Hero and Leander, by Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman
Minor poems by Christopher Marlowe
- The Passionate Shepherd To His Love
- Fragment, first printed in "England's Parnassus," 1600
- In obitum honoratissimi viri, Rogeri Manwood, militis,
Quæstorii Reginalis Capitalis Baronis
- Dialogue in Verse
By Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman
Sir, we think not ourselves discharged of the duty we oweto our friend when we have brought the breathless body tothe earth; for, albeit the eye there taketh his ever-farewellof that beloved object, yet the impression of the man thathath been dear unto us, living an after-life in our memory,there putteth us in mind of farther obsequies due unto thedeceased; and namely of the performance of whatsoever wemay judge shall make to his living credit and to the effectingof his determinations prevented by the stroke of death.By these meditations (as by an intellectual will) I supposemyself executor to the unhappily deceased author of thispoem; upon whom knowing that in his lifetime you bestowedmany kind favours, entertaining the parts of reckoning andworth which you found in him with good countenance andliberal affection, I cannot but see so far into the will of himdead, that whatsoever issue of his brain should chance tocome abroad, that the first breath it should take might bethe gentle air of your liking; for, since his self had beenaccustomed thereunto, it would prove more agreeable andthriving to his right children than any other foster counten-ance whatsoever. At this time seeing that this unfinishedtragedy happens under my hands to be imprinted, of adouble duty, the one to yourself, the other to the deceased,I present the same to your most favourable allowance,offering my utmost self now and ever to be ready at yourworship's disposing. EDWARD BLUNT.
Note: The first two Sestiads were written by Marlowe; the last four by
Chapman, who supplied also the Arguments for the six Sestiads.
Hero's description and her love's;
The fane of Venus where he moves
His worthy love-suit, and attains;
Whose bliss the wrath of Fates restrains
For Cupid's grace to Mercury:
Which tale the author doth imply.
On Hellespont, guilty of true love's blood,
In view and opposite two cities stood,
Sea-borderers, disjoin'd by Neptune's might;
The one Abydos, the other Sestos hight.
At Sestos Hero dwelt; Hero the fair,
Whom young Apollo courted for her hair,
And offer'd as a dower his burning throne,
Where she should sit, for men to gaze upon.
The outside of her garments were of lawn,
The lining purple silk, with gilt stars drawn;
Her wide sleeves green, and border'd with a grove,
Where Venus in her naked glory strove
To please the careless and disdainful eyes
Of proud Adonis, that before her lies;
Her kirtle blue, whereon was many a stain,
Made with the blood of wretched lovers slain.
Upon her head s