As EPIUS STOLO said that the Muses would speak with PLAUTUS's tongue, if they would speak Latin: so I say that the Muses would speak with SHAKESPEARE's fine filed phrase; if they would speak English.
As MUSAEUS, who wrote the love of HERO and LEANDER, had two excellent scholars, THAMYRAS and HERCULES; so hath he [MUSAEUS] in England, two excellent, poets, imitators of him in the same argument and subject, CHRISTOPHER MARLOW and GEORGE CHAPMAN.
As OVID saith of his work,
Famque opus exegi, quod nec FOVIS ira, nec ignis, Nec poterit ferrum, nec edax abolere vetustas;
And as HORACE saith of his,
Exegi monumentum oere perennius
Regalique situ pyramidum altius,
Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens
Possit disruere, aut innumerabilis
Annorum series, et fuga temporum:
So I say, severally, of Sir PHILIP SIDNEY's, SPENSER's, DANIEL's,
DRAYTON's, SHAKESPEARE's, and WARNER's works,
Non FOVIS ira: imbres: MARS: ferrum: flamma: senectus:
Hoc opus unda: lues: turbo: venena ruent.
Et quanquam ad pulcherrimum hoc opus evertendum, tres illi Dii
conspirabunt, CHRONUS, VULCANUS, et PATER ipse gentis.
Non tamen annorum series, non flamma, nec ensis;
AEternum potuit hoc abolere Decus.
As Italy had DANTE, BOCCACE [BOCCACIO], PETRARCH, TASSO, CELIANO, and
ARIOSTO: so England had MATTHEW ROYDON, THOMAS ATCHELOW, THOMAS WATSON,
THOMAS KYD, ROBERT GREENE, and GEORGE PEELE.
As there are eight famous and chief languages; Hebrew, Greek, Latin,
Syriac, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, and French; so there are eight notable
several kinds of poets, [1] Heroic, [2] Lyric, [3] Tragic, [4] Comic, [5]
Satiric, [6] Iambic, [7] Elegiac, and [8] Pastoral.