| Sir Walter Raleigh (1554?–1618). Poems. 1892. | | | | XIX. | | To the Translator of Lucan; 1614 |
| | | HAD Lucan hid the truth to please the time, | |
| He had been too unworthy of thy pen, | |
| Who never sought nor ever cared to climb | |
| By flattery, or seeking worthless men. | |
| For this thou hast been bruised; but yet those scars | 5 |
| Do beautify no less than those wounds do, | |
| Received in just and in religious wars; | |
| Though thou hast bled by both, and bearest them too. | |
| Change not! To change thy fortune ’tis too late: | |
| Who with a manly faith resolves to die, | 10 |
| May promise to himself a lasting state, | |
| Though not so great, yet free from infamy. | |
| Such was thy Lucan, whom so to translate, | |
Nature thy muse like Lucan’s did create.
W. R. | | | | |
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