Daily Dose

From Greene's Groat's-Worth of Wit, bought with a million of Repentance, by Robert Greene

WHAT MEANT THE POETS IN INVECTIVE VERSE

"What meant the Poets in invective verse,
To sing Medea's shame, and Scylla's pride,
Calypso's charms, by which so many died?
Only for this their vices they rehearse,
That curious wits which in this world converse,
May shun the dangers and enticing shoes,
of such false Sirens, those home-breeding foes,
That from their eyes their venom do disperse.
So soon kills not the Basilisk with sight,
The Viper's tooth is not so venomous,
The Adder's tongue not half so dangerous,
As they that bear the shadow of delight,
Who chain blind youths in trammels of their hair,
Till waste bring woe, and sorrow hast despair."