Thy virgin sister, too, stoop with thee from the sky!




ELEGY THE SIXTH

LET LOVERS ALL ENLIST


Now for a soldier Macer goes. Will Cupid take the field?
Will Love himself enlist, and bear on his soft breast a shield?

Through weary marches over land, through wandering waves at sea,
Armed _cap-a-pie_, will that small god the hero's comrade be?

O burn him, boy, I pray, that could thy blessed favors slight!
Back to the ranks the straggler bring beneath thy standard bright!

Yet, if to soldiers thou art kind, I too will volunteer,
I too will from a helmet drink, nor thirst in desert's fear.

Venus, good-bye! Now, off I go! Good-bye, sweet ladies all!
I am all valor, and delight to hear the trumpets call.

Large is my brag! But while with pride my project I recite,
I see her bolted door,--and then my boasting fails me quite.

Never to visit her again, with many an oath I swore;
But while I vowed, my feet had run unguided to her door.