Then floating on the ground, in circles rolled; Then leaped upon them in a mighty fold. Of such a bulk, and such a monstrous size, The serpent in the polar circle lies, That stretches over half the northern skies. In vain the Tyrians on their arms rely, _70 In vain attempt to fight, in vain to fly: All their endeavours and their hopes are vain; Some die entangled in the winding train; Some are devoured; or feel a loathsome death, Swoln up with blasts of pestilential breath. And now the scorching sun was mounted high, In all its lustre, to the noonday sky; When, anxious for his friends, and filled with cares, To search the woods the impatient chief prepares. A lion's hide around his loins he wore, _80 The well-poised javelin to the field he bore, Inured to blood, the far-destroying dart, And, the best weapon, an undaunted heart. Soon as the youth approached the fatal place, He saw his servants breathless on the grass; The scaly foe amid their corps he viewed, Basking at ease, and feasting in their blood, 'Such friends,' he cries, 'deserved a longer date; But Cadmus will revenge, or share their fate.' Then heaved a stone, and rising to the throw _90 He sent it in a whirlwind at the foe: A tower, assaulted by so rude a stroke, With all its lofty battlements had shook; But nothing here the unwieldy rock avails, Rebounding harmless from the plaited scales, That, firmly joined, preserved him from a wound, With native armour crusted all around. 97 The pointed javelin more successful flew, Which at his back the raging warrior threw; Amid the plaited scales it took its course, _100 And in the spinal marrow spent its force. The monster hissed aloud, and raged in vain, And writhed his body to and fro with pain; And bit the spear, and wrenched the wood away; The point still buried in the marrow lay. And now his rage, increasing with his pain, Reddens his eyes, and beats in every vein; Churned in his teeth the foamy venom rose, Whilst from his mouth a blast of vapours flows, Such as the infernal Stygian waters cast; _110 The plants around him wither in the blast. Now in a maze of rings he lies enrolled, Now all unravelled, and without a fold; Now, like a torrent, with a mighty force, Bears down the forest in his boisterous course. Cadmus gave back, and on the lion's spoil Sustained the shock, then forced him to recoil; The pointed javelin warded off his rage: Mad with his pains, and furious to engage, The serpent champs the steel, and bites the spear, _120 Till blood and venom all the point besmear. But still the hurt he yet received was slight; For, whilst the champion with redoubled might Strikes home the javelin, his retiring foe Shrinks from the wound, and disappoints the blow. The dauntless hero still pursues his stroke, And presses forward, till a knotty oak Retards his foe, and stops him in the rear;