Poem found here: "Book 7, Epigram 42"
More about the Poet: Thomas Bastard
"Love the vice" is the last note I wrote for this poem. When I reread this poem again, I thought to myself that this poet is really putting vice on a godly pedestal, "Our vice runs beyond all the old men saw." The use of "old men" in the opening line brings a sense of agelessness as well as human into the poem -- something beyond a normal man (or woman).
"And far authentically above our laws, / And scorning virtues safe and golden mean," Once again, vice is beyond humans, whatever human constructs try to block it, and doesn't care about "virtues" that humans do. Vice is just omnipotent.
"Sits uncontrolled beyond the high extreme. / Circes, thy monsters painted out the hue," The allusion to Circes is an interesting thing in this poem because it appears Circes is the ultimate vice. I had to read back the Circe lore from Wikipedia to figure out what this means.
I think in all parts of the Circe lore, there's the seven deadly sins: gluttony, and wrath (Odysseus men turned to pig and gorged upon), lust, sloth, and a pinch of greed (Circe of her magic and inviting Odysseus to sleep with her, Odysseus outsmarting the situation and staying on the island for a year), pride and envy, hmmm, wasn't Odysseus on his Odyssey because of his pride and wasn't the Trojan War mostly about envy?
In any case, the build up to vice leads up to this allusion then the last two lines, "Our vice puts down all proverbs and all themes, / Our vice excels all fables and all dreams." The usage of the pronoun "our" is interesting. I think the "our" represents the big humanity part, this fits with the theme of the poem, -- that for humans, even trying to make stories about vice doesn't define the vice.
Meaning a person can't fight vice. Vice will happen. Learn your vices. Love your vices.
More about the Poet: Thomas Bastard
"Love the vice" is the last note I wrote for this poem. When I reread this poem again, I thought to myself that this poet is really putting vice on a godly pedestal, "Our vice runs beyond all the old men saw." The use of "old men" in the opening line brings a sense of agelessness as well as human into the poem -- something beyond a normal man (or woman).
"And far authentically above our laws, / And scorning virtues safe and golden mean," Once again, vice is beyond humans, whatever human constructs try to block it, and doesn't care about "virtues" that humans do. Vice is just omnipotent.
"Sits uncontrolled beyond the high extreme. / Circes, thy monsters painted out the hue," The allusion to Circes is an interesting thing in this poem because it appears Circes is the ultimate vice. I had to read back the Circe lore from Wikipedia to figure out what this means.
I think in all parts of the Circe lore, there's the seven deadly sins: gluttony, and wrath (Odysseus men turned to pig and gorged upon), lust, sloth, and a pinch of greed (Circe of her magic and inviting Odysseus to sleep with her, Odysseus outsmarting the situation and staying on the island for a year), pride and envy, hmmm, wasn't Odysseus on his Odyssey because of his pride and wasn't the Trojan War mostly about envy?
In any case, the build up to vice leads up to this allusion then the last two lines, "Our vice puts down all proverbs and all themes, / Our vice excels all fables and all dreams." The usage of the pronoun "our" is interesting. I think the "our" represents the big humanity part, this fits with the theme of the poem, -- that for humans, even trying to make stories about vice doesn't define the vice.
Meaning a person can't fight vice. Vice will happen. Learn your vices. Love your vices.
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