And, scarce secure, reach out their spears afar, And blood their points to prove their partnership 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:

'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 Meleagros 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, inflam'd with spite,
From her they snatch the gift, from him the giver's
right.

But soon the' impatient prince his falchion 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 at 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,
'Twas grief no more, or grief and rage were one
Within her soul; at last 'twas rage alone;
Which, burning upwards in succession, dries
The tears that stood considering in her eyes.
There lay a log unlighted on the hearth,
When she was labouring in the throws 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 ont 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 branch 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 louring looks presage approaching storms,
And now prevailing love her face reforms.

Resolv'd she doubts again; the tears she dried
With burning 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 Althæa's mind, she first 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 brother's ghost, 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 repaid,
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, nor only live, but reign;

While you, thin shades, the sport of winds, are toss'd
O'er dreary plains, or tread the burning coast.
I cannot, cannot bear! 'tis past, 'tis done;
Perish this impious, this detested son:
Perish his sire, and perish I withal!

And let the house's heir and the hop'd kingdom fall!
'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 fire:
One murder pay, or add one murder more,
And me to them, who fell by thee, restore.

'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 pur

sue.

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 seem'd to draw, a dying groan; The fires themselves but faintly lick'd their prey, Then loath'd their impious food, and would have shrunk away.

Just then the hero cast a doleful cry, And in those absent 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 so dry. · Happy Ancæus! (thrice aloud he cried) With what becoming fate in arms he died!' Then call'd his brothers, sisters, sire, around, And her to whom his nuptial vows were bound, Perhaps his mother; a long sigh 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 rise and sink by fits; at last they soar In one bright blaze, and then descend no more: Just so his inward heats, at height impair, Till the last burning breath shoots out the soul in Now lofty Calidon in ruins lies;

[air.

All ages, all degrees, unsluice their eyes, And heaven and earth resound with murmurs, groans, and cries.