BOOK I.

These fight, these hold the necks, these press on with bites;
These devour their meat rations. original: "coliphia". These were nutritious cuts of meat traditionally fed to athletes or wrestlers to maintain their strength.
And they undergo life-threatening risks with the Bristly ones, The "Bristly ones" refers to the wild boars.
And they bring the struggle to the sands.
When the Boar, turned this way and that toward every blow,
Strikes the dogs like lightning in a circle:
Man only watches, just as once the idle commoners
Of Romulus watched the games in the Circus. Romulus was the legendary founder of Rome. The poet compares the modern hunter to a lazy Roman citizen watching gladiators or beasts in the arena.
Only when he is safe does he lend his hand to playful anger
Against the captured enemy.
O therefore, Latium, decree a triumph for the Dogs, Latium is the region of Italy containing Rome. A "triumph" was the highest honor for a Roman general, involving a grand parade into the city.
Who are worthy to enter the senate-house. THE READER,
Let DORCEUS go first: let CANACHE accompany him: The names listed here—Dorceus, Canache, Hylachnes, Pamphagus, etc.—are taken from Ovid’s "Metamorphoses," specifically the pack of dogs that tore apart the hunter Actaeon.
Let PAMPHAGUS follow HYLACHNES.
But let DROMAS and LADON join the fellowship of their kind.
Let THOUS surround MELANCHAETES. the white ones,
Then after ICHNOBATES and THERIDAMAS,
And the Spartan TIGRESSES.
Let the Barker ANUBIS go as the robe-wearing Dictator. Anubis is the Egyptian jackal-headed god of the dead. A "trabea" was a ceremonial striped robe worn by Roman kings, consuls, and augurs.
Let the Egyptians pull the chariot.
Let the rattles and the Nile sound from afar, with Canopus venerating The "sistrum" was a handheld rattle used in the worship of the Egyptian goddess Isis. Canopus was an ancient Egyptian coastal city.
The face of the snarling deity.
Behind, let the chained swine be led, and bears,
If Fortune added any to the catch.
Let the living be set out with their feet bound behind their backs:
Let the dead be carried openly.
And when the story of the DOG PROCESSION reaches
The ignoble rock of the Capitol: The Capitoline Hill was the destination of a Roman triumph. Calling the rock "ignoble" (shameful) emphasizes the absurdity of holding a triumph for dogs.
Let a fatter CERBEREAN MORSEL be given to the VICTOR: A "Cerberean offa" refers to the honey-cake or "sop" given to Cerberus, the three-headed dog of the underworld, to pacify him.
And let him sleep in the Meat-Market.

VIII.

He who desires the Swedes to be driven from the German land,
Across the sedge of icy Bootes; Bootes is a northern constellation. This refers to driving the Swedish army back to the cold North during the Thirty Years' War.
Let him collect from the hunting troops a battle-line fit for action,
When about to move against the Thracians and the Hun. Thracians and Huns are used here as classical stand-ins for modern eastern enemies or general "barbarians."