Death of MeleagerFrançois Boucher (France; 1703–1770)ca. 1727Oil on canvas Los Angeles County Museum
Death of MeleagerFrançois Boucher (France; 1703–1770)ca. 1727Oil on canvas Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CaliforniaJust then the Hero cast a doleful Cry, And in those absent Flames began to fry. The blind Contagion rag’d within his Veins; But he with manly Patience bore his Pains: He fear’d not Fate, but only griev’d to die Without an honest Wound, and by a Death so dry. Happy Anaeus, thrice aloud he cry’d, With what becoming Fate in Arms he dy’d! Then call’d his Brothers, Sisters, Sire, around, And her to whom his Nuptial Vows were bound; Perhaps his Mother; a long Sigh he drew, And his Voice failing, took his last Adieu: For as the Flames augment, and as they stay At their full Height, then languish to decay, They rise, and sink by Fits; at last they soar In one bright Blaze, and then descend no more: Just so his inward Heats at height, impair, Till the last burning Breath shoots out the Soul in Air.(Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book VIII) -- source link
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