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COWLEY.
77
Saxum circumspicit ingens,
Saxum antiquum, ingens, campo quod forte jacebat
Limes agro positus, litem ut discerneret arvis.
Saxum antiquum, ingens, campo quod forte jacebat
Limes agro positus, litem ut discerneret arvis.
Cowley says of the stone with which Cain slew his brother,
I saw him fling the stone, as if he meant
At once his murther and his monument.
At once his murther and his monument.
Of the sword taken from Goliah, he says,
A sword so great that it was only fit
To cut off his great head that came with it.
To cut off his great head that came with it.
Other poets describe death by some of its common appearances. Cowley says, with a learned allusion to sepulchral lamps real or fabulous,
'Twixt his right ribs deep pierc'd the furious blade,
And open'd wide those secret vessels where
Life's light goes out, when first they let-in air.
And open'd wide those secret vessels where
Life's light goes out, when first they let-in air.
But he has allusions vulgar as well as learned. In a visionary succession of kings:
Joas at first does bright and glorious show,
In life's fresh morn his fame does early crow.
In life's fresh morn his fame does early crow.
Describing an undisciplined army, after having said with elegance,
His forces seem'd no army, but a crowd
Heartless, unarm'd, disorderly, and loud,
Heartless, unarm'd, disorderly, and loud,
he gives them a fit of the ague.
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