Date: w. 1365, trans. 1579

"And euerie one hath continuall warre with him selfe in the most secret closet of his minde."

— Petrarch (1304-1374); Twyne, Thomas (1543–1613)

Date: w. c. 64 [perhaps much later], 1611

"Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul."

— Simon Peter or Saint Peter (d. c. 64)

Date: w. c. 54-8, trans. 1611

"But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members."

— Paul of Tarsus (b.c. 10, d.c. 67)

Date: 1661

"[T]hrough ev'ry Breast [Faith] goes, invades their Minds, which, all-possest / By her great Deitie, each Soul doth prove / Her Altar, burning by her Sacred Love"

— Ross, Thomas (bap. 1620, d. 1675)

Date: 1675

"I see these are not arts, / To conquer the Madona's hearts"

— Cotton, Charles (1630-1687); Lucian (c.120- d. after 180)

Date: 1682

"We are carry'd Up to the Heavens, and Down again into the Deep, by Turns; so long as we are govern'd by our Affections, and not by Virtue: Passion, and Reason, are a kind of Civil War within us; and as the one, or the other has Dominion, we are either Good, or Bad."

— L'Estrange, Sir Roger (1616-1704)

Date: 1684

A "charming Voice, and Art" may gain "the conquest of my Heart

— Oldham, John (1653-1683)

Date: 1692

"And all was conquer'd but the Patriot's Mind."

— Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)

Date: 1693

"Those Senses lost, behold a new defeat; / The Soul, dislodging from another seat."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700) [Poem ascribed to]

Date: 1700, 1717

"This Helenus to great AEneas told, / Which I retain, e'er since in other Mould: / My Soul was cloath'd; and now rejoice to view / My Country Walls rebuilt, and Troy reviv'd anew, / Rais'd by the fall: Decreed by Loss to Gain; / Enslav'd but to be free, and conquer'd but to reign."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)