of the university of Oxford originated in this usage; and I think the conjecture is well grounded.
Cacus may have suggested the idea, who ornamented his house with such filthy decorations.
Semperque recenti,
Cæde tepebat humus; foribus affixa superbis
Ora virûm tristi pallebant pallida tabo.
Æneid. lib. vii.
The monster, slaughtered by the brethren two,
Upon the sand beside the haven lies;
And hence no wrong they to Orrilo do,
Assailing him together in this guise.
Him they dismembered often and not slew:
Nor he, because dismembered, ever dies;
For he replaces leg or hand like wax,
Which the keen faulchion from his body hacks.
Stanza lxix.
They did no wrong to Orrilo, because he had brought an assistant into the field, and the match had been two against two.
The feat related of Orrilo has a parallel in “Mule without a bridle.”
Swift as he spoke, Sir Gawain whirled his blade,
And at his feet the griesly mass was laid.
What words can paint his wonder, to behold,
As the huge head along the pavement rolled,
The trunk pursue, the severed parts unite,
And the whole man pass suddenly from sight? &c.
Way’s Fabliaux, line 221.
Two ladies, meetly clad in fair array,
One damsel was in black and one in white.
Stanza lxxii. lines 1 and 2.
See the Innamorato for the story of these two fairies.
