The rich repast, unweeting of the death That lurks within. And soon he, sporting, breaks The brittle boughs, and greedily devours The fruit delicious: ah! too dearly bought; The price is life: for now the treacherous turf, Trembling, gives way; and the unwieldy beast, Self-sinking, drops into the dark profound. So when dilated vapours, struggling, heave The incumbent earth, if, chance, the cavern’d ground, Shrinking, subside, and the thin surface yield, Down sinks, at once, the ponderous dome, ingulf’d, With all its towers. Subtle, delusive man, How various are thy wiles! artful to kill Thy savage foes, a dull unthinking race. Fierce, from his lair, springs forth the speckled pard, Thirsting for blood, and eager to destroy; The huntsman flies, but to his flight alone Confides not: at convenient distance fix’d, A polish’d mirror stops, in full career, The furious brute: he there his image views; Spots against spots, with rage improving, glow; Another pard his bristly whiskers curls, Grins as he grins, fierce-menacing, and wide Distends his opening paws; himself against Himself opposed, and with dread vengeance arm’d. [Sidenote: BOOK III THE CHASE v. 305-329.] The huntsman, now secure, with fatal aim Directs the pointed spear, by which transfix’d, He dies; and with him dies the rival shade. Thus man innumerous engines forms, to assail The savage kind; but most, the docile horse, Swift, and confederate with man, annoys His brethren of the plains; without whose aid The hunter’s arts were vain, unskill’d to wage, With the more active brutes, an equal war; But borne by him, without the well-train’d pack, Man dares his foe, on wings of wind secure. Him the fierce Arab mounts, and, with his troop Of bold compeers, ranges the desert wild, Where, by the magnet’s aid, the traveller Steers his untrodden course; yet oft, on land, Is wreck’d, in the high-rolling waves of sand Immersed, and lost; while these intrepid bands, Safe in their horses’ speed, out-fly the storm, And scouring round, make men and beasts their prey. The grisly boar is singled from his herd, As large as that in Erimanthian woods, A match for Hercules: round him they fly, In circles wide; and each, in passing, sends His feather’d death into his brawny sides. But perilous the attempt; for, if the steed [Sidenote: BOOK III THE CHASE v. 330-354.]