Brewer's: Actæon

A hunter. In Grecian mythology Actæon was a huntsman, who surprised Diana bathing, was changed by her into a stag, and torn to pieces by his own hounds. Hence, a man whose wife is unfaithful. (See Horns.)

“Go thou, like Sir Actæon, with Ringwood at thy heel.”

Shakespeare: Merry Wives, ii. 1.

“Divulge Page himself for a secure and wilful Actæon.”

Ibid. iii. 2.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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