John Milton. (1608–1674). Complete Poems.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| On the Lord General Fairfax at the Siege of Colchester |
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| (1648) |
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| FAIRFAX, whose name in arms through Europe rings, | |
| Filling each mouth with envy or with praise, | |
| And all her jealous monarchs with amaze, | |
| And rumours loud that daunt remotest kings, | |
| Thy firm unshaken virtue ever brings | 5 |
| Victory home, though new rebellions raise | |
| Their Hydra heads, and the false North displays | |
| Her broken league to imp their serpent wings. | |
| O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand | |
| (For what can war but endless war still breed?) | 10 |
| Till truth and right from violence be freed, | |
| And public faith cleared from the shameful brand | |
| Of public fraud. In vain doth Valour bleed, | |
| While Avarice and Rapine share the land. | |
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