Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they
To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow
O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway
The triple Tyrant,[[128]] that from these may grow
A hundred-fold, who, having learnt thy way,
Early may fly the Babylonian woe.[[129]]
[127] This sonnet refers to the persecution instituted in 1655 by the Duke of Savoy against the Vaudois Protestants.
[128] The Pope, who wore the triple crown or tiara.
[129] The Papacy, with which the Protestant reformers identified Babylon the Great, the "Scarlet Woman" of Revelation.