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[Enter GOWER. Before the palace of Antioch]
GOWER
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To sing | a song | that old | was sung,
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From ash|es an|cient Gower | is come,
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Assum|ing man's | infir|mities,
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To glad | your ear | and please | your eyes;
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It hath | been sung | at fest|ivals,
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On emb|er-eves,| and ho|ly-days,
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And lords | and lad|ies in | their lives,
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Have read | it for | restor|atives.
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The purch|ase is | to make men glor|ious,
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Et bon|um quo | antiq|uius, eo | melius.
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If you,| born^in | these lat|ter times,
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When wit's | more^ripe,| accept | my rhymes;
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And that | to hear | an old man sing,
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May to | your wish|es pleas|ure bring:
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I life | would wish,| and that | I might
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Waste it | for you | like taper-light.
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This Ant|ioch, then,| Anti|ochus | the Great,
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Built^up | this cit|y for | his chief|est seat;
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The fair|est in | all* Syr|ia,
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I tell | you what | mine auth|ors say:
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This king | unto | him took | a peer,
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Who died,| and left | a fem|ale heir,
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So bux|om, blithe,| and full | of face,
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As heaven | had lent | her all | his grace
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With whom | the fath|er lik|ing took,
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And her | to in|cest^did | provoke.
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Bad* child,| worse* father,| to entice | his own,
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To ev|il should | be done | by none:
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But cust|om, what | they did | begin,
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Was with | long use, count|ed no sin.
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The beaut|y of | this sin|ful dame,
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Made many prin|ces thith|er frame,
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To seek | her as | a bed-|fellow,
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In mar|riage-pleas|ures, play-|fellow:
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Which to | prevent,| he made | a law,
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To keep | her still,| and men | in awe,
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That who|so asked | her for | his wife,
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His riddle | told not, lost | his life:
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So for | her ma|ny a wight | did die,
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As yon grim looks | do test|ify.
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What en|sues to | the judg|ment of | your eye,
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I give | my cause,| who best | can just|ify.
[Exit]