Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight? ― Кто полюбил, не с первого ли взгляда?

It lies not in our power to love, or hate,
For will in us is over-rulde by fate.
When two are stript long ere the course begin,
We wish that one should lose, the other win.
And one especially doo we affect,
Of two gold Ingots like in each respect,
The reason no man knowes, let it suffise,
What we behold is censur'd by our eyes.
Where both deliberat, the love is slight,
Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight?

This poem occurs about a third of the way through the First Sestyad of Hero and Leander. The above version is a modernization of the 1598 edition.

Another modernization can be found, under the title...

WHO EVER LOVED THAT LOVED NOT AT FIRST SIGHT?

It lies not in our power to love or hate,
For will in us is overruled by fate.
When two are stripped, long ere the course begin,
We wish that one should lose, the other win;
And one especially do we affect
Of two gold ingots, like in each respect:
The reason no man knows; let it suffice
What we behold is censured by our eyes.
Where both deliberate, the love is slight:
Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?¹

Christopher Marlowe Кристофер Марло

¹ This famous line from Shakespeare's As You Like It (III, v, 82) is actually in quotation marks in the play. The line is a quote, of course, from Christopher Marlowe's Hero and Leander. It is, obviously, Shakespeare himself who knows of and has read Marlowe's poem (who has died in 1593).

ЛЮБИТЬ ИЛЬ НЕ ЛЮБИТЬ

Любить иль не любить — не в нашей власти;
Судьба сильней желания и страсти.
Коль двое — наги, что от них и ждать,
Кому важней — любить, кому и — побеждать;
Один из слитков золотых особо,
Нам нравится, хотя прекрасны оба,
А почему — не знаем, но для нас,
Довольно то, что принимает глаз.
Где оба думают — любви не надо:
Кто полюбил, не с первого ли взгляда?

Перевод с английского: Валерий Савин