Henry Vaughan: Strife and war are the sword’s prize

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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts

British writers on peace and war

Henry Vaughan: Let us ‘midst noise and war of peace and mirth discuss

Henry Vaughan: The Men of War

Henry Vaughan: What thunders shall those men arraign who cannot count those they have slain?

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Henry Vaughan
From Juvenal’s Tenth Satire Translated

The easy gods, mov’d by no other fate
Than our own pray’rs, whole kingdoms ruinate,
And undo families: thus strife, and war
Are the sword’s prize, and a litigious bar
The gown’s prime wish. Vain confidence to share
In empty honours and a bloody care
To be the first in mischief, makes him die
Fool’d ‘twixt ambition and credulity.