Let others court the din of arms,
And fierce in iron fields engage;
I only wake to Love's alarms,
And Cupid's willing warfare wage.

Let others martial tactics teach,
And how to fight and how to fly;
Of Love's soft tactics I can preach,
And all his golden panoply.

To make the worse the better cause

My practised speech will ne'er persuade, Unskill'd, indeed, in any laws

Save those alone which Love has made.

No rhetorician's robe I wear,

But can teach many a honey'd wile, The soft persuasion of a tear,

The ruby rhetoric of a smile.

My want of wit who shall despise?

Since Love has made the world his throne;

Laws, arts has he, and policies,

And a whole science of his own.