When I this proposition had defended, "A coward cannot be an honest man," Thou, Sylla, seem'st forthwith to be offended, And hold'st[560] the contrary, and swear'st[561] he can. But when I tell thee that he will forsake His dearest friend in peril of his life, Thou then art chang'd, and say'st thou didst mistake; And so we end our argument and strife: Yet I think oft, and think I think aright, Thy argument argues thou wilt not fight. 10
Dacus,[562] with some good colour and pretence, Terms his love's beauty "silent eloquence;" For she doth lay more colours on her face Than ever Tully us'd his speech to grace.
[562] Dyce shows that Samuel Daniel is meant by Dacus (who has already been ridiculed in _Ep._ xxx.). In Daniel's _Complaint of Rosamond_ (1592) are the lines:--
"Ah, beauty, syren, faire enchanting good, Sweet _silent rhetorique_ of perswading eyes, _Dumb eloquence_, whose power doth move the blood More than the words or wisedome of the wise," &c.
Perhaps there is an allusion to this epigram in Marston's fourth satire:--
"What, shall not Rosamond or Gaveston Ope their sweet lips without detraction? But must our modern critticks envious eye Seeme thus to quote some grosse deformity, Where art not error shineth in their stile, But error and no art doth thee beguile?"
Why dost thou, Marcus, in thy misery Rail and blaspheme, and call the heavens unkind? The heavens do owe[563] no kindness unto thee, Thou hast the heavens so little in thy mind; For in thy life thou never usest prayer But at primero, to encounter fair.
[563] So eds. B, C.--Ed. A "draw" (Epigram xlv.-xlviii. are not in the MS.)
See, yonder melancholy gentleman, Which, hood-wink'd with his hat, alone doth sit! Think what he thinks, and tell me, if you can, What great affairs trouble his little wit. He thinks not of the war 'twixt France and Spain,[564] Whether it be for Europe's good or ill, Nor whether the Empire can itself maintain Against the Turkish power encroaching still;[565] Nor what great town in all the Netherlands The States determine to besiege this spring, 10 Nor how the Scottish policy now stands, Nor what becomes of the Irish mutining.[566] But he doth seriously bethink him whether Of the gull'd people he be more esteem'd For his long cloak or for[567] his great black feather By which each gull is now a gallant deem'd; Or of a journey he deliberates To Paris-garden, Cock-pit, or the play; Or how to steal a dog he meditates, Or what he shall unto his mistress say. Yet with these thoughts he thinks himself most fit To be of counsel with a king for wit.