And first whereas you say, yt Tullie in his yeres of more judgement despised Poetes, harke (I pray you) what he worketh for them in his oratio[n] pro Archia poeta. But before you heare him, least you fayle in the incounter, I would wysh you to follow the advise of the dasterdlye Ichneumon of Ægipt, who when shee beholdeth the Aspis her enemye to drawe nighe, calleth her fellowes together, bisme[a]ring herselfe with claye, against the byting and stroke of the serpent, arme yourselfe, cal your witts together: want not your wepons, lest your inperfect judgement be rewardede with Midas eares. You had neede play the night burd now, for yon day Owl hath misconned his parte, and for to-who now a dayes he cryes foole you: which hath brought such a sort of wondering birds about your eares, as I feare me will chatter you out of your Ivey bush. The worlde shames to see you, or els you are afrayde to shew yourselfe.
You thought poetrye should want a patron (I think) when you fyrste published this invective, but yet you fynd al to[o] many eve[n] preter expectationē, yea though it can speake for it self, yet her patron Tullie now shall tell her tale, Hæc studia, (sayth he) adolescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis perfugium ac Solatium prebent, delectant domi, non impediunt foris, pernoctant nobiscum, peregri[n]antur rusticantur. Then will you disprayse yt which all men commend? You looke only upon ye refuse of ye abuse, nether respecting the importance of ye matter nor the weighe of ye wryter.
Solon can fayne himself madde, to further the Athenians. Chaucer in pleasant vain can rebuke sin uncontrold, and though he be lavish in the letter, his sence is serious. Who in Rome lame[n]ted not Roscius death? And ca[n]st thou suck no plesure out of thy M. Claudians writings? Hark what Cellarius a learned father attributed to it, acuit memoriam (saith he) it profiteth the memory. Yea, and Tully attributeth it for prais to Archias yt upon any theame he cold versify exte[m]pory. Who liketh not of the promptness of Ovid? Who not unworthely cold boast of himself thus Quicquid conabar dicere versus erat. Who then doothe not wonder at poetry? Who thinketh not yt it procedeth fro[m] above? What made ye Chians and Colophonians fal to such controversy? Why seke ye Smirnians to recover fro[m] ye Salaminians the prais of Homer? Al wold have him to be of ther city, I hope not for harme, but because of his knoledge. Themistocles desireth to be acquainted with those wc could best discipher his praises. Even Marius himselfe, tho never so cruel, acco[m]pted of Plotinus poems. What made Aphricanus esteme Ennius? Why did Alexander give prais to Achilles but for ye prayses which he found writte[n] of hym by Homer? Why estemed Pompie so muche of Theophanes Mitiletus, or Brutus so greatlye the wrytinges of Accius? Fuluius was so great a favorer of poetry, that after the Aetolian warres, he attributed to the Muses those spoiles that belonged to Mars. In all the Romaine conquest, h[e]ardest thou ever of a slayne Poete? nay rather the Emperours honored them, beautified them with benefites, and decked their sanctuaries which [with] sacrifice. Pindarus colledg is not fit for spoil of Alexander overcome, nether feareth poetry ye persecutors sword. What made Austin so much affectate ye heavenly fury? not folly, for if I must needes speake, illud non ausim affirmare, his zeale was in setting up the house of God, not in affectate eloquence, he wrot not, he accompted not. He honnored not, so much that (famous poetry) whyche we prayse, without cause, for if it be true that Horace reporteth in his booke de arte poetica, all the answeares of the Oracles weare in verse. Among the precise Jewes you shall find Poetes, and for more majestie Sibilla will prophesie in verse. Hiroaldus can witnes with me, that David was a poet, and that his vayne was in imitating (as S. Jerom witnesseth) Horace, Flaccus, and Pindarus, somtimes his verse runneth in an Iambus foote, anone he hath recourse to a Saphier vaine, and aliquando, semipede ingreditur. Ask Josephus, and he will tel you that Esay, Job and Salomon voutsafed poetical practises, for (if Origen and he fault not) theyre verse was Hexameter and pentameter. Enquire of Cassiodorus, he will say that all the beginning of Poetrye proceeded from the Scripture. Paulinus tho the byshop of Nolanum yet voutsafe the name of a Poet, and Ambrose tho he be a patriarke in mediolanū loveth versising. Beda shameth not ye science that shamelesse Gosson misliketh. Reade over Lactantius, his proofe is by poetry, and Paul voutsafeth to overlooke Epimenides; let the Apostle preach at Athens he disdaineth not of Aratus authorite. It is a pretye sentence yet not so prety as pithy, Poeta nascitur orator fit, as who should say, Poetrye commeth from above from a heavenly seate of a glorious God unto an excellent creature man, an orator is but made by exercise. For if wee examine well what befell Ennius amonge the Romans, and Hesiodus among his contrimen the Gretians, howe they came by theyr knowledge whence they receved their heavenly furye, the first will tell us that sleping upon the Mount of Parnassus he dreamed that he received the soule of Homer into him, after the which he became a Poete, the next will assure you that it commeth not by labor, nether that night watchings bringeth it, but yt we must have it thence whence he fetched it wc was (he saith) fro[m] a wel of ye Muses wc Cabelimus calleth Porū, a draught whereof drewe him to his perfection, so of a shephard he becam an eloque[n]t poet.
Wel the[n] you see yt it commeth not by exercise of play making, nether insertio[n] of gawds, but from nature and from above: and I hope yt Aristotle hath sufficiently taught you that Natura nihil fecit frustra.
Perseus was made a poete divino furore percitus. And whereas the poets were sayde to call for the Muses helpe ther mening was no other as Iodocus Badius reporteth, but to call for heavenly inspiration from above to direct theyr ende[a]vors. Nether were it good for you to sette light by the name of a poet since ye oftspring from whence he cometh is so heavenly. Sibilla in hir answers to Æneas against hir will as the poet telleth us was possessed with thys fury, ye wey consideratly but of the writing of poets, and you shal se[e] than whe[n] ther matter is most heavenly, their stile is most loftye, a strange token of the wonderfull efficacy of the same.
I would make a long discourse unto you of Platos 4. furies but I le[a]ve them. It pitieth me to bring a rodd of your owne making to beate you wythal. But mithinks while you heare thys I see you swallowe down your owne spittle for revenge, where (God wot) my wryting savoreth not of envye. In this case I coulde wyshe you fare farre otherwyse from your foe. If you please I wyll become your frende and see what a potion or receypt I can frame fytt for your diet. And herein I will prove myselfe a practiser, before I purdge you, you shall take a preparative to disburden your heavy hedde of those grose follis you have conceved: but the receipt is bitter, therefore I would wysh you first to casten your mouth with the Suger of persevera[n]ce: for ther is a cold collop yt must downe your throate yet suche a one as shall change your complection quit[e]. I wyll have you therfore to tast first of yt cold river Phricus in Thratia, which as Aristotle reporteth changeth blacke into white; or of Scamandar, which maketh gray yalow, yt is of an envious ma[n] a wel minded person, reprehending of zeale yt wherin he hath sinned by folly, and so being prepard, thy purgation wyll worke more easy, thy understandinge wyll be more perfit, thou shalt blush at thy abuse, and reclaime thy selfe by force of argument. So will thou prove of clene recovered patient, and I a perfecte practiser in framing so good a potion. This broughte to passe, I with the[e] wil seeke out some abuse in poetry, which I will seeke for to disprove by reason first pronounced by no smal birde even Aristotle himself. Poetae (sayth he) multa mentiuntur and to further his opinion seuer Cato putteth in his cencure.
Admiranda canunt sed non credenda poetæ. These were sore blemishes if objected rightly and heare you may say the streme runnes a wronge, but if it be so by you[r] leve I wyll bring him shortly in his right chanel. My answere shall not be my owne, but a learned father shall tell my tale, if you wil know his right name men call him Lactantius: who in hys book de divinis institutionibus reesoneth thus. I suppose (sayth he) Poets are full of credit, and yet it is requesite for those that wil understand them to be admonished, that among them not onely the name but the matter beareth a show of that it is not: for if sayth he we examine the Scriptures litterallye nothing will seeme more falls, and if we way Poetes wordes and not ther meaning, our learning in them wilbe very mene. You see nowe your Catoes judgement as of no force and that all your objections you make agaynst poetrye be of no valor, yet lest you should be altogether discouraged I wyll helpe you forwarde a little more, it pities me to consider the weaknes of your cause, I wyll therfore make your strongest reason more strong and after I have builded it up destroy it agayn. Poets you confesse are eloquent but you reprove them in their wantonnesse, they write of no wisedom, you may say their tales are frivolus, they prophane holy thinges, they seeke nothing to the perfection of our soules. Theyr practise is in other things of lesse force: to this objection I answer no otherwise then Horace doeth in his booke de arte poetica where he wryteth thus:
Silvestres homines sacer interpresque deorum
Sedibus, et victu fœdo deterruit orpheus.
Dictus ob hoc lenire Tigres rabidosque leones.
Dictus et Amphion Thebanæ condit[or] urbis
Saxa movere sono, testudinis et prece blanda
Ducere quo vellet. Fuit hoc sapientia quondam,
Publica privatis secernere sacra prophanis,
Concubitu prohibere vago, dare Iura maritis,
Oppida moliri, leges incidere ligno.
The holy spokesman of the Gods
With heave[n]ly Orpheus hight:
Did drive the savage men from wods,
And made them live aright.
And therefore is sayd the Tygers fierce,
And Lyons full of myght
To overcome: Amphion, he
Was sayd of Theabs the founder,
Who by his force of Lute dyd cause
The stones to part a sonder,
And by his speach did them derect
Where he would have them staye:
This wisedome this was it of olde
All strife for to allaye.
To give to every man his owne,
To make the Gods be knowne,
To drive each lecher from the bed
That never was his owne.
To teach the law of mariage,
The way to build a towne,
For to engrave these lawes in woods
This was these mens renowne.
I cannot leave Tirtheus pollicy untouched, who by force of his pen could incite men to the defence of theyr countrye. If you require of ye Oracle of Apollo what successe you shal have: respondet bellicoso numine. Lo now you see your objections my answers, you behold or may perceive manifestlye that Poetes was the first raysors of cities, prescribers of good lawes, mayntayners of religion, disturbors of the wicked, advancers of the wel disposed, inve[n]tors of laws, and lastly the very fo[o]tpaths to knowledg and understa[n]ding. Ye if we shold beleve Herome he will make Platos exiles honest me[n] and his pestiferous poets good preachers: for he accounteth Orpheus Museus and Linus, Christians, therefore Virgil (in his 6 boke of Æneiados wher he lernedly describeth ye journey of Æneas to Elisum) asserteneth us, yt among them yt were ther for the zeale they beare toward there country, ther wer found Quinque pii vates et Phœbo digna loquti but I must answer al objectio[n]s, I must fil every nooke. I must arme myself now, for here is the greatest bob I can gather out of your booke forsoth Ovids abuses, in descrybing whereof you labour very vehementlye termi[n]g him letcher, and in his person dispraise all poems, but shall on[e] mans follye destroye a universal comodity? What gift what perfit knowledg hath ther bin, emong ye professors of wc ther hath not bin a bad on [?] the Angels have sinned in heave[n], Ada[m] and Eve in earthly paradise, emo[n]g ye holy apostles ungratious Judas. I reson not yt al poets are holy but I affirme yt poetry is a heave[n]ly gift, a perfit gift then which I know not greater plesure. And surely if I may speak my mind I thi[n]k we shall find but few poets if it were exactly wayd what they oughte to be: your Muscovian straungers, your Scithian monsters wonderful, by one Eurus brought upon one stage in ships made of Sheepeskins, wyll not prove you a poet nether your life alow you to bee of that learning: if you had wisely wayed ye abuse of poetry, if you had reprehended ye foolish fantasies of our poets nomine non re which they bring forth on stage, my self would have liked of you and allowed your labor. But I perceive nowe yt all red colloured stones are not Rubies, nether is every one Alexandar yt hath a stare in his cheeke, al lame men are not Vulcans, nor hooke nosed men Ciceroes, nether each professer a poet, I abhore those poets that savor of ribaldry, I will with the zealous admit the expullcion of suche enormities. Poetry is dispraised not for the folly that is in it, but for the abuse whiche manye ill Wryters couller by it. Beleeve me the magestrats may take advise (as I knowe wisely can) to roote out those odd rymes which runnes in every rascales mouth. Savoring of rybaldry, those foolishe ballets that are admitted make poets good and godly practises to be refused. I like not of a wicked Nero that wyll expell Lucan, yet admit I of a zealous governour that wil seke to take away the abuse of poetry. I like not of an angrye Augustus which wyll banishe Ovid for envy. I love a wise Senator, which in wisedome wyll correct him and with advise burne his follyes: unhappy were we yf like poore Scaurus we shoulde find Tiberius that wyll put us to death for a tragedy making, but most blessed were we if we might find a judge that severely would amende the abuses of Tragedies. But I leave the reformation thereof to more wyser than my selfe, and retourne to Gosson whom I wyshe to be fully perswaded in this cause, and therefore I will tell hym a prety story, which Justin wryteth in the prayse of poetrye.