, in order to establish among them an Union, which was so necessary for their Safety, grounds his Poem upon the Discords of the several
Grecian
Princes who were engaged in a Confederacy against an
Asiatick
Prince, and the several Advantages which the Enemy gained by such their Discords.
the Time the Poem we are now treating of was written, the Dissentions of the Barons, who were then so many petty Princes, ran very high, whether they quarrelled among themselves, or with their Neighbours, and produced unspeakable Calamities to the Country
: The Poet, to deter Men from such unnatural Contentions, describes a bloody Battle and dreadful Scene of Death, occasioned by the mutual Feuds which reigned in the Families of an
English