233 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



" fvvift-flying wheels for Mars, in which he roufes 

 ** hoftile armies and cities to the fierce combat. 

 " Others were employed in burnifhing, with emu- 

 ** lous ikill, a horrific œgis, the armour oï Pallas 

 " when moved to vengeance, with fcaly ferpents 

 " wrought in gold ; exhibiting the intertwifted 

 ** fnakes, and the dire head of the Gorgon herfelf, 

 ** a covering for the bread of the Goddefs, cut off 

 '*- by the neck, and rolling about her deadly eyes. 



*' Children of ^tna, fays he, Cyclopian bro- 

 *^ thers, defift ; remove thefe unfiniQied labours 

 *^ out of the way, and attend to what I am going 

 ** to give in charge. We have to fabricate armour 

 " for a redoubted mortal : now exert your utmoft 

 " ftrength, now ply your bufy hands, now call 

 '*• forth all vour mafterly Ikill : let not a fingle 

 " inftant be loft. He faid no more : they all, 

 *'^ with the quicknefs of thought, engaged in the 

 ** work, and affign to each his (l:iare, in the mighty 

 i\ taik, by lot. The golden and the brazen metals 

 <^ flow in rivulets -, and the death-fraught fteel 

 *' difTolves in the enormous furnace. The vaft 

 <' and ponderous fliield they falhion, itfelf alone a 

 " bulwark againft all the weapons of the Latins : 

 *' a fevenfold texture of impenetrable orb upon 

 '* orb. Some draw in, and expel, the air, with 

 " the breathing bellows ; fome temper the hiffing 

 *' brafs in the cooling furge ; the hollow cave re- 



** bellows 



