388 
“The Tiger, 4 congenerous crsexth 
amid a flock of theep, afterds Virgil a 
fi imple comparifon,- without any. defertp- 
.tion, to Turnus having .burit his way 
‘the fame terrible .beaft, 
into the Trojan camp. But Milton has 
derived a very characteriftic fimile fr pin 
in which : 
manner of feizing its prey is pointed w: ch 
mauch piturefque « exactnels. 
Then asa tiger, who by chance hath ipy’d 
In fome purlieu two gentle fawns at play, 
_ Straight couches hates then rifing changes oft 
-Grip’d in each paw. 
fer ibing them. 
x 
they 
thead of 
His touchant watch, as one’ who choie his 
ground, 
Whence ruthing he might fureft fete the 
both, 
Par. L.iv. 4093. 
The application is to Satan, watching 
the a€tions of Adam and Eve in Paradiie. 

The Wolf, a ‘more ignoble beaft of 
prey, but one, which from. its bloody 
‘and favage charatter, would fuggeft fit 
‘comparifons to the painter of war- 
fcenery, has been introduced by Homer 
with his wfual truth and fpirit. ‘The 
following is a perfect piece of natural 
hit LOLY = 
As wolves that gorge 
The prey yet panting, terrible in force, 
‘When on the mountains wild they have de- 
vour’d » 
An.antler’d fag new-flain, with bloody jaws 
Troop all at once to fome clear fountain, there 
‘To lap with flender tongue the brimming 
5 Waves. ; 
No fears have they, but at their eafe eject 
From fullmaws fiatulent the clotted gore ; 
Such {eem’d the Myrmidon heroic chiefs 
Afiembiing fat reand the valiant fricnds 
Of fwitt Absbides. UW. xvi 156.°Cocoper. 
‘Their hunting in troops, their gtreedi- 
neis in. devouring, their thintty conftitu- 
tion, the form of their tongues. and 
manner of drinking, are bien, circum- 
tances as a Buffon would feleét in de- 
The application, as a 
imile,, “aniwers the poet’s purpole of im- 
prefing aterrific idea of the Myrmidons ; 
out it would have been more perfect, had 
een returning from the combat, in- 
going toit. The eagernefs with 
which they throng round their leader in 
a cilofe troops is the aitaly refembling 
giroumftance of the piGtyre. 
Another. natural fimile, but;.net 
wrought with the force of ae former, 18 
derivect trom this animal, by Homer, 
Wenere he deicribes the rout of the Tro- 
TINS. BY HIE victorious Greeks headed 
by Patroch QS, 
Similes from Wild Beafts in Homer, Se: 
As favage wolves rufh furious on their prey, 
Or kids or lambs, fnatch’d from the fatter" 
flock 
Amid the mountains left by heedlefs fwain 
To roam untended, fudden as beheld 
They lofe their feeble lives, in pieces rent’; 
So furious rufh’d the Danai on their foes. 
Il. xV1. 352. 
Virgil has three fimiles, not borrowed 
from Homer, in which the manners and 
actions of wolves, familiar to the inha- 
bitants ot a paftoral couniry, are repre- 
fented with much nature and ipirit. 
The firft is an attack of a troop of wolves - 
in a mift, compared to the nocturnal 
exploits of a defperate band of Trojans, 
during the {ack of their city. 
Inde lupi ceu 
Raptores, atra in nebula, quos improba ven- 
tris 
_ Exegit caecos rabies, catulique reliGti_ 
Faucibus expectant | ficcis 5 “per tela, per 
hoftes 
Vadimus haud dubiam in mortem. 
LEN, ii. 355. 
Ass hungry wolves, while clouds involye 
the day, 
Ruth from their dens; and, prowling wide 
for prey, 
Tow] to the tempeft, while the favage aN 
Stretch’d in the cavern, pant and thirft for 
blood ; © 
So thro” the town, determin’d to expire, 
‘Through the thick ftorm of darts, and fmoke 
and fire, 
Wraptand furrounded by the ae of night, 
We -ruth’d,: &c. +. Pitt. 
This tranflation, and fill more Dry- 
den’s, feems to me to miffake the mate- 
vial circumfiance of ** atra i nebula,”’ 
which they paint rather as a ftorm, than 
‘¢ a dark mift,” 
Turnus, attempting to break into the 
Trojan camp, and eag gerly try ng avery 
acceflible part, is very happily paralleled 
in the tollowing lines : 
Ac veluti-pleno lupus infidiatus oviliy 
Cum fremit ad caulas, ventos pepelius et 
imbres, 
Noéte fuper media; tuti fub pe satis 
Balatumcexercent: ille lafper-& iniprobus irq 
S#vit imabfentes: collecta tatigat edendi 
Ex longe rabies;. & ficcze fanguine fauces. 
Haud aliter Rutulo, muros & ceftra tuenti, 
Ignefcunt ire. — (En. ix; $9: 
As beat by tempefts, and by famine bold, 
The pravtinny orf attempts the mighty reld; 
Lods’d in ,the guarded eld beneath their 
dams, 
Safe frenzy the favage, blest the tender lambs 5 
The moniter rheditates the feecy. brood; 
Now howis with hunger, aad now, thirds 
tes plood 5 
Reams 
