MELEAGER, in fabulous history, the son of Æneas king of Caledonia, and Althæa the daughter of Thestius, was no sooner born than the Parcae put a firebrand in the fire, saying, "This child shall live as long as this firebrand shall last." The three Parcae being gone, Althæa took the brand out of the fire, and preserved it with great care. Meleager at length discovered great courage in killing the famous Caledonian boar which laid waste the country, and presented the head to Atalanta who had given the monster the first blow: but Plexippus and Toxeus, the brothers of Althæa, resolving to have the head, Meleager killed them in the quarrel, and married Atalanta, by whom he had Parthenope; but Althæa, in revenge for the death of her two brothers, threw the fatal brand on the fire, which occasioned Meleager's death.