vpon _Aristotles Ethickes_ so excellentlie in _Italian_, as neuer did yet
any one in myne opinion either in _Greke_ or _Latin_, amongest
other thynges doth most earnestlie inuey agaynst the rude
ryming of verses in that tong: And whan soeuer he expresseth
_Aristotles_ preceptes, with any example, out of _Homer_ or
_Euripides_, he translateth them, not after the Rymes of _Petrarke_,
but into soch kinde of perfite verse, with like feete and quantitie
of sillables, as he found them before in the _Greke_ tonge: ex-
hortyng earnestlie all the _Italian_ nation, to leaue of their rude
barbariousnesse in ryming, and folow diligently the excellent
_Greke_ and _Latin_ examples, in trew versifiyng.
And you, that be able to vnderstand no more, then ye finde
in the _Italian_ tong: and neuer went farder than the schole of
_Petrarke_ and _Ariostus_ abroad, or els of _Chaucer_ at home though
you haue pleasure to wander blindlie still in your foule wrong
way, enuie not others, that seeke, as wise men haue done before
them, the fairest and rightest way: or els, beside the iust
reproch of malice, wisemen shall trewlie iudge, that you do so,
as I haue sayd and say yet agayne vnto you, bicause, either, for
idlenes ye will not, or for ignorance ye can not, cum by no
better your selfe.
And therfore euen as _Virgill_ and _Horace_ deserue most
worthie prayse, that they spying the vnperfitnes in _Ennius_ and
_Plautus_, by trew Imitation of _Homer_ and _Euripides_, brought
Poetrie to the same perfitnes in _Latin_, as it was in _Greke_, euen
so those, that by the same way would benefite their tong
and contrey, deserue rather thankes than disprayse in that
behalfe.
And I rejoyce, that euen poore England preuented _Italie_,
first in spying out, than in seekyng to amend this fault in
learnyng.
And here, for my pleasure I purpose a litle, by the way, to
play and sporte with my Master _Tully_: from whom commonlie
I am neuer wont to dissent. He him selfe, for this point of
learnyng, in his verses doth halt a litle by his leaue. He could
not denie it, if he were aliue, nor those defend hym now that
Tullies // loue him best. This fault I lay to his charge:
saying a- // bicause once it pleased him, though somwhat
gainst Eng- // merelie, yet oueruncurteslie, to rayle vpon poore
land. // England, obiecting both, extreme beggerie, and
_the ready way to the Latin tong._ 293
mere barbariousnes vnto it, writyng thus vnto his frend _Atticus_:
There is not one scruple of siluer in that whole // Ad Att.
Isle, or any one that knoweth either learnyng or // Lib. iv. Ep.
letter. // 16.
But now master _Cicero_, blessed be God, and his sonne Iesu
Christ, whom you neuer knew, except it were as it pleased him
to lighten you by some shadow, as couertlie in one place ye
confesse saying: _Veritatis tantum vmbram consectamur_, // Offic.
as your Master _Plato_ did before you: blessed be
God, I say, that sixten hundred yeare after you were dead and
gone, it may trewly be sayd, that for siluer, there is more
cumlie plate, in one Citie of England, than is in foure of the
proudest Cities in all _Italie_, and take _Rome_ for one of them.
And for learnyng, beside the knowledge of all learned tongs and
liberall sciences, euen your owne bookes _Cicero_, be as well read,
and your excellent eloquence is as well liked and loued, and as
trewlie folowed in England at this day, as it is now, or euer
was, sence your owne tyme, in any place of _Italie_, either at
_Arpinum_, where ye were borne, or els at _Rome_ where ye were
brought vp. And a litle to brag with you _Cicero_, where you
your selfe, by your leaue, halted in some point of learnyng in
your owne tong, many in England at this day go streight vp,
both in trewe skill, and right doing therein.
This I write, not to reprehend _Tullie_, whom, aboue all
other, I like and loue best, but to excuse _Terence_, because in his
tyme, and a good while after, Poetrie was neuer perfited in
_Latin_ vntill by trew _Imitation_ of the Grecians, it was at length
brought to perfection: And also thereby to exhorte the goodlie
wittes of England, which apte by nature, & willing by desire,
geue them selues to Poetrie, that they, rightly vnderstanding the
barbarous bringing in of Rymes, would labor, as _Virgil_ and
_Horace_ did in Latin, to make perfit also this point of learning,
in our English tong.
And thus much for _Plautus_ and _Terence_, for matter, tong, and
meter, what is to be followed, and what to be exchewed in them.
After _Plautus_ and _Terence_, no writing remayneth vntill
_Tullies_ tyme, except a fewe short fragmentes of _L. Crassus_
excellent wit, here and there recited of _Cicero_ for example sake,
whereby the louers of learnyng may the more lament the losse
of soch a worthie witte.