Of all those Aethiop monarchs, beyond measure,

  The first was this, for riches and for might;

  But he with all his puissance, all his treasure,

  Alas! had miserably lost his sight.

  And yet was this the monarch's least displeasure;

  Vexed by a direr and a worse despite;

  Harassed, though richest of those Nubian kings,

  By a perpetual hunger's cruel stings.