Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/326

The soft Seducer, with enticing Looks,
The bellowing Rivals to the Fight provokes.
A beauteous Heifer in the Woods is bred;
The stooping Warriors, aiming Head to Head, 340
Engage their clashing Horns; with dreadful Sound
The Forrest rattles, and the Rocks rebound.
They fence, they push, and pushing loudly roar;
Their Dewlaps and their Sides are bath'd in Gore.
Nor when the War is over, is it Peace; 345
Nor will the vanquish'd Bull his Claim release:
But feeding in his Breast his ancient Fires,
And cursing Fate, from his proud Foe retires.
Driv'n from his native Land, to foreign Grounds,
He with a gen'rous Rage resents his Wounds;350
His ignominious Flight, the Victor's boast,
And more than both, the Loves, which unreveng'd he lost.
Often he turns his Eyes, and, with a Groan,
Surveys the pleasing Kingdoms, once his own.
And therefore to repair his Strength he tries: $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$355
Hardning his Limbs with painful Exercise,
And rough upon the flinty Rock he lyes.
On prickly Leaves, and on sharp Herbs he feeds,
Then to the Prelude of a War proceeds.
His Horns, yet sore, he tries against a Tree:360
And meditates his absent Enemy.
He snuffs the Wind, his heels the Sand excite; $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
But, when he stands collected in his might,
He roars, and promises a more successful Fight.