56 



The poet now proceeds to sing of the jealousies and battles of 

 bulls. — One must reign lord of the herd, but if he meets a rival a 

 dreadful contest takes place. They eye each other obliquely with 

 indignation and rage ; they breathe fire from their nostrils, scatter 

 the dust around them like wrestlers in the arena, roar the signal of 

 fierce defiance, and rush to the conflict with terrific violence. Their 

 shock is like that of two hostile gallies impelled by the wind and 

 oars, — the brazen prows crash, and the ocean foams. One of the 

 combatants is, at length obliged to yield. Groaning with anguish 

 and shame he retires to tlie mountain forest, in whose covert he 

 abides, till returning strength enables him to renew the fight. Again 

 he roars defiance to his rival, now enervated by pleasure, and be- 

 comes in turn the master of the field. 



The bull of Egjpt is superior to all others, — of a snowy white- 

 ness — equal in size to a Ba^urs^/xova i»ia,, a deep-beamed ship, and of 

 a gentle, social disposition. 



The Phrygian bull is of a yellow or red hue, his neck brawny ; 

 a round excrescence rises on his forehead, and he has the power of 

 depressing or elevating his horns at pleasure. 



The Aoniau bull is of a dappled colour, remarkable for a solid 

 hoof, and single horn rising from the middle of his forehead. Tiie 

 Armenian bull has formidable horns, retorted at the points. The 

 Syrian is strong and ferocious, swift in the course and strenuous in 

 the fight. Such was the race that Hercules drove from Erythia 

 when he slew Gery on. ItVasthen the hero made a passage for 

 the inundations of the Orontes, by rending asunder the stony 

 barriers of the Diocla?an and Emblonian hills. This inundation, its 

 eiFects, and the rnanner in which the passage was rent, are described 

 with great effect. 



The Bislon, so named from its country, Biston of Thrace, is 



