Nor be thy dogs last cared for

    Nor be thy dogs last cared for; but alike

  Swift Spartan hounds and fierce Molossian feed

  On fattening whey. Never, with these to watch,

  Dread nightly thief afold and ravening wolves,

  Or Spanish desperadoes in the rear.

  And oft the shy wild asses thou wilt chase,

  With hounds, too, hunt the hare, with hounds the doe;

  Oft from his woodland wallowing-den uprouse

  The boar, and scare him with their baying, and drive,

  And o'er the mountains urge into the toils

  Some antlered monster to their chiming cry.

    Learn also scented cedar-wood to burn

  Within the stalls, and snakes of noxious smell

  With fumes of galbanum to drive away.

  Oft under long-neglected cribs, or lurks

  A viper ill to handle, that hath fled

  The light in terror, or some snake, that wont

  'Neath shade and sheltering roof to creep, and shower

  Its bane among the cattle, hugs the ground,

  Fell scourge of kine.