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SILVAE, II. iv. 35—v. 20

feathers breathe incense of Arabia and Sicanian saffron; and he will mount a fragrant pyre, a happier Phoenix, free from the weary languor of old age.”

V. THE TAME LION


Tame lions are the subject of epigrams by Martial (i. 6, 14, 22, 48, etc.). For the circumstances of the writing of this piece see Preface to this book.


What now has it availed thee to quell thy rage and be tamed, to unlearn crime and human slaughter from thy heart, and endure dominion and obey a lesser lord? To have been wont to leave thy cage and return again to imprisonment, and of thy own will yield up the captured prey, to open thy jaws and let go the inserted hand? Thou art fallen, O skilled slayer of tall beasts, not caught within the enclosing circle of a Massylian hunting-band,[1] nor flinging thyself with dreaded spring against the spears, nor deceived by the hidden yawning of a pit, but overcome by a beast that fled thee.[2] The unlucky cage stands open, while behind their barriers all around the quiet lions grew wrathful that so great a wrong should have been suffered. Then all their crests fell, and shame came on them to see the corpse brought back, and they drew down all their brows upon their eyes. Yet when the first stroke o’erthrew thee the unwonted shame o’erwhelmed thee not: thy valour remained, and even in the hour of death thy brave spirit rallied as thou didst fall, nor did all thy fierceness straightway own defeat. Just as the dying warrior who knows his wound is mortal yet goes against the foe, and lifts his hand to strike, and

  1. ↑ The Massylians were an African tribe, and lions were conventionally associated with Africa.
  2. ↑ The allusion is not clear to us, though of course it would be to a witness of the fight.

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