John Milton. (1608–1674). Complete Poems.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| To Sir Henry Vane the Younger |
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| (1652) |
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| VANE, young in years, but in sage counsel old, | |
| Than whom a better senator ne’er 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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