Ralph Waldo Emerson, comp. (18031882). Parnassus: An Anthology of Poetry. 1880. | | Sonnet to Sir Henry Vane | By John Milton (16081674) |
| VANE, young in years, but in sage counsel old, | |
Than whom a better senator neer held | |
The helm of Rome, when gowns, not arms, repelled | |
The fierce Epirot, and the African bold, | |
Whether to settle peace, or to unfold | 5 |
The drift of hollow states, hard to be spelled; | |
Then to advise how War may, best upheld, | |
Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold, | |
In all her equipage: besides to know | |
Both spiritual power and civil, what each means, | 10 |
What severs each, thou hast learned, which few have done: | |
The bounds of either sword to thee we owe: | |
Therefore on thy firm hand Religion leans | |
In peace, and reckons thee her eldest son. | | | |
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