The vse of this FAINED HISTORIE hath beene to giue some shadowe of satisfaction to the minde of Man in those points wherein the Nature of things doth denie it, the world being in proportion inferiour to the soule; by reason whereof there is agreeable to the spirit of Man 5 a more ample Greatnesse, a more exact Goodnesse, and a more absolute varietie then can bee found in the Nature of things. Therefore, because the Acts or Euents of true Historie haue not that Magnitude which satisfieth the minde of Man, Poesie faineth Acts and Euents Greater 10 and more Heroicall; because true Historie propoundeth the successes and issues of actions not so agreable to the merits of Vertue and Vice, therefore Poesie faines them more iust in Retribution and more according to Reuealed Prouidence; because true Historie representeth Actions 15 and Euents more ordinarie and lesse interchanged, therefore Poesie endueth them with more Rarenesse and more vnexpected and alternatiue Variations: So as it appeareth that Poesie serueth and conferreth to Magnanimitie, Moralitie, and to delectation. And therefore it was 20 euer thought to haue some participation of diuinesse, because it doth raise and erect the Minde, by submitting the shewes of things to the desires of the Mind, whereas reason doth buckle and bowe the Mind vnto the Nature of things. And we see that by these insinuations and 25 congruities with mans Nature and pleasure, ioyned also with the agreement and consort it hath with Musicke, it hath had accesse and estimation in rude times and barbarous Regions, where other learning stoode excluded.

The diuision of Poesie which is aptest in the proprietie 30 therof (besides those diuisions which are common vnto it with history, as fained Chronicles, fained liues, & the Appendices of History, as fained Epistles, fained Orations, and the rest) is into POESIE NARRATIVE, REPRESENTATIVE, and ALLVSIVE. The NARRATIVE is 35

a meere imitation of History with the excesses before remembred, Choosing for subiect commonly Warrs and Loue, rarely State, and sometimes Pleasure or Mirth. REPRESENTATIVE is as a visible History, and is an 5 Image of Actions as if they were present, as History is of actions in nature as they are, that is past; ALLVSIVE, or PARABOLICALL, is a NARRATION applied onely to expresse some speciall purpose or conceit: Which later kind of Parabolical wisedome was much more in vse in the ancient 10 times, as by the Fables of Aesope, and the briefe sentences of the seuen, and the use of Hieroglyphikes may appeare. And the cause was for that it was then of necessitie to expresse any point of reason which was more sharpe or subtile then the vulgar in that maner, because men in those 15 times wanted both varietie of examples and subtiltie of conceit: And as Hierogliphikes were before Letters, so parables were before arguments: And neuerthelesse now and at all times they doe retaine much life and vigor, because reason cannot bee so sensible, nor examples so fit. 20 But there remaineth yet another vse of POESY PARABOLICAL opposite to that which we last mentioned; for that tendeth to demonstrate and illustrate that which is taught or deliuered, and this other to retire and obscure. it: That is, when the Secrets and Misteries of Religion, 25 Pollicy, or Philosophy, are inuolued in Fables or Parables. Of this in diuine Poesie wee see the vse is authorised. In Heathen Poesie wee see the exposition of Fables doth fall out sometimes with great felicitie, as in the Fable that the Gyants beeing ouerthrowne in their warre against the Gods, 30 the Earth their mother in reuenge thereof brought forth Fame:

Illam terra Parens ira irritata Deorum,

Extremam, vt perhibent, Cao Enceladoque Sororem
Progenuit:

35 expounded that when Princes & Monarches haue sup

pressed actuall and open Rebels, then the malignitie of people, which is the mother of Rebellion, doth bring forth Libels & slanders, and taxations of the states, which is of the same kind with Rebellion, but more Feminine: So in the Fable that the rest of the Gods hauing conspired to 5 binde Iupiter, Pallas called Briareus with his hundreth hands to his aide, expounded, that Monarchies neede not feare any courbing of their absolutenesse by Mightie Subiects, as long as by wisedome they keepe the hearts of the people, who will be sure to come in on their side: 10 So in the fable that Achilles was brought vp vnder Chyron the Centaure, who was part a man & part a beast, expounded Ingenuously, but corruptly by Machiauell, that it belongeth to the education and discipline of Princes to knowe as well how to play the part of the Lyon in violence 15 and the Foxe in guile, as of the Man in vertue and Iustice. Neuerthelesse in many the like incounters, I doe rather think that the fable was first and the exposition deuised then that the Morall was first & thereupon the fable framed. For I finde it was an auncient vanitie in Chrisippus 20 that troubled himselfe with great contention to fasten the assertions of the Stoicks vpon the fictions of the ancient Poets: But yet that all the Fables and fictions of the Poets were but pleasure and not figure, I interpose no opinion. Surely of those Poets which are now extant, 25 euen Homer himselfe (notwithstanding he was made a kinde of Scripture by the later Schooles of the Grecians) yet I should without any difficultie pronounce, that his Fables had no such inwardnesse in his owne meaning: But what they might haue, vpon a more originall tradition, 30 is not easie to affirme, for he was not the inuentor of many of them. In this third part of Learning which is Poesie, I can report no deficience. For being as a plant that commeth of the lust of the earth, without a formall seede, it hath sprung vp and spread abroad, more then any other 35

kinde: But to ascribe vnto it that which is due for the expressing of affections, passions, corruptions and customes, we are beholding to Poets more then to the Philosophers workes, and for wit and eloquence not much lesse then to 5 Orators harangues. But it is not good to stay too long in the Theater: let vs now passe on to the iudicial Place or Pallace of the Mind, which we are to approach and view, with more reuerence and attention. . . .

BEN JONSON

I. FROM THE PREFACE TO SEIANVS, HIS FALL

THE

1605

TO THE READERS

`HE following and voluntary Labours of my Friends, prefixt to my Booke, haue releiued me in much whereat, without them, I should necessarilie haue touchd.

Now I will onely vse three or foure short and needfull Notes, and so rest.

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First, if it be obiected that what I publish is no true Poëme in the strict Lawes of Time, I confesse it, as also in the want of a proper Chorus, whose Habite and Moodes are such and so difficult as not any whome I haue seene since the Auntients (no, not they who haue most presently 10 affected Lawes) haue yet come in the way off. Nor is it needful, or almost possible, in these our Times, and to such Auditors as commonly Things are presented, to obserue the ould state and splendour of Drammatick Poëmes, with preseruation of any popular delight. But of 15 this I shall take more seasonable cause to speake in my Obseruations vpon Horace his Art of Poetry, which, with the Text translated, I intend shortly to publish. In the meane time, if in truth of Argument, dignity of Persons, grauity and height of Elocution, fulnesse and frequencie of 20 Sentence, I haue discharg'd the other offices of a Tragick writer, let not the absence of these Formes be imputed to me, wherein I shall giue you occasion hereafter, and without my boast, to thinke I could better prescribe then omit the due vse for want of a conuenient knowledge.

The next is, least in some nice nostrill the Quotations might sauour affected, I doe let you know that I abhor

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