They’ll make a vassal to gain-stand his lord,
And children their own parents; in a word,
All reverence shall then be banished,
No true respect to other shall be had. 
They’ll say that every man should have his turn,
Both in his going forth and his return;
And hereupon there shall arise such woes,
Such jarrings, and confused to’s and fro’s,
That never were in history such coils
Set down as yet, such tumults and garboils. 
Then shall you many gallant men see by
Valour stirr’d up, and youthful fervency,
Who, trusting too much in their hopeful time,
Live but a while, and perish in their prime. 
Neither shall any, who this course shall run,
Leave off the race which he hath once begun,
Till they the heavens with noise by their contention
Have fill’d, and with their steps the earth’s dimension. 
Then those shall have no less authority,
That have no faith, than those that will not lie;
For all shall be governed by a rude,
Base, ignorant, and foolish multitude;
The veriest lout of all shall be their judge,
O horrible and dangerous deluge! 
Deluge I call it, and that for good reason,
For this shall be omitted in no season;
Nor shall the earth of this foul stir be free,
Till suddenly you in great store shall see
The waters issue out, with whose streams the
Most moderate of all shall moistened be,
And justly too; because they did not spare
The flocks of beasts that innocentest are,
But did their sinews and their bowels take,
Not to the gods a sacrifice to make,
But usually to serve themselves for sport: 
And now consider, I do you exhort,
In such commotions so continual,
What rest can take the globe terrestrial? 
Most happy then are they, that can it hold,
And use it carefully as precious gold,
By keeping it in gaol, whence it shall have
No help but him who being to it gave. 
And to increase his mournful accident,
The sun, before it set in th’ occident,
Shall cease to dart upon it any light,
More than in an eclipse, or in the night,—­
So that at once its favour shall be gone,
And liberty with it be left alone. 
And yet, before it come to ruin thus,
Its quaking shall be as impetuous
As Aetna’s was when Titan’s sons lay under,
And yield, when lost, a fearful sound like thunder. 
Inarime did not more quickly move,
When Typheus did the vast huge hills remove,
And for despite into the sea them threw. 
  Thus shall it then be lost by ways not few,
And changed suddenly, when those that have it
To other men that after come shall leave it. 
Then shall it be high time to cease from this
So long, so great, so tedious exercise;
For the great waters told you now by me,
Will make each think where his retreat shall be;
And yet, before that they be clean disperst,
You may behold in th’ air, where nought was erst,
The burning heat of a great flame to rise,