He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and. rage. This is a common metaphor to denote the rapidity with which the horse covers the space that lies before him. Virgil has, "Corripiuut spatia" ('AEnid,' 5.
316); Silius ltalions, "Campum volatu rapucre" (3.308); Shakespeare, "He seemed in running to devour the way." Arab poets have similar expressions (see Bochart, ' Hieroz.,' pt. 1. bk. 2. c. 8). Neither beiieveth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.
(So Schultens, Canon Cook, and our Revisers.) But most recent critics prefer to render, "He standeth not still when the trumpet soundeth," and compare Virgil's "Stare loco nescit" ('Georg.,' 3.84).