THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

186 The Harmony of VirtueShadows tonightHave struck more terror to the soul of RichardThan can the substance of ten thousand soldiers.Armed in proof and led by shallow Richmond,or in Julius Caesar,The evil that men do lives after them;The good is oft interred with their bones,or in the much later and richer vein of Antony and Cleopatra,I am dying, Egypt, dying; onlyI here importune death awhile, untilOf many thousand kisses the poor lastI lay upon thy lips.I have purposely selected passages of perfect simplicity and straightforwardness,because they appear to be the most imitable partof Shakespeare's work and are really the least imitable. Alwaysone hears the same voice, the same personal note of style soundingthrough these very various passages, and one feels that there isin all the intimate and unmistakable personality of Shakespeare.We turn next and take two passages from Marlowe, a poet whoseinfluence counted for much in the making of Shakespeare, onefrom Faustus,Was this the face that launched a thousand shipsAnd burnt the topless towers of Ilium?and another from Edward II,I am that cedar, shake me not too much,And you the eagles, soar ye ne'er so high,I have the jesses that will pull you downAnd Aeque tandem shall that canker cryUnto the proudest peer in Brittanny.