Chapter II

Forthwith the powers and dignities
Proclaim a truce of God, and seek
Through all their ancient treasuries
A garb of pattern true antique.
Not easy sits the classic mode
Upon the tender modern frame,
And some do chafe beneath their load,
Some bear it with a look of shame.
Soon over all the games prevail,
Right well the beast doth play his part;
So doth the martyr, too--each wail
Sounds as it issued from the heart!