The Asses
The Asses rise with Cancer: hunters with snares in wood and water, and the story of Meleager.
[p. 61] What Constellations rise with Cancer
Thus those agree. And next my Songs compriseStars near the Crab, with whom the Asses rise:Then Births appear, whose Skill infests the Woods,Lay Snares for Beasts; nor do they spare the Floods:On all they Prey, they boldly search the Caves;Nor are the Fish secure in deepest Waves:Then ¹⁹Meleager rose, whose fatal Brand,And Life too wasted in his Mother's Hand;Unhappy Noble Youth! who must attoneHer wretched Brothers Slaughter by thy own!Half bury'd whilst alive! Whom Love betray'dTo give the Hero's Honors to the Maid;To rob thy jealous Uncles of their Fame,And by their Death secure the Beauty's claim.Then Atalante rose, who prest for FameThrough thickest Woods, and saw and overcame;Her Dart first reacht the Boar, and wan the Prize,She Conquer'd with her Arrow, and her Eyes;The Monster groan'd, and Meleager foundAs much disquiet, and as deep a Wound:
[p. 62] Some pitch strong Nets, and some the Woods surroundWith ²⁰fear of Death, or slip the faithful Hound:Some dig the treacherous Pits, some spread the Toyls,Or hunt with Spears, and Grace their House with Spoyls.Another puts to Sea, infests the Lakes,Draws monstrous Fish, and starts at what he Takes.Whilst some through Nets the wandring Waters strein;Their Game they follow thro' the pathless Main,Where no Scent lies, yet seldom Hunt in vain.As if the Earth were not profusely stor'd,They fly to Seas, they search what Floods afford,And Nereus from his Waves supplies the Glutton's Board:
The notes
¹⁹ The Story of Meleager runs thus: At his Birth his Mother heard one of the Destinies say, the Child should live till the stick that then lay in the Fire was burnt: The Mother snatch'd the stick out of the Fire, and preserv'd it. When Meleager was grown a Man, he with a great many others went to hunt a Wild Bore; at the same time Atalante a Nymph of extraordinary Beauty came into the Field, and had the good Fortune to wound the Bore first: Meleager fell in Love with Atalante, and having kill'd the Bore presented the Head to her: His two Uncles who were present at the Hunting thought themselves injur'd, and would not suffer a Woman to carry off their Spoil. Meleager in defence of Atalante kills his two Uncles: Meleager's Mother, to revenge the Death of her two Brothers, puts the stick into the Fire, as that burnt Meleager wasted. (Creech’s note, 1697)
²⁰ Formidine Mortis: Huetius Reads Formidine Pennae: For when they Hunted, they us'd to set stakes in the ground, to which they ty'd Feathers which frighted the Deer, and made them keep within that compass, or take that way the Hunters thought most convenient for their sport. (Creech’s note, 1697)
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The text is Thomas Creech's 1697 verse translation, checked word by word between three scans of the same type (the 1697 printing, the 1700 printing and a third copy). The long s is printed as s; every other spelling is Creech's. Pages are cited as the 1697 printing numbers them. The portrait is William Marshall’s engraving of Lilly from the front of the 1659 printing (Wellcome Library, public domain).