, branching with serpents springing from {each}
wound, and growing stronger by her disasters; and, {so} subdued, I slew
her. What canst thou think will become of thee, who, changed into a
fictitious serpent, art wielding arms that belong to another, and whom a
form, obtained as a favour, is {now} disguising?' {Thus} he spoke; and
he planted the grip of his fingers on the upper part of my neck. I was
tortured, just as though my throat was squeezed with pincers; and I
struggled hard to disengage my jaws from his fingers.

"Thus vanquished, too, there still remained for me my third form, {that}
of a furious bull; with my limbs changed into {those of} a bull I
renewed the fight. He threw his arms over my brawny neck, on the left
side, and, dragging {at me}, followed me in my onward course; and
seizing my horns, he fastened them in the hard ground, and felled me
upon the deep sand. And that was not enough; while his relentless right
hand was holding my stubborn horn, he broke it, and tore it away from my
mutilated forehead. This, heaped with fruit and odoriferous flowers, the
Naiads have consecrated, and the bounteous {Goddess}, Plenty, is
enriched by my horn." {Thus} he said; but a Nymph, girt up after the
manner of Diana, one of his handmaids, with her hair hanging loose on
either side, came in, and brought the whole {of the produce} of Autumn
in the most plentiful horn, and choice fruit for a second course.

Day comes on, and the rising sun striking the tops of the hills, the
young men depart; nor do they stay till the stream has quiet {restored
to it}, and a smooth course, and {till} the troubled waters subside.
Acheloues conceals his rustic features, and his mutilated horn, in the
midst of the waves; yet the loss of this honour, taken from him, {alone}
affects him; in other respects, he is unhurt. The injury, too, which has
befallen his head, is {now} concealed with willow branches, or with
reeds placed upon it.

[Footnote 1: _The Neptunian hero._--Ver. 1. Theseus was the
grandson of Neptune, through his father AEgeus.]

[Footnote 2: _Deianira._--Ver. 9. She was the daughter of Oeneus,
king of AEtolia, and became the wife of Hercules.]

[Footnote 3: _Parthaon._--Ver. 12. He was the son of Agenor and
Epicaste. Homer, however, makes Portheus, and not Parthaon, to
have been the father of Oeneus.]

[Footnote 4: _Amid thy realms._--Ver. 18. The river Acheloues
flowed between AEtolia