348
JOAN OF ARC.
Of wretchedness caused by the wars they waged,
The towns they burnt, (for they who bribe to war 640
Are guilty of the blood) the widows left
In want, the slave or led to suicide,
Or murdered by the foul infected air
Of his close dungeon, or more sad than all,
His virtue lost, his very soul enslaved, 645
And driven by woe to wickedness.
"These next,
Whom thou beholdest in this dreary room,
So sullen, and with such an eye of hate
Each on the other scowling, these have been
False friends. Tormented by their own dark thoughts 650
Here they dwell: in the hollow of their hearts
There is a worm that feeds! and tho' thou seest
That skilful leech who willingly would heal
The ill they suffer, judging of all else
By their own evil standard, they suspect 655
The aid he vainly proffers, lengthening thus
By vice its punishment."
The towns they burnt, (for they who bribe to war 640
Are guilty of the blood) the widows left
In want, the slave or led to suicide,
Or murdered by the foul infected air
Of his close dungeon, or more sad than all,
His virtue lost, his very soul enslaved, 645
And driven by woe to wickedness.
"These next,
Whom thou beholdest in this dreary room,
So sullen, and with such an eye of hate
Each on the other scowling, these have been
False friends. Tormented by their own dark thoughts 650
Here they dwell: in the hollow of their hearts
There is a worm that feeds! and tho' thou seest
That skilful leech who willingly would heal
The ill they suffer, judging of all else
By their own evil standard, they suspect 655
The aid he vainly proffers, lengthening thus
By vice its punishment."
"But
