A savage boar Ancaeus slew; Thou, Meleager, impiously Thy mother's brother in wrath didst slay, And by that angry mother's hand 645 Didst die. All these deserved their death. But for what crime did Hylas die, A tender lad whom Hercules Long time but vainly sought? For he, 'Mid waters safe was done to death. Go then, and fearlessly the deep Plow with your daring ships; but fear 650 The peaceful pools. Idmon, though well be knew the fates, A serpent slew on Afric sands; And Mopsus, to all others true, False to himself, died far from Thebes. 655 If he with truth the future sang, Then Nauplius, who strove to wreck The Argive ships by lying fires, Shall headlong fall into the sea. And for his father's daring crime 660 Shall Ajax, that Oïleus' son, Make full atonement, perishing 'Midst flame and flood.[13] And thou, Admetus' faithful mate, Shalt[14] for thy husband pay thy life, Redeeming his from death. But he, Who bade the first ship sail in quest 665 Of the golden spoil, King Pelias, Seethed in a boiling cauldron, swam 'Mid those restricted waves. Enough, O gods, have ye avenged the sea: Spare him, we pray, who did but go On ordered ways. FOOTNOTES: [12] Reading, _cui_. [13] Reading, with a period after _profundum_ and after _Oïleus_. [14] Reading, _impendes_. ACT IV