"Like as a lyon, whose imperiall powre,
A prowd rebellious unicorn defyes,
T'avoide the rash assault and wrathful stowre
Of his fiers foe, him a tree applyes,
And when him ronning in full course he spyes,
He slips aside; the whiles that furious beast
His precious horne, sought of his enemyes,
Strikes in the stocke, ne thence can be releast,
But to the mighty victor yields a bounteous feast."
Shakspeare also (Julius Cæsar, Act II. Sc. 1.) speaks of the supposed mode of entrapping them: