Which wilt thou first give thanks for? all are thine.

[Pg 18]

[Pg 18]

PRAXITHEA.

What first they give who give this city good,

For that first given to save it I give thanks

First, and thanks heartier from a happier tongue,

320

More than for any my peculiar grace

Shown me and not my country; next for this,

That none of all these but for all these I

Must bear my burden, and no eye but mine

Weep of all women's in this broad land born

Who see their land's deliverance; but much more,

But most for this I thank them most of all,

That this their edge of doom is chosen to pierce

My heart and not my country's; for the sword

Drawn to smite there and sharpened for such stroke

330

Should wound more deep than any turned on me.

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