The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson

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To a Friend: An Epigram of Him (1631)

 To A  Friend: An Epigram of Him

 Sir Inigo doth fear it, as I hear,

(And labours to seem worthy of that fear)

That I should write upon him some sharp verse,

Able to eat into his bones and pierce

The marrow! Wretch, I quit thee of thy pain: 5

 Th’art too ambitious, and dost fear in vain.

The Libyan lion hunts no butterflies;

He makes the  camel and dull ass his prize.

If thou be so desirous to be read,

Seek out some hungry painter, that for bread 10

With rotten chalk or coal upon a wall

Will well design thee, to be  viewed of all

That sit upon the common  draught or strand!

  Thy forehead is too narrow for my brand.

To a Friend See headnote to An Expostulation with Inigo Jones. In the majority of MSS of the Inigo Jones poems this comes third; in JnB 482 it precedes the group. It is closely derived from Martial, 12.61: versus et breve vividumque carmen / in te ne faciam times, Ligurra, / et dignus cupis hoc metu videri. / sed frustra metuis cupisque frustra. / In tauros Libyci fremunt leones, / non sunt papilionibus molesti. / quaeras censeo, si legi laboras, / nigri fornicis ebrium poetam, / qui carbone rudi putrique creta / scribit carmina quae legunt cacantes. / Frons haec stigmate non meo notanda est, ‘You’re scared in case I write verses against you, a short and lively poem, Ligurra; and you long to seem worthy of such a fear. But in vain you fear and in vain you want. Libyan lions roar at bulls; they don’t attack butterflies. I advise you, if you want to be read about, to seek out some drunk poet of the dark archway, who writes verses with rough charcoal or crumbly chalk which people read as they shit. Your forehead is not worthy of being marked by my brand.’ Trimpi (1962a), 162 notes that Jonson substitutes a street painter for Martial’s poet of the privy, thereby suggesting that Jones needs a bad artist like himself to do him justice. [Editor: Colin Burrow]
Friend Probably ironically intended to mean Jones himself, as in Jones’s poem ‘To his False Friend Mr Ben Jonson’. JnB 480.5 identifies as ‘P. K. D.’ If ‘P’ is a misreading of Sr this could refer to Kenelm Digby.
1 Sir Probably ‘used fancifully, or as a mock title’ (OED, 3a).
6 Th’art] JnB 475 (Thou’ art)
8 camel . . . ass Jonson renders his targets less glamorous than Martial’s.
12 viewed] JnB 475; read JnB 477, JnB 480, JnB 480.5
13 draught or strand privy or gutter.
14 brand] JnB 475; hand JnB 480.5
14 i.e. You are too insignificant to merit an attack from me.