Fruitful and Barren Signs
The fruitful signs and the barren ones.
[p. 59] How small these things, yet they reward thy pain,Reason's in All, and nothing's fram'd in vain:The Crab ¹³is fruitful, and a numerous BroodFierce Scorpio yields, and Pisces fill the Flood;The Lion's barren, and no Vows can gainThe Maid; Aquarius spends his Youth in vain,Ah too remov'd, too far disjoyn'd to proveThe fruitful Pleasures of encreasing Love!'Twixt these two kinds a Third nor fruitful BeamsNor Barren spreads, but joyns the two Extreams:The Goat all Beast above, and Fish below,The Centaur glorious in his Cretian Bow,The Scales that Autumn's Equinoctial rule,The Twins, and Ram, to whom we join the Bull.
The notes
¹³ The fruitful Signs are Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces. The Barren are Leo, Virgo, Aquarius. The remaining six are partly Barren, partly Fruitful. (Creech’s note, 1697)
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The text is Thomas Creech's 1697 verse translation, checked word by word between three scans of the same type (the 1697 printing, the 1700 printing and a third copy). The long s is printed as s; every other spelling is Creech's. Pages are cited as the 1697 printing numbers them. The portrait is William Marshall’s engraving of Lilly from the front of the 1659 printing (Wellcome Library, public domain).