For Oeneus, king of Calydon, had neglected the temples of Diana, and
she had sent a monstrous boar to lay waste all the fields and farms in
the country. The people had never seen so terrible a beast, and they
soon wished that they had never offended the goddess who keeps the
woods clear of such monsters. No mortal device availed against it, and,
after a hundred disasters, Prince Meleager, the son of Oeneus, summoned
the heroes to join him in this perilous hunt.
The prince had a strange story. Soon after his birth, Althea, the
queen, had seen in a vision the three Fates spinning the thread of life
and crooning over their work. For Clotho spins the thread, Lachesis
draws it out, and Atropos waits to cut it off with her glittering
shears. So the queen beheld them, and heard them foretell that her baby
should live no longer than a brand that was then burning on the hearth.
Horror inspired the mother. Quick as a thought she seized the brand,
put out the flame, and laid it by in some safe and secret place where
no harm could touch it. So the child gathered strength and grew up to
manhood.
He was a mighty hunter, and the other heroes came gladly to bear him
company. Many of the Argonauts were there,--Jason, Theseus, Nestor,
even Atalanta, that valorous maiden who had joined the rowers of the
Argo, a beloved charge of Diana. Boyish in her boldness for wild
sports, she was fleet of foot and very lovely to behold, altogether a
bride for a princely hunter.
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