As erst the vestal flame; the pointed steel In the hot embers hide; and if, surprised, Thou feel’st the deadly bite, quick urge it home Into the recent sore, and cauterize The wound: spare not thy flesh, nor dread the event; Vulcan shall save, when Æsculapius fails. Here, should the knowing Muse recount the means To stop this growing plague. And here, alas! Each hand presents a sovereign cure, and boasts Infallibility, but boasts in vain. On this depend; each to his separate seat Confine, in fetters bound; give each his mess Apart, his range in open air; and then, If deadly symptoms, to thy grief, appear, Devote the wretch; and let him greatly fall, A generous victim for the public weal. Sing, philosophick Muse, the dire effects Of this contagious bite on hapless man! The rustick swains, by long tradition taught, Of leeches old, as soon as they perceive The bite impress’d, to the sea-coasts repair. Plunged in the briny flood, the unhappy youth Now journeys home, secure; but soon shall wish The seas, as yet, had cover’d him beneath The foaming surge, full many a fathom deep. [Sidenote: BOOK IV THE CHASE v. 308-332.] A fate more dismal, and superiour ills, Hang o’er his head devoted. When the moon, Closing her monthly round, returns again To glad the night, or when, full-orb’d, she shines High in the vault of heaven, the lurking pest Begins the dire assault. The poisonous foam, Through the deep wound instill’d, with hostile rage, And all its fiery particles, saline, Invades the arterial fluid; whose red waves Tempestuous heave, and, their cohesion broke, Fermenting boil; intestine war ensues, And order to confusion turns, embroil’d. Now the distended vessels scarce contain The wild uproar, but press each weaker part, Unable to resist: the tender brain And stomach suffer most; convulsions shake His trembling nerves, and wandering pungent pains Pinch sore the sleepless wretch; his fluttering pulse Oft intermits; pensive and sad, he mourns His cruel fate, and to his weeping friends Laments in vain: to hasty anger prone, Resents each slight offence, walks with quick step, And wildly stares: at last, with boundless sway, The tyrant frenzy reigns; for, as the dog, Whose fatal bite convey’d the infectious bane, [Sidenote: BOOK IV THE CHASE v. 333-356.]