Page:The works of Anne Bradstreet in prose and verse.djvu/360

 274 Anne Bi'adji reefs Works.

Had Bejjfus had but valour to his will,

With little pain there might have kept them ftill;-^

But Coward durft not fight, nor could he fly,

Hated of all for's former treachery,

Is by his own now bound in iron chains,

A Coller of the fame, his neck contains.

And in this fort they rather drag then bring

This Malefactor vile ^ before the King,

Who to Darius brother gives the wretch,

With racks and tortures every limb to ftretch.

Here was of Greeks a town in Badiria,

Whom J^erxes from their Country led away,

Thefe not a little joy'd, this day to fee, [^4^]

Wherein their own had got the fov'raignty^

And now reviv'd, with hopes held up their head

From bondage long to be Enfranchifed.

But Alexander puts them to the fword

Without leafl caufe from'" them in deed or word;

Nor Sex, nor age, nor one, nor other fpar'd,

But in his cruelty alike they fhar'd:

Nor reafon could he give for this great wrong.

But that they had forgot their mother tongue.

While thus fome time he fpent in Ba6iria,

And in his camp ftrong and fecurely lay,

Down from the mountains twenty thoufand came

And there moft fiercely fet upon the fame :

Repelling thefe, two marks of honour got

Imprinted in his" leg, by arrows fhot.

» He eafily might have made them ftaj there ftil ; k vild.

I had Ibveraignity. »« Without caule, given by. « deep in's.

�� �