_What a_ βατροχομυομαχία _and hot skirmish is betwixt_ S. _and_ T. _in Lucian_.] In his _Dialog. judicium vocalium_, where there is a large Oration made to the Vowels, being Judges, by _Sigma_ against _Tau_, complaining that _Tau_ has bereaved him of many words, which should begin with _Sigma_. _Their Tongues are sharper than_ Actius _his razor_.] _Actius Navius_ was chief Augur, who (as the story saith) admonishing _Tarqu. Priscus_ that he should not undertake any action of moment, without first consulting the Augur, the King (shewing that he had little faith in his skill) demanded of him, whether by the rules of his skill, what he had conceived in his mind might be done: to whom when _Actius_ had answered it might be done, he bid him take a Whetstone which he had in his hand, and cut it in two with a Razor; which accordingly the Augur did. _Livy._ And therefore we must conceive it was very sharp. Here the Adage was cross'd, ξυρὸς εἰς ἀκόνην, i.e. _novacula in cotem. Vid. Erasm. Chiliad_. _Pag. 90._ _It is not meer Zeal to Learning, or devotion to the Muses, that wiser Princes Patronize the Arts_, etc. _but a desire to have their names eterniz'd by the memory of their Writings_.] There is a great Scholar, who took the boldness to tell a Prince so much. _Est enim bonorum principum cum viris eruditis tacita quædam naturalisque Societas, ut alteri ab alteris illustrentur, ac dum sibi mutuo suffragantur, et gloria principibus, et doctis authoritas concilietur_. Politian. _Ep. Ludovic. Sfort. quæ extat, lib. 11. Ep. ep. 1_. And to this Opinion astipulates a Country man of our own, whose words are these: _Ignotus esset Lucilius, nisi eum Epistolæ Senecæ illustrarent. Laudibus Cæsareis plus Virgilius et Varus Lucanusq; adjecerunt, quam immensum illud ærarium quo urbem et orbem spoliavit. Nemo prudentiam Ithaci aut Pelidæ vires agnosceret, nisi eas Homerus divino publicasset ingenio: unde nihil mihi videtur consultius viro ad gloriam properanti fidelium favore scriptorum._ Joan. Sarisb. _Polycrat. l 8. c. 14_. And that Princes are as much beholding to the Poets Pens as their own Swords, _Horace_ tells _Censorinus_ with great confidence. _Od. 8. l. 4. Non incisa notis_, etc. _Sect. 4. Pag. 90._ _St._ Paul _that calls the_ Cretians _Lyars, doth it but indirectly, and upon quotation of one of their own Poets_.] That is, _Epimenides_; the place is _Tit. 1. v. 12._ where _Paul_ useth this verse, taken out of _Epimenides_. Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται, κακὰ θηρία, γαστέρες ἀργαί. _It is as bloody a thought in one way, as_ Nero's _was in another_. _For by a word we wound a thousand._] I suppose he alludes to that passage in _Sueton._ in the life of _Nero_, where he relates that a certain person upon a time, spoke in his hearing these words, Ἐμοῦ θανόντος γαία μιχθήτω πυρί.