PAGE =155=, l. 19. _leaders rage._ This phrase might tempt one to date
the poem after the Cadiz expedition and Islands voyage, in both of
which 'leaders' rage', i.e. the quarrels of Howard and Essex, and of
Essex and Raleigh, militated against success; but it is too little to
build upon. Donne may mean simply the arbitrary exercise of arbitrary
power on the part of leaders.
ll. 30-2. _who made thee to stand Sentinell, &c._ 'Souldier' is the
reading of what is perhaps the older version of the _Satyres_. It
would do as well: 'Quare et tibi, Publi, et piis omnibus retinendus
est animus in custodia corporis; nec iniussu eius a quo ille est
vobis datus ex hominum vita migrandum est, ne munus assignatum a Deo
defugisse videamini.' Cicero, _Somnium Scipionis_.
'Veteres quidem philosophiae principes, Pythagoras et Plotinus,
prohibitionis huius non tam creatores sunt quam praecones, omnino
illicitum esse dicentes _quempiam militiae servientem a praesidio et
commissa sibi statione discedere_ contra ducis vel principis iussum.
Plane eleganti exemplo usi sunt eo quod militia est vita hominis super
terram.' John of Salisbury, _Policrat._ ii. 27.
Donne considers the rashness of those whom he refers to as a degree
of, an approach to, suicide. To expose ourselves to these perils we
abandon the moral warfare to which we are appointed. In his own work
on suicide ([Greek: BIATHANATOS], &c.) Donne discusses the permissible
approaches to suicide. An unpublished _Problem_ shows his knowledge of
John of Salisbury.
ll. 33-4. _Know thy foes, &c._ I have followed the better MSS. here
against _1633_ and _L74_, _N_, _TCD_. The dropping of 's' after 'foe'
has probably led to the attempt to regularize the construction by
interjecting 'h'is'. Donne has three foes in view--the devil, the
world, and the flesh.
l. 35. _quit._ Whether we read 'quit' or 'rid' the construction
is difficult. The phrase seems to mean 'to be free of his whole
Realm'--an unparalleled use of either adjective.
l. 36. _The worlds all parts._ Here 'all' means 'every', but
Shakespeare would make 'parts' singular: 'All bond and privilege of
nature break,' _Cor._ V. iii. 25. Donne blends two constructions.
PAGE =156=, l. 49. _Crantz._ I have adopted the spelling of _W_, which
emphasizes the Dutch character of the name. The 'Crates' of _Q_ is
tempting as bringing the name into line with the other classical ones,
but all the other MSS. have an 'n' in the word. Donne has in view
the 'schismatics of Amsterdam' (_The Will_) and their followers.
The change to Grant or Grants shows a tendency in the copyists to
substitute a Scotch for a Dutch name.
PAGE =157=, ll. 69-71. _But unmoved thou, &c._ As punctuated in the
old editions these lines are certainly ambiguous. The semicolon after
'allow' has a little less value than that of a full stop; that
after 'right' a little more than a comma, or contrariwise. Grosart,
Chambers, and the Grolier Club editor all connect 'and the right' with
what precedes:
But unmoved thou
Of force must one, and forced but one allow;
And the right.
So Chambers,--Grosart and the Grolier Club editor place a comma after
'allow'. It seems to me that 'And the right' goes rather with what
follows:
But unmoved thou
Of force must one, and forced but one allow.
And the right, ask thy father which is she.
If the first arrangement be right, then 'And' seems awkward. The
second marks two stages in the argument: a stable judgement compels
us to acknowledge religion, and that there can be only one. This being
so, the next question is, Which is the true one? As to that, we cannot
do better than consult our fathers:
In doubtful questions 'tis the safest way
To learn what unsuspected ancients say;
For 'tis not likely we should higher soar
In search of Heaven than all the Church before;
Nor can we be deceived unless we see
The Scriptures and the Fathers disagree.
Dryden, _Religio Laici_.
'Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations:
ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell
thee.' Deut. xxxii. 7.
l. 76. _To adore, or scorne an image, &c._ Compare: 'I should violate
my own arm rather than a Church, nor willingly deface the name of
Saint or Martyr. At the sight of a Cross or Crucifix I can dispense
with my hat, but scarce with the thought or memory of my Saviour: I
cannot laugh at, but rather pity the fruitless journeys of Pilgrims,
or contemn the miserable condition of Friars; for though misplaced
in circumstances, there is something in it of Devotion. I could
never hear the _Ave-Mary_ Bell without an elevation, or think it a
sufficient warrant, because they erred in one circumstance, for me
to err in all, that is in silence and dumb contempt.... At a solemn
Procession I have wept abundantly, while my consorts blind with
opposition and prejudice, have fallen into an excess of scorn and
laughter.' Sir Thomas Browne, _Religio Medici_, sect. 3. Compare also
Donne's letter To Sir H. R. (probably to Goodyere), (_Letters_,
p. 29), 'You know I have never imprisoned the word Religion; not
straightning it Friarly _ad religiones factitias_, (as the Romans
call well their orders of Religion), nor immuring it in a Rome, or
a Geneva; they are all virtual beams of one Sun.... They are not so
contrary as the North and South Poles; and they are connaturall pieces
of one circle. Religion is Christianity, which being too spirituall to
be seen by us, doth therefore take an apparent body of good life and
works, so salvation requires an honest Christian.'
l. 80. _Cragged and steep._ The three epithets, 'cragged', 'ragged',
and 'rugged', found in the MSS., are all legitimate and appropriate.
The second has the support of the best MSS. and is used by Donne
elsewhere: 'He shall shine upon thee in all dark wayes, and rectifie
thee in all ragged ways.' _Sermons_ 80. 52. 526. Shakespeare uses it
repeatedly: 'A ragged, fearful, hanging rock,' _Gent. of Ver._ I.
ii. 121; 'My ragged prison walls,' _Rich. II_, V. v. 21; and
metaphorically, 'Winter's ragged hand,' _Sonn._ VI. i.
ll. 85-7. _To will implyes delay, &c._ I have changed the 'to' of
_1633_ to 'too'. It is a mere change of spelling and has the support
of both _H51_ and _W_. Grosart and Chambers take it as the preposition
following the noun it governs, 'hard knowledge to'--an unexampled
construction in the case of a monosyllabic preposition. Franz
(_Shak.-Gram._ § 544) gives cases of inversion for metrical purposes,
but only with 'mehrsilbigen Präpositionen', e.g. 'For fear lest day
should look their shapes upon.' _Mid. N. Dream_, III. ii. 385.
Grosart, the Grolier Club editor, and Chambers have all, I think, been
misled by the accidental omission in _1633_ of the full stop or colon
after 'doe', l. 85. Chambers prints:
To will implies delay, therefore now do
Hard deeds, the body's pains; hard knowledge to
The mind's endeavours reach.
The Grolier Club version is:
To will implies delay, therefore now do
Hard deeds, the body's pains; hard knowledge too
The mind's endeavours reach.
The latter is the better version, but in each 'the body's pains' is a
strange apposition to 'deeds' taken as object to 'do'. We do not 'do
pains'. The second clause also has no obvious relation to the first
which would justify the 'too'. If we close the first sentence at
'doe', we get both better sense and a better balance: 'Act _now_, for
the night cometh. Hard deeds are achieved by the body's pains (i.e.
toil, effort), and hard knowledge is attained by the mind's efforts.'
The order of the words, and the condensed force given to 'reach'
produce a somewhat harsh effect, but not more so than is usual in the
_Satyres_, and less so than the alternative versions of the editors.
The following lines continue the thought quite naturally: 'No
endeavours of the mind will enable us to _comprehend_ mysteries, but
all eyes can _apprehend_ them, dazzle as they may.' Compare: 'In all
Philosophy there is not so darke a thing as light; As the sunne which
is _fons lucis naturalis_, the beginning of naturall light, is the
most evident thing to be seen, and yet the hardest to be looked upon,
so is naturall light to our reason and understanding. Nothing clearer,
for it is _clearnesse_ it selfe, nothing darker, it is enwrapped in so
many scruples. Nothing nearer, for it is round about us, nothing more
remote, for wee know neither entrance, nor limits of it. Nothing
more _easie_, for a child discerns it, nothing more _hard_ for no man
understands it. It is apprehensible by _sense_, and not comprehensible
by _reason_. If wee winke, wee cannot chuse but see it, if wee stare,
wee know it never the better.' _Sermons_ 50. 36. 324.
PAGE =158=, ll. 96-7. _a Philip, or a Gregory, &c._ Grosart and Norton
conjecture that by Philip is meant Melanchthon, and for 'Gregory'
Norton conjectures Gregory VII; Grosart either Gregory the Great or
Gregory of Nazianzus. But surely Philip of Spain is balanced against
Harry of England, one defender of the faith against another, as
Gregory against Luther. What Gregory is meant we cannot say,
but probably Donne had in view Gregory XIII or Gregory XIV,
post-Reformation Popes, rather than either of those mentioned above.
Satire does not deal in Ancient History. The choice is between
Catholic and Protestant Princes and Popes.