[3-4]: The couplet recalls Eph. VI.11-17, in which Paul urges followers of Christ to take up arma Dei ‘the armour of God’ in its various parts, in omnibus sumentes scutum fidei ‘with all of these, taking the shield of faith’ (Eph. VI.16). The poet uses the ablative of quality, fide ‘of faith’, instead of gen. sg. fidei, which would disrupt the syllable count.