Lyly, John · published 1592 · first performed or written 1585 [1583-1585] (Annals) comedy · Children of Paul's (first) (?) · before the Court T21 Cupid, Venus and the nymphs typicality 0.91 · 521 words
Marked words are the most distinguishing words of T21: cupid, venus, love, ceres, diana, fair, nymphs, goddess, bow, damon.
Let me alone I will find him somewhat to do. Lady, can you for pity see Cupid thus punished. Why did Cupid punish us without pity? Is love a punishment? It is no pastime. O Venus, if thou sawest Cupid as a captive, bound to obey that was wont to command, fearing ladies' threats, that once pierced their hearts, I cannot tell whether thou wouldest revenge it for despite, or laugh at it for disport. The time may come Diana, and the time shall come, that thou that settest Cupid to undo knots, shall entreat Cupid to tie knots, and you Ladies that with solace have beheld my pains, shall with sighs entreat my pity. He offereth to sleep. How now Cupid begin you to nod? Come Cupid, Diana hath devised new labours for you that are God of loves, you shall weave Samplers all night, and lackey after Diana all day. You shall shortly shoot at beasts for men, because you have made beasts of men, & weight on ladies' trains, because thou entrappest Ladies by trains. All the stories that are in Diana's Arras, which are of love, you must pick out with your needle, & in that place sow Vesta with her Nuns, and Diana with her nymphs. How like you this Cupid. I say I will prick as well with my needle, as ever I did with mine arrows. Diana cannot yield, she conquers affection. Diana shall yield, she cannot conquer destiny. Come Cupid, you must to your business. You shall find me so busy in your heads, that you shall wish I had been idle with your hearts. This day is the solemn Sacrifice at this Tree, wherein the fairest virgin (were not the inhabitants faithless) should be offered unto me, but so over careful are Fathers to their children, that they forget the safety of their Country, & fearing to become unnatural, become unreasonable; their slights may blear men, deceive me they cannot, I will be here at the hour, and show as great cruelty as they have done craft, & well shall they know that Neptune should have been entreated, not cozened. I marvel what virgin the people will prepresent, it is happy you are none, for then it would have fallen to your lot because you are so fair. If you had been a Maiden too I need not to have feared, because you are fairer. I pray thee sweet boy flatter not me, speak truth of thyself, for in mine eye of all the world thou art fairest. These be fair words, but far from thy true thoughts, I know mine own face in a true Glass, and desire not to see it in a flattering mouth. O would I did flatter thee, and that fortune would not flatter me. I love thee as a brother, but love not me so. Noah I will not, but love thee better, because I cannot love as a brother. Seeing we are both boys, and both lovers, that our affection may have some show, and seem as it were love, let me call thee Mistress.
nodes 316–337 (positions in the processed text, not lines of the printed book) · chunk 20 of 27 in this edition
Length
521 words · 654 tokens
Topic (seed 42)
T21 — Cupid, Venus and the nymphscross-work theme (confirmed, in the genre comparison) · typicality 0.909 (cosine to the topic centroid)
Other seeds
seed 43: T21 · seed 44: T24 — topic numbers are assigned independently in each run; equal or different numbers say nothing by themselves
Original spelling (EEBO-TCP, unregularized)
Let me alone I wil find him some-what to do. Lady, can you for pittie see Cupid thus punished. Why did Cupid punish vs without pittie? Is loue a punishment? It is no pastime. O Venus, if thou sawest Cupid as a captiue, bound to obey that was wont to commaunde, fearing Ladies threates, that once pearced their harts, I cannot tell whether thou wouldest reuenge it for despight, or laugh at it for disport. The time may come Diana, and the time shall come, that thou that settest Cupid to vndoe knots, shall intreate Cupid to tye knots, and you Ladies that with solace haue behelde my paines, shall with sighes intreate my pittie. Hee offereth to sleepe. How now Cupid begin you to nod? Come Cupid, Diana hath deuised newe labours for you that are God of loues, you shall weaue Samplers all night, and lackie after Diana all day. You shall shortlie shoote at beastes for men, because you haue made beastes of men, & waight on Ladies traines, because thou intrappest Ladies by traines. All the stories that are in Dianaes Arras, which are of loue, you must picke out with your needle, & in that place sowe Vesta with her Nuns, and Diana with her Nimphes. How like you this Cupid. I say I will pricke as well with my needle, as euer I did with mine arrowes. Diana cannot yeelde, she conquers affection. Diana shall yeeld, she cannot conquer desteny. Come Cupid, you must to your busines. You shall find me so busie in your heads, that you shall wish I had beene idle with your harts. Thys day is the solemne Sacrifice at thys Tree, wherein the fairest virgine (were not the inhabitants faithlesse) should be offered vnto me, but so ouer carefull are Fathers to their children, that they forgette the safetie of their Countrey, & fearing to become vnnaturall, become vnreasonable; their slights may bleere men, deceiue me they cannot, I wil be here at the houre, and shew as great crueltie as they haue doone craft, & well shall they know that Neptune should haue beene intreated, not cosened. I maruell what virgine the people will prepresent, it is happy you are none, for thē it would haue falne to your lot because you are so faire. If you had beene a Maiden too I neede not to haue feared, because you are fairer. I pray thee sweete boy flatter not me, speake trueth of thy selfe, for in mine eye of all the world thou art fayrest. These be faire words, but farre from thy true thoughts, I know mine owne face in a true Glasse, and desire not to see it in a flattering mouth. O would I did flatter thee, and that fortune would not flatter me. I loue thee as a brother, but loue not me so. Noe I will not, but loue thee better, because I cannot loue as a brother. Seeing we are both boyes, and both louers, that our affection may haue some showe, and seeme as it were loue, let me call thee Mistris.