Cepheus
Cepheus: stern tutors, and writers of very bloody tragedies.
[p. 72] What Constellations rise with Aquarius
When with Aquarius Cepheus mounts, requireNo sportive Tempers from so grave a Fire:But stiff, morose, severe, affected Fools,With Looks as starcht, and heavy as their Souls:Whose Guardian's roughness, or an Uncle's forcePraise, and in Cato's Sentences Discourse;Design'd for Tutors, whom the noble Heir,Altho' he keeps them, shall be forc'd to fear;Shrink at their Nods, and of their Looks afraid,Worship th' Imperious Idol he hath made.
[p. 73] Or Tragick Poets; Those whose Style must slayIn Paper, and be Barbarous in a Play:Who must kill Heroes to delight the Crowd,And seek to please with Horror, and with Blood:Antigone ²⁸must fall the Tyrant's Spoil,And Brothers disagree upon their Pile:Thyestes eat his Babes, the Sun retire,And jealous Rage the mad Medea Fire;Her Father, Brother, Sons must Murder'd lie,Whilst Dragons bear her through the Guilty Sky:Or she must Youth renew; such Themes as theseShall raise their Thoughts, and make them strive to please.
But then if softer Themes their Fancies moveIn Comedy, the heated Youth shall Love;The Maid be stoln, the witty Slave defeatThe covetous Father, and enjoy the Cheat.Thus fam'd ²⁹Menander in immortal RhymesExposeth Humour and instructs the Times;Nature to him her Parts might safely trust,His Words expressive, and his Thoughts were just;And when he copy'd her, she hardly knewHer own Original; he wrought so true.
But if unequal to a Poet's RageThey cannot Write, yet they shall serve the Stage.Their graceful action and their voice shall raiseThe native value of another's Plays;The School's Simplicity, the Court's Address,The Souldier's Huff so decently express;As if they acted not another's part;And all was simple Nature, and not Art.In one short view they shall present to sightWhole Crowds, make Kings engage, and Armies fight:Before the pleas'd Spectators Troy shall lyeIn ruins, and the wretched Priam dye.
The notes
²⁸ The common Subjects upon which Sophocles, Euripides, and other Tragaedians amongst the Ancients wrote their Plays. (Creech’s note, 1697)
²⁹ A fam'd Comedian, who flourish'd in the hundred and fourteenth Olympiad. (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).