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A HISTORY OF BOHEMIAN

LITERATURE

for warlike knights, battle-pieces should be numerous, and indeed constitute the greatest portion of the work. The following is an extract from one of the best of these

battle-pieces, the description of the battle of Arbela. Alexander has just killed " Aristomanes, prince of India." " Easy," cry the Greeks, " easy will be for us glory and praise — Now that our king has obtained such glory ! — The fight was stubborn on both sides — Not few the mortal wounds —They then dealt each other — ^When lances — Drew they first met — Then the battle-axes, blood like water— And the Greek king rushing at the enemy — Struck at the foolish people. — Meanwhile sword, lance, and battle-axe — Aimed at him from every direction — Strike his head ; — Yet his mind remains undisturbed. — Thus did he bear himself in fight — As if he had been forged out of iron — And it was easy for him to bear all blows — While fortune in everything favoured him. — Thus did death refrain from him — Though it struck down many of the best men there. — Faros was the name of one of them — The second was called Eliphas — And he was Count of Egypt — While the former was Margrave of Syria — Both were valorous men — A great loss by their deaths — Befell that heathen king. . . . But ever, as was said — Nothing availed the heathens — When they attempted to destroy the Greeks — Everywhere on the sand, on the grass — A stream flowed, rendering the earth bloody — In it lay the wretched men — Like a forest or a grove that has been felled. — On both sides hundreds were killed— The fourfold gates of hell— Then were opened wide — Such a cry was raised by the devils — As if they thought that the earth had resolved — To drive them out of hell— Then the souls flew away quicklyLike herds that scatter. — So many fell that day That