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TRANSLATIONS FROM THE
BALLAD AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF FRANCE.
May he fall in with beasts that scatter fire,
Like Jason, when he sought the fleece of gold,
Or change from man to beast three years entire,
As King Nebuchadnezzar did of old;
Or else have times as shameful and as bad
As Trojan folk for ravished Helen had;
Or gulfed with Proserpine and Tantalus
Let hell's deep fen devour him dolorous,
With worse to bear than Job's worst sufferance,
Bound in his prison‑maze with Dædalus,
Who could wish evil to the state of France!
May he four months, like bitterns in the mire,
Howl with head downmost in the lake‑springs cold,
