Chapman_, and his translated _Hesiod_.

_Chapman_; We finde by thy past-prized fraught,
What wealth thou dost vpon this Land conferre;
Th'olde _Grecian_ Prophets hither that hast brought,
Of their full words the true interpreter:
And by thy trauell, strongly hast exprest
The large dimensions of the English tongue;
Deliuering them so well, the first and best,
That to the world in Numbers euer sung.
Thou hast vnlock'd the treasury, wherein
All Art, and knowledge haue so long been hidden: 10
Which, till the gracefull Muses did begin
Here to inhabite, was to vs forbidden.
In blest _Elizivm_ (in a place most fit)
Vnder that tree due to the _Delphian_ God,
_Musaeus_, and that _Iliad Singer_ sit,
And neare to them that noble _Hesiod_,
Smoothing their rugged foreheads; and do smile,
After so many hundred yeares to see
Their Poems read in this farre westerne Ile,
Translated from their ancient Greeke, by thee; 20
Each his good _Genius_ whispering in his eare,
That with so lucky, and auspicious fate
Did still attend them, whilst they liuing were,
And gaue their Verses such a lasting date.
Where slightly passing by the _Thespian_ spring,
Many long after did but onely sup;
Nature, then fruitfull, forth these men did bring,
To fetch deep Rowses from _Ioues_ plentious cup.
In thy free labours (friend) then rest content,
Feare not _Detraction_, neither fawne on _Praise_: 30
When idle _Censure_ all her force hath spent,
_Knowledge_ can crowne her self with her owne Baies.
Their Lines, that haue so many liues outworne,
Cleerely expounded shall base Enuy scorne.

_Michael Drayton._

Prefixed to Book ij. of _Primaleon_, &c. Translated by Anthony Munday
(1619).

_OF THE WORKE_ _and Translation._

_If in opinion of iudiciall wit,_
Primaleons_ sweet Invention well deserue:
Then he (no lesse) which hath translated it,
Which doth his sense, his forme, his phrase, obserue.
And in true method of his home-borne stile,
(Following the fashion of a French conceate)
Hath brought him heere into this famous Ile,
Where but a stranger, now hath made his seate.
He liues a Prince, and comming in this sort,
Shall to his Countrey of your fame report._