ious
Atalanta is adorned with a festive crown. The vanquished utter sighs,
and pay the penalty, according to the stipulation. Still, not awed by
the end of these young men, he stands up in the midst; and fixing his
eyes on the maiden, he says, 'Why dost thou seek an easy victory by
conquering the inactive? Contend {now} with me. If fortune shall render
me victorious, thou wilt not take it ill to be conquered by one so
illustrious. For my father was Megareus, Onchestius his;[57] Neptune was
his grandsire; I am the great grandson of the king of the waves. Nor is
my merit inferior to my extraction. Or if I shall be conquered, in the
conquest of Hippomenes thou wilt have a great and honourable name.'

"As he utters such words as these, the daughter of Schoeneus regards him
with a benign countenance, and is in doubt whether she shall wish to be
overcome or to conquer; and thus she says: 'What Deity, a foe to the
beauteous, wishes to undo this {youth}? and commands him, at the risk of
a life {so} dear, to seek this alliance? In my own opinion, I am not of
so great value. Nor {yet} am I moved by his beauty. Still, by this, too,
I could be moved. But, {'tis} because he is still a boy; 'tis not
himself that affects me, but his age. And is it not, too, because he has
courage and a mind undismayed by death? And is it not, besides, because
he is reckoned fourth in descent from the {monarch} of the sea? And is
it not, because he loves me, and thinks a marriage with me of so much
worth as to perish {for it}, if cruel fortune should deny me to him?
Stranger, while {still} thou mayst, begone, and abandon an alliance
stained with blood. A match with me is cruelly hazardous. No woman will
be unwilling to be married to thee; and thou mayst be desired {even} by
a prudent maid. But why have I any concern for thee, when so many have
already perished? Let him look to it; {and} let him die, since he is not
warned by the fate of so many of my wooers, and is impelled onwards to
weariness of life.

"'Shall he then die because he was desirous with me to live? And shall
he suffer an undeserved death, the reward of his love? My victory will
not be able to support the odium {of the deed}. But it is no fault of
mine. I wish thou wouldst desist! or since thou art {thus} mad, would
that thou wast more fleet {than I!} But what a feminine look[58] there
is in his youthful face! Ah, wretched Hippomenes, I would that I had not
been seen by thee! Thou wast