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FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES 109
And now back again to the longer chains of rhymes.
After the defeat of Cyrus the younger, Falinus was sent by
the King to the Grecians, (who had for their part rather victory
than otherwise) to command them to yield their arms. Which
when it was denied, Falinus said to Clearchus ;
Well then, the
King lets you know, that if
you remove from the place where
you are now encamped,
it is war : if
you stay,
it is truce.
What shall I
say you will do ? Clearchus answered, It
pleaseth us as it
pleaseth the King. How is that? saith
Falinus. Saith Clearchus, If we remove, war : if we stay>
truce. And so would not disclose his purpose.
The rhyme sets in, the moment question and answer
begin :
Well then, the King lets you know,
That if
you remove from the place where you are
now encamp'd,
it is war :
If you stay, it is truce. What shall I say you
Clearchus answer'd, It pleaseth us
as it
pleaseth the King.
How is that ? saith Falinus. Saith Clearchus,
If we remove, war: if we stay, truce.
would not disclose
his purpose.
will do ?
And so
The principal rhyme, which runs through the whole,
is "know-do-so"; "do," of course, rhymed both to
words of O- and of U -sounds, and there are instances
of "do " being pronounced more like o than u. Lines
two and three show the same form and disposition of
verse as "The world's a bubble." In the fourth line
we have the internal rhymes "stay-say." Then the
same rhyming words as we heard before, " war " and
"
stay
" are repeated, in a long line, as internal rhymes
to " are," " war," " stay," " say " above. A short final
rhyme concludes the verses.