Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/175

ALTILEA AND MELEAGEE. 143 father of Diomedes : warlike eminence goes Lund in hand with tragic calamity among the members of this memorable family. "We are fortunate enough to find the legend of Althsea and Meleager set forth at considerable length in the Iliad, in the speech addressed by Phoenix to appease the wrath of Achilles. CEneus, king of Kalydon, in the vintage sacrifices which he offered to the gods, omitted to include Artemis : the misguided man either forgot her or cared not for her ; l and the goddess, provoked by such an insult, sent against the vineyards of CEneus a wild boar, of vast size and strength, who tore up the trees by the root and laid prostrate al 1 their fruit. So terrible was this boar, that nothing less than a numerous body of men could venture to attack him : Melea- ger, the son of CEneus, however, having got together a consider- able number of companions, partly from the Kuretes of Pleuron, at length slew him. But the anger of Artemis was not yet appeased, and she raised a dispute among the combatants respecting the pos- session of the boar's head and hide, the trophies of victory. In this dispute, Meleager slew the brother of his mother Althaea, prince of the Kuretes of Pleuron : these Kuretes attacked the JEtolians of Kalydon in order to avenge their chief. So long as Meleager contended in the field the JEtolians had the superiority. But he presently refused to come forth, indignant at the curses impre- cated upon him by his mother : for Althaea, wrung with sorrow for the death of her brother, flung herself upon the ground in tears, beat the earth violently with her hands, and implored Hades and Persephone to inflict death upon Meleager, a prayer which the unrelenting Erinnys in Erebus heard but too well. So keenly did the hero resent this behavior of his mother, that he kept aloof' from the war ; and the Kuretes not only drove the JEtolians from the field, but assailed the walls and gates of Kaly- don, and were on the point of overwhelming its dismayed inhabi- tants. There was no hope of safety except in the arm of Melea- ger ; but Meleager lay in his chamber by the side of his beautiful wife Kleopatra, the daughter of Idas, and heeded not the necessity. 1 'HAai9er', j? ov/c evorjaev uaaaaro 6e fie-ya tivfiu (Iliad, ix. 533). The da structive influence of Ate is mentioned before, v. 502. The piety of Xenophon reproduces this ancient circumstance, Olvsue 6' t etc. (De Vennt, c. i.J