He was the firft 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 seiz'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 frustrate the design.
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
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 ftretch'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 distains the ground.
Pirithous, no small 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;
But on an arm of oak, that stood betwixt
The marks-man and the mark, his lance he fixt.
Once more bold Jason threw, but fail'd to wound
The boar, and flew an undeferving 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 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 spins in giddy gires,
Then falls, and in much foam his foul expires.
This act with shouts heaven-high the friendly band
Applaud, and ftrain in theirs the victor's hand.
Then all approach the flain with vast surprize,
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'd
On the ftrong neck of that deftructive beaft;
And, gazing on the nymph with ardent eyes,
Accept, said 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, the receiv'd the gift; and feem'd to take
With double pleasure, for the giver's fake.
The reft were feiz'd with fullen discontent,
And a deaf murmur through the squadron went :
All envy'd; but the Theftyan brethren show'd
The least respect, and thus they vent their spleen aloud:
Lay down thofe honour'd spoils, nor think to fhare,
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 restore 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 cost,
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 stood,
Receiv'd the fteel bath'd in his brother's blood.
Pleas'd with the first, unknown the fecond 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, the 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 flood confidering in her eyes.
There lay a log unlighted on the carth :
When he 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 wheel apace;
And turning fung, To this red brand and thee,
O new-born babe, we give an equal destiny :
So vanish'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, preserv'd her heir.
This brand 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, fhe 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 approaching ftorms,
And now prevailing love her face reforms :
Resolv’d, she doubts again; the tears, she dry'd
With blushing rage, are by new tears supply'd:
And as a ship, 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; first she 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 ghofts, her fon should bleed ;
And when the funeral flames began to rife,
Receive, the faid, a fifter's facrifice :
A mother's bowels burn: high in her hand,
Thus while she 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 crimnes repaid,
And fecond funerals on the former laid.
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