Aitareyabrahmana 4.3

4.3

Now therefore he interweaves the metres.
With 'Let the bay steeds bring thee hither' and 'Hearken well to our songs',
he interweaves gāyatrīs and paṅktis.
Man is of the nature of the gāyatrī, cattle of the paṅkti.
He thus interweaves man with cattle, he establishes him in cattle.
Moreover, a gāyatrī and a paṅkti make two anuṣṭubhs;
thereby he does not depart from the form of speech, from the form of the anuṣṭubh, from the form of the thunderbolt.
With 'When, O Indra, in battle' and 'May this be pleasing to thee',
he interweaves uṣṇihs and bṛhatīs.
Man is of the nature of the uṣṇih, cattle of the bṛhatī.
He thus interweaves man with cattle, he establishes him in cattle.
Moreover, an uṣṇih and a bṛhatī make two anuṣṭubhs;
thereby he does not depart from the form of speech, from the form of the anuṣṭubh, from the form of the thunderbolt.
With 'Unto the yokes for him' and 'O hero, enjoying the prayer made by the priest',
he interweaves a two-footed [verse] and a triṣṭubh.
Man is two-footed; the triṣṭubh is virility.
He thus interweaves man with virility, he establishes him in virility.
Therefore man, established in virility, is the most virile of all cattle.
Moreover, a two-footed [verse] and a twenty-syllabled triṣṭubh make two anuṣṭubhs;
thereby he does not depart from the form of speech, from the form of the anuṣṭubh, from the form of the thunderbolt.
With 'This priest' and 'For thee in the great sacrifice I would praise the two bay steeds',
he interweaves two-footed [verses] and jagatīs.
Man is two-footed; cattle belong to the jagatī.
He thus interweaves man with cattle, he establishes him in cattle.
Therefore man, established in cattle, eats them, rules over them, and they are in his power.
Moreover, a two-footed [verse] and a sixteen-syllabled jagatī make two anuṣṭubhs;
thereby he does not depart from the form of speech, from the form of the anuṣṭubh, from the form of the thunderbolt.
With 'In the Trikadruka rites, the buffalo, the barley-mixture'
and 'Forward indeed for him the foremost chariot', he recites atichandas metres.
Whatever sap overflowed (aty-akṣarat) from the metres, that overflowed into the atichandas;
that is the atichandas-ness of the atichandas.
The ṣoḷaśin is fashioned out of all the metres.
In that he recites atichandas metres,
he fashions it out of all the metres.
He succeeds through the ṣoḷaśin fashioned out of all metres who knows thus.