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LXIX.
Dreadful Allies! What once their Gripe possest,
So fast they graspt with cruel-rending Claws,
It easier seem'd a Bone by Force to wrest
From Hell-born Cerberus' devouring Jaws,
685 Each Champions Mouth, or what for Mouth appears,
Yawns dismal, discontinuous, darksom, wide,
Wond'rously fenc't with sharply-grinding Sheers,
Whose Edges meeting temper'd Mail divide,
With seeming double Heads the Monster's threat,
690 Like Amphisbœna's dire in Afric's Noon-day Heat.
Dreadful Allies! What once their Gripe possest,
So fast they graspt with cruel-rending Claws,
It easier seem'd a Bone by Force to wrest
From Hell-born Cerberus' devouring Jaws,
685 Each Champions Mouth, or what for Mouth appears,
Yawns dismal, discontinuous, darksom, wide,
Wond'rously fenc't with sharply-grinding Sheers,
Whose Edges meeting temper'd Mail divide,
With seeming double Heads the Monster's threat,
690 Like Amphisbœna's dire in Afric's Noon-day Heat.
LXX.
Hands had they none, yet what supplied the Place,
Unnumber'd Arms; scarce Briareus had more:
Which Mother Nature clad in jetty Case,
For tender Skin with Armour plated o'er.
Hands had they none, yet what supplied the Place,
Unnumber'd Arms; scarce Briareus had more:
Which Mother Nature clad in jetty Case,
For tender Skin with Armour plated o'er.
Fixt
