Classic Poem

SCENE III .

And lo! one hundred prisoners of war,
Taken at Memphis fighting for their King,
Who cared for them as he would care for sand,
And who refused to ransom them with gold,
Were led in corded couples to be slain;
And to their honor be it now proclaimed
That not one passed with hot or weeping eyes.
Some prayed to Isis to protect their lives,
But they were bowmen and cared naught for death,
And if the god were silent, they would die
Without a murmur, praising Pharaoh still.

Now many dreamed that a strong whirring lance,
Hurled at their breasts, would seek and find their hearts,
Or that an arrow dancing through the air
Would sink within their foreheads, nothing more.
But when they reached the quarter for their tombs,
They saw in anguish that one hundred poles
With ropes and iron bands awaited them,
And that a warrior's death they could not claim.

The crowds grew dense and turbulent, until
Each man of Egypt had been firmly bound
Unto the pole erected for his woe,
And then one hundred archers left the ranks
And put their eyes out with a rush of spears,
While, as they fell all bloody to the ground,
The dogs of Babylon crunched them in their jaws.

Dead were the wretches not, and many men
Skilled in the art of torture now appeared,
And, cutting with sharp iron long layers of skin,
They flayed alive these unprotected ones;
Ay, with such wondrous craft that not one died,
Although they spat on the tormentor's brows,
And for this sign of wrath their tongues were clipped
While people were allowed to hasten near
And probe their skinless breasts with jagged stones.

Then they were left to broil within the sun,
And keep sweet love for Pharoah in their hearts,
Who, with rich wines, and honey, and fair girls,
Was dreaming by the lotus of the Nile.
And at the set of sun four-score were dead,
While on the morrow three still clung to life,
And these were taken and hurled into a pit,
There finding speedy death by adder's fangs,
While laughing multitudes with shining spades
Poured the hot sand upon them, even so.