To shew my wit, how well I could inuent,
To warne withall the carelesse of theyr crymes:
I thought the freedom of the auncient tymes
Stoode still in force: Ridentem dicere verum
Quis vetat? nay, nay. Veritas est pessuma[1696] rerum.[1697]
15.
Belike no tyraunts were in Horace’ dayes,
And therefore poets freely blamed vice,
Witnesse theyr satyrs[1698] sharp, and traguike playes,
With chiefest princes chiefly had in price: