1.3.1. Francis Meres, Palladis Tamia

Francis Meres: Palladis Tamia: Wit's Treasury
A Comparative Discourse of our English Poets, with the Greek, Latin, and Italian Poets, pp. 616-639. (London 1598)

[1] As Greece had three poets of great antiquity, Orpheus, Linus and Musaeus, and Italy other three ancient poets, Livius Andronicus, Ennius & Plautus, so hath England three ancient poets, Chaucer, Gower and Lydgate.

[2] As Homer is reputed the prince of Greek poets, and [as] Petrarch of Italian poets, so Chaucer is accounted the god of English poets.

[3] As Homer was the first that adorned the Greek tongue with true quantity, so Piers Plowman was the first that observed the true quantity of our verse without the curiosity of rime.

[4] Ovid writ a chronicle from the beginning of the world to his own time, that is, to the reign of Augustus the emperor; so hath Hardyng the chronicler (after his manner of old harsh riming) from Adam to his time, that is, to the reign of King Edward the Fourth.

[5] As Sotades Maronites the iambic poet gave himself wholly to write impure and lascivious things, so Skelton (I know not for what great worthiness surnamed the Poet Laureate) applied his wit to scurrilities and ridiculous matters; such among the Greeks were called pantomimi, with us, buffons.

[6] As Consalvo Periz, that excellent learned man and secretary to King Philip of Spain, in translating the Ulysses of Homer out of Greek into Spanish, hath by good judgment avoided the fault of riming, although not fully hit perfect and true versifying, so hath Henry Howard, that true and noble Earl of Surrey, in translating the fourth book of Virgil's Aeneas, whom Michael Drayton in his England's Heroical Epistles hath eternized for an epistle to his fair Geraldine.

[7] As these neoterics Jovianus Pontanus, Politianus, Marullus Tarchaniota, the two Strozae, the father and the son, Palingenius, Mantuanus, Philelphus, Quintianus Stoa and Germanus Brixius have obtained renown and good place among the ancient Latin poets, so also these Englishmen, being Latin poets, Walter Haddon, Nicholas Carr, Gabriel Harvey, Christopher Ocland, Thomas Newton with his Leyland, Thomas Watson, Thomas Campion, Brownswerd & Willey, have attained good report and honourable advancement in the Latin empire.

Jovianus Pontanus	Walter Haddon
Politianus	Nicholas Carr
Marullus Tarchaniota	Gabriel Harvey
Strozzi, the father ad the son	Christopher Ocland
Palingenius	Thomas Newton with his Leyland
Mantuanus	Thomas Watson
Philelphus	Thomas Campion
Quintianus Stoa	Brownswerd
Germanus Brixius	Willey

[8] As the Greek tongue is made famous and eloquent by Homer, Hesiod, Euripides, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Pindarus, Phocylides and Aristophanes, and the Latin tongue by Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Silius Italicus, Lucanus, Lucretius, Ausonius and Claudianus, so the English tongue is mightily enriched, and gorgeously invested in rare ornaments and resplendent habiliments by Sir Philip Sidney, Spenser, Daniel, Drayton, Warner, Shakespeare, Marlowe and Chapman.

Homer	Virgil	Sidney
Hesiod	Ovid	Spenser
Euripides	Horace	Daniel
Aeschylus	Silius Italicus	Drayton
Sophocles	Lucanus	Warner
Pindarus	Lucretius	Shakespeare
Phocylides	Ausonius	Marlowe
Aristophanes	Claudianus	Chapman

[9] As Xenophon, who did imitate so excellently as to give us effigiem justi imperii the portraiture of a just empire under the name of Cyrus (as Cicero saith of him) made therein an absolute heroical poem, and as Heliodorus writ in prose his sugared invention of that picture of love in Theagines and Cariclea, and yet both excellent admired poets, so Sir Philip Sidney writ his immortal poem, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, in prose, and yet our rarest poet.

[10] As Sextus Propertius said, Nescio quid magis nascitur Iliade, so I say of Spenser's Faerie Queen. I know not what more excellent or exquisite poem may be written.

[11] As Achilles had the advantage of Hector, because it was his fortune to be extolled and renowned by the heavenly verse of Homer, so Spenser's Elisa, the Faerie Queen, hath the advantage of all the queens in the world, to be eternized by so divine a poet.

[12] As Theocritus is famoused for his Idyllia in Greek, and [as] Virgil for his Eclogues in Latin, so Spenser, their imitator in his Shepherds' Calendar, is renowned for the like argument, and honoured for fine poetical invention, and most exquisite wit.

[13] As Parthenius Nicaeus excellently sung the praises of his Arete, so Daniel hath divinely sonnetted the matchless beauty of his Delia.

[14] As everyone mourneth when he heareth of the lamentable plangors of Thracian Orpheus for his dearest Eurydice, so everyone passioneth when he readeth the afflicted death of Daniel's distressed Rosamond.

[15] As Lucan hath mournfully depainted the civil wars of Pompey & Caesar, so hath Daniel the civil wars of York and Lancaster, and [so] Drayton the civil wars of Edward the Second and the barons.

[16] As Virgil doth imitate Catullus in the like matter of Ariadne for his story of Queen Dido, so Michael Drayton doth imitate Ovid in his England's Heroical Epistles.

[17] As Sophocles was called a bee for the sweetness of his tongue, so in Charles Fitzgeffrey's Drake, Drayton is termed golden-mouthed for the purity and preciousness of his style and phrase.

[18] As Accius, M. Attilius and Milithus were called tragoediographi because they writ tragedies, so may we truly term Michael Drayton tragoediographus for his passionate penning the downfalls of valiant Robert of Normandy, chaste Matilda, and great Gaveston.

[19] As John Honterus in Latin verse writ 3 books of cosmography with geographical tables, so Michael Drayton is now in penning in English verse a poem called Poli-olbion Geographical and Hydrographical of all the forests, woods, mountains, fountains, rivers, lakes, floods, baths and springs that be in England.

[20] As Aulus Persius Flaccus is reported among all writers to be of an honest life and upright conversation, so Michael Drayton (quem toties honoris & amoris causa nomino) among scholars, soldiers, poets and all sorts of people, is held for a man of virtuous disposition, honest conversation, and well-governed carriage, which is almost miraculous among good wits in these declining and corrupt times, when there is nothing but roguery in villainous man, & when cheating and craftiness is counted the cleanest wit, and soundest wisdom.

[21] As Decius Ausonius Gallus in libris Fastorum penned the occurrences of the world from the first creation of it to his time, that is, to the reign of the emperor Gratian, so Warner in his absolute Albions England hath most admirably penned the history of his own country from Noah to his time, that is, to the reign of Queen Elizabeth; I have heard him termed, of the best wits of both our universities, our English Homer.

[22] As Euripides is the most sententious among the Greek poets, so is Warner among our English poets.

[23] As the soul of Euphorbus was thought to live in Pythagorus, so the sweet, witty soul of Ovid lives in mellifluous & honey-tongued Shakespeare, witness his Venus and Adonis, his Lucrece, his sugared sonnets among his private friends, &c.

Euphorbus

Phytagoras

Ovid	Shakespeare

[24] As Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for comedy and tragedy among the Latins, so Shakespeare among the English is the most excellent in both kinds for the stage; for comedy, witness his Gentlemen of Verona, his Errors, his Love Labours Lost, his Love Labours Won, his Midsummer's Night Dream, & his Merchant of Venice; for tragedy, his Richard the 2, Richard the 3, Henry the 4, King John, Titus Andronicus, and his Romeo and Juliet.

Plautus [6 comedies ?]	Shakespeare (6 comedies)
Seneca [6 tragedies ?]	Shakespeare (6 tragedies)

[25] As Epius Stolo said that the muses would speak with Plautus' tongue if they would speak Latin, so I say that the muses would speak with Shakespeare's fine-filed phrase, if they would speak English.

Plautus (by Epius Stolo)

Shakespeare (by Francis Meres)

[26] As Musaeus, who wrote the love of Hero and Leander, had two excellent scholars, Thamyras & Hercules, so hath he in England two excellent poets, imitators of him in the same argument and subject, Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman.

Musaeus (Hero and Leander)	Musaeus (Hero and Leander)
Thamyras (scholar of M.)	Christopher Marlowe (scholar of M.)
Hercules (scholar of M.)	George Chapman (scholar of M.)

[27] As Ovid saith of his work:
Iamq opus exegi, quod nec Iouis ira, nec ignis Nec poterit ferrum, nec edax abolere vetustas.

And as Horace saith of his:
Exegi monumentum aere perennius; Regaliq; situ pyramidum altius; Quod non imber edax; Non Aquilo impotens, possit diruere; aut innumerabilis annorum series & fuga temporum:
so say I severally of Sir Philip Sidney's, Spenser's, Daniel's, Drayton's, Shakespeare's, and Warner's works:
Non Iouis ira: imbres: Mars: ferrum; flamma, senectus, Hoc opus unda: lues: turbo: venena ruent. Et quanquam ad pulcherrimum hoc opus euertendum tres illi Dii conspirabunt, Cronus, Vulcanus, & pater ipse gentis; Non tamen annorum series, non flamma, nec ensis, Aeternum potuit hoc abolere dieus [Decus].

1. Ovid

saith of his work

[Metamorphoses, XV, 871-2]

Iamque opus exegi, quod nec Iovis ira, nec ignis / Nec poteris ferrum, nec edax abolero vetustas

[And now my work is done, which neither the wrath of Jove, nor fire, nor sword, nor the gnawing tooth of time shall ever be able to undo.]

And AS

1. Horace

saith of his: [Carmina 3,30]

Exegi monumentum aere perennius; Regalique; situ pyramidum altius; Quod non imber edax; Non Aquilo impotens possit discere; aut innumerabilis annorum series & fuga temperorum:

[I have crafted a monument more lasting than bronze, and loftier than the royal pile of the pyramids, a thing which neither biting rain nor the obstreperous North Wind can destroy, nor the countless run of years,

the flight of time.]

SO say I severally of

1. Sir Philip Sidney’s

2. Spencer’s

3. Daniel’s

4. Drayton’s

5. Shakespeare’s

6. Warner’s:

Not the anger of Jupiter, storms, Mars, the sword, flame, old age, the wave, pestilence, the whirlwind, poison, shall bring this work to ruin. Though there should be a conspiracy of the three deities, Cronus, Vulcan, Jupiter, for the purpose of overthrowing the work, it shall be proof against the power of time, of flame, of sword.

[28] As Italy had Dante, Boccace, Petrarch, Tasso, Celiano and Ariosto, so England had Matthew Roydon, Thomas Atchelow, Thomas Watson, Thomas Kyd, Robert Greene & George Peele.

[29] As there are eight famous and chief languages, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Italian, Spanish and French, so there are eight notable several kinds of poets, heroic, lyric, tragic, comic, satiric, iambic, elegaic & pastoral.

[30] As Homer and Virgil among the Greeks and Latins are the chief heroic poets, so Spenser and Warner be our chief heroical makers.

[31] As Pindarus, Anacreon and Callimachus among the Greeks, and Horace and Catullus among the Latins are the best lyric poets, so in this faculty the best among our poets are Spenser (who excelleth in all kinds), Daniel, Drayton, Shakespeare, Breton.

Pindarus	Spenser
Anacreon	Daniel
Callimachus	Drayton
Horace	Shakespeare
Catullus	Breton

[32] As these tragic poets flourished in Greece, Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Alexander Aetolus, Achaeus Erithriaeus, Astydamas Atheniensis, Apollodorus Tarsensis, Nicomachus Phrygius, Thespis Atticus, and Timon Apolloniates, and these among the Latins, Accius, M. Attilius, Pomponius Secundus and Seneca, so these are our best for tragedy, the Lord Buckhurst, Doctor Legge of Cambridge, Doctor Edes of Oxford, Master Edward Ferris, the author of the Mirror for Magistrates, Marlowe, Peele, Watson, Kyd, Shakespeare, Drayton, Chapman, Dekker, and Benjamin Johnson.

Aeschylus	Lord Buckhurst
Euripides	Doctor Legge of Cambridge
Sophocles	Doctor Edes of Oxford
Alexander Aetolus	Master Edward Ferris
Achaeus Erithriaeus	the author of the Mirror for Magistrates
Astydamas Atheniensis	Marlowe
Apollodorus Tarsensis	Peele
Nicomachus Phrygius	Watson
Thespis Atticus	Kyd
Timon Apolloniates	Shakespeare
Accius	Drayton
M. Attilius	Chapman
Pomponius Secundus	Dekker
Seneca	Benjamin Johnson

[33] As M. Anneus Lucanus writ two excellent tragedies, one called Medea, the other de Incendio Troiae cum Priami calamitate, so Doctor Legge hath penned two famous tragedies, the one of Richard the 3. the other of the destruction of Jerusalem.

[34] The best poets for comedy among the Greeks are these, Menander, Aristophanes, Eupolis Atheniensis, Alexis Terius, Nicostratus, Amipsias Atheniensis, Anaxandrides Rhodius, Aristonymus, Archippus Atheniensis and Callias Atheniensis, and among the Latins, Plautus, Terence, Naevius, Sext. Turpilius, Licinius Imbrex, and Virgilius Romanus, so the best for comedy amongst us be Edward Earl of Oxford, Doctor Gager of Oxford, Master Rowley, once a rare scholar of learned Pembroke Hall in Cambridge, Master Edwards, one of her Majesty's Chapel, eloquent and witty John Lyly, Lodge, Gascoigne, Greene, Shakespeare, Thomas Nash, Thomas Heywood, Anthony Munday, our best plotter, Chapman, Porter, Wilson, Hathway, and Henry Chettle.

	Edward Earl of Oxford
Menander	Doctor Gager of Oxford
Aristophanes	Master Rowley
Eupolis Atheniensis	Master Edwards
Alexis Terius	John Lyly
Nicostratus	Lodge
Amipsias Atheniensis	Gascoigne
Anaxandrides Rhodius	Greene
Aristonymus	Shakespeare
Archippus Atheniensis	Thomas Nash
Callias Atheniensis	Thomas Heywood
Plautus	Anthony Munday
Terence	Chapman
Naevius	Porter
Sext. Turpilius	Wilson
Licinius Imbrex	Hathway
and Virgilius Romanus	Henry Chettle

[35] As Horace, Lucilius, Juvenal, Persius & Lucullus are the best for satire among the Latins, so with us in the same faculty these are chief, Piers Plowman, Lodge, Hall of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, the author of Pygmalion's Image and Certain Satires, the author of Skialetheia.

[36] Among the Greeks I will name but two for iambics, Archilochus Parius, and Hipponax Ephesius; so amongst us I name but two iambical poets, Gabriel Harvey and Richard Stanyhurst, because I have seen no mo in this kind.

[37] As these are famous among the Greeks for elegy, Melanthus, Mymnerus Colophonius, Olympius Mysius, Parthenius Nicaeus, Philetas Cous, Theogenes Megarensis, and Pigres Halicarnassaeus, and these among the Latins, Mecaenas, Ovid, Tibullus, Propertius, T. Valgius, Cassius Severus & Clodius Sabinus, so these are the most passionate among us to bewail and bemoan the perplexities of love, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, Sir Thomas Wyatt the elder, Sir Francis Bryan, Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Edward Dyer, Spenser, Daniel, Drayton, Shakespeare, Whetstone, Gascoigne, Samuel Page, sometimes fellow of Corpus Christi College in Oxford, Churchyard, Breton.

Melanthus	Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
Mymnerus Colophonius	Sir Thomas Wyatt
[Antimachus Colophonius]	Sir Francis Bryan
Olympius Mysius	Sir Philip Sidney
Parthenius Nicaeus	Sir Walter Raleigh
Philetas Cous	Sir Edward Dyer
Theogenes Megarensis	Spenser
Pigres Halicarnassaeus	Daniel
Mecaenas	Drayton
Ovid	Shakespeare
Tibullus	Whetstone
Propertius	Gascoigne
T. Valgius	Samuel Page
Cassius Severus	Churchyard
Clodius Sabinus	Breton

[38] As Theocritus in Greek, Virgil and Mantuan in Latin, Sannazar in Italian, and the author of Amyntae Gaudia and Walsingham's Meliboeus are the best for pastoral, so amongst us the best in this kind are Sir Philip Sidney, Master Chaloner, Spenser, Stephen Gosson, Abraham Fraunce, and Barnfield.

Theocritus in Greek	Sir Philip Sidney
Virgil in Latin	Master Chaloner
Mantuan in Latin	Spenser
Sannazar in Italian	Stephen Gosson
[Watson’s] Amyntae Gaudia [in Latin]	Abraham Fraunce
Walsingham's Meliboeus [in Latin]	Barnfield

[39] These and many other epigrammatists the Latin tongue hath, Q. Catullus, Portius Licinius, Quintus Cornificius, Martial, Cn. Getulicus, and witty Sir Thomas More; so in English we have these, Heywood, Drant, Kendal, Bastard, Davies.

[40] As noble Mecaenas, that sprung from the Etruscan kings, not only graced poets by his bounty, but also by being a poet himself, and as James the 6, now king of Scotland, is not only a favourer of poets, but a poet, as my friend Master Richard Barnfield hath in this distich passing well recorded:
The King of Scots now living is a poet, As his Lepanto and his furies show it,

[41] So Elizabeth, our dread sovereign and gracious queen, is not only a liberal patron unto poets, but an excellent poet herself, whose learned, delicate and noble muse surmounteth, be it in ode, elegy, epigram, or in any other kind of poem heroic or lyric.

[42] Octavia, sister unto Augustus the emperor, was exceeding bountiful unto Virgil, who gave him, for making 26 verses, 1137 pounds, to wit, ten sesterces for every verse, which amount to above 43. pounds for every verse; so learned Mary, the honourable Countess of Pembroke, the noble sister of immortal Sir Philip Sidney, is very liberal unto poets; besides she is a most delicate poet, of whom I may say, as Antipater Sidonius writeth of Sappho:
Dulcia Mnemosyne demirans carmina Sapphus, Quaesiuit decima Pieris unde foret.

[43] Among others in times past, poets had these favorers, Augustus, Mecaenas, Sophocles, Germanicus, an emperor, a nobleman, a senator, and a captain, so of latter times poets have these patrons, Robert, King of Sicil, the great King Francis of France, King James of Scotland, & Queen Elizabeth of England.

[44] As in former times two great cardinals, Bembus & Biena, did countenance poets, so of late years two great preachers have given them their right hands in fellowship, Beza and Melancthon.

[45] As the learned philosophers Fracastorius and Scaliger have highly prized them, so have the eloquent orators Pontanus and Muretus very gloriously estimated them.

[46] As Georgius Buchananus' Jephthe, amongst all modern tragedies is able to abide the touch of Aristotle's precepts, and Euripides' examples, so is Bishop Watson's Absolam.

[47] As Terence, for his translations out of Apollodorus & Menander, and Aquilius for his translation out of Menander, and C. Germanicus Augustus for his out of Aratus, and Ausonius for his translated Epigrams out of Greek, and Doctor Johnson for his Frog-fight out of Homer, and Watson for his Antigone out of Sophocles, have got good commendations, so these versifiers for their learned translations are of good note among us, Phaer for Virgil's Aeneads, Golding for Ovid's Metamorphosis, Harington for his Orlando Furioso, the translators of Seneca's tragedies, Barnabe Googe for Palingenius, Turberville for Ovid's Epistles and Mantuan, and Chapman for his inchoate Homer.

Translator	from Greek to Latin	Translator	from Latin/Italian to English
Terence	Apollodorus & Menander	Phaer	Virgil’s Æneads
Aquilius	Menander	Golding	Ovid’s Metamorphosis
C. Germ. Augustus	Aratus	Harington	Orlando Furioso
Ausonius	Greek Epigrams	Barnabe Googe	Palingenius
		---	Seneca’s Tragedies
Doctor Iohnson	Frogge-fight / Homer	Turbervile	Ovid’s Epistles and Mantuan
Watson	Antigone / Sophocles	Chapman	Homer

[48] As the Latins have these emblematists, Andreas Alciatus, Reusnerus, and Sambucus, so we have these, Geffrey Whitney, Andrew Willet, and Thomas Combe.

[49] As Nonnus Panoplyta write the gospel of Saint John in Greek hexameters, so Gervase Markham hath written Solomon's canticles in English verse.

[50] As C. Plinius writ the life of Pomponius Secundus, so young Charles Fitzgeffrey, that high towering falcon, hath most gloriously penned the honourable life and death of worthy Sir Francis Drake.

[51] As Hesiod write learnedly of husbandry in Greek, so hath Tusser very wittily and experimentally written of it in English.

[52] As Antipater Sidonius was famous for extemporal verse in Greek, and Ovid for his Quicquid conabar dicere versus erat, so was our Tarleton, of whom Doctor Case, that learned physician, thus speaketh in the seventh book, & seventeenth chapter of his Politics:

[53] Aristoteles suum Theodoretum laudauit quendam peritum Tragoediarum actorem; Cicero suum Roscium: nos Angli Tarletonum, in cuius voce & vultu omnes iocosi affectus, in cuius cerebroso capite lepidae facetiae habitant.

[54] And so is now our witty Wilson, who, for learning and extemporal wit in this faculty, is without compare or compeer, as to his great and eternal commendations he manifested in his challenge at the Swan on the Bankside.

[55] As Achilles tortured the dead body of Hector, and as Antonius, and his wife Fulvia tormented the lifeless corps of Cicero, so Gabriel Harvey hath shewed the same inhumanity to Greene, that lies full low in his grave.

[56] As Eupolis of Athens used great liberty in taxing the vices of men, so doth Thomas Nashe, witness the brood of the Harveys.

[57] As Actaeon was worried of his own hounds, so is Tom Nashe of his Isle of Dogs. Dogs were the death of Euripides, but be not disconsolate, gallant young Juvenal; Linus, the son of Apollo died the same death. Yet God forbid that so brave a wit should so basely perish; thine are but paper dogs; neither is thy banishment like Ovid's, eternally to converse with the barbarous Getes. Therefore comfort thyself, sweet Tom, with Cicero's glorious return to Rome, & with the counsel Aeneas gives to his sea-beaten soldiers, lib. I. Aeneid:
Pluck up thine heart, & drive from thence both fear and care away, To think on this may pleasure be perhaps another day. Durato, & temet rebus seruato secundis.

[58] As Anacreon died by the pot, so George Peele by the pox.

[59] As Archesilaus Prytanaeus perished by wine at a drunken feast, as Hermippus testifieth in Diogenes, so Robert Greene died of a surfeit taken at pickled herrings & Rhenish wine, as witnesseth Thomas Nashe, who was at the fatal banquet.

[60] As Jodelle, a French tragical poet, being an epicure and an atheist, made a pitiful end, so our tragical poet Marlowe, for his epicurism and atheism had a tragical death; you may read of this Marlowe more at large in the Theatre of God's Judgments, in the 25. chapter entreating of epicures and atheists.

[61] As the poet Lycophron was shot to death by a certain rival of his, so Christopher Marlowe was stabbed to death by a bawdy serving-man, a rival of his in his lewd love.