Book I, Epigram 104 (Ker)

The leopard carries a spangled yoke on its spotted neck, and savage tigers give obedience to the whip; stags champ jagged golden bits; Libyan bears are cowed by the i-ein; a boar, as huge as the Calydonian of legend, yields to a purple halter; ugly bisons draw two-wheeled Gallic cars, and the elephant, bid lightly to dance, does not say nay to its black master. Who would not think here were sights fit for the gods? Yet he passes these by as lesser marvels, who sees lions hunting humble quarry and wearied by the timorous speed of the hares. They let them go, they retrieve them and fondle their catch, and the prey is safer in their mouths. To receive it the lions delight to offer their jaws loose and gaping, and to keep their teeth careful not to wound, ashamed as they are to crunch such gentle booty when they have just come from laying low steers. Such mercy is not won by training, but the lions know whom they serve!