MAZEPPA.
ADVERTISEMENT.
âCELUI qui remplissait alors cette place, Ă©tait un gentilhomme âPolonais, nommĂ© Mazeppa, nĂ© dans le palatinat âde Padolie; il avait Ă©tĂ© Ă©levĂ© page de Jean Casimir, et âavait pris Ă sa cour quelque teinture des belles-lettres. âUne intrigue quâil eut dans sa jeunesse avec la femme dâun âgentilhomme Polonais, ayant Ă©tĂ© dĂ©couverte, le mari le fit lier âtout nu sur un cheval farouche, et le laissa aller en cet Ă©tat. âLe cheval, qui Ă©tait du pays de lâUkraine, y retourna, et y âporta Mazeppa, demi-mort de fatigue et de faim. Quelque âpaysans le secoururent: il resta long-tems parmi eux, et se âsignala dans plusieurs courses contre les Tartares. La âsupĂ©rioritĂ© de ses lumiĂšres lui donna une grande considĂ©ration âparmi les Cosaques: sa rĂ©putation sâaugmentant âde jour en jour, obligea le Czar Ă le faire Prince de âlâUkraine.ââVOLTAIRE, Histoire de Charles XII. p. 196.
âLe roi fuyant et poursuivi eut son cheval tuĂ© sous lui; âle Colonel Gieta, blessĂ©, et perdant tout sa sang, lui donna âle sien. Ainsi on remit deux fois Ă cheval, dans la suite, âce conquĂ©rant qui nâavait pu y monter pendant la bataille.â VOLTAIRE, Hist, de Charles XII. p. 216.
âLe roi alla par un autre chemin avec quelques cavaliers. âLe carrosse, oĂč il Ă©tait, rompit dans la marche; on le remit âĂ cheval. Pour comble de disgrace, il sâĂ©gara pendant la ânuit dans un bois; lĂ , son courage ne pouvant plus supplĂ©er âĂ ses forces Ă©puisĂ©es, les douleurs de sa blessure devenues âplus insupportable par la fatigue, son cheval Ă©tant tombĂ© âde lassitude, il se coucha quelques heures au pied dâun âarbre, en danger dâĂȘtre surpris Ă tout moment par les âvainqueurs qui le cherchaient de tout cĂŽtĂ©s.ââVOLTAIRE, Histoire de Charles XII. p. 218.
MAZEPPA.
I.
âTWAS after dread Pultowaâs day,
When fortune left the royal Swede,
Around a slaughterâd army lay,
No more to combat and to bleed.
The power and glory of the war,
Faithless as their vain votaries, men,
Had passâd to the triumphant Czar,
And Moscowâs walls were safe again,
Until a day more dark and drear,
And a more memorable year, 10
Should give to slaughter and to shame
A mightier host and haughtier name;
A greater wreck, a deeper fall,
A shock to oneâa thunderbolt to all.
II.
Such was the hazard of the die;
The wounded Charles was taught to fly
By day and night through field and flood,
Stainâd with his own and subjectsâ blood;
For thousands fell that flight to aid:
And not a voice was heard tâupbraid 20
Ambition in his humbled hour,
When truth had nought to dread from power.
His horse was slain, and Gieta gave
His ownâand died the Russiansâ slave.
This too sinks after many a league
Of well sustainâd, but vain fatigue;
And in the depth of forests, darkling,
The watch-fires in the distance sparklingâ
The beacons of surrounding foesâ
A king must lay his limbs at length. 30
Are these the laurels and repose
For which the nations strain their strength?
They laid him by a savage tree,
In out-worn natureâs agony;
His wounds were stiffâhis limbs were starkâ
The heavy hour was chill and dark;
The fever in his blood forbade
A transient slumberâs fitful aid:
And thus it was; but yet through all,
Kinglike the monarch bore his fall, 40
And made, in this extreme of ill,
His pangs the vassals of his will;
All silent and subdued were they,
As once the nations round him lay.
III.
A band of chiefs!âalas! how few,
Since but the fleeting of a day
Had thinnâd it; but this wreck was true
And chivalrous: upon the clay
Each sate him down, all sad and mute,
Beside his monarch and his steed, 50
For danger levels man and brute,
And all are fellows in their need.
Among the rest, Mazeppa made
His pillow in an old oakâs shadeâ
Himself as rough, and scarce less old,
The Ukraineâs hetman, calm and bold;
But first, outspent with this long course,
The Cossack prince rubbâd down his horse,
And made for...