Lipsius. Petron. in Virgill, And Lipsius to affirm, Scio, Poetam neminem præstantem fuisse, sine parte quadam uberiore divinæ auræ. And hence it is that the comming up of good Poets (for I mind not mediocres or imos) is so thinne and rare among us. Every beggerly corporation affoords the State a mayor or two bailiffs yearly; but Solus rex, aut poeta, non quotannis nascitur. To this perfection of nature in our Poet, wee require Exercise of those parts, and frequent. If his wit will not arrive soddainly at the dignitie of the Ancients, let him not yet fall out with it, quarrell, or be over hastily angry; offer, to turne it away from study in a humor, but come to it againe upon better cogitation; try another time, with labour. If then it succeed not, cast not away the Quills yet, nor scratch the Wainescott, beate not the poor Deske, but bring all to the forge, and file againe; tourne it anewe. There is no statute Law of the Kingdome bidds you bee a poet against your will; or the first quarter. If it come, in a yeare or two, it is well. The common Rymers powre forth Verses, such as they are, ex tempore; but there never come from them one Sense, worth the life of a Day. A Rymer, and a Poet, are two things. It is said of the incomparable Virgil, that he brought forth his verses like a Beare, and after form'd them with licking. Scaliger, the father, writes it of him, that he made a quantitie of verses in the morning, which afore night hee reduced to a lesse number. But, Valer. Max-that which Valerius Maximus hath left recorded imus. of Euripides, the tragicke Poet, his answer to Alcestis, another Poet, is as memorable, as modest; who, when it was told to Alcestis that Euripides Euripides, had in three daies brought forth, but three verses, Alcestis. and those with some difficultie, and throwes, Alcestis, glorying hee could with ease have sent forth a hundred in the space, Euripides roundly reply'd, "Like enough; but here is the difference: thy verses will not last those three daies, mine will to all time." Which was, as to tell him; he could not write a verse. I have met many of these rattles, that made a noyse and buz'de. They had their humme, and no more. Indeed, things wrote with labour deserve to be so read, and will last their Age. The third requisite in our Poet, or Maker, is Imitation, to bee able to convert the substance 3. Imitatio. or Riches of another Poet to his owne use. To make choice of one excellent man above the rest, and so to follow him, till he grow very He, or so like him, as the Copie may be mistaken for the Principal. Not as a creature that swallowes what it takes in crude, raw, or undigested, but that feedes with an Appetite, and hath a Stomache to concoct, devide, and turne all into nourishment. Not to imitate servilely, as Horace saith, and catch at vices for vertue ; Horatius. but to draw forth out of the best and choicest flowers, with the Bee, and turn all into honey, worke it into one relish and savour; make our Imitation sweet; observe how the best writers have imitated, and follow them. How Virgil Virgil, and Statius have imitated Homer; how Horace, Statius, Archilochus; how, Alcæus, and the other Horat., Homer, Liricks; and so of the rest. Archil., But that which wee especially require in Alcaus, &c. 4. Lectio. him is an exactnesse of Studie and multiplicity of reading, which maketh a full man, not alone enabling him to know the History or Argument of a Poeme and to report it, but so to master the matter and Stile, as to shew hee knowes how to handle, place, or dispose of either with Elegancie when need shall bee. And not thinke hee can leape forth suddainely a poet by dreaming hee Parnassus. hath been in Parnassus, or having washt his Helicon. lips, as they say, in Helicon. There goes It more to his making, then so; for to Nature, Ars Coron. Exercise, Imitation, and Studie, Art must bee added to make all these perfect. And though these challenge to themselves much in the making up of our Maker, it is Art only can lead him to perfection, and leave him there in possession, as planted by her hand. M. T. Cicero is the assertion of Tully, if to an excellent nature there happen an accession or confirmation of Learning and Discipline, there will then remaine somewhat noble and singular. For, as Simylus saith in Stobæus, Ouтe púσis ἱκανὴ γίνεται τέχνης ἄτερ, οὔτε πᾶν τέχνη μὴ φύσιν κεκτημένη, without Art, Nature can nere bee perfect; & without Nature, Art can clayme no being. But, our Poet must beware, that his Studie be not only to learn of himself; for hee that shall affect to doe that, confesseth his ever having a Foole to his master. Hee must read many, but ever the best and choisest; those that can teach him anything, hee must ever Simylus account his masters, and reverence. Among Horatius. whom Horace and (hee that taught him) Aristoteles. Aristotle, deserv'd to be the first in estima tion. Aristotle was the first accurate Criticke and truest Judge-nay, the greatest Philosopher the world ever had-for hee noted the vices of all knowledges in all creatures, and out of many mens perfections in a Science, hee formed still one Art. So hee taught us two offices together, how we ought to judge rightly of others, and what wee ought to imitate specially in ourselves. But all this in vaine, without a natural wit and a Poeticall nature in chiefe. For no man, so soone as hee knowes this or reades it, shall be able to write the better; but as he is adapted to it by Nature, he shall grow the perfecter Writer. Hee must have Civil prudence and Eloquence, and that whole; not taken up by snatches or peeces, in Sentences or remnants, when he will handle businesse or carry Counsells, as if he came then out of the Declamors Gallerie, or Shadowe, furnish'd but out of the body of the State, Virorum which commonly is the Schoole of men..... schola Res pub. I. MILTON (1608-1674) The Treatise from which A Passage from this passage is taken was "An Apology against a published in 1642, in reply to Bishop Hall and his son's "Modest confutation against a Scandalous and Pamphlet call'd Seditious Libel." With Smectymnuus: a Modest Confutation." the dispute we have of course nothing to do, save in so far as it is the occasion of so noble a tribute to Poetry. I HAD my time Readers, as others have, who have good learning bestow'd upon them, to be sent to those places, where the opinion was, it might be soonest attain'd; and as the manner is, was not unstudied in those authors which are most commended; whereof some were grave Orators and Historians, whose matter methought I lov'd indeed, but as my age then was, so I understood them; others were the smooth Elegiack Poets, whereof the Schooles are not scarce, whom both for the pleasing sound of their numerous writing, which in imitation I found most easie, and most agreeable to natures part in me, and for their |