Was heav’ne afray’d to be out-done on earth
When thou wert borne, great prince, that it brought forth
Another light to helpe the aged sunn,
Lest by thy luster he might be out-shone?
Or were th’ obsequious starres so joy’d to view
Thee, that they thought their countlesse eyes too few
For such an object; and would needes create
A better influence to attend thy state?
Or would the Fates thereby shew to the earth
A Cæsars birth, as once a Cæsars death?
And was ’t that newes that made pale Cynthia run
In so great hast to intercept the sunn;
And, enviously, so shee might gaine thy sight,
Would darken him from whome shee had her light?
Mysterious prodigies yet sure they bee,
Prognosticks of a rare prosperity:
For, can thy life promise lesse good to men,
Whose birth was th’ envy, and the care of heav’ne?