Let tyrants think if ever I obtain

Question

Let tyrants think if ever I obtain, What now is lost by treason’s cursed guile: False Egypt’s scourge I surely will remain, And turn to streaming blood Moroco’s smile. The damned dog of Barbarie shall rue, The baleful stratagems that will ensue. The Persian towers shall smoke with fire, And lofty Babylon be tumbled down: The Cross of Christendom shall then aspire, To wear the proud Egyptian triple crowne, Jerusalem and Juda shall behold, The fall of Kings by Christian Champions bold.             (Richard Johnson, The Famous History of the Seven Champions of Christendom, London, 1596, p. 101.)  I couldn't figure the emphasized lines out, can you paraphrase these lines?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

As far as I can tell, that is a misquotation. "Smile" should be "soil", and "the damned dog" should be "that hateful Prince". And I really can't see why you don't get this. The language is not too strange, and the words are used conventionally.

alibey1917Let tyrants think if ever I obtain

Tyrants (namely the rulers of Morocco and Egypt) should be awa

alibey1917Let tyrants think if ever I obtain

Tyrants (namely the rulers of Morocco and Egypt) should be aware that if I ever get

alibey1917What now is lost by treason’s cursed guile

my freedom from prison, where I was put after having been betrayed

alibey1917False Egypt’s scourge I surely will remain

I will forever afterwards punish perfidious Egypt

alibey1917And turn to streaming blood Moroco’s smile

and I will spill so much Moroccan blood that the ground will be covered in enough to run like water.

alibey1917The damned dog of Barbarie shall rue, The baleful stratagems that will ensue.

That detestable ruler of Morocco will feel sorrow because of the spiteful actions that will follow my release.

Let tyrants think if ever I obtain

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