Than whom alone none ever was designed
To entail a wider curse on human kind,
But he, who first begot us, and first sinned.
Happy the world had been, and happy thou,
(Less damned at least, and less accursed than now)
If early with less guilt in war th' hadst died.
And from ensuing mischiefs mankind freed;
Or when thou view'dst the Holy Land, and tomb,
Th' hadst suffered there thy brother traitor's doom.[1]
Cursed be the womb that with the firebrand teemed,
Which ever since has the whole globe inflamed;
More cursed that ill-aimed shot, which basely missed,
Which maimed a limb, but spared thy hated breast,
And made thee at once a cripple and a priest.[2]
But why this wish? The church if so might lack
Champions, good works, and saints for the almanac.
These are the Janissaries of the cause,
The life-guard of the Roman Sultan, chose
To break the force of Huguenots and foes;
The church's hawkers in divinity,
Who 'stead of lace and ribbons, doctrine cry;
Rome's strollers, who survey each continent,
Its trinkets and commodities to vent;
Export the Gospel, like mere ware, for sale,
And trucked for indigo, and cochineal,
As the known factors here, the brethren, once
Swopped Christ about for bodkins, rings, and spoons.
And shall these great Apostles be contenmed,
And thus by scoffing heretics defamed?
They, by whose means both Indies now enjoy
The two choice blessings, lust and popery?
Which buried else in ignorance had been,
Nor known the worth of beads and Bellarmine?[3]
- ↑ Loyola’s original profession was that of a soldier, in which he is aid to have displayed courage and ability. Having renounced arms for a religious life, he determined to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, for which he made elaborate preparations in the way of prayer and penance.
- ↑ See note p. 123.
- ↑ An Italian Jesuit, created a cardinal by Sextus V., was after
