He loued Isse for his dearest Dame,
2 And for her sake her cattell fed a while,
And for her sake a cowheard vile became,
4 The seruant of Admetus cowheard vile,
Whiles that from heauen he suffered exile.
6 Long were to tell +each+ other louely fit,
Now like a Lyon, hunting after spoile,
8 Now like a +Hag+, now like a faulcon flit:
All which in that faire arras was most liuely writ.
6 each > his 1590 8 Hag > Stag _conj. Jortin, in support of whom Upton quotes Myth. 4.10. Smith describes the emendation as "irresistible". Apollo is transformed to a lion and then a hawk in Met. 6.122-3. Some editors retain Hag and feel Spenser may have been referring to a "haggard", an untamed hawk caught in its adult plumage_
1 He loved Isse for his dearest dame,
Isse > (Spenser combines two legends here: Apollo's disguised appearance to Isse, daughter of Macareus (Met. 6.124), and the myth of Admetus, king of Pherae in Thessaly, whom Apollo was obliged to serve as a herdsman for nine years for having slain the Cyclops (see Hyginus, Fabulae 50, DGDG 4.10))
2 And for her sake her cattle fed awhile, 3 And for her sake a cowherd vile became,
vile > lowly
4 The servant of Admetus, cowherd vile,
cowherd > (Roche (1978) suggests a possible pun on "coward")
5 While from heaven he suffered exile. 6 Long were to tell each other lovely fit,
Long were > [It would take a long time] lovely > amorous