he chain."

IN SYLLAM. XLIV.

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

FOOTNOTES:

[560] So MS.--Old eds. "holds."

[561] So MS.--Old eds. "swears."

IN DACUM. XLV.

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.

FOOTNOTES:

[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?"

IN MARCUM. XLVI.

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.

FOOTNOTES:

[563] So eds. B, C.--Ed. A "draw" (Epigram xlv.-xlviii. are not in the
MS.)

MEDITATIONS OF A GULL. XLVII.

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