University of Virginia Library



To his worthy friend, the Author, H. Holland.

In that, this booke doth deigne Seianvs name,
Him vnto more, then Caesars loue, it brings:
For, where he could not with ambition's wings,
One quill doth heaue him to the height of fame.
Yee great-ones though (whose ends may be the same)
Know, that, how euer we doe flatter kings,
Their fauours (like themselues) are fading things,
With no lesse enuie had, then lost with shame.
Nor make your selues lesse honest then you are,
To make our author wiser then he is:
Ne of such crimes accuse him, which I dare
By all his Muses sweare, be none of his.
The men are not, some faults may be these times:
He acts those men, and they did act these crimes.