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OVERCOMES THE CHIMERA.

with the winged horse Pegasus: thus mounted, he had the advantage in the combat: he hovered in the air over the monster's den; he pounced down upon her suddenly, and inflicted a wound; then ascended into the air; and returning again and again to the attack, at length laid the terrible Chimæra breathless on the ground.

b Hom. II. g. 152. Schol. in II. 2. 156. Apollodorus, ii. 3. Homer the wife of Pratus is called Antæa,

In

CHAP. XXI.

OF PERSEUS AND MEDUSA.

Acrisius, Successor to Prœtus.-Jupiter comes to Danae in a Shower of Gold.-Danae and her Child Perseus sent to Sea in a Chest-arrive in the Dominions of Polydectes, who falls in Love with Danae.-Perseus sent to fetch the Head of Medusa, which turned every one who Looked upon it into Stone.-Atlas changed into a Mountain.-Perseus rescues Andromeda from a Sea-monster-turns Polydectes into Stone-accidentally Kills his Grandfather-banishes himself to Mycena.

On the death of Protus, Acrisius his twinbrother ascended the throne of Argos: he had one beautiful daughter, called Danae; and an oracle had predicted that Danae should have a son, by whose hands her father should be deprived of life: to prevent this, Acrisius built a fower of brass, inaccessible on every side, and shut up his daughter in it: thus guarded, she would perhaps have remained childless, had not Jupiter conceived a passion for her; and by a very extraordinary metamorphosis having changed himself into a shower of gold, found his way through the roof: Danae bore to Jupiter a son, named Perseus; and, this prince having afterward laid the foundation of the celebrated Mycenæ, his history has been adorned with many extraordinary and fabulous adventures: the Gre cian Perseus, like the Grecian Bacchus, has no

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HEAD OF MEDUSA.

doubt been confounded with some Oriental prototype; and the feats of two or of several heroes have thus become imputed to one.

No sooner was Perseus born, than he and his mother by the order of his grandfather were put in a chest, and cast into the sea: the chest drifted upon the island of Seriphos, where Dictys, the brother of the king of the country, who happened to be a-fishing, took them to land, treated them with the greatest attention, and committed them to the care of the priests of the temple of Minerva, by whom Perseus was educated.

The young prince was now grown up to the stature of a man, when Polydectes king of Seriphos happening to see Danae his mother in the temple, fell in love with her, and determined to marry her: Danae did not approve of the match, and Perseus told the king he was resolved never to see his mother married without her own consent it was the fashion of these times when a crabbed old tyrant conceived a dislike to a hero, just arrived at the bloom of manhood, that he packed off the object of his jealousy upon some dangerous adventure, from which the tyrant hoped that he would never return alive: Polydectes ordered Perseus to go and bring him the head of Medusa, one of the Gorgons, from a certain district of Asiatic Tartary where she lived: Perseus felt no aversion to the commission, but was uneasy at the thought of leaving his mother all the while in the power of her brutal admirer: he dared nor however disobey the king in whose country he dwelt.

I have already told you the principal particulars of Perseus's expedition against the Gorgons: it was lucky for the young hero, that, bred in

PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA.

197

the temple of Minerva, he had that Goddess for his faithful protector: she lent him her shield, to which Mercury added his wings, and away the hero flew; nor did he quit his undertaking, till he had got the head of Medusa safely pursed up in a bag: on his return he stopped one night in the dominions of the famous king Atlas, whose office it was to support the heavens upon his shoulders; Perseus thought to obtain the hospitality of this monarch, by telling him that he was the son of Jupiter: but Atlas had always been the enemy of Jupiter, and therefore bad Perseus go about his business, for he should have neither rest nor refreshment there: provoked at this insult, Perseus took the head of Medusa, which had the power of turning every one that looked upon it into stone, and shewed it to Atlas: Atlas felt the effects, and was immediately changed from the human figure into that of mount Atlas: in this shape he was quite as well fitted for supporting the heavens as he had been before.

From the country of king Atlas, Perseus passed over into Ethiopia: there the first object that caught his eye as he skimmed along through the air, was Andromeda, daughter of the king of Ethiopia, chained naked to a rock on the shore; she was a beautiful and admirable creature: Perseus looked a little longer, and saw a most horrible sea-monster, cutting his way rapidly through the waves, and hastening toward the princess that he might devour her.

The meaning of what Perseus saw was this: Cassiope, the mother of Andromeda, was of a most dazzling fairness; fair women were probably scarce in Ethiopia, where the majority of the inhabitants are blacks: in the pride of her heart

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PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA.

Cassiope boasted that she was fairer than the Nereids, the nymphs of the sea: these Goddesses, offended at her boast, applied to Neptune to give them their revenge: Neptune accordingly overflowed the kingdom with his waves, and sent this monster to devour its inhabitants: the Ethiopians applied to the oracle of Jupiter Ammon in their distress, and received for answer, that the wrath of Neptune would never be appeased, till Andromeda, the thing in the world that Cassiope loved best, was given up as a prey to the monster: the king and queen refused; but the people insisted: they would not consent to be all devoured in turns, to save the most beautiful princess in the world.

It was fortunate for Andromeda, that Perseus came by just in time: he did not hesitate to attack the monster, and after a long battle, killed it in sight of the king, queen and all the court: he then carried away Andromeda, and made her his wife.

When he came back to Seriphos, the first thing he saw, was Polydectes leading Danae to the altar where they were to be married: Danae had begged off the evil day for a long while, and intreated that the king would spare her, at least till her son returned from the expedition upon which he had sent him: Polydectes was satisfied he never would return, and at last would be put off no more: in the midst of the ceremony Perseus arrived: "If," said the hero, "I have happily accomplished my adventure, then, O king, consent to grant me a boon in return :' "You have not accomplished it," said Polydectes: "but, though you had, I will still marry your mother :" and so saying, he rudely seized