Henry VI. Part III. Act ii. Sc. 2.
And in the same play—
“So doves do peck the falcon’s piercing talons.”
Henry VI. Part III. Act i. Sc. 4.
Again—
“To be furious,
Is to be frighted out of fear; and in that mood
The dove will peck the ostrich.”
Antony and Cleopatra, Act iii. Sc. 13.
And yet there can scarcely be a more timid bird than the dove, as Falstaff well knew, when he said ironically:—