Behind the ocean as an ample shield.
’Twas in thy grandsire’s time, ere thou wert born,
They did this wrong; the boastful Portuguese
Swoln with malevolence,—why should I say it?—
King Joam and his sons, all unprovoked,
For we had oaths of peace, attacked us here
With sudden treacherous assault, and seized
Ceuta, our strongest barrier thitherward.
Impregnable we deemed it, and indeed
Impregnable have found it ’gainst ourselves