Third in the labours of the disc came on,
With sturdy step and slow, Hippomedon.
Artful and strong he poised the well-known weight,
By Phlegyas warned and fired by Mnestheus' fate,
That to avoid and this to emulate.
His vigorous arm he tried before he flung,
Braced all his nerves and every sinew strung;
Then, with a tempest's whirl and wary eye,
Pursued his cast and hurled the orb on high;
The orb on high tenacious of its course,
True to the mighty arm that gave it force,
Far overleaps all bound and joys to see
Its ancient lord secure of victory.
The theatre's green height and woody wall
Tremble ere it precipitates its fall;
The ponderous mass sinks in the cleaving ground,
While vales and woods and echoing hills rebound.
As when from Aetna's smoking summit broke,
The eyeless Cyclops heaved the craggy rock:
Where ocean frets beneath the dashing oar,
And parting surges round the vessel roar,
'Twas there he aimed the meditated harm,
And scarce Ulysses scaped his giant arm.
A tiger's pride the victor bore away,
With native spots and artful labour gay:
A shining border round the margin rolled,
And calmed the terrors of his claws in gold.