Page:The Art of Preserving Health - A Poem in Four Books.djvu/104

96 Were kind, that long they lingered not in pain. For who surviv'd the sun's diurnal race Rose from the dreary gates of hell redeem'd: Some the sixth hour oppress'd, and some the third.


 * Of many thousands few untainted 'scap'd;

Of those infected fewer 'scap'd alive: Of those who liv'd some felt a second blow; And whom the second spar'd a third destroy'd. Frantic with fear, they sought by flight to shun The fierce contagion. O'er the mournful land Th' infected city pour'd her hurrying swarms: Rous'd by the flames that fir'd her seats around, Th' infected country rush'd into the town. Some, sad at home, and in the desart some, Abjur'd the fatal commerce of mankind; Rh