Classic Poem

E ARST Sylla tooke no shame, for Minos sake
Hir father Nysus purple pate to sheare,
Medea for the loue of Iason brake
The bands of kind, and slew hir brother deare,
Forwent hir worthy Sire, and kingly crowne,
And followed him the rouer vp and downe

For Theseus when in Labirinth he lay
In dread of death, the monster was so nie,
Faire Ariadna did deuise a way
To saue his life, vnlesse that Ouid lie:
And yet the beast, hir brother was in deed,
(Whom Theseus slue) and sprang of Minos seed.

At siege of Troy whilest Agamemnon fought,
Aegistheus wan Queene Clitemnestras hart,
So as when he returnd and little thought
Of death, this dame began to play hir part.
She slew the prince to folow former Iust,
And thought the fact to be exceeding iust.

Faire Phyllis slew hir selfe, vnhappy dame,
Through loue: and did not Dydo do the like
For Prince Aeneas, who to Carthage came,
When he was forst, by showres, the shore to seeke?
What more vnkindly parts can man deuise,
That Queens for loue their honors to despise?

Now iudge my case, my fault vprightly scan,
Deeme my desart, by this it may be gest,
I am by nature made to loue a man,
As Sylla, Phyllis, Dido, and the rest:
If they and I haue done amisse for loue,
Let kind be blamd, that thereunto did mooue

The wisest men, as farre as I can see,

Haue been enthrald through loue as well we we

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