The Story of Meleager and Atalanta
8:406 From him the Caledonians sought relief;
8:407 Though valiant Meleagros was
their chief.
8:408 The cause, a boar, who ravag'd
far and near:
8:409 Of Cynthia's wrath, th' avenging
minister.
8:410 For Oeneus with autumnal plenty
bless'd,
8:411 By gifts to Heav'n his gratitude
express'd:
8:412 Cull'd sheafs, to Ceres; to Lyaeus,
wine;
8:413 To Pan, and Pales, offer'd sheep
and kine;
8:414 And fat of olives, to Minerva's
shrine.
8:415 Beginning from the rural Gods,
his hand
8:416 Was lib'ral to the Pow'rs of
high command:
8:417 Each deity in ev'ry kind was
bless'd,
8:418 'Till at Diana's fane th' invidious
honour ceas'd.
8:419 Wrath touches ev'n the Gods; the Queen of
Night,
8:420 Fir'd with disdain, and jealous
of her right,
8:421 Unhonour'd though I am, at least,
said she,
8:422 Not unreveng'd that impious act
shall be.
8:423 Swift as the word, she sped the
boar away,
8:424 With charge on those devoted
fields to prey.
8:425 No larger bulls th' Aegyptian
pastures feed,
8:426 And none so large Sicilian meadows
breed:
8:427 His eye-balls glare with fire
suffus'd with blood;
8:428 His neck shoots up a thick-set
thorny wood;
8:429 His bristled back a trench impal'd
appears,
8:430 And stands erected, like a field
of spears;
8:431 Froth fills his chaps, he sends
a grunting sound,
8:432 And part he churns, and part
befoams the ground,
8:433 For tusks with Indian elephants
he strove,
8:434 And Jove's own thunder from his
mouth he drove.
8:435 He burns the leaves; the scorching
blast invades
8:436 The tender corn, and shrivels
up the blades:
8:437 Or suff'ring not their yellow
beards to rear,
8:438 He tramples down the spikes,
and intercepts the year:
8:439 In vain the barns expect their
promis'd load,
8:440 Nor barns at home, nor recks
are heap'd abroad:
8:441 In vain the hinds the threshing-floor
prepare,
8:442 And exercise their flail in empty
air.
8:443 With olives ever-green the ground
is strow'd,
8:444 And grapes ungather'd shed their
gen'rous blood.
8:445 Amid the fold he rages, nor the
sheep
8:446 Their shepherds, nor the grooms
their bulls can keep.
8:447 From fields to walls the frighted rabble
run,
8:448 Nor think themselves secure within
the town:
8:449 'Till Meleagros, and his chosen
crew,
8:450 Contemn the danger, and the praise
pursue.
8:451 Fair Leda's twins (in time to
stars decreed)
8:452 One fought on foot, one curb'd
the fiery steed;
8:453 Then issu'd forth fam'd Jason
after these,
8:454 Who mann'd the foremost ship
that sail'd the seas;
8:455 Then Theseus join'd with bold
Perithous came;
8:456 A single concord in a double
name:
8:457 The Thestian sons, Idas who swiftly
ran,
8:458 And Ceneus, once a woman, now
a man.
8:459 Lynceus, with eagle's eyes, and
lion's heart;
8:460 Leucippus, with his never-erring
dart;
8:461 Acastus, Phileus, Phoenix, Telamon,
8:462 Echion, Lelix, and Eurytion,
8:463 Achilles' father, and great Phocus'
son;
8:464 Dryas the fierce, and Hippasus
the strong;
8:465 With twice old Iolas, and Nestor
then but young.
8:466 Laertes active, and Ancaeus bold;
8:467 Mopsus the sage, who future things
foretold;
8:468 And t' other seer, yet by his
wife unsold.
8:469 A thousand others of immortal
fame;
8:470 Among the rest, fair Atalanta
came,
8:471 Grace of the woods: a diamond
buckle bound
8:472 Her vest behind, that else had
flow'd upon the ground,
8:473 And shew'd her buskin'd legs;
her head was bare,
8:474 But for her native ornament of
hair;
8:475 Which in a simple knot was ty'd
above,
8:476 Sweet negligence! unheeded bait
of love!
8:477 Her sounding quiver, on her shoulder
ty'd,
8:478 One hand a dart, and one a bow
supply'd.
8:479 Such was her face, as in a nymph
display'd
8:480 A fair fierce boy, or in a boy
betray'd
8:481 The blushing beauties of a modest
maid.
8:482 The Caledonian chief at once
the dame
8:483 Beheld, at once his heart receiv'd
the flame,
8:484 With Heav'ns averse. O happy
youth, he cry'd;
8:485 For whom thy fates reserve so
fair a bride!
8:486 He sigh'd, and had no leisure
more to say;
8:487 His honour call'd his eyes another
way,
8:488 And forc'd him to pursue the
now-neglected prey.
8:489 There stood a forest on a mountain's brow,
8:490 Which over-look'd the shaded
plains below.
8:491 No sounding ax presum'd those
trees to bite;
8:492 Coeval with the world, a venerable
sight.
8:493 The heroes there arriv'd, some
spread around
8:494 The toils; some search the footsteps
on the ground:
8:495 Some from the chains the faithful
dogs unbound.
8:496 Of action eager, and intent in
thought,
8:497 The chiefs their honourable danger
sought:
8:498 A valley stood below; the common
drain
8:499 Of waters from above, and falling
rain:
8:500 The bottom was a moist, and marshy
ground,
8:501 Whose edges were with bending
oziers crown'd:
8:502 The knotty bulrush next in order
stood,
8:503 And all within of reeds a trembling
wood.
8:504 From hence the boar was rous'd, and sprung
amain,
8:505 Like lightning sudden, on the
warrior train;
8:506 Beats down the trees before him,
shakes the ground.
8:507 The forest echoes to the crackling
sound;
8:508 Shout the fierce youth, and clamours
ring around.
8:509 All stood with their protended
spears prepar'd,
8:510 With broad steel heads the brandish'd
weapons glar'd.
8:511 The beast impetuous with his
tusks aside
8:512 Deals glancing wounds; the fearful
dogs divide:
8:513 All spend their mouths aloof,
but none abide.
8:514 Echion threw the first, but miss'd
his mark,
8:515 And stuck his boar-spear on a
maple's bark.
8:516 Then Jason; and his javelin seem'd
to take,
8:517 But fail'd with over-force, and
whiz'd above his back.
8:518 Mopsus was next; but e'er he
threw, address'd
8:519 To Phoebus, thus: O patron, help
thy priest:
8:520 If I adore, and ever have ador'd
8:521 Thy pow'r divine, thy present
aid afford;
8:522 That I may reach the beast. The
God allow'd
8:523 His pray'r, and smiling, gave
him what he cou'd:
8:524 He reach'd the savage, but no
blood he drew:
8:525 Diana unarm'd the javelin, as
it flew.
8:526 This chaf'd the boar, his nostrils flames
expire,
8:527 And his red eye-balls roul with
living fire.
8:528 Whirl'd from a sling, or from
an engine thrown,
8:529 Amid the foes, so flies a mighty
stone,
8:530 As flew the beast: the left wing
put to flight,
8:531 The chiefs o'er-born, he rushes
on the right.
8:532 Eupalamos and Pelagon he laid
8:533 In dust, and next to death, but
for their fellows' aid.
8:534 Onesimus far'd worse, prepar'd
to fly,
8:535 The fatal fang drove deep within
his thigh,
8:536 And cut the nerves: the nerves
no more sustain
8:537 The bulk; the bulk unprop'd,
falls headlong on the plain.
8:538 Nestor had fail'd the fall of Troy to see,
8:539 But leaning on his lance, he
vaulted on a tree;
8:540 Then gath'ring up his feet, look'd
down with fear,
8:541 And thought his monstrous foe
was still too near.
8:542 Against a stump his tusk the
monster grinds,
8:543 And in the sharpen'd edge new
vigour finds;
8:544 Then, trusting to his arms, young
Othrys found,
8:545 And ranch'd his hips with one
continu'd wound.
8:546 Now Leda's twins, the future stars, appear;
8:547 White were their habits, white
their horses were:
8:548 Conspicuous both, and both in
act to throw,
8:549 Their trembling lances brandish'd
at the foe:
8:550 Nor had they miss'd; but he to
thickets fled,
8:551 Conceal'd from aiming spears,
not pervious to the steed.
8:552 But Telamon rush'd in, and happ'd
to meet
8:553 A rising root, that held his
fastned feet;
8:554 So down he fell, whom, sprawling
on the ground,
8:555 His brother from the wooden gyves
unbound.
8:556 Mean-time the virgin-huntress was not slow
8:557 T' expel the shaft from her contracted
bow:
8:558 Beneath his ear the fastned arrow
stood,
8:559 And from the wound appear'd the
trickling blood.
8:560 She blush'd for joy: but Meleagros
rais'd
8:561 His voice with loud applause,
and the fair archer prais'd.
8:562 He was the first to see, and
first to show
8:563 His friends the marks of the
successful blow.
8:564 Nor shall thy valour want the
praises due,
8:565 He said; a virtuous envy seiz'd
the crew.
8:566 They shout; the shouting animates
their hearts,
8:567 And all at once employ their
thronging darts:
8:568 But out of order thrown, in air
they joyn,
8:569 And multitude makes frustrate
the design.
8:570 With both his hands the proud
Ancaeus takes,
8:571 And flourishes his double-biting
ax:
8:572 Then, forward to his fate, he
took a stride
8:573 Before the rest, and to his fellows
cry'd,
8:574 Give place, and mark the diff'rence,
if you can,
8:575 Between a woman warrior, and
a man,
8:576 The boar is doom'd; nor though
Diana lend
8:577 Her aid, Diana can her beast
defend.
8:578 Thus boasted he; then stretch'd,
on tiptoe stood,
8:579 Secure to make his empty promise
good.
8:580 But the more wary beast prevents
the blow,
8:581 And upward rips the groin of
his audacious foe.
8:582 Ancaeus falls; his bowels from
the wound
8:583 Rush out, and clotted blood distains
the ground.
8:584 Perithous, no small portion of the war,
8:585 Press'd on, and shook his lance:
to whom from far
8:586 Thus Theseus cry'd; O stay, my
better part,
8:587 My more than mistress; of my
heart, the heart.
8:588 The strong may fight aloof; Ancaeus
try'd
8:589 His force too near, and by presuming
dy'd:
8:590 He said, and while he spake his
javelin threw,
8:591 Hissing in air th' unerring weapon
flew;
8:592 But on an arm of oak, that stood
betwixt
8:593 The marks-man and the mark, his
lance he fixt.
8:594 Once more bold Jason threw, but fail'd to
wound
8:595 The boar, and slew an undeserving
hound,
8:596 And thro' the dog the dart was
nail'd to ground.
8:597 Two spears from Meleager's hand were sent,
8:598 With equal force, but various
in th' event:
8:599 The first was fix'd in earth,
the second stood
8:600 On the boar's bristled back,
and deeply drank his blood.
8:601 Now while the tortur'd savage
turns around,
8:602 And flings about his foam, impatient
of the wound,
8:603 The wound's great author close
at hand provokes
8:604 His rage, and plies him with
redoubled strokes;
8:605 Wheels, as he wheels; and with
his pointed dart
8:606 Explores the nearest passage
to his heart.
8:607 Quick, and more quick he spins
in giddy gires,
8:608 Then falls, and in much foam
his soul expires.
8:609 This act with shouts heav'n-high
the friendly band
8:610 Applaud, and strain in theirs
the victor's hand.
8:611 Then all approach the slain with
vast surprize,
8:612 Admire on what a breadth of earth
he lies,
8:613 And scarce secure, reach out
their spears afar,
8:614 And blood their points, to prove
their partnership of war.
8:615 But he, the conqu'ring chief, his foot impress'd
8:616 On the strong neck of that destructive
beast;
8:617 And gazing on the nymph with
ardent eyes,
8:618 Accept, said he, fair Nonacrine,
my prize,
8:619 And, though inferior, suffer
me to join
8:620 My labours, and my part of praise,
with thine:
8:621 At this presents her with the
tusky head
8:622 And chine, with rising bristles
roughly spread.
8:623 Glad she receiv'd the gift; and
seem'd to take
8:624 With double pleasure, for the
giver's sake.
8:625 The rest were seiz'd with sullen
discontent,
8:626 And a deaf murmur through the
squadron went:
8:627 All envy'd; but the Thestyan
brethren show'd
8:628 The least respect, and thus they
vent their spleen aloud:
8:629 Lay down those honour'd spoils,
nor think to share,
8:630 Weak woman as thou art, the prize
of war:
8:631 Ours is the title, thine a foreign
claim,
8:632 Since Meleagrus from our lineage
came.
8:633 Trust not thy beauty; but restore
the prize,
8:634 Which he, besotted on that face,
and eyes,
8:635 Would rend from us: at this,
enflam'd with spite,
8:636 From her they snatch the gift,
from him the giver's right.
8:637 But soon th' impatient prince his fauchion
drew,
8:638 And cry'd, Ye robbers of another's
due,
8:639 Now learn the diff'rence, at
your proper cost,
8:640 Betwixt true valour, and an empty
boast.
8:641 At this advanc'd, and sudden
as the word,
8:642 In proud Plexippus' bosom plung'd
the sword:
8:643 Toxeus amaz'd, and with amazement
slow,
8:644 Or to revenge, or ward the coming
blow,
8:645 Stood doubting; and while doubting
thus he stood,
8:646 Receiv'd the steel bath'd in
his brother's blood.
8:647 Pleas'd with the first, unknown the second
news;
8:648 Althaea to the temples pays their
dues
8:649 For her son's conquest; when
at length appear
8:650 Her grisly brethren stretch'd
upon the bier:
8:651 Pale at the sudden sight, she
chang'd her cheer,
8:652 And with her cheer her robes;
but hearing tell
8:653 The cause, the manner, and by
whom they fell,
8:654 'Twas grief no more, or grief
and rage were one
8:655 Within her soul; at last 'twas
rage alone;
8:656 Which burning upwards in succession,
dries
8:657 The tears, that stood consid'ring
in her eyes.
8:658 There lay a log unlighted on the hearth,
8:659 When she was lab'ring in the
throws of birth
8:660 For th' unborn chief; the fatal
sisters came,
8:661 And rais'd it up, and toss'd
it on the flame:
8:662 Then on the rock a scanty measure
place
8:663 Of vital flax, and turn'd the
wheel apace;
8:664 And turning sung, To this red
brand and thee,
8:665 O new born babe, we give an equal
destiny;
8:666 So vanish'd out of view. The
frighted dame
8:667 Sprung hasty from her bed, and
quench'd the flame:
8:668 The log, in secret lock'd, she
kept with care,
8:669 And that, while thus preserv'd,
preserv'd her heir.
8:670 This brand she now produc'd;
and first she strows
8:671 The hearth with heaps of chips,
and after blows;
8:672 Thrice heav'd her hand, and heav'd,
she thrice repress'd:
8:673 The sister and the mother long
contest,
8:674 Two doubtful titles, in one tender
breast:
8:675 And now her eyes, and cheeks
with fury glow,
8:676 Now pale her cheeks, her eyes
with pity flow:
8:677 Now low'ring looks presage approaching
storms,
8:678 And now prevailing love her face
reforms:
8:679 Resolv'd, she doubts again; the
tears she dry'd
8:680 With burning rage, are by new
tears supply'd;
8:681 And as a ship, which winds and
waves assail
8:682 Now with the current drives,
now with the gale,
8:683 Both opposite, and neither long
prevail:
8:684 She feels a double force, by
turns obeys
8:685 Th' imperious tempest, and th'
impetuous seas:
8:686 So fares Althaea's mind, she
first relents
8:687 With pity, of that pity then
repents:
8:688 Sister, and mother long the scales
divide,
8:689 But the beam nodded on the sister's
side.
8:690 Sometimes she softly sigh'd,
then roar'd aloud;
8:691 But sighs were stifled in the
cries of blood.
8:692 The pious, impious wretch at length decreed,
8:693 To please her brothers' ghost,
her son should bleed:
8:694 And when the fun'ral flames began
to rise,
8:695 Receive, she said, a sister's
sacrifice;
8:696 A mother's bowels burn: high
in her hand,
8:697 Thus while she spoke, she held
the fatal brand;
8:698 Then thrice before the kindled
pile she bow'd,
8:699 And the three Furies thrice invok'd
aloud:
8:700 Come, come, revenging sisters,
come, and view
8:701 A sister paying her dead brothers
due:
8:702 A crime I punish, and a crime
commit;
8:703 But blood for blood, and death
for death is fit:
8:704 Great crimes must be with greater
crimes repaid,
8:705 And second fun'rals on the former
laid.
8:706 Let the whole houshold in one
ruin fall,
8:707 And may Diana's curse o'ertake
us all.
8:708 Shall Fate to happy Oenus still
allow
8:709 One son, while Thestius stands
depriv'd of two?
8:710 Better three lost, than one unpunish'd
go.
8:711 Take then, dear ghosts (while
yet admitted new
8:712 In Hell you wait my duty), take
your due:
8:713 A costly off'ring on your tomb
is laid,
8:714 When with my blood the price
of yours is paid.
8:715 Ah! whither am I hurry'd? Ah! forgive,
8:716 Ye shades, and let your sister's
issue live;
8:717 A mother cannot give him death;
tho' he
8:718 Deserves it, he deserves it not
from me.
8:719 Then shall th' unpunish'd wretch insult the
slain,
8:720 Triumphant live, nor only live,
but reign?
8:721 While you, thin shades, the sport
of winds, are tost
8:722 O'er dreary plains, or tread
the burning coast.
8:723 I cannot, cannot bear; 'tis past,
'tis done;
8:724 Perish this impious, this detested
son:
8:725 Perish his sire, and perish I
withal;
8:726 And let the house's heir, and
the hop'd kingdom fall.
8:727 Where is the mother fled, her pious love,
8:728 And where the pains with which
ten months I strove!
8:729 Ah! had'st thou dy'd, my son,
in infant years,
8:730 Thy little herse had been bedew'd
with tears.
8:731 Thou liv'st by me; to me thy breath resign;
8:732 Mine is the merit, the demerit
thine.
8:733 Thy life by double title I require;
8:734 Once giv'n at birth, and once
preserv'd from fire:
8:735 One murder pay, or add one murder
more,
8:736 And me to them who fell by thee
restore.
8:737 I would, but cannot: my son's
image stands
8:738 Before my sight; and now their
angry hands
8:739 My brothers hold, and vengeance
these exact;
8:740 This pleads compassion, and repents
the fact.
8:741 He pleads in vain, and I pronounce
his doom:
8:742 My brothers, though unjustly,
shall o'ercome.
8:743 But having paid their injur'd
ghosts their due,
8:744 My son requires my death, and
mine shall his pursue.
8:745 At this, for the last time, she lifts her
hand,
8:746 Averts her eyes, and, half unwilling,
drops the brand.
8:747 The brand, amid the flaming fewel
thrown,
8:748 Or drew, or seem'd to draw, a
dying groan;
8:749 The fires themselves but faintly
lick'd their prey,
8:750 Then loath'd their impious food,
and would have shrunk away.
8:751 Just then the heroe cast a doleful cry,
8:752 And in those absent flames began
to fry:
8:753 The blind contagion rag'd within
his veins;
8:754 But he with manly patience bore
his pains:
8:755 He fear'd not Fate, but only
griev'd to die
8:756 Without an honest wound, and
by a death so dry.
8:757 Happy Ancaeus, thrice aloud he
cry'd,
8:758 With what becoming fate in arms
he dy'd!
8:759 Then call'd his brothers, sisters,
sire around,
8:760 And, her to whom his nuptial
vows were bound,
8:761 Perhaps his mother; a long sigh
she drew,
8:762 And his voice failing, took his
last adieu.
8:763 For as the flames augment, and
as they stay
8:764 At their full height, then languish
to decay,
8:765 They rise and sink by fits; at
last they soar
8:766 In one bright blaze, and then
descend no more:
8:767 Just so his inward heats, at
height, impair,
8:768 'Till the last burning breath
shoots out the soul in air.
8:769 Now lofty Calidon in ruins lies;
8:770 All ages, all degrees unsluice
their eyes,
8:771 And Heav'n, and Earth resound
with murmurs, groans, and cries.
8:772 Matrons and maidens beat their
breasts, and tear
8:773 Their habits, and root up their
scatter'd hair:
8:774 The wretched father, father now
no more,
8:775 With sorrow sunk, lies prostrate
on the floor,
8:776 Deforms his hoary locks with
dust obscene,
8:777 And curses age, and loaths a
life prolong'd with pain.
8:778 By steel her stubborn soul his
mother freed,
8:779 And punish'd on her self her
impious deed.
8:780 Had I a hundred tongues, a wit so large
8:781 As could their hundred offices
discharge;
8:782 Had Phoebus all his Helicon bestow'd
8:783 In all the streams, inspiring
all the God;
8:784 Those tongues, that wit, those
streams, that God in vain
8:785 Would offer to describe his sisters'
pain:
8:786 They beat their breasts with
many a bruizing blow,
8:787 'Till they turn livid, and corrupt
the snow.
8:788 The corps they cherish, while
the corps remains,
8:789 And exercise, and rub with fruitless
pains;
8:790 And when to fun'ral flames 'tis
born away,
8:791 They kiss the bed on which the
body lay:
8:792 And when those fun'ral flames
no longer burn
8:793 (The dust compos'd within a pious
urn),
8:794 Ev'n in that urn their brother
they confess,
8:795 And hug it in their arms, and
to their bosoms press.
8:796 His tomb is rais'd; then, stretch'd along
the ground,
8:797 Those living monuments his tomb
surround:
8:798 Ev'n to his name, inscrib'd,
their tears they pay,
8:799 'Till tears, and kisses wear
his name away.
8:800 But Cynthia now had all her fury
spent,
8:801 Not with less ruin than a race
content:
8:802 Excepting Gorge, perish'd all
the seed,
8:803 And her whom Heav'n for Hercules
decreed.
8:804 Satiate at last, no longer she
pursu'd
8:805 The weeping sisters; but With
Wings endu'd,
8:806 And horny beaks, and sent to
flit in air;
8:807 Who yearly round the tomb in
feather'd flocks repair.