Her son was Epaphus, at length believ'd
The son of Jove, and as a god receiv'd.
With sacrifice ador'd, and public prayers,
He common temples with his mother shares.
Equal in years, and rival in renown
With Epaphus, the youthful Phaeton,
Like honour claims,and boasts his sire the Sun.
His haughty looks, and his assuming air,
The son of Isis could no longer bear:
Thou tak'st thy mother's word too far, said he,
And hast usurp'd thy boasted pedigree.
Go, base pretender to a borrow'd name!
Thus tax'd, he blush'd with anger and with
shame;
[youth

But shame repress'd his rage: the daunted
Soon seeks his mother, and inquires the truth:
Mother, said he, this infamy was thrown
By Epaphus, on you, and me your son.
He spoke in public, told it to my face;

Nor durst I vindicate the dire disgrace
E'en I, the bold, the sensible of wrong,

MELEAGER AND ATALANTA, Out of the Eighth book of Ovids Metamorphoses

CONNEXION TO THE FORMER STORY.

Ovid, having told how Theseus had freed Athens from the tribute of children, which was imposed on them by Minos, king of Creta, by killing the Minotaur, here makes a digression to the story of Meleager and Atalanta, which is one of the most inartificial connexions in all the Metamorphoses: for he only says that Theseus obtained such ho nour from that combat,that all Greece had recourse to him in their necessities; and, among others, Calydon, though the hero of that country, prince Meleager, was then living.

FROM him the Caledonians sought relief; Though valiant Meleagrus was their chief. The cause, a boar, who ravag'd far and near, Of Cynthia's wrath the avenging minister. For Eeneus with autumnal plenty bless'd, By gifts to heaven his gratitude express'd:

tongue.

To hear an open slander is a curse:
But not to find an answer, is a worse.
If I am heaven-begot, assert your son

By some sure sign; and make my father known.
To right my honour, and redeem your own.
He said, and saying cast his arms about
Her neck, and begg'd her to resolve the doubt.
"T is hard to judge if Clymene were mov'd,
More by his prayer, whom she so dearly lov'd
Or more with fury fir'd, to find her name

Traduc'd, and made the sport of common fame. She stretch'd her armis to heaven, and fix'd her eyes

On that fair planet that adorns the skies;
Now by those beams, said she, whose holy fires
Consume my breast, and kindle my desires;
By him who sees us both, and cheers our sight,
By him the public minister of light,
I swear that Sun begot thee: if I lie,
Let him his cheerful influence deny :
Let him no more this perjur'd creature see,
And shine on all the world but only me.
If still you doubt your mother's innocence,
His eastern mansion is not far from hence:
With little pains you to his levee go,
And from himself your parentage may know.
With joy the ambitious youth his mother heard,
And eager for the journey soon prepar'd.
He longs the world beneath him to survey;
To guide the chariot, and to give the day:
From Meroe's burning sands he bends his
course,

Nor less in India feels his father's force
His travel urging, till he came in sight,
And saw the palace by the purple light.

To Pan and Pales, offer'd sheep and kine
And fat of olives, to Minerva's shrine.
Beginning from the rural gods, his hand
Was liberal to the powers of high command:
Each deity in every kind was bless'd,

Till at Diana's fane the invidious honour ceas'd.

Wrath touches e'en the gods: the queen of night

Fir'd with disdain, and jealous of her right,
Unhonour'd though I am, at least, said she,
Not unreveng'd that impious act shall be.
Swift as the word she sped the boar away,
With charge on those devoted fields to prey.
No larger bulls the Egyptian pastures feed,
And none so large Sicilian meadows breed:
His eyeballs glare with fire, suffus'd with blood,.
His neck shoots up a thick-set thorny wood;
His bristled back a trench impal'd appears,
And stands erected, like a field of spears.
Froth fills his chaps, he sends a grunting sound,
And part he churns,and part befoams the ground.
For tusks with Indian elephants he strove,
And Jove's own thunder from his mouth he
drove.

He burns the leaves; the scorching blast invades

The tender corn, and shrivels up the blades:
Or, suffering not their yellow beards to rear,
He tramples down the spikes, and intercepts the

With olives ever green the round is strow'd, And grapes ungather'd shed their generous blood.

Amid the fold he rages, nor the sheep [keep.
Their shepherds, nor the grooms their bulls can
From fields to walls the frighted rabble run,
Nor think themselves secure within the town:
Till Meleagrus, and his chosen crew,
Contemn the danger, and the praise pursue.
Fair Leda's twins, (in time to stars decreed,)
One fought on foot, one curb'd the fiery steed;
Then issued forth fam'd Jason after these,
Who mann'd the foremost ship that sail'd the

seas;

Then Theseus, join'd with bold Pirithous,came,
A single concord in a double name:

The Thestian sons, Idas who swiftly ran,
And Ceneus, once a woman, now a man.
Lynceus, with eagle's eyes, and lion's heart;
Leucippus, with his never-erring dart;
Acastus, Phileus, Phoenix, Telamon,
Echion, Lelex, and Eurytion,
Achilles' father, and great Phocus' son;
Dryas the fierce, and Hippasus the strong;
With twice old Iolas, and Nestor then but
young.

Laertes active, and Ancæus bold;

Mopsus the sage, who future things foretold;
And t' other seer yet by his wife unsold.
A thousand others of immortal fame;
Among the rest fair Atalanta came,
Grace of the woods: a diamond buckle bound
Her vest behind, that else had flow'd upon the
ground,
[bare,
And show'd her buskin'd legs; her head was
But for her native ornament of hair;
Which in a simple knot was tied above,
Sweet negligence, unheeded bait of love!
Her sounding quiver on her shoulder tied,
One hand a dart, and one a bow supplied.
Such was her face, as in a nymph display'd
A fair fierce boy, or in a boy betray'd
The blushing beauties of a modest maid.
The Caledonian chief at once the dame
Beheld, at once his heart receiv'd the flame,
With heavens averse. O happy youth, he cried;
For whom thy fates reserve so fair a bride!
He sigh'd and had no leisure more to say;
His honour call'd his eyes another way,
And force him to pursue the now neglected
prey.

There stood a forest on the mountain's brow,
Which overlook'd the shaded plains below.
No sounding axe presumed those trees to bite;
Coeval with the world, a venerable sight.
The heroes there arriv'd, some spread around
The toils, some search the footsteps on the
ground,

Some from the chains the faithful dogs unbound.

Of action eager, and intent on thought,
The chiefs their honourable danger sought,
A valley stood below; the common drain
Of waters from above, and falling rain:
The bottom was a moist and marshy ground,
Whose edges were with bending osiers crown'd;
The knotty bulrush next in order stood,
And all within of reeds a trembling wood.
From hence the Doar was rous'd, and sprung
amain,

Like lightning sudden, on the warrior-train; Beats down the trees before him, shakes the ground,

The forest echoes to the crackling sound; Shout the fierce youth,and clamours ring around All stood with their protended spears prepar'd, With broad steel heads the brandish'd weapons

glar'd.

The beast impetuous with his tusks aside Deals glancing wounds; the fearful dogs divide : All spend their mouths aloft, but none abide Echion threw the first, but miss'd his mark, And stuck his boar-spear on a maple's bark. Then Jason; and his javelin seem'd to take, But fail'd with over-force, and whizz'd above his back.

Mopsus was next; but, ere he threw, address'd To Phoebus thus: O patron, help thy priest; If I adore, and ever have ador'd

Thy power divine, thy present aid afford; That I may reach the beast. The god allow'd His prayer, and, smiling, gave him what he could:

He reach'd the savage, but no blood he drew, Dian unarm'd the javelin as it flew.

[pire,

This chaf'd the boar, his nostrils flames ex-
And his red eyeballs roll with living fire.
Whirl'd from a sling, or from an engine thrown.
Amidst the foes, so flies a mighty stone,
As flew the beast: the left wing put to flight,
The chiefs o'erborne, he rushes on the right.
Empalamos and Pelagon he laid [aid.

In dust, and next to death, but for their fellows'
Onesimus far'd worse, prepar'd to fly ;
The fatal fang drove deep within his thigh,
And cut the nerves; the nerves no more sustain
The bulk; the bulk unpropp'd falls headlong on
the plain.

Nestor had fail'd the fall of Troy to see,
But, leaning on his lance, he vaulted on a tree,
Then gathering up his feet, look'd down with
fear,

And thought his monstrous foe was still too near. Against a stump his tusk the monster grinds, And in the sharpen'd edge new vigour finds; Then, trusting to his arms, young Othrys found,

And ranch'd his hips with one continu'd wound. Now Leda's twins, the future stars, appear; White were their habits, white their horses

were;

Conspicuous both, and both in act to throw,
Their trembling lances brandish'd at the foe:
Nor had they miss'd; but he to thickets fled,
Conceal'd from aiming spears, not pervious to
the steed.

But Telamon rush'd in, and happ'd to meet
A rising root, that held his fasten'd feet;
So down he fell, whom, sprawling on the ground,
His brother from the wooden gyves unbound.
Meantime the virgin-huntress was not slow
To expel the shaft from her contracted bow:
Beneath his ear the fasten'd arrow stood,
And from the wound appear'd the trickling
blood.

She blush'd for joy: But Meleagrus rais'd
His voice with loud applause, and the fair
archer prais'd.

He was the first to see, and first to show
His friends the marks of the successful blow.
Nor shall thy valour want the praises due,
He said; a virtuous envy seiz'd the crew.
They shout, the shouting animates their hearts,
And all at once employ their thronging darts;
But out of order thrown, in air they join;
And multitude makes frustrate the design.
With both his hands the proud Ancæus takes,
And flourishes his double-biting axe:
Then forward to his fate, he took a stride
Before the rest, and to his fellows cried,
Give place, and mark the difference, if you can,
Between a woman-warrior and a man ;
The boar is doom'd; nor, though Diana lend
Her aid, Diana can her beast defend.
Thus boasted he; then stretch'd, on tiptoe stood,
Secure to make his empty promise good.
But the more wary beast prevents the blow,
And upward rips the groin of his audacious foe.
Ancæus falls; his bowels from the wound
Rush out, and clotted blood distains the ground.
Pirithous, no small portion of the war,
Press'd on, and shook his lance; to whom from
far

Thus Theseus cried: O stay, my better part,
My more than mistress; of my heart, the heart:
The strong may fight aloof: Ancæus tried
His force too near, and by presuming died:
He said, and, while he spake, his javelin
threw:

Hissing in air the unerring weapon flew ;
But on an arm of oak, that stood betwixt
The marksman and the mark, his lance he fixt.
Once more bold Jason threw, but failed to
wound

The boar, and slew an undeserving hound;

And through the dog the dart was nail'd to ground.

Two spears from Meleager's hand were sent, With equal force, but various in the event: The first was fix'd in earth, the second stood On the boar's bristled back, and deeply drank his blood.

Now while the tortur'd salvage turns around,
And flings about his foam, impatient of the
wound;
[vokes
The wound's great author close at hand pro-
His rage, and plies him with redoubled strokes;
Wheels as he wheels; and with his pointed dart
Explores the nearest passage to his heart.
Quick and more quick he spins in giddy gyres,
Then falls, and in much foam his soul expires.
This act with shouts heaven-high the friendly
band

Applaud, and strain in theirs the victor's hand.
Then all approach the slain with vast surprise,
Admire on what a breadth of earth he lies;
And, scarce secure, reach out their spears afar,
And blood their points, to prove their partner.

ship of war.

But he, the conquering chief, his foot impress'd
On the strong neck of that destructive beast;
And gazing on the nymph with ardent eyes,
Accept, said he, fair Nonacrine, my prize
And, though inferior, suffer me to join
My labours, and my part of praise, with thine;
At this presents her with the tusky head
And chine, with rising bristles roughly spread.
Glad, she receiv'd the gift: and seem'd to take
With double pleasure, for the giver's sake.
The rest were seiz'd with sullen discontent,
And a deaf murmur through the squadron went:
All envied; but the Thestyan brethren show'd
The least respect, and thus they vent their
spleen aloud:
[share,
Lay down those honour'd spoils, nor think to
Weak woman as thou art, the prize of war:
Ours is the title, thine a foreign claim,
Since Meleagrus from our lineage came.
Trust not thy beauty; but restore the prize,
Which he, besotted on that face and eyes,
Would rend from us. At this, inflamed with
spite,

From her they snatch the gift, from him the giver's right.

But soon the impatient prince his fauchion

drew,

And cried, Ye robbers of another's due
Now learn the difference, at your proper cost
Betwixt true valour, and an empty boast.
At this advanc'd, and, sudden as the word,
In proud Plexippus' bosom plung'd the sword:
Toxeus amaz'd, and with amazement slow,
Or to revenge, or ward the coming blow,

Stood doubting; and while doubting thus he stood,

Receiv'd the steel bath'd in his brother's blood. Pleas'd with the first, unknown the second news,

Althea to the temples pays their dues
For her son's conquest; when a length appear
Her grisly brethren stretch'd upon the bier :
Pale at the sudden sight, she chang'd her cheer,
And with her cheer her robes; but hearing tell
The cause, the manner, and by whom they fell,
'T was grief no more, or grief and rage were one
Within her soul: at last 't was rage alone;
Which burning upwards in succession dries
The tears that stood considering in her eyes.
There lay a log unlighted on the earth:
When she was lab'ring in the throes of birth
For the unborn chief, the fatal sisters came,
And rais'd it up, and toss'd it on the flame:
Then on the rock a scanty measure place
Of vital flax, and turn'd the wheel apace;
And turning sung, to this red brand and thee,
O new-born babe, we give an equal destiny:
So vanish'd out of view. The frighted dame
Sprung hasty from her bed and quench'd the
flame:

The log, in secret lock'd, she kept with care, And that, while thus preserv'd, preserv'd her heir.

This brand she now produc'd; and first she

strows

The hearth with heaps of chips,and after blows; Thrice heav'd her hand, and heav'd, she thrice repress'd:

The sister and the mother long contest,
Two doubtful titles in one tender breast;
And now her eyes and cheeks with fury glow,
Now pale her cheeks, her eyes with pity flow;
Now low'ring looks presage approaching storms,
And now prevailing love her face reforms:
Resolv'd, she doubts again; the tears she dried
With blushing rage, are by new tears supplied;
And as a ship, which winds and waves assail,
Now with the current drives, now with the gale,
Both opposite, and neither long prevail.
She feels a double force, by turns obeys
The imperious tempest, and the impetuous seas;
So fares Althea's mind; first she relents
With pity of that pity then repents:
Sister and mother long the scales divide,
But the beam nodded on the sister's side.
Sometimes she softly sigh'd, then roar'd aloud;
But sighs were stifled in the cries of blood.

The pious impious wretch at length decreed, To please her brothers' ghosts, her son should

bleed;

And when the funeral flames began to rise, Receive, she said, a sister's sacrifice:

A mother's bowels burn; high in her hand,
Thus while she spoke, she held the fatal brand:
Then thrice before the kindled pile she bow'd,
And the three Furies thrice invok'd aloud :
Come, come, revenging sisters, come and view
A sister paying her dead brother's due:
A crime I punish, and a crime commit;
But blood for blood, and death for death is fit:
Great crimes must be with greater crimes re
paid,

And second funerals on the former laid."
Let the whole household in one ruin fall,
And may Diana's curse o'ertake us all.
Shall fate to happy Eneus still allow
One son, while Thestius stands depriv'd of two!
Better three lost, than one unpunish'd go.
Take then, dear ghosts, (while yet admitted

new

In hell, you wait my duty,) take your due:
A costly offering on your tomb is laid,
When with my blood the price of yours is paid.

Ah! whither am I hurried? Ah! forgive, Ye shades, and let your sister's issue live; A mother cannot give him death; though he Deserves it, he deserves it not from me.

Then shall the unpunish'd wretch insult the slain,

Triumphant live? not only live, but reign? While you, thin shades, the sport of winds,

are tost

O'er dreary plains, or dread the burning coast.
I cannot, cannot bear; 't is past, 't is done:
Perish this impious, this detested son;
Perish his sire, and perish I withal; [fall.
And let the house's heir, and the hop'd kingdom
Where is the mother fled, her pious love,
And where the pains with which ten months I
strove!

Ah! hadst thou died, my son, in infant years,
Thy little hearse had been bedew'd with tears.
Thou liv'st by me; to me thy breath resign;
Mine is the merit, the demerit thine.
Thy life by double title I require;
Once given at birth, and once preserv'd from
One murder pay, or add one murder more,
And me to them who fell by thee restore.

[fire.

I would, but cannot: my son's image stands Before my sight; and now their angry hands My brothers hold, and vengeance these exact, This pleads compassion, and repents the fact.

He pleads in vain, and I pronounce his doom: My brothers, though unjustly, shall o'ercome. But having paid their injur'd ghosts their due, My son requires my death, and mine shall his pursue.

At this for the last time she lifts her hand, Averts her eyes, and half unwilling, drops the brand.