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TO THE VALOUROUS
and truly-vertuous souldier,
Captaine John Smith.
hathbrought stragling Astræa backe, and with
An all-outdaring spirit made Valour stand
Upheld by Vertue in bold Mars his land:
If Valourous, be praise; how great's his Name?
Whose Valour joynd with Vertue laud's his Fame.
T'was Homers boast of wise Laertes sonne,
*Well-read in men and Cities: than thou none
(Great Smith) of these can more true tales rehearse;
What want thy praises then, but Homers verse?
Jn Smithum Distichon.
Quisque suæ sortis* Faber: an Faber exstitit unquamTe (Smithe) fortunæ verior usque suæ?
3. For I. C., see the Biographical Directory, s.v. "Cruso, John." The marginal note
in Latin is from Marcus Annaeus Lucan, Pharsalia, X, 407, and can be rendered as,
"[There is] no faith or piety in men who follow [military] camps." The marginal note
in Greek (badly printed in the original and with errors) is from Homer, Odyssey, A,
3, "[Well,] he saw the cities and came to know the minds of many men" (πολλω̂ν δ'
ἀνθρώπων ἵδεν ἄστεα καὶ νοον εννω).
4. C. P. appears to have been Christopher Potter; see the Biographical Directory
under that name. The Latin distich is based on a maxim of Appius Claudius Caecus
(c. 350–280 B.C. or later), which is quoted in Sallust, De re publica oratio, I, 2, "Appius
ait, fabrum esse suae quemque fortunae" — "Appius says, every man is the maker of his
own fortune." The distich can be roughly translated: "Everyone is the maker of his own
destiny: has any smith ever more truly forged his own fortune than you, Smith?"
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