CHAPTER IX.

THE HERETICS' WAR SONG.

Aye, behold them on the march to Lavaur, The fagot in one hand, The sword in the other, The Catholic Crusaders! Aye, behold what they've done until now.

Oh, valiant sons of Languedoc! Oh, ye sons of ancient Gaul, Who, like our fathers, have known how to re-conquer freedom, Read on the flag of the Catholic Crusaders, Read--read these lines traced in blood and in fire: "Chasseneuil," "Beziers," "Carcassonne." Tell me! Will "Lavaur" also soon be read on its folds? And "Albi"? "Toulouse"? "Arles"? "Narbonne"? "Avignon"? "Orange"? "Beaucaire"? Tell me, has there been enough rapine and rape, Carnage and arson? Tell me, is't enough? Are Chasseneuil, Beziers, Carcassonne enough?

Tell me, Chasseneuil, Beziers, Carcassonne-- Is't enough? Tell me, are all our cities to be turned into heaps of ashes? Our fields into deserts, whitened with human bones? Our woods into forests of gibbets? Our rivers into torrents of blood? Our skies into ruddy reflections of conflagrations and pyres? Tell me, will you submit, Ye brave men who emancipated yourselves from the yoke of Rome? Will you relapse, you, your wives, your children, Under the execrable power of the priests, Whose soldiers rape, slay and burn women and children? Are you ready for that? No! You are not! No! Your hearts beat high, your blood boils and you declare: Chasseneuil, Beziers, Carcassonne--that's enough! Too much!

Aye, aye, Chasseneuil, Beziers, Carcassonne--that's enough! Despite their valor, our brothers have perished. Let us redouble our valor, Let us crush our enemy. No truce nor mercy for him. Over mountains and valleys-- Let's pursue him! Harrass him! Cut him to pieces! Let us rise as one man, sons of Languedoc, All! Implacable war! War to the death to the Cath'lic Crusader! Right is with us; All is justified against them-- The fork and the scythe, The club and the stone, The hands and the teeth! To arms, ye heretics of Languedoc! To arms! Also we cry: "On to Lavaur!" And may Lavaur be the grave of the Cath'lic Crusaders! Vengeance! Death to the invader!

Mylio the Trouvere composed this song, and throughout the country sang it from place to place while the army of the Crusaders marched upon the city and Castle of Lavaur.[4]