Note 1410 — AN ESSAY ON MAN, IN FOUR EPISTLES (continued 3)
Reading edition
Dryden, Æn. xii. 963:
An iron harvest mounts, and still remains to mow.—Wakefield.
Pope's image is not sufficiently distinctive. There is only one word, the epithet "iron," to indicate that he is speaking of military renown, and this epithet, drawn from the material of which swords are made, is also applicable to the sickle.