6 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

shepherd : the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep ;
but he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own
the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the
sheep and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth
the sheep.” Many more examples might be brought, but
these will amply suffice to show the frequency of the allu-
sions to, and the use made of, the animal kingdom by the
sacred writers, in the glowing imagery of their magnificent
poems, in their promises, and in their threatenings.

Nor are the poets of profane antiquity behindhand in their
use of animated nature, for description and for metaphor,—
frequently, as will be seen in the following pages, assisting
greatly to throw a light on the obscurity of those passages
which have tasked the profoundest research.

Homer is particularly happy in illustrating his descriptive
passages by the aid of the habits of animals. Thus, he
compares a warrior, reluctantly leaving the field of battle, to
the king of beasts :—

“So turns the lion from the nightly fold,
Though high in courage, and with hunger bold ;
Long gall’d by huntsmen, and long vex’d by hounds,
Stiff with fatigue, and fretted sore with wounds;

The darts fly round him from a hundred hands,
And the red terrors of the blazing brands ;