XCIV. Anonymous. Lines from "Catascopos." Edward Farr, ed. 1847. Select Poetry, Chiefly Sacred, of the Reign of King James the First

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Edward Farr, ed. Select Poetry of the Reign of King James the First. 1847.

Lines from “Catascopos”

XCIV. Anonymous


I SEE 1 good lawes for godlie vse deuised;
The iust man’s right, and rigor for offenses,
By filthy lucre masqued and disguised;
Truth’s but a sound to shadow foule pretenses;
For pride, ambition, ire, and auarice,	5
Do dull, dimme, blanch, and blind the wisest eies.
I see how wars, the canker of estate,
Hel’s image and al commonweales’ downthrow,
Spring from the proud ambitious hart’s debate,
Where rancor, spleene, and enuie overflow:	10
Not multitudes of men conquest atchieve;
’Tis onely God that victorie doth giue.

Note 1. XCIV. Anonymous.—In 1615 a work was published anonymously, entitled “Catascopos, or, A Surveigh and Critiqve Censvre of the Christian World.” The poem consists of about fifty stanzas. [back]

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