BOOK II THE CHASE v. 463-487.
Panting behind. On foot their faithful slaves,
With javelins arm’d, attend; each watchful eye
Fix’d on his youthful care, for him alone
He fears; and, to redeem his life, unmoved,
Would lose his own. The mighty Aurengzebe,
From his high-elevated throne, beholds
His blooming race; revolving in his mind,
What once he was, in his gay spring of life,
When vigour strung his nerves: parental joy
Melts in his eyes, and flushes in his cheeks.
Now the loud trumpet sounds a charge: the shouts
Of eager hosts, through the circling line,
And the wild howlings of the beasts within,
Rend wide the welkin! flights of arrows, wing’d
With death, and javelins, launch’d from every arm,
Gall sore the brutal bands, with many a wound
Gored through and through. Despair at last prevails,
When fainting nature shrinks, and rouses all
Their drooping courage: swell’d with furious rage,
Their eyes dart fire; and on the youthful band
They rush implacable. They their broad shields
Quick interpose; on each devoted head
Their flaming falchions, as the bolts of Jove,
Descend unerring. Prostrate on the ground
The grinning monsters lie, and their foul gore
BOOK II THE CHASE v. 488-511.
Defiles the verdant plain. Nor idle stand
The trusty slaves; with pointed spears, they pierce
Through their tough hides; or at their gaping mouths
An easier passage find. The king of brutes,
In broken roarings, breathes his last; the bear
Grumbles in death; nor can his spotted skin,
Though sleek it shine, with varied beauties gay,
Save the proud pard from unrelenting fate.
The battle bleeds; grim slaughter strides along,
Glutting her greedy jaws, grins o’er her prey.
Men, horses, dogs, fierce beasts of every kind,
A strange promiscuous carnage, drench’d in blood,
And heaps on heaps amass’d. What yet remain
Alive, with vain assault, contend to break
The impenetrable line: others, whom fear
Inspires with self-preserving wiles, beneath
The bodies of the slain for shelter creep;
Aghast they fly, or hide their heads, dispersed.
And now, perchance, had Heaven but pleased, the work
Of death had been complete; and Aurengzebe,
By one dread frown, extinguish’d half their race;
When lo! the bright sultanas of his court
Appear, and to his ravish’d eyes display
Those charms, but rarely to the day reveal’d.
BOOK II THE CHASE v. 512-523.
Lowly they bend, and humbly sue, to save
The vanquish’d host. What mortal can deny,
When suppliant beauty begs? At his command,
Opening to right and left, the well-train’d troops
Leave a large void for their retreating foes.
Away they fly, on wings of fear upborne,
To seek, on distant hills, their late abodes.
Ye proud oppressors, whose vain hearts exult
In wantonness of power, ’gainst the brute race,
Fierce robbers, like yourselves, a guiltless war
Wage uncontroll’d; here quench your thirst of blood:
But learn, from Aurengzebe, to spare mankind.
