Hor monologue (Act 4) — The Poetaster

What! when the man that first did satirise Durst pull the skin over the ears of vice, And make who stood in outward fashion clear, Give place, as foul within; shall I forbear? Did Laelius, or the man so great with fame, That from sack'd Carthage fetch'd his worthy name, Storm that Lucilius did Metellus pierce, Or bury Lupus quick in famous verse? Rulers and subjects, by whole tribes he checkt, But virtue and her friends did still protect: And when from sight, or from the judgment-seat, The virtuous Scipio and wise Laelius met, Unbraced, with him in all light sports they shared, Till their most frugal suppers were prepared. Whate'er I am, though both for wealth and wit Beneath Lucilius I am pleased to sit; Yet Envy, spite of her empoison'd breast, Shall say, I lived in grace here with the best; And seeking in weak trash to make her wound, Shall find me solid, and her teeth unsound: 'Less learn'd Trebatius' censure disagree.