How that an Argive in his presence slew

A fearful lion-beast, the dread and death

Of herdsmen; which inhabited a den

Or cavern by the grove of Nemean Zeus.

He may have come from sacred Argos' self,

Or Tiryns, or Mycenæ: what know I?

But thus he told his tale, and said the slayer

Was (if my memory serves me) Perseus' son.

Methinks no islander had dared that deed

Save thee: the lion's skin that wraps thy ribs