wing: euen so a man reacheth not to excellency with one
tong.
I haue bene a looker on in the Cokpit of learning thies
many yeares: And one Cock onelie haue I knowne, which
with one wing, euen at this day, doth passe all other, in myne
opinion, that euer I saw in any pitte in England, though they
had two winges. Yet neuerthelesse, to flie well with one
wing, to runne fast with one leg, be rather, rare Maistreis
moch to be merueled at, than sure examples safelie to be
folowed. A Bushop that now liueth, a good man, whose
iudgement in Religion I better like, than his opinion in per-
fitnes in other learning, said once vnto me: we haue no nede
now of the Greeke tong, when all thinges be translated into
Latin. But the good man vnderstood not, that euen the best
translation, is, for mere necessitie, but an euill imped wing to
flie withall, or a heuie stompe leg of wood to go withall: soch,
the hier they flie, the sooner they falter and faill: the faster
they runne, the ofter they stumble, and sorer they fall. Soch
as will nedes so flie, may flie at a Pye, and catch a Dawe: And
soch runners, as commonlie, they shoue and sholder to stand
formost, yet in the end they cum behind others & deserue
but the hopshakles, if the Masters of the game be right iudgers.
Therefore in perusing thus, so many diuerse bookes for
Optima // _Imitation_, it came into my head that a verie pro-
ratio Imi- // fitable booke might be made _de Imitatione_, after
tationis. // an other sort, than euer yet was attempted of that
matter, conteyning a certaine fewe fitte preceptes,
vnto the which should be gathered and applied plentie of
examples, out of the choisest authors of both the tonges.
This worke would stand, rather in good diligence, for the
gathering, and right iudgement for the apte applying of those
examples: than any great learning or vtterance at all.
The doing thereof, would be more pleasant, than painfull,
& would bring also moch proffet to all that should read it, and
great praise to him would take it in hand, with iust desert of
thankes.
_Erasmus_, giuyng him selfe to read ouer all Authors _Greke_
_Erasmus_ // and _Latin_, seemeth to haue prescribed to him
order in his // selfe this order of readyng: that is, to note out
studie. // by the way, three speciall pointes: All Adagies,
_the ready way to the Latin tong._ 275
all similitudes, and all wittie sayinges of most notable person-
ages: And so, by one labour, he left to posteritie, three notable
bookes, & namelie two his _Chiliades, Apophthegmata_ and _Similia_.
Likewise, if a good student would bend him selfe to read
diligently ouer Tullie, and with him also at // {_Plato._
the same tyme, as diligently _Plato_, & _Xenophon_, // {_Xenophon._
with his bookes of Philosophie, _Isocrates_, & // Cicero. {_Isocrates._
_Demosthenes_ with his orations, & _Aristotle_ with // {_Demosth._
his Rhetorickes: which fiue of all other, be // {_Aristotles._
those, whom _Tullie_ best loued, & specially followed: & would
marke diligently in _Tullie_ where he doth _exprimere_ or _effingere_
(which be the verie propre wordes of Imitation) either, _Copiam
Platonis_ or _venustatem Xenophontis, suauitatem Isocratis_, or _vim
Demosthenis, propriam & puram subtilitatem Aristotelis_, and not
onelie write out the places diligentlie, and lay them together
orderlie, but also to conferre them with skilfull iudgement by
those few rules, which I haue expressed now twise before: if
that diligence were taken, if that order were vsed, what perfite
knowledge of both the tonges, what readie and pithie vtterance
in all matters, what right and deepe iudgement in all kinde of
learnyng would follow, is scarse credible to be beleued.
These bookes, be not many, nor long, nor rude in speach,
nor meane in matter, but next the Maiestie of Gods holie word,
most worthie for a man, the louer of learning and honestie, to
spend his life in. Yea, I haue heard worthie _M. Cheke_ many
tymes say: I would haue a good student passe and iorney
through all Authors both _Greke_ and _Latin_: but he that will
dwell in these few bookes onelie: first, in Gods holie Bible, and
than ioyne with it, _Tullie_ in _Latin, Plato, Aristotle: Xenophon:
Isocrates_: and _Demosthenes_ in _Greke_: must nedes proue an excel-
lent man.
Some men alreadie in our dayes, haue put to their helping
handes, to this worke of Imitation. As _Peri-_ // _Perionius._
_onius, Henr. Stephanus in dictionario Ciceroniano_, // _H. Steph._
and _P. Victorius_ most praiseworthelie of all, in // _P. Victor-_
that his learned worke conteyning xxv. bookes _de_ // _ius._
_varia lectione_: in which bookes be ioyned diligentlie together the
best Authors of both the tonges where one doth seeme to
imitate an other.
But all these, with _Macrobius, Hessus_, and other, be no