"They err who count it glorious to subdue By conquest far and wide, to overrun Large countries, and in field great battles win, Great cities by assault. What do these worthies But rob and spoil, burn, slaughter, and enslave Peaceable nations, neighboring or remote, Made captive, yet deserving freedom more Than those, their conquerors, who leave behind Nothing but ruin, wheresoe'er they rove, And all the flourishing works of peace destroy?"[217] [217] Paradise Regained, Book III. 71-80. This interesting testimony finds echo in another of England's remarkable characters, Edmund Waller,--himself poet, orator, statesman, man of the world,--who has left on record his judgment of True Glory, in a valedictory poem, written at the age of eighty, when the passions of this world no longer obscured the clear perception of duty. At an earlier period of life he had sung of war. Mark the change in this swan-like note, which might disenchant even the eloquence of Cicero, covetous of Fame:-- "Earth praises conquerors for shedding blood; Heaven, those that love their foes and do 'em good. It is terrestrial honor to be crowned For strewing men, like rushes, on the ground: True Glory 'tis to rise above them all, Without the advantage taken by their fall. He that in fight diminishes mankind Does no addition to his stature find; But he that does a noble nature show, Obliging others, still does higher grow: For virtue practised such an habit gives That among men he like an angel lives; Humbly he doth, and without envy, dwell, Loved and admired by those he does excel. * * * * * Wrestling with Death, these lines I did indite; No other theme could give my soul delight. O that my youth had thus employed my pen, Or that I now could write as well as then!"[218] [218] Of the Fear of God, Canto 2.