When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war.

Nat Lee: Play of Alexander the Great, 1692.

Westward the course of empire takes its way.—Bishop Berkeley.

No pent-up Utica contracts your powers,

But the whole boundless continent is yours.

J. M. Sewall: Epilogue to Cato, 1778.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Originally,

Out of minde as soon as out of sight.—Lord Brooke.

Through thick and thin.—Dryden: Absalom and Achitophel.