Emicat extemplo cunctis trepidantibus audax crassa mole Leo, quem vix Cyclopia solum aequatura fames, quem non ieiuna Celaeno vinceret; hinc nomen fertur meruisse Leonis. acer in absentes linguae iactator, abundans 380 corporis exiguusque animi, doctissimus artis quondam lanificae, moderator pectinis unci. non alius lanam purgatis sordibus aeque praebuerit calathis, similis nec pinguia quisquam vellera per tenues ferri producere rimas. 385 tunc Aiax erat Eutropii lateque fremebat, non septem vasto quatiens umbone iuvencos, sed, quam perpetuis dapibus pigroque sedili inter anus interque colos oneraverat, alvum. adsurgit tandem vocemque expromit anhelam: 390 “Quis novus hic torpor, socii? quonam usque sedemus femineis clausi thalamis patimurque periclum gliscere desidia? graviorum turba malorum texitur, ignavis trahimus dum tempora votis. me petit hic sudor. numquam mea dextera segnis ad ferrum. faveat tantum Tritonia coeptis, 396 * * * * * Page 213 he cannot cope with all these perils. They must pardon his age and send younger men to the war:--it is as though a hated forewoman were sitting among a crowd of poor working-girls and bidding them in her raucous voice ply the loom and gain their livelihood, while they beg to be allowed the enjoyment of a holiday, to lay aside their tasks and visit their friends; angered at her refusal and wearied of their work they crush the threads in their hands and wipe away their gentle tears with the cloth. Sudden from out that trembling throng upleaps bold Leo[118] with his vast bulk, he whose single prowess Cyclopean hunger could scarce match, whom starving Celaeno could not outvie. ’Tis to this fact that he is said to have owed his name. Bold (when his foe was absent), brave (as a speaker), great in bulk but small of heart, once a highly skilled spinner of thread and a cunning carder, none other could so well cleanse the dirt from out the fleece and fill the baskets, none other pull the thick wool over the iron teeth of the comb as could he. He was then Eutropius’ Ajax and far and near he raged, shaking not a huge shield compact of seven layers of ox-hide, but that belly of his, laden with continuous feastings, as he sat lazily among old dames and distaffs. At length he arose and, panting, said, “What unwonted sluggishness is this, my friends? How long must we sit closeted in the women’s apartments and suffer our perils to increase by reason of our sloth? Fate weaves for us a network of ill while we waste our time in useless vows. This difficult task demands my action; never was my hand slow to use iron. Let but Minerva favour