Amid the fold he rages, nor the fheep

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 chosen crew,
Contemn the danger, and the praise pursue.
Fair Leda's twins, (in time to stars decreed)
One fought on foot, one curb'd the fiery steed;
Then iffued forth fam'd Jafon after thefe,

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 fwiftly 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 seer yet by his wife unfold.

A thousand others of immortal fame ;

Among the rest fair Atalanta came,

Grace of the woods; a diamond buckle bound

}

Her veft behind, that else had flow'd upon the ground,

And shew'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 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 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 purfue 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 stood below; the common drain
Of waters from above, and falling rain :
The bottom was a moist and marshy ground,
Whofe edges were with bending ofiers crown'd;
The knotty bulruth 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 sudden on the warrior-train ;
Beats down the trees before him, shakes the ground,
The foreft echoes to the crackling found:

Shout the fierce youth, and clamours ring around.
All stood with their protended spears prepar'd,
With broad fteel heads the brandish'd weapons glar'd.
The beast impetuous with his tuiks afide

Deals glancing wounds; the fearful dogs divide :
All spend their mouth aloft, but none abide.
Echion threw the first, but miss'd his mark,
And stuck his boar-fpear on a maple's bark,
Then Jason; 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, addrefs'd
To Phœbus 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,
Amidft 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 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 stump his tusk the monster grinds,
And in the fharpen'd edge new vigour finds ;
Then, trusting to his arms, young Othrys found,
And ranch'd his hips with one continued wound.
New 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 rufh'd in, and happ'd to meet

A rifing root, that held his faften'd feet;

So down he fell, whom, sprawling on the ground,
His brother from the wooden gyves unbound.
Mean time 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 applaufe, and the fair archer prais'd.

He was the first to see, and first to show
His friends the marks of the successful blow.
Nor shall thy valour want the praises due,
He faid; a virtuous envy feiz'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 double-biting ax :

Then, forward to his fate, he took a stride
Before the rest, 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 small portion of the war,

Prefs'd on, and fhook 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;