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 steed;
Then iffued 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 5
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 thoufand others of immortal fame ;
Among the reft fair Atalanta came,

Grace of the woods; a diamond buckle bound

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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 shoulder ty’d,
One hand a dart, and one a bow fupply'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 modeft maid.
The Caledonian chief at once the dame
Beheld, at once his heart receiv'd the flame,
With heavens averse. O happy youth, he cry'đ;
For whom thy fates referve 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 ftood 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, fome 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

From hence the boar was rous'd, and sprung amain,
Like lightning fudden 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 beast impetuous with his tulks afide

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 ftuck his boar-spear on a maple's bark,
Then Jason; and his javelin seem'd to take,

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But fail'd with over-force, and whizz'd above his back.
Mopfus was next; but ere he threw, addrefs'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 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 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.

Onefits far'd worse, prepar'd to fly;

The fatal fang drove deep within his thigh,

And cut the nerves; the nerves no more fuftain

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 ftump 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 continued 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 miss'd; but he to thickets fled,
Conceal'd from aiming fpears, not pervious to the fteed.
But Telamon rufh'd in, and happ'd to meet
A rifing root, that held his fasten'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 faften'd arrow ftood,
And from the wound appear'd the trickling blood.
She blush'd for joy: But Meleagrus rais'd

His voice with loud applaufe, 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 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 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 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 beaft 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 diftains 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 mistress; of my heart, the heart.
The strong 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;