Soft Venus ne'er with savage Mars did start
A paction firm and stable at the core:
She follows pleasures; he pursues the art
That leads to hardships, and to fields of gore.
So let the Cyprian goddess now depart,
And let her son frequent this camp no more;
For he whose life in revelling is spent
Is badly lodged within a martial tent.
Think ye, the battering-ram with iron head
Will of itself break down the battled wall?