Verse
Metamorphoses
Book 8, Line 24 by Henry T. Riley (English)
That billet either utters, or seems to utter, a groan, and, caught by the reluctant flames, it is consumed. Unsuspecting, and at a distance, Meleager is burned by that flame, and feels his entrails scorched by the secret fires; but with fortitude he supports the mighty pain. Still, he grieves that he dies by an inglorious death, and without shedding his blood, and says that the wounds of Ancæus were a happy lot. And while, with a sigh, he calls upon his aged father, and his brother, and his affectionate sisters, and with his last words the companion of his bed, perhaps, too, his mother as well ; the fire and his torments increase; and then again do they diminish. Both of them are extinguished together, and by degrees his spirit vanishes into the light air.
MetamorphosesOvidHenry T. RileyEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 8
Book 8, Line 24ProseID metamorphoses-riley-en-prose-8-24