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The Venatio

"...as a running fawn might frisk
for the green joy of the wide fields,
free from the fear of the hunt,
free from the circling beaters
and the nets of woven mesh
and the hunters hallooing on
their yelping packs? And then, hard pressed,
she sprints with the quickness of wind,
bounding over the marsh, leaping
to frisk, leaping for joy,
gay with the green of the leaves,
to dance for joy in the forest,
to dance where the darkness is deepest,
where no man is."

Euripides, The Bacchae

In this sculpture from the Vatican Museums, a mastiff attacks its hapless prey.


References: Euripides: The Bacchae (1959) translated by William Arrowsmith.

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