90
ASTRÆA REDUX.
Like those that vainly hop'd kind Heav'n would wink,
While to excess on Martyrs Tombs they drink.
And as devouter Turks first warn their Souls
To part, before they taste forbidden Bowls,
So these when their black Crimes they went about,
First timely charm'd their useless Conscience out.
Religions Name against it self was made;
The Shadow serv'd the Substance to invade:
Like Zealous Missions, they did Care pretend
Of Souls in shew, but made the Gold their end.
Th' incensed Pow'rs beheld with scorn from high
An Heaven so far distant from the Sky,
Which durst, with horses hoofs that beat the Ground
And Martial Brass, bely the Thunders Sound.
'Twas hence at length just Vengeance thought it fit
To speed their Ruin by their impious wit.
Thus Sforza, curs'd with a too fertile brain,
Lost by his Wiles the Pow'r his Wit did gain.
Henceforth their Fogue must spend at lesser rate,
Than in its Flames to wrap a Nations Fate.
Suffer'd to live, they are like Helots set,
A virtuous Shame within us to beget.
While to excess on Martyrs Tombs they drink.
And as devouter Turks first warn their Souls
To part, before they taste forbidden Bowls,
So these when their black Crimes they went about,
First timely charm'd their useless Conscience out.
Religions Name against it self was made;
The Shadow serv'd the Substance to invade:
Like Zealous Missions, they did Care pretend
Of Souls in shew, but made the Gold their end.
Th' incensed Pow'rs beheld with scorn from high
An Heaven so far distant from the Sky,
Which durst, with horses hoofs that beat the Ground
And Martial Brass, bely the Thunders Sound.
'Twas hence at length just Vengeance thought it fit
To speed their Ruin by their impious wit.
Thus Sforza, curs'd with a too fertile brain,
Lost by his Wiles the Pow'r his Wit did gain.
Henceforth their Fogue must spend at lesser rate,
Than in its Flames to wrap a Nations Fate.
Suffer'd to live, they are like Helots set,
A virtuous Shame within us to beget.
For
