, Faunus, all thy lusty bucks and does
(But that I am instructed well to know
What service to the hills and dales I owe),
Could have enforced me to so strange a toil,
Thus to enrich this gaudy, gallant soil.
Faun. But tell me, wench, hast done't so trick indeed,
That heaven itself may wonder at the deed?
Flo. Not Iris, in her pride and bravery,
Adorns her arch with such variety;
Nor doth the milk-white way, in frosty night,
Appear so fair and beautiful in sight,
As done these fields, and groves, and sweetest bowers,
Bestrew'd and deck'd with parti-colour'd flowers.
Along the bubbling brooks and silver glide,
That at the bottom doth in silence slide;
The water-flowers and lilies on the banks,
Like blazing comets, burgen all in ranks;
Under the hawthorn and the poplar-tree,
Where sacred Phaebe may delight to be,
The primerose, and the purple hyacinth,
The dainty violet, and the wholesome minth,
The double daisy, and the cowslip, queen
Of summer flowers, do overpeer the green;
And round about the valley as ye pass,
Ye may ne see for peeping flowers the grass:
That well the mighty Juno, and the rest,
May boldly think to be a welcome guest
On Ida hills, when to approve the thing,
The Queen of Flowers prepares a second spring.
Sil. Thou gentle nymph, what thanks shall we repay
To thee that mak'st our fields and woods so gay?
Flo. Sylvanus, when it is thy hap to see
My workmanship in portraying all the three:
First stately Juno with her port and grace,
Her robes, her lawns, her crownet, and her mace,
Would make thee muse this picture to behold,
Of yellow oxlips bright as burnish'd gold.
Pom. A rare device; and Flora well, perdy,
Did paint her yellow for her jealousy.
Flo. Pallas in flowers of hue and colours red;
Her plumes, her helm, her lance, her Gorgon's head,
Her trailing tresses that hang flaring round,
Of July-flowers so graffed in the ground,
That, trust me, sirs, who did the cunning see,
Would at a blush suppose it to be she.
Pan. Good Flora, by my flock, 'twas very good
To dight her all in red, resembling blood.
Flo. Fair Venus of sweet violets in blue,
With other flowers infixed for change of hue;
Her plumes, her pendants, bracelets, and her rings,
Her dainty fan, and twenty other things,
Her lusty mantle waving in the wind,
And every part in colour and in kind;
And for her wreath of roses, she nill dare
With Flora's cunning counterfeit compare.
So that what living wight shall chance to see
These goddesses, each placed in her degree,
Portrayed by Flora's workmanship alone,
Must say that art and nature met in one.
Sil. A dainty draught to lay her down in blue,
The colour commonly betokening true.
Flo. This piece of work, compact with many a flower,
And well laid in at entrance of the bower,
Where Phaebe means to make this meeting royal,
Have I prepared to welcome them withal.
Pom. And are they yet dismounted, Flora, say,
That we may wend to meet them on the way?
Flo. That shall not need: they are at hand by this,
And the conductor of the train hight Rhanis.
Juno hath left her chariot long ago,
And hath returned her peacocks by her rainbow;
And bravely, as becomes the wife of Jove,
Doth honour by her presence to our grove.
Fair Venus she hath let her sparrows fly,
To tend on her and make her melody;
Her turtles and her swans unyoked be,
And flicker near her side for company.
Pallas hath set her tigers loose to feed,
Commanding them to wait when she hath need.
And hitherward with proud and stately pace,
To do us honour in the sylvan chace,
They march, like to the pomp of heaven above,
Juno the wife and sister of King Jove,
The warlike Pallas, and the Queen of Love.
Pan. Pipe, Pan, for joy, and let thy shepherds sing;
Shall never age forget this memorable thing.
Flo. Clio, the sagest of the Sisters Nine,
To do observance to this dame divine,
Lady of learning and of chivalry,
Is here arrived in fair assembly;
And wandering uPand down th' unbeaten ways,
Ring[s] through the wood sweet songs of Pallas' praise.
Pom. Hark, Flora, Faunus! here is melody,
A charm of birds, and more than ordinary.
Pan. The silly birds make mirth; then should we do them wrong,
Pomona, if we nill bestow an echo to their song.

An echo to their song.

The Song. A quire within and without.

Gods. O Ida, O Ida, O Ida, happy hill!
This honour done to Ida may it continue still!
Muses [ within ]. Ye country gods that in this Ida won
Bring down your gifts of welcome,
For honour done to Ida.
Gods. Behold, in sign of joy we sing,
And signs of joyful welcome bring,
For honour done to Ida.
Muses [ within ] The Muses give you melody to gratulate this chance,
And Phaebe, chief sylvan chace, commands you all to dance.
Gods. Then round in a circle our sportance must be;
Hold hands in a hornpipe, all gallant in glee.
Muses [ within ] Reverence, reverence, most humble reverence!
Gods. Most humble reverence!

P ALLAS , J UNO , and V ENUS enter , R HANIS leading the way. Pan alone sings .

THE SONG .

The God of Shepherds, and his mates,
With country cheer salutes your states,
Fair, wise, and worthy as you be,
And thank the gracious ladies three
For honour done to Ida.

The song being done , J UNO speaks .

Juno. Venus, what shall I say? for, though I be a dame divine,
This welcome and this melody exceed these wits of mine.
Ven. Believe me, Juno, as I hight the Sovereign of Love.
These rare delights in pleasures pass the banquets of King Jove.
Pal. Then, Venus, I conclude it easily may be seen,
That in her chaste and pleasant walks fair Phaebe is a queen.
Rha. Divine[st] Pallas, and you sacred dames,
Juno and Venus, honour'd by your names,
Juno, the wife and sister of King Jove,
Fair Venus, lady-president of love,
If any entertainment in this place,
That can afford but homely, rude, and base,
It please your godheads to accept in gree,
That gracious thought our happiness shall be.
My mistress Dian, this right well I know,
For love that to this presence she doth owe,
Accounts more honour done to her this day,
Than ever whilom in these woods of Ida;
And for our country gods, I dare be bold,
They make such cheer, your presence to behold,
Such jouisance, such mirth, and merriment,
As nothing else their mind might more content:
And that you do believe it to be so,
Fair goddesses, your lovely looks do show.
It rests in fine, for to confirm my talk,
Ye deign to pass along to Dian's walk;
Where she among her troop of maids attends
The fair arrival of her welcome friends.
Flo. And we will wait with all observance due,
And do just honour to this heavenly crew.
Pan. The God of Shepherds, Juno, ere thou go,
Intends a lamb on thee for to bestow.
Faun. Faunus, high ranger in Diana's chace,
Presents a fawn to Lady Venus' grace.
Sil. Silvanus gives to Pallas' deity
This gallant bough raught from the oaken-tree.
Pom. To them that do this honour to our fields
Her mellow apples poor Pomona yields.
Juno. And, gentle gods, these signs of your goodwill
We take in worth, and shall accept them still.
Ven. And, Flora, this o thee among the rest, —
Thy workmanship comparing with the best,
Let it suffice thy cunning to have [power]
To call King Jove from forth his heavenly bower.
Hadst thou a lover, Flora, credit me,
I think thou wouldst bedeck him gallantly.
But wend we on; and, Rhanis, lead the way,
That kens the painted paths of pleasant Ida.