John Milton on War and Peace

Found in: The Prose Works of John Milton, vol. 2

These lines, taken from Milton’s Second Defense of the English People, were written after Milton and his fellow revolutionaries had succeeded in ending the English monarchy forever…or so they thought. With our perfect historical hindsight we can see that, as Milton is writing the Second Defense he is poised almost perfectly at the midpoint between the revolutionary overthrow of the monarchy and the monarchy’s restoration.

Literature & Music

For it is of no little consequence, O citizens, by what principles you are governed, either in acquiring liberty, or in retaining it when acquired. And unless that liberty, which is of such a kind as arms can neither procure nor take away, which alone is the fruit of piety, of justice, of temperance, and unadulterated virtue, shall have taken deep root in your minds and hearts, there will not long be wanting one who will snatch from you by treachery what you have acquired by arms. War has made many great whom peace makes small. If after being released from the toils of war, you neglect the arts of peace, if your peace and your liberty be a state of warfare, if war be your only virtue, the summit of your praise, you will, believe me, soon find peace the most adverse to your interests. Your peace will be only a more distressing war; and that which you imagined liberty will prove the worst of slavery. (FROM: ADVIS’D, LEARN JUSTICE, AND REVERE THE GODS.)

Thoughts

While Milton could not have known what was to come, he does not merely use his Second Defense to triumph over his party’s successes or to engage in a defense of his own actions and character. He also uses the work to caution his fellow-travelers about remaining true to the principles which have animated them and the virtues which have sustained them. He knows that once the war for a nation is won, the hard work of governing it honestly, prudently, and virtuously remains.

6

Titles by John Milton

View all Titles