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 lolas, 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 else had flow'd upon the ground,
And fhew'd her bufkin'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 fhoulder 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 blushing beauties of a modest maid.
The Caledonian chief at once the dame
Beheld, at once his heart receiv'd the flame,
With heav'ns 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 force him to pursue the now neglected prey.
There ftood a foreft on the mountain's brow,
Which over-look'd the fhaded plains below.
No founding ax prefum'd thofe 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 flood,
And all within of reeds a trembling wood.
From hence the boar was rous'd, and fprung amain,
Like lightning fudden on the warrior-train;
Beats down the trees before him, shakes the ground,
The foreft ecchoes to the crackling found;
Shout the fierce youth, and clamours ring around.
All ftood with their protended fpears prepar'd,
With broad fteel heads the brandifh'd weapons glar'd.
The beaft impetuous with his tulks afide
Deals glancing wounds; the fearful dogs divide:
All spend their mouth aloft, but none abide.
Echion threw the firft, but mifs'd his mark,
And ftuck his boar-fpear on a maple's bark.
Then Jafon; and his javelin feem'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 prieft;
If I adore, and ever have ador'd
Thy pow'r divine, thy prefent aid afford;
reach the beaft. The God allow'd His pray'r, 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 chaf'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 still too near.
Against a stump his tufk the monfter grinds,
And in the sharpen'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 stars, appear;
White were their habits, white their horfes were;
Confpicuous both, and both in act to throw,
Their trembling lances brandifh'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 faften'd feet;
So down he fell, whom, fprawling on the ground,
His brother from the wooden gyves unbound.
Mean time the virgin-huntress was not flow
T'expel the fhaft from her contracted bow:
Beneath his ear the fastened arrow ftood,
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 show
His friends the marks of the fuccefsful blow.
Nor fhall thy valour want the praises due,
He faid; a virtuous envy feiz'd the crew.
They fhout; 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 defign.
With both his hands the proud Ancæus takes,
And flourishes his double-biting ax:
Then forward to his fate, he took a ftride
Before the reft, and to his fellows cry'd,
Give place, and mark the diff'rence, if you can,
Between a woman-warrior and a man ;
The boar is doom'd; nor, tho' Diana lend
Her aid, Diana can her beaft defend.
Thus boasted he; then stretch'd, on tiptoe stood,
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 distains the ground.
Pirithous, no fmall portion of the war,
Prefs'd on, and shook his lance: to whom from far,
Thus Thefeus cry'd: O stay, my better part,
My more than miftrefs; 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 marks-man and the mark, his lance he fixt.
Once more bold Jafon threw, but fail'd to wound
The boar, and flew an undeferving hound;
And thro' 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 firft was fix'd in earth, the fecond flood
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 clofe at hand provokes
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 fpins in giddy gires, -
Then falls, and in much foam his foul expires.
This act with fhouts heav'n high the friendly band
Applaud, and ftrain in theirs the victor's hand.
Then all approach the flain with vast surprise,
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 conqu'ring chief, his foot imprefs'd
On the ftrong neck of that deftructive beaft;
And gazing on the nymph with ardent eyes,
Accept, faid he, fair Nonacrine, my prize,
And, tho' inferior, fuffer me to join
My labours, and my part of praife, with thine:
At this prefents her with the tufky head
And chine, with rifing briftles roughly spread.
Glad, fhe receiv'd the gift; and seem'd to take
With double pleafure, for the giver's fake.
The reft were feiz'd with fullen discontent,
And a deaf murmur thro' the fquadron went:
All envy'd; but the Theftyan brethren fhow'd
The least respect, and thus they vent their fpleen aloud:
Lay down thofe honour'd fpoils, 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.
Truft not thy beauty; but reftore the prize,
Which he, befotted on that face and eyes,
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