Or, fuffering not their yellow beards to rear,
He tramples down the fpikes, and intercepts the

year.

In vain the barns expect their promis'd load;
Nor barns at home, nor reeks are heap'd abroad:
In vain the hinds the threfhing-floor prepare,
And exercife their flails in empty air.
With olives, ever green, the ground is ftrew'd;
And grapes, ungather'd, fhed their generous
blood.

Amid the fold he rages, nor the sheep

Their fhepherds, nor the grooms their bulls can keep.

From fields to walls the frighted rabble run,
Nor think themselves fecure within the town:
Till Meleagrus, and his chofen crew,

Contemn the danger, and the praise pursue.
Fair Leda's twins, (in time to ftars decreed)
One fought on foot, one curb'd the fiery ficed;
Then iffu'd forth fam'd Jafon after these,
Who mann'd the foremost ship that fail'd the feas;
Then Thefeus join'd with bold Pirithous came :
A fingle concord in a double name:
The Theftian fons, 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;
Acaftus, Phileus, Phænix, Telamon,
Echion, Lelex, and Eurytion,

Achilles' father, and great Phocus' fon;
Dryas the fierce, and Hippafus the strong;

With twice old Iolas, and Neftor then but young.
Laertes active, and Ancæus bold;

}

Mopfus the fage, who future things foretold;
And t'other feer yet by his wife unfold.
A thousand others of immortal fame ;
Among the reft fair Atalanta came,
Grace of the woods; a diamond buckle bound
Her veft behind, that elfe had flow'd upon the
ground,

And fhew'd her buskin'd legs; her head was bare,
But for her native ornament of hair;
Which in a fimple knot was ty'd above,
Sweet negligence, unheeded bait of love!
Her founding quiver on her shoulder ty'd,
One hand a dart, and one a bow supply'd.
Such was her face, as in a nymph display'd
A fair fierce boy, or in a boy betray'd
The blufhing beauties of a modest maid.
The Caledonian chief at once the dame
Beheld, at once his heart receiv'd the flame,
With heavens averfe. O happy youth, he cry'd;
For whom thy fates reserve so fair a bride!
He figh'd, and had no leisure more to say:
His honour call'd his eyes another way,
And forc'd him to pursue the now neglected
prey.

There stood a foreft on the mountain's brow,
Which over-look'd the fhaded plains below,
No founding ax prefum'd those trees to bite;
Coeval with the world, a venerable fight.
The heroes there arriv'd, some spread around
The toils, fome fearch 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 fought:
A valley ftood below; the common drain
Of waters from above, and falling rain :
The bottom was a moift and marshy ground,
Whofe edges were with bending ofiers crown'd;
The knotty bulrush next in order stood,
And all within of reeds a trembling wood.

From hence the boar was rous'd, and fprung

amain,

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

The forest echoes to the crackling found:
Shout the fierce youth, and clamours ring around.
All ftood with their protended fpears prepar'd,
With broad steel heads the brandish'd weapons
glar'd.

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

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

Thy power divine, thy prefent aid afford;
That I may reach the beaft. The God allow'd
His prayer, and, fmiling, gave him what he could:
He reach'd the favage, but no blood he drew,
Dian unarm'd the javelin as it flew.

This chaff'd the boar, his noftrils flames expire,
And his red eye-balls roll with living fire.
Whirl'd from a fling, or from an engine thrown,
Amidst the foes, fo flies a mighty stone,
As flew the beaft; the left wing put to flight,
The chiefs o'erborn, he rushes on the right.
Empalamos and Pelagon he laid

In duft, and next to death, but for their fellows aid.
Onefimus far'd worfe, 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 unprop'd falls headlong on
the plain.

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

And thought his monftrous foe was ftill too near.
Against a stump his tusk the monster grinds,
And in the fharpen'd edge new vigour finds;
Then, trufting to his arms, young Othrys found,
And ranch'd his hips with one continu'd wound.
Now Leda's twins, the future ftars, appear:
White were their habits, white their horfes were;
Confpicuous both, and both in act to throw,
Their trembling lances brandish'd at the foe:
Nor had they mifs'd; but he to thickets fled,
Conceal'd from aiming fpears, not pervious to the

fteed.

But Telamon rush'd in, and happ'd to meet A rifing 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 flow
T'expel the shaft from her contracted bow:
Beneath his ear the faften'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 fee, and first to fhow
His friends the marks of the fuccessful blow.
Nor fhall thy valour want the praises due,
He faid; a virtuous envy seiz'd the crew.
They shout; the fhouting animates their hearts,
And all at once employ their thronging darts;
But, out of order thrown, in air they join;
And multitude makes fruftrate the design.
With both his hands the proud Ancæus takes,
And flourishes his deuble-biting ax :
Then, forward to his fate, he took a stride
Before the reft, and to his fellows cry'd,
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 boafted he; then stretch'd, on tiptoe ftood,
Secure to make his empty promise good.
But the more wary beaft prevents the blow,
And upward rips the groin of his audacious foe.
Ancæus falls; his bowels from the wound
Rush out, and clotted blood diftains the ground.
Pirithous, no small portion of the war,

Prefs'd on, and fhook his lance: to whom from far,

Thus Thefeus cry'd: O ftay, my better part,
My more than mistress; of my heart, the heart.
The ftrong may fight aloof: Ancæus try'd
His force too near, and by prefuming dy'd:
He faid, and while he fpake, his javelin threw ;
Hiffing in air th' unerring weapon flew;
But on an arm of oak, that stood betwixt
The markfman and the mark, his lance he fixt.
Once more bold Jason threw, but fail'd to ̃
wound

The boar, and flew an undeserving hound;
And through the dog the dart was nail'd to
ground.

Two fpears from Meleager's hand were fent,
With equal force, but various in th' 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 favage turns around,
And flings about his foam, impatient of the wound,
The wound's great author close at hand pro-
vokes

His rage, and plies him with redoubled ftrokes ;
Wheels as he wheels; and with his pointed dart
Explores the nearest paffage to his heart.
Quick and more quick he spins in giddy gires,
Then falls, and in much foam his foul expires.
This act with fhouts heaven high the friendly

band

Applaud, and strain in theirs the victor's hand.

Then all approach the slain with vaft forprise,
Admire on what a breadth of earth he lies;
And, fcarce fecure, reach out their spears afar,
And blood their points, to prove their partnership
of war.

But he, the conquering chief, his foot impress'a
On the ftrong neck of that deftructive beast;
And, gazing on the nymph with ardent eyes,
Accept, faid he, fair Nonacrine, my prize,
And, though inferior, fuffer me to join
My labours, and my part of praise, with thine:
At this prefents her with the tusky head
And chine, with rifing briftles roughly spread.
Glad, fhe receiv'd the gift; and feem'd to take
With double pleasure, for the giver's fake.
The reft were feiz'd with fullen difcontent,
And a deaf murmur through the squadron went:
All envy'd; but the Theftyan brethren fhow'd
The least respect, and thus they vent their spleen
aloud :

Lay down those honour'd spoils, nor think to share,
Weak woman as thou art, the prize of war:
Ours is the title, thine a foreign claim,
Since Meleagrus from our lineage came.
Traft not thy beauty; but reftore the prize,
Which he, befotted on that face and eyes,
Would rend from us. At this, inflam'd with fpite,
From her they fnatch'd the gift, from him the
giver's right.

But foon th' impatient prince his fauchion drew,
And cry'd, Ye robbers of another's due,
Now learn the difference, at your proper coft,
Betwixt true valour, and an empty boast.
At this advanc'd, and fudden as the word,
In proud Plexippus' bofom plung'd the fword:
Toxeus amaz'd, and with amazement flow,
Or to revenge, or ward the coming blow,
Stood doubting; and, while doubting thus he
⚫ftood,

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 fon's conqueft; when at length appear
Her grifly brethren stretch'd upon the bier :
Pale, at the fudden fight, fhe chang'd her
cheer,

And with her cheer her robes; but hearing tell
The cause, the manner, and by whom they fell,
'Twas grief no more, or grief and rage were one
Within her foul; at laft 'twas rage alone;
Which burning upwards in fucceffion dries
The tears that stood confidering in her eyes.

There lay a log unlighted on the earth:
When she was labouring in the throes of birth:
For th' unborn chief the fatal fifters came,
And rais'd it up, and tofs'd it on the flame:
Then on the rock a fcanty measure place
Of vital flax, and turn'd the heel apace;
And turning fung, To this red brand and thee,
O new-born babe, we give an equal destiny :
So vanifh'd out of view. The frighted dame
Sprung hafty from her bed, and quench'd the

flame:

The log in fecret lock'd, fhe kept with care,
And that, while thus preferv'd, preferv'd her heir.
This brand fhe now produc'd; and first she strows
The hearth with heaps of chips, and after blows;
Thrice heav'd her hand, and, heav'd, the thrice"
reprefs'd:

The fifter and the mother long conteft,
Two doubtful titles in one tender breaft;
And now her eyes and cheeks with fury glow,
Now pale her cheeks, her eyes with pity flow;
Now lowering looks prefage approachiug ftorms,
And now prevailing love her face reforms:
Refolv'd, fhe doubts again; the tears, the dry'd
With blushing rage, are by new tears supply'd:
And as a fhip, which winds and waves affail,
Now with the current drives, now with the
gale,

Both oppofite, and neither long prevail.
She feels a double force, by turns obeys
Th' imperious tempeft, and th' impetuous feas:
So fares Althæa's mind; firft the relents
With pity, of that pity then repents:
Sifter and mother long the fcales divide,
But the beam nodded on the fifter's fide.
Sometimes the foftly figh'd, then roar'd aloud;
But fighs were ftifled in the cries of blood.

The pious impious wretch at length decreed, To please her brother's ghosts, her fon fhould bleed;

And when the funeral flames began to rife,
Receive, the faid, a fifer's facrifice :

A mother's bowels burn: high in her hand,
Thus while fhe spoke, fhe held the fatal brand;
Then thrice before the kindled pile fhe bow'd,
And the three Furies thrice invok'd aloud:
Come, come, revenging fifters, come and view
A fifter paying a 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 repaid,
And fecond funerals on the former laid.
Let the whole houshold in one ruin fall,
And may Diana's curfe o'ertake us all!
Shall fate to happy Oeneus ftill allow
One fon, while Theftius ftands depriv'd of two?
Better three loft, than one unpunish'd ge.
Take then, dear ghosts, (while yet admitted new
In hell you wait my duty) take your due:
A coftly offering on your tomb is laid,
When with my blood the price of yours is paid.
Ah! whether am I hurry'd? Ah! forgive,
Ye fhades, and let your fifter's iffue live:
A mother cannot give him death; though he
Deferves it, he deferves it not from me.

Then fhall th' unpunifh'd wretch infult the
flain,

Triumphant live, not only live, but reign?
While you thin fhades, the fport of winds, are toft
O'er dreary plains, or tread the burning coaft.
I cannot, cannot bear; 'tis paft, 'tis done;
Perith this impious, this detefted fon;
Perish his fire, and perish I withal;

Where is the mother fled, her pious love, And where the pains which with ten months I ftrove!

Ah! had'st thou dy'd, my fon, in infant years,
Thy little herfe had been bedew'd with tears.

Thou liv'ft by me; to me thy breath refign;
Mine is the merit, the demerit thine.
Thy life by double title I require;
Once given at birth, and once preferv'd from fire:
One murder pay, or add one murder more,
And me to them who fell by thee restore.

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

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

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

The brand, amid the flaming fuel thrown,
Or drew, or feem'd to draw, a dying groan;
The fires themselves but faintly lick'd their prey,
Then loath'd their impious food, and would have
fhrunk away.

Juft then the hero caft a doleful cry,
And in thofe abfent flames began to fry:
The blind contagion rag'd within his veins;
But he with manly patience bore his pains:
He fear'd not fate, but only griev'd to die
Without an honest wound, and by a death fo dry.
Happy Ancæus, thrice aloud he cry'd,
With what becoming fate in arms he dy'd!
Then call'd his brothers, fifters, fire, around,
And her to whom his nuptial vows were bound;
Perhaps his mother; a long figh he drew,
And, his voice failing, took his last adieu :
For as the flames augment, and as they stay
At their full height, then languish to decay,
They rife, and fink by fits; at laft they foar
In one bright blaze, and then defcend no more;
Juft fo his inward heats, at height, impair,
Till the last burning breath shoots out the foll

in air.

Now lofty Calydon in ruins lies;

All ages, all degrees, unfluice their eyes;
And heaven and earth refound with murmurs,

groans, and cries.

Matrons and maidens beat their breasts, and tear
Their habits, and root up their scatter'd hair.
The wretched father, father now no more,
With forrow funk, lies proftrate on the floor,
Deforms his hoary locks with duft obfcene,
And curfes age, and loaths a life prolong'd

pain.

By fteel her stubborn foul his mother freed, And punish'd on herself her impious deed. Had I an hundred tongues, a wit fo large As could their hundred offices difcharge;

fail.

In all the fireams infpiring all the God;

with

Thofe tongues, that wit, those streams, that God, in vain

Would offer to defcribe his fifters' pain:
They beat their breafts with many a bruifing blow,
Till they turn livid, and corrupt the fnow.
The corpfe they cherish, while the corpfe remains,
And exercife and rub with fruitless pains;
And when to funeral flames 'tis borne away,
They kiss the bed on which the body lay:
And when those funeral flames no longer burn
(The duft compos'd within a pious-urn),
Ev'n in that urn their brother they confefs,

And hug it in their arms, and to their bofoms prefs.

His tomb is rais'd; then, ftretch'd along the ground,

Those living monuments his tomb furround:
Ev'n to his name, infcrib'd, their tears they pay,
Till tears and kiffes wear his name away.

But Cynthia now had all her fury spent,
Not with lefs ruin, than a race, content :
Excepting Gorgé, perifh'd all the feed,
And her whom heaven for Hercules decreed.
Satiate at last, no longer fhe purfu'd

The weeping fifters; but, with wings endu'd,
And horny beaks, and fent to flit in air;
Who yearly round the tomb in feather'd flocks
repair.

THUS Achelous ends: his audience hear
With admiration, and admiring fear
The powers of heaven; except Ixion's fon,
Who laugh'd at all the Gods, believ'd in none;
He shook his impious head, and thus replics,
These legends are no more than pious lies:
You attribute too much to heavenly sway,
To think they give us forms, and take away.
The reft, of better minds, their fenfe declar'd
Against this doctrine, and with horror heard.

Then Lelex rofe, an old experienc'd man,
And thus with fober gravity began:
Heaven's power is infinite: earth, air, and fea,
The manufacture mafs, the making power obey:
By proof to clear your doubt; in Phrygian ground
Two neighbouring trees, with walls encompass'd
round,

Stand on a moderate rife, with wonder shown
One a hard oak, a fofter linden one :

I faw the place and them, by Pittheus fent
To Phrygian realms, my grandfire's government.
S

Not far from thence is feen a lake, the haunt
Of coots, and of the fishing cormorant :
Here Jove with Hermes came; but in disguise
Of mortal men conceal'd their Deities:
One laid afide his thunder, one his rod;
And many toilsome steps together trod ;
For harbour at a thousand doors they knock'd,
Not one of all the thousand but was lock'd.
At last an hofpitable house they found,
A homely fhed; the roof, not far from ground,(
Was thatch'd with feeds and ftraw together
bound.

There Baucis and Philemon liv'd, and there
Had liv'd long married, and a happy pair:
Now old in love; though little was their store,
Inur'd to want, their poverty they bore,
Nor aim'd at wealth, profeffing to be poor.
For master or for fervant here to call,
Was all alike, where only two were all.
Command was none where equal love was paid,
Or rather both commanded, both obey'd.