[Page 83]
[Martial] Lib. 1. Epigr. CX.
De Issa Catellâ Publij.
1 Issa much to be preferr'd
2 To Catullus amorous Bird;
3 Chaster Thou than Stella's Dove,
4 But fond as Girls when first they Love.
5 Issa worth both Indies Treasure,
6 Issa Publiu's Life and Pleasure.
7 Issa mourns if He complain,
8 Issa shares his Health and Pain.
9 All Night on his warm Neck She lies,
10 Nor stirs 'till He's dispos'd to rise:
11 But if Digestion chance to call,
12 The cleanly well-bred Animal
13 Ne're harms the Bed, but lightly creeps
14 O're Publius Bosome while He sleeps,
15 Or wakes him with her gentle moan,
16 And motions to be handed down.
[Page 84]17 But passing other Vertues by,
18 Such is this Creatures Modesty,
19 She ne're cou'd Love, tho daily Woo'd
20 By Shocks of Quality and Blood.
21 But lest Death take her quite away
22 When time brings on her fatal Day,
23 (To Countermand Fate's rigid Law)
24 Publius did her Picture draw;
25 Where ev'ry Feature, ev'ry Hair
26 Is feign'd with so much Art and Care,
27 It leaves you doubtful which to call
28 The Copy, which th'Original.
29 In short, compare 'em both together,
30 And you'l Swear Both have Life, or Neither.
Source edition
Tate, Nahum, c. 1652-1715. Poems by N. Tate. London: Printed by T.M. for Benj. Tooke ..., 1677, pp. 83-84. [15],133p. (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Harding C 2953].)
Editorial principles
Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. This ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.
Other works by Nahum Tate
- Advice to a Friend, designing to Publish his Poems. ()
- Amor Sepulchralis. ()
- The Amorist. ()
- The Amusement. ()
- The Banquet. ()
- The Beldam's Song. ()
- The Challenge. ()
- The Choice. ()
- The Confinement. ()
- The Counter-Turn. ()
- The Cure. A Dialogue. ()
- Dialogue. Alexis and Laura. ()
- Disappointed. ()
- The Disconsolate. ()
- The Discovery. ()
- Disswasion of an Aged Friend from Leaving his Retirement. ()
- The Dream. ()
- The Escape. ()
- The Gold-hater. ()
- The Gratefull Shepheard. ()
- The Hurricane. ()
- The Ignorant. ()
- The Inconstant. A Paraphrase on the XV. Epod of Horace. ()
- The Indispos'd. ()
- The Ingrates. ()
- The Installment. ()
- Laura's Walk. ()
- The Male Content. ()
- [Martial] Lib. 1. Epigr. IX. ()
- [Martial] Lib. 1. Epigr. XIV. De Arriâ & Paeto. ()
- [Martial] Lib. 9. Epigr: VI. ()
- [Martial] Lib. XI. Epigr. XCV. Translated in Dialogue. ()
- [Martial] Lib. XI. Epigr. XLIII. ()
- The Match. ()
- Melancholy. ()
- The Mid-Night Thought. ()
- ODE. To my Ingenious Friend Mr. Flatman. ()
- Of the Ape and the Fox. A Paraphrase on one of the Centum Fabulae. ()
- Of the Few Adherers to Virtue. ()
- On a deform'd Old Baw'd designing to have her Picture drawn. ()
- On a Diseased Old Man, who Wept at thought of leaving the World. ()
- On a Grave Sir retiring to Write in Order to undeceive the World. ()
- On an Old Miser that Hoarded his Treasure in a Steel Chest, and bury'd it. ()
- On Sight of some Martyr's Sepulchres. ()
- On Snow fall'n in Autumn, and dissolv'd by the Sun. ()
- ON THE Present Corrupted State OF POETRY. ()
- The Parting. ()
- The Pennance. ()
- The Politicians. ()
- The Prospect. ()
- Recovering from a Fit of Sickness. ()
- The Request. ()
- The Requitall. ()
- The Restitution. ()
- The Round. ()
- The Search. ()
- Sliding on Skates in very hard Frost. ()
- Strephon's Complaint on quitting his Retirement. ()
- The Surprizal. ()
- The Tear. ()
- The three First Verses of the 46th Psalm Paraphras'd. ()
- To a Desponding Friend. ()
- TO Mr. THOMAS FLATMAN ON HIS Excellent POEMS. ()
- The Unconfin'd. ()
- The Usurpers. ()
- The Vision, Written in a dangerous fit of Sickness. ()
- The Vow-Breaker. ()
- The Voyagers. ()