_As when a lion, rushing from his den,
Amidst the plain of some wide-water'd fen,_
(_Where num'rous oxen, as at ease they feed,
At large expatiate o'er the ranker mead_;)
_Leaps on the herds before the herdsman's eyes:
The
trembling
herdsman far to distance flies:
Some lordly bull_ (_the rest dispers'd and fled_)
_He singles out, arrests, and lays him dead.
Camoes - Lusiades
Being
appointed to a chief command in Babylon, he betrayed the city to
Darius.--Vid. Justin's History.
[207] Spanish and Portuguese histories afford several instances of the
Moorish chiefs being attended in the field of battle by their
mistresses, and of the romantic gallantry and Amazonian courage of these
ladies.
[208] Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons, who, after having signalized
her valour at the siege of Troy, was killed by Achilles.
[209] The Greek name of Troy.--_Ed._
[210] The Amazons.
[211] Thermodon, a river of Scythia in the country of the Amazons.
_Quales Threiciae cum flumina Thermodontis
Pulsant et pictis bellantur Amazones armis:
Seu circum Hippolyten, seu cum se Martia curru
Penthesilea refert: magnoque ululante tumultu
Foeminea exsultant lunatis agmina peltis._ VIRG. AEn. xi. 659.
[212] It may, perhaps, be agreeable to the reader, to see the
description of a bull-fight as given by Homer.
_As when a lion, rushing from his den,
Amidst the plain of some wide-water'd fen,_
(_Where num'rous oxen, as at ease they feed,
At large expatiate o'er the ranker mead_;)
_Leaps on the herds before the herdsman's eyes:
The
trembling
herdsman far to distance flies:
Some lordly bull_ (_the rest dispers'd and fled_)
_He singles out, arrests, and lays him dead.
Thus from the rage of Jove-like Hector flew
All Greece in heaps; but one he seiz'd, and slew
Mycenian Periphas.----_
POPE, II. xv.
[213] A shirt of mail, formed of small iron rings.
[214] Mohammed.
[215] There is a passage in Xenophon, upon which perhaps Camoens had his
eye. ???? ?? ???
