<poem> To Leon's haughty sons his sword achieved; Proud Tui's neck his servile yoke received; And far around falls many a wealthy town, O valiant Sanco, humbled to thy frown.
- While thus his laurels flourish'd wide and fair,
He dies: Alonzo reigns, his much-loved heir. Alcazar lately conquer'd from the Moor, Reconquer'd, streams with the defenders' gore.
- Alonzo dies: another Sanco reigns:
Alas, with many a sigh the land complains! Unlike his sire, a vain unthinking boy, His servants now a jarring sway enjoy. As his the power, his were the crimes of those Whom to dispense that sacred power he chose. By various counsels waver'd, and confused, By seeming friends, by various arts, abused; Long undetermined, blindly rash at last, Enraged, unmann'd, untutor'd by the past. Yet not like Nero, cruel and unjust, The slave capricious of unnatural lust: Nor had he smiled had flames consumed his Troy; Nor could his people's groans afford him joy; Nor did his woes from female manners spring,
Unlike the Syrian, or Sicilia's king.
