ACCURS'D BE HE THAT FIRST INVENTED WAR!

by: Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)

      CCURS'D be he that first invented war!
      They knew not, ah, they knew not, simple men,
      How those were hit by pelting cannon-shot
      Stand staggering like a quivering aspen-leaf
      Fearing the force of Boreas' boisterous blasts!
      In what a lamentable case where I,
      If nature had not given me wisdom's lore!
      For kings are clouts that every man shoots at,
      Our crown the pin that thousands seek to cleave:
      Therefore in policy I think it good
      To hide it close; a goodly stratagem,
      And far from any man that is a fool:
      So shall not I be known; or if I be,
      They cannot take away my crown from me.
      Here will I hide it in this simple hole.

"Accurs'd be he that first invented war!" is reprinted from Tamburlaine the Great. Christopher Marlowe. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1919.

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