Page:Mazeppa (1819).djvu/16

“In skirmish, march, or forage, none
“Can less have said or more have done100
“Than thee, Mazeppa! On the earth
“So fit a pair had never birth,
“Since Alexander’s days till now,
“As thy Bucephalus and thou:
“All Scythia’s fame to thine should yield
“For pricking on o’er flood and field.”
Mazeppa answer’d—“Ill betide
“The school wherein I learn’d to ride!”
Quoth Charles—“Old Hetman, wherefore so,
“Since thou hast learn’d the art so well?”110
Mazeppa said—“’Twere long to tell;
“And we have many a league to go
“With every now and then a blow,
“And ten to one at least the foe,
“Before our steeds may graze at ease
“Beyond the swift Borysthenes:
“And, sire, your limbs have need of rest,
“And I will be the sentinel
“Of this your troop.”—“But I request,”
Said Sweden’s monarch, “thou wilt tell120