Against their fellow brutes. With teeth and claws The civil war begins; grappling they tear; Lions on tigers prey, and bears on wolves: Horrible discord! till the crowd behind Shouting pursue, and part the bloody fray. At once their wrath subsides; tame as the lamb, The lion hangs his head; the furious pard, Cow’d and subdued, flies from the face of man, Nor bears one glance of his commanding eye: So abject is a tyrant in distress. At last, within the narrow plain confined, A listed field, mark’d out for bloody deeds, An amphitheatre, more glorious far Than ancient Rome could boast, they crowd in heaps, Dismay’d, and quite appall’d. In meet array, Sheath’d in refulgent arms, a noble band Advance; great lords of high imperial blood, Early resolved to assert the royal race, And prove, by glorious deeds, their valour’s growth Mature, ere yet the callow down has spread Its curling shade. On bold Arabian steeds, With decent pride they sit, that fearless hear The lion’s dreadful roar; and, down the rock, Swift shooting, plunge; or o’er the mountain’s ridge Stretching along, the greedy tiger leave, [Sidenote: BOOK II THE CHASE v. 463-487.] Panting behind. On foot their faithful slaves, With javelins arm’d, attend; each watchful eye Fix’d on his youthful care, for him alone He fears; and, to redeem his life, unmoved, Would lose his own. The mighty Aurengzebe, From his high-elevated throne, beholds His blooming race; revolving in his mind, What once he was, in his gay spring of life, When vigour strung his nerves: parental joy Melts in his eyes, and flushes in his cheeks. Now the loud trumpet sounds a charge: the shouts Of eager hosts, through the circling line, And the wild howlings of the beasts within, Rend wide the welkin! flights of arrows, wing’d With death, and javelins, launch’d from every arm, Gall sore the brutal bands, with many a wound Gored through and through. Despair at last prevails, When fainting nature shrinks, and rouses all Their drooping courage: swell’d with furious rage, Their eyes dart fire; and on the youthful band They rush implacable. They their broad shields Quick interpose; on each devoted head Their flaming falchions, as the bolts of Jove, Descend unerring. Prostrate on the ground The grinning monsters lie, and their foul gore [Sidenote: BOOK II THE CHASE v. 488-511.]