| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Amoretti and Epithalamion | | Sonnet XLIV. When those renowned noble Peers of Greece | | Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599) |
| | | WHEN those renowned noble Peers of Greece, | |
| Through stubborn pride, amongst themselves did jar, | |
| Forgetful of the famous golden fleece; | |
| Then Orpheus with his harp their strife did bar. | |
| But this continual, cruel, civil war, | 5 |
| The which my self against my self do make; | |
| Whilst my weak powers of passions warréd are; | |
| No skill can stint, nor reason can aslake. | |
| But, when in hand my tuneless harp I take, | |
| Then do I more augment my foes’ despite; | 10 |
| And grief renew, and passions do awake | |
| To battle, fresh against my self to fight. | |
| ’Mongst whom the more I seek to settle peace, | |
| The more I find their malice to increase. | | | | |
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