214 FOEEST CKEATURES. 



But should a sound, or your eye, or your behaviour 

 tell him it were better he were moving, he will at once 

 seek the thicket, if such be near ; and if here or there 

 the shrubs be less high, and a break in the denseness 

 risk exposure to view, he will ''duck cloiun^^ among 

 them, and so steal along, making himself as small as 

 possible. 



In book iv., where the King reproaches the troops 

 with their faint-heartedness, we have this picture: 

 " Why do ye stand thus bewildered, like hinds that, 

 exhausted with running across broad fields, stand still, 

 their hearts void of all strength and courage ? So do 

 ye stand now quite mazed, and stare into the battle." 



Any one who has watched a herd of deer that have 

 stopped at last after fleeing from some danger, and seen 

 their bewilderment and their helpless " stare," will ap- 

 preciate this description. 



Of the truth of these picturings I can judge by per- 

 sonal experience ; there are others, however, recurring 

 at short intervals throughout the Iliad of which I can 

 form an opinion but by comparing them with the 

 graphic accounts of one who was himself an actor 

 in occurrences similar to those which Homer describes. 

 I allude to the characteristics of the lion, as well when 

 attacking, as when attacked, and also his treatment of 

 his prey : the behaviour of the herdsmen when in his 

 presence, and other features peculiar to these occasions. 



