No war or battle sound Was heard the world around.
I will not deny but that the best apology against false accusers is silence and sufferance, and honest deeds set against dishonest words.
Beyond is all abyss, eternity, whose end no eye can reach.
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs.
Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot Which men call earth.
So shall the world go on, To good malignant, to bad men benign, Under her own weight groaning.