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ANALYSIS OF BOOK FOURTH. 



In the fourth book, the poet proposes to sing of the arts employed 

 by hunters, against their prey. These are so numerous that no 

 mortal could name them — they are known to the gods alone. He 

 will therefore sing of such as he knows by his own experience, 

 or has learned from the information of others. 



Some wild beasts find compensation for their want of size and 

 strength in cunning. Some are timid but fleet — others excel in 

 courage and strength ; all know instinctively to use the arms which 

 nature has supplied. The stag and bull employ their horns — the 

 oryx and the lion their jaws, — the boar his tusks, and the hare her 

 fleetness. 



The common modes of hunting are by means of nets, fet- 

 ters, horses, and dogs. The hunter often pursues his game on 

 horseback without dogs, and sometimes strikes it with arrows. 

 When laying the nets, or going in quest of game, it is as necessary 

 for him, as for the mariner, to be attentive to the direction of the 

 winds ; since wild beasts have great acuteness of smell, and flee as 

 soon as it indicates the enemy's approach. The hunter, therefore, 

 should always face the wind. 



Tiie mode of taking a lion : — When the traces are observed of his 

 customary path to a river to slake his thirst, the hunters dig a deep 



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