So when overcome by the strength of Achilles
The scullions of the camp struck Hector with darts.
So whelps bite the lion laid prostrate by death;
So his weapon any one bloods in the boar that is slain.
Better ’tis, ye gods, well to speak, of those deserving well;
And wickedness great indeed, to violate sacred tombs.”
The device itself, in these three authors, is a representation of Hares biting a dead Lion; and in this we find an origin for the words used in King John (act ii. sc. 1, l. 134, vol. iv. p. 17), to reprove the Archduke of Austria. Austria demands of Philip Faulconbridge, “What the devil art thou?” and Philip replies,—
“One that will play the devil, sir, with you,
An a’ may catch your hide and you alone:
You are the hare of whom the proverb goes,