Chapter V

Where---by th' Historick pencil's aid
Whose ages are at once display'd---
Some great event of Rome or Greece
Fills perhaps each high wrought piece---
There---some triumphal pomp proceeds---
There---th' impetuous battle bleeds---
Mark! while they engage
What ardor what rage, 40
How shields are clash'd with shields---
And with what force up-rais'd in air,
Each warrior brawny arm stript bare,
Darts th' keen spear, or glittering faulchion wields,
And while it aims the stroke, or while repels,
How justly each inflated muscle swells----