The Dolphin
The Dolphin: swimmers and divers, as at home in water as on land.
[p. 71] But when the Dolphin's Fires begin to riseWith Stars like Scales, and swim in Liquid Skies;It shall be doubtful which shall most CommandThe Inclination for the Sea or Land:Both shall conspire, and in one Mass combind,Now this way draw, now that way force the Mind:For as the Dolphin mounts, now dives again,Now turns, now leaps, and figures all the Main:
[p. 72] So those that shall be born shall now divideWith wide stretcht Arms, and beat the swelling Tide;Now thrust them downward, and with secret OarsTheir Bodies row, and visit Foreign Shores;Now tread the Water, with their Feet maintainThemselves Erect, and wade the deepest Main,As t'were a shallow; like the firmest Field,The Floods shall bear them, and refuse to yield:Now on their Backs or Sides securely keepOne constant place, and lie upon the Deep:No Oar to Boy them up; but Floods forgetTheir natural yielding, and sustain the Weight:Or they shall dive, through boundless Oceans go,And visit Nereus, and the Nymphs below;Or take up Shipwracks, Merchants Spoils restore,And rob the greedy Ocean of its Oar.
To these joyn those, who from an ²⁷Engine tostPierce through the Air, and in the Clouds are lost;Or poize on Timber, where by turns they riseAnd sink, and mount each other to the Skies:Or leap through Fire, and fall on hardest GroundAs on soft Seas, unhurt, and safe from Wound:Tho' void of Wings, their Bodies boldly rear,And imitate their Dolphin in the Air.Or if they want the skill, yet Nature's partPerform'd, they shall be nimble without Art:Not run, but rather fly, be swiftly bornO're Fields of Wheat, nor bend the standing Corn,
The notes
²⁷ Several Feats of Activity amongst the Romans, in which they equall'd if not excell'd all the following Ages. (Creech’s note, 1697)
In the app the old words open a note in the margin when you tap them, the old books read the planets of your own chart, and each book opens where you left it. Free, no account, no email.
14160+ people cast their chart here in the last 30 days.
Keep reading
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).