Classic Poem

You by your Sword long since have giv'n us Law,
And kept the European World in awe;
While still you did your conqu'ring Forces send,
A Foe to vanquish, or protect a Friend:
But, yielding now that warlike Sword to sheath,
Your Triumph's greater than in giving Death:
Since you your self have nobly conquer'd now,
And made Resentment to your Virtue bow;
What more can Arms and Conquests do, than bend
A stubborn Foe, or Kingdom's Bounds extend?
Monarchs by War can vanquish Earth alone,
But by their Mercy they make Heav'n their own.
Then most above a humane Pitch they soar,
When Justice and when Pity curb their Pow'r.
Tyrants and Dev'ls are pleas'd when they destroy,
But to preserve is still the Godhead's Joy.
Kings then who have the Pow'r yet will not spare,
Not God' s Vicegerents, but the Devil' s are .