130 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. CANTO iv. 



" WHEN War, the Demon, lifts his banner high, 

 And loud artillery rends the affrighted sky; 

 Swords clash with swords, on horses horses rush, 

 Man tramples man, and nations nations crush ; 

 Death his vast sithe with sweep enormous wields, 

 And shuddering Pity quits the sanguine fields. 



" The wolf, escorted by his milk-drawn dam, 

 Unknown to mercy, tears the guiltless lamb; 

 The towering eagle, darting from above, 

 Unfeeling rends the inoffensive dove; 20 



The lamb and dove on living nature feed, 

 Crop the young herb, or crush the embryon seed. 

 Nor spares the loud owl in her dusky flight, 

 Smit with sweet notes, the minstrel of the night; 

 Nor spares, enamour'd of his radiant form, 

 The hungry nightingale the glowing worm; 



The towering eagle, 1. 19. 



Torva lea?na lupum sequitur, lupus ipse capellam, 

 Florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva capella. VIRG. 



