Whilst winning the price of it.
Retirement is not your true militaire's virtue;
To "beat the retreat" irks us all, dukes or drummers.
Let Winter hold sway, then—it cannot much hurt you—
For—say x—more summers!
True Hannibal, Gaston de Foix, Alexander,
Napoleon, Don John, the Great Condé, and Cortes
Were types of the true, adolescent commander,
And swayed ere their forties.
Still, they were god-loved and died young, like our Sidney,