fertile farm in Calydon--at the least fifty acres, half for tillage and
half for vines; but he would not listen to them.

"The din of battle thickened outside the gates; the towers shook with
the thundering blows of the besiegers. Old Oineus with trembling limbs
climbed up the stairway to his son's secluded chamber, and, weeping,
prayed him to come down and save the city from fire and pillage. Still
he kept silent, and went not. His sisters came, and his most trusted
friends. 'Come, Meleager,' they prayed, 'forget thy grief, and think
only of our great need. Aid thy people, or we shall all perish!'

"None of these prayers moved him. The gates were beaten down; the
enemy was within the walls; the tide of battle shook the very tower
where Meleager sat; the doom of Calydon seemed to be sealed. Then came
the fair Cleopatra, and knelt before her husband, and besought him to
withhold no longer the aid which he alone could give. 'O Meleager,'
she sobbed, 'none but thou can save us. Wilt thou sit still, and see
the city laid in ashes, thy dearest friends slaughtered, and thy wife
and sweet babes dragged from their homes and sold into cruel slavery?'

"Then Meleager rose and girded on his armor. To the streets he
hastened, shouting his well-known battle cry. Eagerly and hopefully
did the Calydonian warriors rally around him. Fiercely did they meet
the foe. Terrible was the bloodshed. Back from the battered gates and
the crumbling wall the Acarnanian hosts were driven. A panic seized
upon them. They turned and fled, and not many of them escaped the
swords of Meleager's men.

"Again there was peace in Calydon, and the orchards of King Oineus
blossomed and bore fruit as of old; but the gifts and large rewards