A Paraphrase on an Ode in Horace’s Third Book, beginning thus:— “Inclusam Danaen turris ahenea.” by Abraham Cowley
I.
A tower of brass, one would have said,
And locks, and bolts, and iron bars,
And guards as strict as in the heat of wars
Might have preserved one innocent maidenhood.
The jealous father thought he well might spare
All further jealous care;
And as he walked, to himself alone he smiled
To think how Venus’ arts he had beguiled;
And when he slept his rest was deep,
But Venus laughed to see and hear him sleep.
She taught the amorous Jove
A magical receipt in love,
Which armed him stronger and which helped him more
Than all his thunder did and his almightyship before.
II.
She taught him love’s elixir, by which art
His godhead into gold he did convert;
No guards did then his passage stay,
He passed with ease, gold was the word;
Subtle as lightning, bright, and quick, and fierce,
Gold through doors and walls did pierce;
And as that works sometimes upon the sword,
Melted the maiden dread away,
Even in the secret scabbard where it lay.
The prudent Macedonian king,
To blow up towns, a golden mine did spring;
He broke through gates with this petar,
’Tis the great art of peace, the engine ’tis of war,
And fleets and armies follow it afar;
The ensign ’tis at land, and ’tis the seaman’s scar.
III.
Let all the world slave to this tyrant be,
Creature to this disguisèd deity,
Yet it shall never conquer me.
A guard of virtues will not let it pass,
And wisdom is a tower of stronger brass.
The muses’ laurel, round my temples spread,
Does from this lightning’s force secure my head,
Nor will I lift it up so high,
As in the violent meteor’s way to lie.
Wealth for its power do we honour and adore?
The things we hate, ill fate, and death, have more.
IV.
From towns and courts, camps of the rich and great,
The vast Xerxean army, I retreat,
And to the small Laconic forces fly
Which hold the straits of poverty.
Cellars and granaries in vain we fill
With all the bounteous summer’s store:
If the mind thirst and hunger still,
The poor rich man’s emphatically poor.
Slaves to the things we too much prize,
We masters grow of all that we despise.
V.
A field of corn, a fountain, and a wood,
Is all the wealth by nature understood.
The monarch on whom fertile Nile bestows
All which that grateful earth can bear,
Deceives himself, if he suppose
That more than this falls to his share.
Whatever an estate does beyond this afford,
Is not a rent paid to the Lord;
But is a tax illegal and unjust,
Exacted from it by the tyrant lust.
Much will always wanting be,
To him who much desires. Thrice happy he
To whom the wise indulgency of Heaven,
With sparing hand but just enough has given.
Other works by Abraham Cowley:
Some works by other baroque authors
- Duty Surviving Self-Love by Samuel Coleridge
- Epitaph by Samuel Coleridge
- Dejection: An Ode by Samuel Coleridge
- About The Nightingale by Samuel Coleridge
- Fears In Solitude by Samuel Coleridge
- Christabel by Samuel Coleridge
- Epigram by Samuel Coleridge
- Phantom by Samuel Coleridge
- A Mathematical Problem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Fire, Famine, And Slaughter : A War Eclogue by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Fancy In Nubibus, Or The Poet In The Clouds by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Epitaph On An Infant. by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Elegy, Imitated From One Of Akenside’s Blank-Verse Inscriptions by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Domestic Peace by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Despair by Samuel Coleridge
- Desire by Samuel Coleridge
- A Day Dream by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Come, come thou bleak December wind (fragment) by Samuel Coleridge
- A Christmas Carol by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- A Child’s Evening Prayer by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Aplolgia Pro Vita Sua by Samuel Coleridge
- Answer To A Child’s Question by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Absence: A Farewell Ode On Quitting School For Jesus College by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- A Soliloquy Of The Full Moon, She Being In A Mad Passion by Samuel Coleridge
- The Resignation by Thomas Chatterton
- The Methodist by Thomas Chatterton
- The Death of Nicou by Thomas Chatterton
- The Copernican System by Thomas Chatterton
- The Advice by Thomas Chatterton
- Song from Aella by Thomas Chatterton
- Sly Dick by Thomas Chatterton
- Narva and Mored by Thomas Chatterton
- Heccar and Gaira by Thomas Chatterton
- February by Thomas Chatterton
- Eclogues by Thomas Chatterton
- Colin Instructed by Thomas Chatterton
- An Excelente Balade of Charitie: As Wroten bie the Gode Pri by Thomas Chatterton
- A New Song by Thomas Chatterton
- A Hymn for Christmas Day by Thomas Chatterton
- The Spring by Thomas Carew
- The Primrose by Thomas Carew
- Song. Murdering Beauty by Thomas Carew
- Song. Mediocrity in love rejected. by Thomas Carew
- Song. Good Counsel to a Young Maid by Thomas Carew
- Song: Eternity of Love Protested by Thomas Carew
- Song. A Beautiful Mistress. by Thomas Carew
- Song by Thomas Carew
- Secrecy Protested. by Thomas Carew
- Persuasions to Joy, a Song by Thomas Carew
- My Mistress Commanding Me to Return Her Letters. by Thomas Carew
Abraham Cowley (1618 – 1667), the Royalist Poet.Poet and essayist Abraham Cowley was born in London, England, in 1618. He displayed early talent as a poet, publishing his first collection of poetry, Poetical Blossoms (1633), at the age of 15. Cowley studied at Cambridge University but was stripped of his Cambridge fellowship during the English Civil War and expelled for refusing to sign the Solemn League and Covenant of 1644. In turn, he accompanied Queen Henrietta Maria to France, where he spent 12 years in exile, serving as her secretary. During this time, Cowley completed The Mistress (1647). Arguably his most famous work, the collection exemplifies Cowley’s metaphysical style of love poetry. After the Restoration, Cowley returned to England, where he was reinstated as a Cambridge fellow and earned his MD before finally retiring to the English countryside. He is buried at Westminster Abbey alongside Geoffrey Chaucer and Edmund Spenser. Cowley is a wonderful poet and an outstanding representative of the English baroque.