Book II, Elegy 27

Yet do ye mortals inquire after the uncertain hour of death, and of the path by which your doom shall draw anigh, and in the unclouded heaven ye seek by the art the Phoenicians found of old what star is good, what star is ill for man. Whether on foot we follow the flying Parthian or with our fleet attack the Briton, blind are the perils both by land and sea. And again thou weepest that thy life is threatened by the storm of war, when Mars on this side and on that mingles the wavering ranks; thou dreadest also fire for thy house and ruin, and tremblest lest thou put cups of dark poison to thy lips. The lover only knows when and by what death he shall perish, and fears nor weapons nor blasts of the North Wind. Yea, even though he sit at the oar among the reeds of Styx and gaze on the dismal sails of the boat of hell, if the faint whisper of his mistress' voice cry out and call him back from the dead, he will return over that road that the eternal ordinance hath sealed.