Page:The Voyage Of Italy Or A Compleat Journey through Italy, The Second Part.pdf/59

Rh Romances blush, having done that really, which Fables can scarce faign in galantry; their Duilius too, to wit, their Andrea Doria the Neptune of the Ligurian Seas, who alone taught his Countrey not to serve; their Marius also, to wit, their brave Castruccio, who from a Common Soldier mounted up by deserts to the highest Military Commands in the Emperors Army; and so stitched his fortune as he went along to Honours, that it never ravelled out again, or failed him: In fine, their Cæsar too, to wit, the Marquis Spinola, or rather, the Achilles of Italy, who took that Troy of Ostend after three years Siege. This Siege was far more famous than that of Troy, because far truer. For in the Siege of Troy it was Poetry onely that made the war, that framed and filled the Wooden Horse with Worthies; that dragged Hector round about the walls; it was Pen and Ink that killed so many men somno vinoque sepultos; and Troy was easily burnt, because it was built of Poets Paper.