Of vulgar folk; and gives them masks to play
Their several parts--not wisely, as we see;

For impious men too oft we canonise,
And kill the saints; while spurious lords array
Their hosts against the real nobility.



XV.

_THE TRUE KINGS._

_Neron fu Re._


Nero was king by accident in show;
But Socrates by nature in good sooth;
By right of both Augustus; luck and truth
Less perfectly were blent in Scipio.

The spurious prince still seeks to extirpate
The seed of natures born imperial--
Like Herod, Caiaphas, Meletus, all
Who by bad acts sustain their stolen state.

Slaves whose souls tell them that they are but slaves,
Strike those whose native kinghood all can see:
Martyrdom is the stamp of royalty.