Quis furor, O Cives! quæ tanta licentia ferri,
Gentibus invisis Latium præbere cruorem?
[450] The Mohammedans.
[451] Constantinople.
[452] Beyond the Wolgian Lake.—The Caspian Sea, so called from the large river Volga, or Wolga, which empties itself into it.
Their fairest offspring from their bosoms torn,
(A dreadful tribute !)—
By this barbarous policy the tyranny of the Ottomans was long sustained. The troops of the Turkish infantry and cavalry, known by the name of Janissaries and Spahis, were thus supported. "The sons of Christians—and those the most completely furnished by nature—were taken in their childhood from their parents by a levy made every five years, or oftener, as occasion required."—Sandys.
[454] Mohammedans.
O'er Afric's shores
The sacred shrines the Lusian heroes rear'd.—