| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | The True Kings | | By Tommaso Campanella (1568–1639) |
| | Translated by John Addington Symonds
NERO was king by accident in show; | |
| But Socrates by nature in good sooth; | |
| By right of both Augustus; luck and truth | |
| Less perfectly were blent in Scipio. | |
| The spurious prince still seeks to extirpate | 5 |
| The seed of natures born imperial— | |
| Like Herod, Caiaphas, Meletus, all | |
| Who by bad acts sustain their stolen state. | |
| Slaves whose souls tell them that they are but slaves, | |
| Strike those whose native kinghood all can see: | 10 |
| Martyrdom is the stamp of royalty. | |
| Dead though they be, these govern from their graves: | |
| The tyrants fall, nor can their laws remain; | |
| While Paul and Peter rise o’er Rome to reign. | | | | |
|
|
