The Defence of Poesie.
hardly escape, when they take vpon them to measure the height of the starres. How often thinke you do the Phisitians lie, when they auerre things good for sicknesses, which afterwards send Charon a great number of soules drownd in a potion, before they come to his Ferrie? And no lesse of the rest, which take vpon them to affirme. Now for the Poet, he nothing affirmeth, and therefore neuer lieth: for as I take it, to lie, is to affirme that to bee true, which is false. So as the other Artistes, and especially the Historian, affirming manie things, can in the clowdie knowledge of mankinde, hardly escape from manie lies. But the Poet as I said before, neuer affirmeth, the Poet neuer maketh any Circles about your imaginatiō, to coniure you to beleeue for true, what he writeth: he citeth not authorities of other histories, but euē for his entrie, calleth the sweete Muses to inspire vnto him a good inuention. In troth, not laboring to tel you what is, or is not, but what should, or should not be. And therefore though he recount things not true, yet because he telleth them not for true, he lieth not: without we will say, that Nathan lied in his speech before alleaged to Dauid, which as a wicked man durst scarce say, so think I none so simple, wold say, that Esope lied, in the tales of his beasts: for who thinketh that Esope wrote it for actually true, were wel worthie to haue his name Cronicled among the beasts he writeth of. What childe is there, that comming to a play, and seeing Thebes written in great letters vpon an old doore, doth beleeue that it is Thebes? If then a man can arriue to the childes age, to know that the Poets persons and dooings, are butpictures,
