In one sense the protagonist is the poet himself, but in another sense he is an anonymity.

A sweating man stepped out of the sauna, wrapping himself in a towel.

But time will teach the Russ, ev'n conquering War Has handmaid arts: aye, aye, the Russ will woo All sciences that speed Bellona's car, All murder's tactic arts, and win them too […]

In the 17th century Hugo Grotius developed the doctrine of the freedom of the seas, in the face of Portuguese and Spanish claims to sovereignty over vast areas of ocean.