SILENT, the Lord of the world
Eyes from the heavenly height,
Girt by his far-shining train,
Us, who with banners unfurl'd
Fight life's many-chanc'd fight
Madly below, in the plain.
Then saith the Lord to his own:—
"See ye the battle below?
Turmoil of death and of birth!
“Us” is the object of the Lord’s “eyeing;” in other words, it refers to the people being watched by God. 
 These people are far from elevated: not only is their manner vicious, but they additionally clash with “banners unfurl’d,“ that is to say, flags on display, representing invented nations headed by people instead of the will and rule of God. 
 To fight “in the plain,” besides assigning an open space to the conflict where no shelter from massacre can be found and opposing parties engage each other head-on, seems to allude to another meaning of the word “plain:” common, lacking distinction–vulgar, even, and therefore strongly opposed to the sphere of Heaven. 
 These lines raise the question of who the “Men of Genius” actually are. As the OED clarifies, “ man  was considered until the 20th cent[ury] to include women by implication, though referring primarily to males,” and could only point to human beings (not the Lord’s servants introduced below). Yet these men embody anything but “Genius” in their violent madness–that the fight is “many-chanc’d” also means it is not theirs to control. 
 
 Henry Arthur McArdle,  The Battle of San Jacinto  (1895).
Men of Genius