The Poems of Edmund Waller | ||
234
TO HIS MAJESTY,
UPON HIS MOTTO, BEATI PACIFICI, OCCASIONED BY THE TAKING OF BUDA, 1686.
Buda and Rhodes proud Solyman had tornFrom those, whom discord made the Pagan scorn;
Vienna too besieged, had been his prize,
Had not the approach of winter made him rise:
This motto practised, you have turned the scale,
Christians united by your help prevail.
Thus you enlarge the bounds of Christendom,
Though public interest keep you still at home.
The Gallic Prince his glory did increase,
When among subjects he made duels cease:
But sure the Britain merits more renown,
That has made sovereigns lay their weapons down.
So peaceful! and so valiant! are extremes,
Not to be found, but in our matchless James.
The well-defended Buda, with the spoil
Was bravely got, but with much blood and toil:
Your nobler art of making peace destroys
The barbarous foe, without expense or noise.
So Heaven with silence favours our increase,
Preventing blasts and making tempests cease.
235
By making peace among the parts that fought:
From like confusion you have Europe freed,
And with like concord made their arms succeed.
Victorious Peace, with this well-chosen word,
To Turks more fatal than the Imperial sword,
Has for reward to your high merit given,
A title to be called the Son of Heaven.
—For they shall be called the Children of God.
—Matt. v. 9.
The Poems of Edmund Waller | ||