counterfeited honesty, as if I had been virgo virginissima, more than a
vestal virgin, I looked like a wife, I was so demure and chaste, I did
add such gestures, tunes, speeches, signs and motions upon all
occasions, that my spectators and auditors were stupefied, enchanted,
fastened all to their places, like so many stocks and stones. Many
silly gentlewomen are fetched over in like sort, by a company of gulls
and swaggering companions, that frequently belie noblemen's favours,
rhyming Coribantiasmi, Thrasonean Rhadomantes or Bombomachides, that
have nothing in them but a few player's ends and compliments, vain
braggadocians, impudent intruders, that can discourse at table of
knights and lords' combats, like [5089]Lucian's Leonitiscus, of other
men's travels, brave adventures, and such common trivial news, ride,
dance, sing old ballad tunes, and wear their clothes in fashion, with a
good grace; a fine sweet gentleman, a proper man, who could not love
him! She will have him though all her friends say no, though she beg
with him. Some again are incensed by reading amorous toys, Amadis de
Gaul, Palmerin de Oliva, the Knight of the Sun, &c., or hearing such
tales of [5090]lovers, descriptions of their persons, lascivious
discourses, such as Astyanassa, Helen's waiting-woman, by the report of
Suidas, writ of old, de variis concubitus modis, and after her Philenis
and Elephantine; or those light tracts of[5091]Aristides Milesius
(mentioned by Plutarch) and found by the Persians in Crassus' army
amongst the spoils, Aretine's dialogues, with ditties, love songs, &c.,
must needs set them on fire, with such like pictures, as those of
Aretine, or wanton objects of what kind soever; no stronger engine than
to hear or read of love toys, fables and discourses ([5092]one saith)
and many by this means are quite mad. At Abdera in Thrace (Andromeda
one of Euripides' tragedies being played) the spectators were so much
moved with the object, and those pathetical love speeches of Perseus,
amongst the rest, O Cupid, Prince of Gods and men, &c. that every man
almost a good while after spake pure iambics, and raved still on
Perseus' speech, O Cupid, Prince of Gods and men. As carmen, boys and
apprentices, when a new song is published with us, go singing that new
tune still in the streets, they continually acted that tragical part of
Perseus, and in every man's mouth was O Cupid, in every street, O
Cupid, in every house almost, O Cupid, Prince of Gods and men,
pronouncing still like stage-players, O Cupid; they were so possessed
all with that rapture, and thought of that pathetical love speech, they
could not a long time after forget, or drive it out of their minds, but
O Cupid, Prince of Gods and men, was ever in their mouths. This belike
made Aristotle, Polit. lib. 7. cap. 18. forbid young men to see
comedies, or to hear amorous tales.
[5093]Haec igitur juvenes nequam facilesque puellae
Inspiciant———
let not young folks meddle at all with such matters. And this made the
Romans, as [5094]Vitruvius relates, put Venus' temple in the suburbs,
extra murum, ne adolescentes venereis insuescant, to avoid all
occasions and objects. For what will not such an object do? Ismenias,
as he walked in Sosthene's garden, being now in love, when he saw so
many [5095]lascivious pictures, Thetis' marriage, and I know not what,
was almost beside himself. And to say truth, with a lascivious object
who is not moved, to see others dally, kiss, dance? And much more when
he shall come to be an actor himself.
To kiss and be kissed, which, amongst other lascivious provocations, is
as a burden in a song, and a most forcible battery, as infectious,
[5096] Xenophon thinks, as the poison of a spider; a great allurement,
a fire itself, prooemium aut anticoenium, the prologue of burning lust
(as Apuleius adds), lust itself, [5097]Venus quinta parte sui nectaris
imbuit, a strong assault, that conquers captains, and those all
commanding forces, ([5098]Domasque ferro sed domaris osculo).
[5099]Aretine's Lucretia, when she would in kindness overcome a suitor
of hers, and have her desire of him, took him about the neck, and
kissed him again and again, and to that, which she could not otherwise
effect, she made him so speedily and willingly condescend. And 'tis a
continual assault,—[5100]hoc non deficit incipitque semper, always
fresh, and ready to [5101]begin as at first, basium nullo fine
terminatur, sed semper recens est, and hath a fiery touch with it.
[5102]———Tenta modo tangere corpus,
Jam tua mellifluo membra calore fluent.
Especially when they shall be lasciviously given, as he feelingly said,
[5103]et me praessulum deosculata Fotis, Catenatis lacertis, [5104]
Obtorto valgiter labello.
[5105]Valgiis suaviis,
Dum semiulco suavio
Meam puellam suavior,
Anima tunc aegra et saucia
Concurrit ad labia mihi.
The soul and all is moved; [5106]Jam pluribus osculis labra
crepitabant, animarum quoque mixturam facientes, inter mutuos complexus
animas anhelantes,
[5107]Haesimus calentes,
Et transfudimus hinc et hinc labellis
Errantes animas, valete curae.
They breathe out their souls and spirits together with their kisses,
saith [5108]Balthazar Castilio, change hearts and spirits, and mingle
affections as they do kisses, and it is rather a connection of the mind
than of the body. And although these kisses be delightsome and
pleasant, Ambrosial kisses, [5109]Suaviolum dulci dulcius Ambrosia,
such as [5110] Ganymede gave Jupiter, Nectare suavius, sweeter than
[5111]nectar, balsam, honey, [5112]Oscula merum amorem stillantia,
love-dropping kisses; for
The gilliflower, the rose is not so sweet,
As sugared kisses be when lovers meet;
Yet they leave an irksome impression, like that of aloes or gall,
[5113]Ut mi ex Ambrosia, mutatum jam foret illud
Suaviolum tristi tristius helleboro.
At first Ambrose itself was not sweeter,
At last black hellebore was not so bitter.
They are deceitful kisses,
[5114]Quid me mollibus implicas lacertis?
Quid fallacibus osculis inescas?&c.
Why dost within thine arms me lap,
And with false kisses me entrap.
They are destructive, and the more the worse: [5115]Et quae me perdunt,
oscula mille dabat, they are the bane of these miserable lovers. There
be honest kisses, I deny not, osculum charitatis, friendly kisses,
modest kisses, vestal-virgin kisses, officious and ceremonial kisses,
&c. Osculi sensus, brachiorum amplexus, kissing and embracing are
proper gifts of Nature to a man; but these are too lascivious kisses,
[5116]Implicuitque suos circum meet colla lacertos, &c. too continuate
and too violent, [5117]Brachia non hederae, non vincunt oscula conchae;
they cling like ivy, close as an oyster, bill as doves, meretricious
kisses, biting of lips, cum additamento: Tam impresso ore (saith
[5118]Lucian) ut vix labia detrahant, inter deosculandum mordicantes,
tum et os aperientes quoque et mammas attrectantes, &c. such kisses as
she gave to Gyton, innumera oscula dedit non repugnanti puero, cervicem
invadens, innumerable kisses, &c. More than kisses, or too homely
kisses: as those that [5119]he spake of, Accepturus ab ipsa venere 7,
suavia, &c. with such other obscenities that vain lovers use, which are
abominable and pernicious. If, as Peter de Ledesmo cas. cons. holds,
every kiss a man gives his wife after marriage, be mortale peccatum, a
mortal sin, or that of [5120]Hierome, Adulter est quisquis in uxorem
suam ardentior est amator; or that of Thomas Secund. quaest. 154.
artic. 4. contactus et osculum sit mortale peccatum, or that of Durand.
Rational. lib. 1. cap. 10. abstinere debent conjuges a complexu, toto
tempore quo solennitas nuptiarum interdicitur, what shall become of all
such [5121]immodest kisses and obscene actions, the forerunners of
brutish lust, if not lust itself! What shall become of them that often
abuse their own wives? But what have I to do with this?
That which I aim at, is to show you the progress of this burning lust;
to epitomise therefore all this which I have hitherto said, with a
familiar example out of that elegant Musaeus, observe but with me those
amorous proceedings of Leander and Hero: they began first to look one
on another with a lascivious look,
Oblique intuens inde nutibus,—
Nutibus mutuis inducens in errorem mentem puellae.
Et illa e contra nutibus mutuis juvenis
Leandri quod amorem non renuit, &c. Inde
Adibat in tenebris tacite quidem stringens
Roseos puellae digitos, ex imo suspirabat
Vehementer———Inde
Virginis autem bene olens collum osculatus.
Tale verbum ait amoris ictus stimulo,
Preces audi et amoris miserere mei, &c.
Sic fatus recusantis persuasit mentem puellae.
With becks and nods he first began
To try the wench's mind.
With becks and nods and smiles again
An answer he did find.
And in the dark he took her by the hand,
And wrung it hard, and sighed grievously,
And kiss'd her too, and woo'd her as he might,
With pity me, sweetheart, or else I die,
And with such words and gestures as there past,
He won his mistress' favour at the last.
The same proceeding is elegantly described by Apollonius in his
Argonautics, between Jason and Medea, by Eustathius in the ten books of
the loves of Ismenias and Ismene, Achilles Tatius between his Clitophon
and Leucippe, Chaucer's neat poem of Troilus and Cresseide; and in that
notable tale in Petronius of a soldier and a gentlewoman of Ephesus,
that was so famous all over Asia for her chastity, and that mourned for
her husband: the soldier wooed her with such rhetoric as lovers use to
do,—placitone etiam pugnabis amori? &c. at last, frangi pertinaciam
passa est, he got her good will, not only to satisfy his lust,
[5122]but to hang her dead husband's body on the cross (which he
watched instead of the thief's that was newly stolen away), whilst he
wooed her in her cabin. These are tales, you will say, but they have
most significant morals, and do well express those ordinary proceedings
of doting lovers.
Many such allurements there are, nods, jests, winks, smiles,
wrestlings, tokens, favours, symbols, letters, valentines, &c. For
which cause belike, Godfridus lib. 2. de amor. would not have women
learn to write. Many such provocations are used when they come in
presence, [5123]10 they will and will not,
Malo me Galatea petit lasciva puella,
Et fugit ad salices, et se cupit ante videri.
My mistress with an apple woos me,
And hastily to covert goes
To hide herself, but would be seen
With all her heart before, God knows.
Hero so tripped away from Leander as one displeased,
[5124]Yet as she went full often look'd behind,
And many poor excuses did she find
To linger by the way,———
but if he chance to overtake her, she is most averse, nice and coy,
Denegat et pugnat, sed vult super omnia vinci.
She seems not won, but won she is at length,
In such wars women use but half their strength.
Sometimes they lie open and are most tractable and coming, apt,
yielding, and willing to embrace, to take a green gown, with that
shepherdess in Theocritus, Edyl. 27. to let their coats, &c., to play
and dally, at such seasons, and to some, as they spy their advantage;
and then coy, close again, so nice, so surly, so demure, you had much
better tame a colt, catch or ride a wild horse, than get her favour, or
win her love, not a look, not a smile, not a kiss for a kingdom.
[5125]Aretine's Lucretia was an excellent artisan in this kind, as she
tells her own tale, Though I was by nature and art most beautiful and
fair, yet by these tricks I seemed to be far more amiable than I was,
for that which men earnestly seek and cannot attain, draws on their
affection with a most furious desire. I had a suitor loved me dearly
(said she), and the [5126]more he gave me, the more eagerly he wooed
me, the more I seemed to neglect, to scorn him, and which I commonly
gave others, I would not let him see me, converse with me, no, not have
a kiss. To gull him the more, and fetch him over (for him only I aimed
at) I personated mine own servant to bring in a present from a Spanish
count, whilst he was in my company, as if he had been the count's
servant, which he did excellently well perform: [5127]Comes de monte
Turco, my lord and master hath sent your ladyship a small present, and
part of his hunting, a piece of venison, a pheasant, a few partridges,
&c. (all which she bought with her own money), commends his love and
service to you, desiring you to accept of it in good part, and he means
very shortly to come and see you. Withal she showed him rings, gloves,
scarves, coronets which others had sent her, when there was no such
matter, but only to circumvent him. [5128]By these means (as she
concludes) I made the poor gentleman so mad, that he was ready to spend
himself, and venture his dearest blood for my sake. Philinna, in
[5129]Lucian, practised all this long before, as it shall appear unto
you by her discourse; for when Diphilus her sweetheart came to see her
(as his daily custom was) she frowned upon him, would not vouchsafe him
her company, but kissed Lamprius his co-rival, at the same time
[5130]before his face: but why was it? To make him (as she telleth her
mother that chid her for it) more jealous; to whet his love, to come
with a greater appetite, and to know that her favour was not so easy to
be had. Many other tricks she used besides this (as she there
confesseth), for she would fall out with, and anger him of set purpose,
pick quarrels upon no occasion, because she would be reconciled to him
again. Amantium irae amoris redintegratio, as the old saying is, the
falling out of lovers is the renewing of love; and according to that of
Aristenaetis, jucundiores amorum post injurias deliciae, love is
increased by injuries, as the sunbeams are more gracious after a cloud.
And surely this aphorism is most true; for as Ampelis informs Crisis in
the said Lucian, [5131]If a lover be not jealous, angry, waspish, apt
to fall out, sigh and swear, he is no true lover. To kiss and coll,
hang about her neck, protest, swear and wish, are but ordinary
symptoms, incipientis adhuc et crescentis amoris signa; but if he be
jealous, angry, apt to mistake, &c., bene speres licet, sweet sister he
is thine own; yet if you let him alone, humour him, please him, &c.,
and that he perceive once he hath you sure, without any co-rival, his
love will languish, and he will not care so much for you. Hitherto
(saith she) can I speak out of experience; Demophantus a rich fellow
was a suitor of mine, I seemed to neglect him, and gave better
entertainment to Calliades the painter before his face, principio
abiit, verbis me insectatus, at first he went away all in a chafe,
cursing and swearing, but at last he came submitting himself, vowing
and protesting he loved me most dearly, I should have all he had, and
that he would kill himself for my sake. Therefore I advise thee (dear
sister Crisis) and all maids, not to use your suitors over kindly;
insolentes enim sunt hoc cum sentiunt, 'twill make them proud and
insolent; but now and then reject them, estrange thyself, et si me
audies semel atque iterum exclude, shut him out of doors once or twice,
let him dance attendance; follow my counsel, and by this means
[5132]you shall make him mad, come off roundly, stand to any
conditions, and do whatsoever you will have him. These are the ordinary
practices; yet in the said Lucian, Melissa methinks had a trick beyond
all this; for when her suitor came coldly on, to stir him up, she writ
one of his co-rival's names and her own in a paper, Melissa amat
Hermotimum, Hermotimus Mellissam, causing it to be stuck upon a post,
for all gazers to behold, and lost it in the way where he used to walk;
which when the silly novice perceived, statim ut legit credidit,
instantly apprehended it was so, came raving to me, &c. [5133]and so
when I was in despair of his love, four months after I recovered him
again. Eugenia drew Timocles for her valentine, and wore his name a
long time after in her bosom: Camaena singled out Pamphilus to dance,
at Myson's wedding (some say), for there she saw him first; Felicianus
overtook Caelia by the highway side, offered his service, thence came
further acquaintance, and thence came love. But who can repeat half
their devices? What Aretine experienced, what conceited Lucian, or
wanton Aristenaetus? They will deny and take, stiffly refuse, and yet
earnestly seek the same, repel to make them come with more eagerness,
fly from if you follow, but if averse, as a shadow they will follow you
again, fugientem sequitur, sequentem fugit; with a regaining retreat, a
gentle reluctancy, a smiling threat, a pretty pleasant peevishness they
will put you off, and have a thousand such several enticements. For as
he saith,
[5134]Non est forma satis, nec quae vult bella videri,
Debet vulgari more placere suis.
Dicta, sales, lusus, sermones, gratia, risus,
Vincunt naturae candidioris opus.
'Tis not enough though she be fair of hue,
For her to use this vulgar compliment:
But pretty toys and jests, and saws and smiles,
As far beyond what beauty can attempt.
[5135]For this cause belike Philostratus, in his images, makes diverse
loves, some young, some of one age, some of another, some winged, some
of one sex, some of another, some with torches, some with golden
apples, some with darts, gins, snares, and other engines in their
hands, as Propertius hath prettily painted them out, lib. 2. et 29. and
which some interpret, diverse enticements, or diverse affections of
lovers, which if not alone, yet jointly may batter and overcome the
strongest constitutions.
It is reported of Decius, and Valerianus, those two notorious
persecutors of the church, that when they could enforce a young
Christian by no means (as [5136]Hierome records) to sacrifice to their
idols, by no torments or promises, they took another course to tempt
him: they put him into a fair garden, and set a young courtesan to
dally with him, [5137]took him about the neck and kissed him, and that
which is not to be named, manibusque attrectare, &c., and all those
enticements which might be used, that whom torments could not, love
might batter and beleaguer. But such was his constancy, she could not
overcome, and when this last engine would take no place, they left him
to his own ways. At [5138]Berkley in Gloucestershire, there was in
times past a nunnery (saith Gualterus Mapes, an old historiographer,
that lived 400 years since), of which there was a noble and a fair lady
abbess: Godwin, that subtile Earl of Kent, travelling that way,
(seeking not her but hers) leaves a nephew of his, a proper young
gallant (as if he had been sick) with her, till he came back again, and
gives the young man charge so long to counterfeit, till he had
deflowered the abbess, and as many besides of the nuns as he could, and
leaves him withal rings, jewels, girdles, and such toys to give them
still, when they came to visit him. The young man, willing to undergo
such a business, played his part so well, that in short space he got up
most of their bellies, and when he had done, told his lord how he had
sped: [5139]his lord made instantly to the court, tells the king how
such a nunnery was become a bawdy-house, procures a visitation, gets
them to be turned out, and begs the lands to his own use. This story I
do therefore repeat, that you may see of what force these enticements
are, if they be opportunely used, and how hard it is even for the most
averse and sanctified souls to resist such allurements. John Major in
the life of John the monk, that lived in the days of Theodosius,
commends the hermit to have been a man of singular continency, and of a
most austere life; but one night by chance the devil came to his cell
in the habit of a young market wench that had lost her way, and desired
for God's sake some lodging with him. [5140]The old man let her in, and
after some common conference of her mishap, she began to inveigle him
with lascivious talk and jests, to play with his beard, to kiss him,
and do worse, till at last she overcame him. As he went to address
himself to that business, she vanished on a sudden, and the devils in
the air laughed him to scorn. Whether this be a true story, or a tale,
I will not much contend, it serves to illustrate this which I have
said.
Yet were it so, that these of which I have hitherto spoken, and such
like enticing baits, be not sufficient, there be many others, which
will of themselves intend this passion of burning lust, amongst which,
dancing is none of the least; and it is an engine of such force, I may
not omit it. Incitamentum libidinis, Petrarch calls it, the spur of
lust. A [5141] circle of which the devil himself is the centre.
[5142]Many women that use it, have come dishonest home, most
indifferent, none better. [5143] Another terms it the companion of all
filthy delights and enticements, and 'tis not easily told what
inconveniences come by it, what scurrile talk, obscene actions, and
many times such monstrous gestures, such lascivious motions, such
wanton tunes, meretricious kisses, homely embracings.
[5144]———(ut Gaditana canoro
Incipiat prurire choro, plausuque probatae
Ad terram tremula descendant clune puellae,
Irritamentum Veneris languentis)———