"If there be gain, ye know, Late thirty-two, Your vassal kings, with you our sails we spread;
Now, if we pause to sum the account anew, Hardly a third survives; the rest are dead.
May it please Heaven no further loss ensue!
But if you will pursue your quest, I dread Lest not a fourth nor fifth will soon remain;
And wholly spent will be your wretched train.