Erasmus, Desiderius: The Complaint of Peace. v1 21 Jan 2015
 

Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536) was a priest, scholar, author, and translator, and a leading figure in the humanist movement before and during the Reformation. His works were very influential and were produced in many editions and translations all through Europe during his lifetime.

The Complaint of Peace was published in 1521. Peace personified comes to earth, chastises kings and princes, church leaders, noblemen, and ordinary soldiers for betraying their Christian values by waging unjust and unnecessary wars, and urges them to follow the Prince of Peace.

The source text was taken from the Online Library of Liberty, and checked against a pdf of the 1917 Open Court Publishing Co. edition. I have silently corrected typos, and made changes to spelling and hyphenation using oxforddictionaries.com.