Vain shadows did not force their swift retreat;
But you yourself forsake your empty seat."
He said, and seized at once the loosened rein;
For Liger lay already on the plain
By the same shock; then, stretching out his hands,
The recreant thus his wretched life demands:—
"Now, by thyself, O more than mortal man!
By her and him from whom thy breath began,
Who formed thee thus divine, I beg thee, spare
This forfeit life, and hear thy suppliant's prayer."