Then Father Jove Almighty touched with fear The heart of Ajax. All amazed he stood, And cast his sevenfold buckler of bull’s-hide Upon his back, and, terrified, withdrew. Now casting glances like a beast of prey From side to side, he turned to right and left, And, slowly yielding, moved knee after knee. As when the rustics with their hounds drive off A hungry lion from their stalls of kine, Whom, watching all the night, they suffer not To make their herd a prey; but he, intent On ravin, rushes forward, yet in vain; For many a javelin flies from daring hands Against him, many a blazing torch is swung, At which, though fierce, he trembles, and at morn Stalks off in sullen mood;⁠—so Ajax, sad At heart, and fearing for the Grecian fleet, Unwillingly fell back before the foe. And as, when entering in a field, an ass Slow-paced, whose flanks have broken many a shaft To splinters, crops the harvest as it grows, And boys attack him with their rods⁠—though small Their strength⁠—but scarce, till he has browsed his fill,