(If any Muse could passe old Maltaes Poet),
Then should his name be set in shining brasse,
In shining brasse for all the world to show it,[[466]]
and it grows worse than tiresome in Gabriel Harvey’s variation of the ubi sunt theme:—
Ah, that Sir Humphrey Gilbert should be dead,
Ah, that Sir Philip Sidney should be dead,
Ah, that Sir William Sakevil should be dead,
which is not even humorous. Now it is clear that classical models play a part here. The pastorals of Vergil, the iteration of elegy imitated by Milton at the opening of Lycidas, are to be reckoned with; but not only was the throng behind all this, as shall be seen in a study of the vocero, not only are the charming iterations and incremental touches in Catullus,[[467]]—
multi illum pueri, multae optauere puellae ...
nulli illum pueri, nullae optauere puellae ...