"On the 3. of September, 1651"
author: Philips Katherine
source date: 1667
language: en
availability: Published by Literature in Context under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

On the 3. of September, 1651 [On September 3rd, 1651, Oliver Cromwell and his men defeated Charles II and the Royalists in the battle of Worcester, the last major battle of the English Civil War.]

As when the glorious Magazine [A storehouse or repository. In military use, a storeroom for arms and explosives (Oxford English Dictionary).] of Light
Approches to his Canopy of Night
He with the new splendour clothes his dying Rays,
And double brightness to his Beams conveys;
And (as to brave [To defy (Oxford English Dictionary).] and check [to stop sharply (Oxford English Dictionary)] his ending fate)
Puts on his highest look in's lowest state,
Drest in such terrour as to make us all
Be Anti-Persians [Persians had the reputation of being sun-worshippers. Anti-Persians, therefore, would be anti-sun, depicted here as though they were rooting for it to set (Encyclopedia Britannica).] and adore his Fall;
Then quits the world depriving it of Day,
While Every Herb and Plant does droop away:
So when our gasping English Royalty
Perceiv'd her Period [An end, a conclusion; the point of completion of a process (OED).] was now drawing nigh,
She summons her whole strength to give one blow,
To raise her self, or pull down others too.
Big with revenge and hope she now spake more
Of terror than in many months before;
And musters her Attendants, or to save
Her from, or else attend her to, the Grave:
Yet but enjoy'd the miserable fate
Of setting Majesty, to die in State.
Unhappy Kings, who cannot keep a Throne,
Nor be so fortunate to fall alone!
Their weight sinks others: Pompey could not fly,[^1]
But half the World must bear him company;
And captiv'd Sampson[^2] could not life conclude,
Unless attended with a multitude.
Who'd trust to greatness now, whose food is air, [Who survives on nothing or who has false hope.]
Whose ruine sudden, and whose end despair?
Who would presume upon his Glorious Birth,
Or quarrel for a spacious share of Earth
That sees such Diadems [Crowns (Oxford English Dictionary).] become so cheap,
And Heros tumble in a common heap?
Oh give me Vertue then, which sums up all,
And firmly stands when Crowns and Scepters fall.

[^1: Pompey, a Roman statesman and general, was a popular figure in literature for his spectacular fall from power. After Caesar defeated him in the Battle of Pharsalus, concluding the civil war, Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was assassinated by Lucius Septimius, his former colleague.]

[^2: In the Bible, Sampson ("man of the sun"), a Judge of the ancient Israelites and blessed with superhuman strength, was taken captive and tortured by the Philistines after Delilah betrayed him. He took his revenge during a well-attended sacrifice, when he was summoned to give a performance and instead destroyed the temple's columns, killing himself and all of the Philistines within.]