CENTURIA X · QUATRAIN LXVIII
The Blockading Fleet
Lu2019armee de mer devant la cite tiendra,
Puis partir sans faire longue alee,
Citoyens grande proie en terre prendra,
Retourner classe, reprendre grand emblee.
The army of the sea will hold before the city,
then depart without making a long course,
a great prey of citizens will be taken on land,
the fleet returns to retake a great booty.
THE MASTER SAYS…
Brenda said: “He says that this quatrain relates to the American Civil War. Yes. If critics wonder why he should have seen the Civil War, he says that one must remember that during this war France remained on friendly terms with the Confederacy in order to have a source of cotton for textile factories and the like. And the fleet mentioned in the quatrain refers to the Union fleet that blockaded the ports of the Confederacy.”