How
Virgil and Statius have imitated Homer; how Horace, Archilochus; how
Alcaeus, and the other lyrics; and so of the rest.
Virgil and Statius have imitated Homer; how Horace, Archilochus; how
Alcaeus, and the other lyrics; and so of the rest.
Ben Jonson - Discoveries Made Upon Men, and Some Poems
They had their hum, and no more.
Indeed, things wrote with
labour deserve to be so read, and will last their age.
3.
_Imitatio_. --_Horatius_. --_Virgil_. --_Statius_. --_Homer_. --_Horat_. --_Archil_. --
_Alcaeus_, &c. --The third requisite in our poet or maker is imitation, to
be able to convert the substance or riches of another poet to his own
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 copy may be
mistaken for the principal. Not as a creature that swallows what it
takes in crude, raw, or undigested, but that feeds with an appetite, and
hath a stomach to concoct, divide, and turn all into nourishment. Not to
imitate servilely, as Horace saith, and catch at vices for virtue, but to
draw forth out of the best and choicest flowers, with the bee, and turn
all into honey, work it into one relish and savour; make our imitation
sweet; observe how the best writers have imitated, and follow them.
How
Virgil and Statius have imitated Homer; how Horace, Archilochus; how
Alcaeus, and the other lyrics; and so of the rest.
4. _Lectio_. --_Parnassus_. --_Helicon_. --_Arscoron_. --_M. T.
Cicero_. --_Simylus_. --_Stob_. --_Horat_. --_Aristot_. --But that which we
especially require in him is an exactness of study and multiplicity of
reading, which maketh a full man, not alone enabling him to know the
history or argument of a poem and to report it, but so to master the
matter and style, as to show he knows how to handle, place, or dispose of
either with elegancy when need shall be. And not think he can leap forth
suddenly a poet by dreaming he hath been in Parnassus, or having washed
his lips, as they say, in Helicon. There goes more to his making than
so; for to nature, exercise, imitation, and study art must be added to
make all these perfect.
labour deserve to be so read, and will last their age.
3.
_Imitatio_. --_Horatius_. --_Virgil_. --_Statius_. --_Homer_. --_Horat_. --_Archil_. --
_Alcaeus_, &c. --The third requisite in our poet or maker is imitation, to
be able to convert the substance or riches of another poet to his own
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 copy may be
mistaken for the principal. Not as a creature that swallows what it
takes in crude, raw, or undigested, but that feeds with an appetite, and
hath a stomach to concoct, divide, and turn all into nourishment. Not to
imitate servilely, as Horace saith, and catch at vices for virtue, but to
draw forth out of the best and choicest flowers, with the bee, and turn
all into honey, work it into one relish and savour; make our imitation
sweet; observe how the best writers have imitated, and follow them.
How
Virgil and Statius have imitated Homer; how Horace, Archilochus; how
Alcaeus, and the other lyrics; and so of the rest.
4. _Lectio_. --_Parnassus_. --_Helicon_. --_Arscoron_. --_M. T.
Cicero_. --_Simylus_. --_Stob_. --_Horat_. --_Aristot_. --But that which we
especially require in him is an exactness of study and multiplicity of
reading, which maketh a full man, not alone enabling him to know the
history or argument of a poem and to report it, but so to master the
matter and style, as to show he knows how to handle, place, or dispose of
either with elegancy when need shall be. And not think he can leap forth
suddenly a poet by dreaming he hath been in Parnassus, or having washed
his lips, as they say, in Helicon. There goes more to his making than
so; for to nature, exercise, imitation, and study art must be added to
make all these perfect.
