Abroad the sword, &c.— Without, the sword bereaveth; within, the mortality. Virgil has an expression remarkably similar to this:
Crudelis ubique Luctus, ubique pavor, et plurima mortis imago. AEN. ii. l. 368.
Death in a thousand forms destructive frown'd, And woe, despair, and horror rag'd around. PITT.
Or, as our great poet describes the lazar-house,
———————————————Despair Tended the sick busiest from couch to couch; And over them triumphant Death his dart Shook. PARADISE LOST, b. xi. 489, &c.
Death acting as it were in propria persona; and not by the instrumentality of another, as when a person is slain by the sword.