Also in warfare they made trial of bulls, And sought to drive fierce boars against the foe. And some sent mighty lions in their van With armed trainers and savage guardians To govern them and hold them in with chains; In vain, for heated with promiscuous carnage They put to flight whole squadrons in their rage Without distinction, tossing on every side Their terrible crests; nor could the horsemen calm Their horses, panic-stricken by the roaring, Or turn them by the bridle against their foes. The she-lions would spring fiercely on all sides Right in the faces of their adversaries, Or from behind seizing them off their guard Would clasp and tear them wounded down to the earth, Gripping them with their strong teeth and hooked claws. The bulls would toss and trample underfoot Their own friends, goring the horses from beneath In belly and flank, tearing the soil up savagely. Fierce boars would rend their allies with strong tusks. Staining the broken weapons with their blood, And put to rout both horse and foot together. The steeds, to escape from the tusk’s cruel push, Would swerve aside or rearing paw the air, In vain, for with severed tendons they would crash Heavily down to the earth and lie stretched out. Beasts, by the keepers deemed to have been tamed Sufficiently at home, they now would see Heated to madness in the hour of battle, By wounds and shouts, flight panic and uproar. No portion of all the different kinds of beasts, Once scattered in wild flight, could they recall. So often nowadays the Lucanian kine, Gashed cruelly with the steel, will fly dispersed, Inflicting ruinous havoc on their friends. Thus might these men have acted: yet I scarce Can think they were not able to foresee And calculate how horrible a disaster Was certain to befall both sides alike. But men chose to act thus, not in the hope Of victory so much, as from the wish, Though they themselves perished, to give their foes Cause to lament, being desperate through mistrust Of their own numbers, or through lack of arms. The plaited garment came before the dress Of woven stuff. Weaving comes after iron, Since weaving tools need iron to fashion them. By no means else can such smooth things be made As heddles, spindles, shuttles and clattering yarn-beams. Men before womankind did Nature prompt To work wool; for in general the male sex Is by far the more skilful and ingenious: Till the rough peasants chided them so sternly That at length they consented to resign Such lighter tasks into the hands of women, And themselves took their share in heavier toils, Hardening with hard labour limbs and hands.