scene, wretched both, but the mother more justly so, stood by, not able to afford
protection, but only to pour forth lamentations and to embrace the victim. Then spoke
Perseus: "There will be time enough for tears; this hour is all we have for rescue. My
rank as the son of Jove and my renown as the slayer of the Gorgon might make me
acceptable as a suitor; but I will try to win her by services rendered, if the gods will only
be propitious. If she be rescued by my valor, I demand that she be my reward." The
parents consent, (how could they hesitate?) and promise a royal dowry with her.
And now the monster was within the range of a stone thrown by a skilful slinger,
when with a sudden bound the youth soared into the air. As an eagle, when from his
lofty flight he sees a serpent basking in the sun, pounces upon him and seizes him by
the neck to prevent him from turning his head round and using his fangs, so the youth
darted down upon the back of the monster and plunged his sword into its shoulder.
Irritated by the wound the monster raised himself into the air, then plunged into the
depth; then, like a wild boar surrounded by a pack of barking dogs, turned swiftly from
side to side, while the youth eluded its attacks by means of his wings. Wherever he can
find a passage for his sword between the scales he makes a wound, piercing now the
side, now the flank, as it slopes towards the tail. The brute spouts from his nostrils water
mixed with blood. The wings of the hero are wet with it, and he dares no longer trust to
them. Alighting on a rock which rose above the waves, and holding on by a projecting
fragment, as the monster floated near he gave him a death stroke. The people who had
gathered on the shore shouted so that the hills reechoed the sound. The parents,
transported with joy, embraced their future son-in-law, calling him their deliverer and the
savior of their house, and the virgin, both cause and reward of the contest, descended
from the rock.
Cassiopeia was an Aethiopian, and consequently, in spite of her boasted beauty,
black; at least so Milton seems to have thought, who alludes to this story in his
Penseroso, where he addresses Melancholy as the
" - goddess, sage and holy,
Whose saintly visage is too bright
To hit the sense of human sight,
And, therefore, to our weaker view
O'erlaid with black, staid Wisdom's hue.
Black, but such as in esteem
Prince Memnon's sister might beseem,
Or that starred Aethiop queen that strove
To set her beauty's praise above
The sea-nymphs, and their powers offended."
Cassiopeia is called "the starred Aethiop queen" because after her death she
was placed among the stars, forming the constellation of that name. Though she
attained this honor, yet the Sea-Nymphs, her old enemies, prevailed so far as to cause
her to be placed in that part of the heaven near the pole, where every night she is half
the time held with her head downward, to give her a lesson of humility.
Memnon was an Aethiopian prince, of whom we shall tell in a future chapter.
The Wedding Feast.
The joyful parents, with Perseus and Andromeda, repaired to the palace, where a
banquet was spread for them, and all was joy and festivity. But suddenly a noise was
heard of warlike clamor, and Phineus, the betrothed of the virgin, with a party of his
adherents, burst in, demanding the maiden as his own. It was in vain that Cepheus
remonstrated, - "You should have claimed her when she lay bound to the rock, the
monster's victim. The sentence of the gods dooming her to such a fate dissolved all
engagements, as death itself would have done." Phineus made no reply, but hurled his
javelin at Perseus, but it missed its mark and fell harmless. Perseus would have thrown
his in turn, but the cowardly assailant ran and took shelter behind the altar. But his act
was a signal for an onset by his band upon the guests of Cepheus. They defended
themselves and a general conflict ensued, the old king retreating from the scene after
fruitless expostulations, calling the gods to witness that he was guiltless of this outrage
on the rights of hospitality.
Perseus and his friends maintained for some time the unequal contest; but the
numbers of the assailants were too great for them, and destruction seemed inevitable,
when a sudden thought struck Perseus, - "I will make my enemy defend me." Then with
a loud voice he exclaimed, "If I have any friend here let him turn away his eyes!" and
held aloft the Gorgon's head. "Seek not to frighten us with your jugglery," said
Thescelus, and raised his javelin in act to throw, and became stone in the very attitude.
Ampyx was about to plunge his sword into the body of a prostrate foe, but his arm
stiffened and he could neither thrust forward nor withdraw it. Another, in the midst of a
vociferous challenge, stopped, his mouth open, but no sound issuing. One of Perseus's
friends, Aconteus, caught sight of the Gorgon and stiffened like the rest. Astyages struck
him with his sword, but instead of wounding, it recoiled with a ringing noise.
Phineus beheld this dreadful result of his unjust aggression, and felt confounded.
He called aloud to his friends, but got no answer; he touched them and found them
stone. Falling on his knees and stretching out his hands to Perseus, but turning his
head away, he begged for mercy. "Take all," said he, "give me but my life." "Base
coward," said Perseus, "thus much I will grant you; no weapon shall touch you;
moreover you shall be preserved in my house as a memorial of these events." So
saying, he held the Gorgon's head to the side where Phineus was looking, and in the
very form in which he knelt, with his hands outstretched and face averted he became
fixed immovably, a mass of stone!
The following allusion to Perseus is from Milman's Samor: -
"As 'mid the fabled Libyan bridal stood
Perseus in stern tranquility of wrath,
Half stood, half floated on his ankle-plumes
Out-swelling, while the bright face on his shield
Looked into stone the raging fray; so rose,
But with no magic arms, wearing alone
Th' appalling and control of his firm look,
The Briton Samor; at his rising awe
Went abroad, and the riotous hall was mute."
Chapter XVI: Monsters
Giants, Sphinx, Pegasus And Chimaera, Centaurs Griffin, And Pygmies.
Monsters, in the language of mythology, were beings of unnatural proportions or
parts, usually regarded with terror, as possessing immense strength and ferocity,
which they employed for the injury and annoyance of men. Some of them were
supposed to combine the members of different animals; such were the Sphinx and
Chimaera; and to these all the terrible qualities of wild beasts were attributed, together
with human sagacity and faculties. Others, as the giants, differed from men chiefly in
their size; and in this particular we must recognize a wide distinction among them. The
human giants, if so they may be called, such as the Cyclopes, Antaeus, Orion and
others, must be supposed not to be altogether disproportioned to human beings, for
they mingled in love and strife with them. But the superhuman giants, who warred with
the gods,
were of vastly larger dimensions. Tityus, we are told, when stretched on the
plain, covered nine acres, and Enceladus required the whole of Mount Aetna to be laid
upon him to keep him down.
We have already spoken of the war which the giants waged against the gods,
and of its result. While this war lasted the giants proved a formidable enemy. Some of
them, like Briareus, had a hundred arms; others, like Typhon, breathed out fire. At one
time they put the gods to such fear that they fled into Egypt, and hid themselves under
various forms. Jupiter took the form of a ram, whence he was afterwards worshipped
in Egypt as the god Ammon, with curved horns. Apollo became a crow, Bacchus a
goat, Diana a cat, Juno a cow, Venus a fish, Mercury a bird. At another time the giants
attempted to climb up into heaven, and for that purpose took up the mountain Ossa
and piled it on Pelion. ^* They were at last subdued by thunderbolts, which Minerva
invented, and taught Vulcan and his Cyclopes to make for Jupiter.
[Footnote *: See Proverbial Expressions, page 477.]
The Sphinx.
Laius, king of Thebes, was warned by an oracle that there was danger to his
throne and life if his new-born son should be suffered to grow up. He therefore
committed the child to the care of a herdsman, with orders to destroy him; but the
herdsman, moved with pity, yet not daring entirely to disobey, tied up the child by the
feet, and left him hanging to the branch of a tree. In this condition the infant was found
by a peasant, who carried him to his master and mistress, by whom he was adopted
and called Oedipus, or Swollen-foot.
Many years afterwards Laius being on his way to Delphi, accompanied only by
one attendant, met in a narrow road a young man also driving in a chariot. On his
refusal to leave the way at their command, the attendant killed one of his horses, and
the stranger, filled with rage, slew both Laius and his attendant. The young man was
Oedipus, who thus unknowingly became the slayer of his own father.
Shortly after this event, the city of Thebes was afflicted with a monster which
infested the high-road. It was called the Sphinx. It had the body of a lion, and the
upper part of a woman. It lay crouched on the top of a rock, and arrested all travellers
who came that way, proposing to them a riddle, with the condition that those who could
solve it should pass safe, but those who failed should be killed. Not one had yet
succeeded in solving it, and all had been slain. Oedipus was not daunted by these
alarming accounts, but boldly advanced to the trial. The Sphinx asked him, "What
animal is that which in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the
evening upon three?" Oedipus replied, "Man, who in childhood creeps on hands and
knees, in manhood walks erect, and in old age with the aid of a staff." The Sphinx was
so mortified at the solving of her riddle that she cast her self down from the rock and
perished.
The gratitude of the people for their deliverance was so great that they made
Oedipus their king, giving him in marriage their queen Jocasta. Oedipus, ignorant of
his parentage, had already become the slayer of his father; in marrying the queen he
became the husband of his mother. These horrors remained undiscovered, till at
length Thebes was afflicted with famine and pestilence, and the oracle being
consulted, the double crime of Oedipus came to light. Jocasta put an end to her own
life, and Oedipus, seized with madness, tore out his eyes, and wandered away from
Thebes, dreaded and abandoned by all, except his daughters, who faithfully adhered
to him; till after a tedious period of miserable wandering, he found the termination of
his wretched life.
Pegasus And The Chimaera.
When Perseus cut off Medusa's head, the blood sinking into the earth produced
the winged horse Pegasus. Minerva caught and tamed him, and presented him to the
Muses. The fountain Hippocrene, on the Muses' mountain Helicon, was opened by a
kick from his hoof.
The Chimaera was a fearful monster, breathing fire. The fore part of its body
was a compound of the lion and the goat, and the hind part a dragon's. It made great
havoc in Lycia, so that the king Iobates sought for some hero to destroy it. At that time
there arrived at his court a gallant young warrior, whose name was Bellerophon. He
brought letters from Proetus, the son-in-law of Iobates, recommending Bellerophon in
the warmest terms as an unconquerable hero, but added at the close a request to his
father-in-law to put him to death. The reason was that Proetus was jealous of him,
suspecting that his wife Antea looked with too much admiration on the young warrior.
From this instance of Bellerophon being unconsciously the bearer of his own death-
warrant, the expression "Bellerophontic letters" arose, to describe any species of
communication which a person is made the bearer of, containing matter prejudicial to
himself.
Iobates, on perusing the letters, was puzzled what to do, not willing to violate the
claims of hospitality, yet wishing to oblige his son-in-law. A lucky thought occurred to
him, to send Bellerophon to combat with the Chimaera. Bellerophon accepted the
proposal, but before proceeding to the combat consulted the soothsayer Polyidus, who
advised him to procure if possible the horse Pegasus for the conflict. For this purpose
he directed him to pass the night in the temple of Minerva. He did so, and as he slept
Minerva came to him and gave him a golden bridle. When he awoke the bridle
remained in his hand. Minerva also showed him Pegasus drinking at the well of
Pirene, and at sight of the bridle, the winged steed came willingly and suffered himself
to be taken. Bellerophon mounted him, rose with him into the air, soon found the
Chimaera, and gained an easy victory over the monster.
After the conquest of the Chimaera, Bellerophon was exposed to further trials
and labors by his unfriendly host, but by the aid of Pegasus he triumphed in them all;
till at length Iobates, seeing that the hero was a special favorite of the gods, gave him
his daughter in marriage and made him his successor on the throne. At last
Bellerophon by his pride and presumption drew upon himself the anger of the gods; it
is said he even attempted to fly up into heaven on his winged steed; but Jupiter sent a
gadfly which stung Pegasus and made him throw his rider, who became lame and
blind in consequence. After this Bellerophon wandered lonely through the Aleian field,
avoiding the paths of men, and died miserably.
Milton alludes to Bellerophon in the beginning of the seventh book of Paradise
Lost: -
"Descend from Heaven, Urania, by that name
If rightly thou art called, whose voice divine
Following above the Olympian hill I soar,
Above the flight of Pegasean wing.
Upled by thee,
Into the Heaven of Heavens I have presumed,
An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air,
(Thy tempering;) with like safety guided down
Return me to my native element;
Lest from this flying steed unreined, (as once
Bellerophon, though from a lower sphere,)
Dismounted on the Aleian field I fall,
Erroneous there
to wander and forlorn."
Young in his Night Thoughts, speaking of the sceptic, says, -
"He whose blind though futurity denies,
Unconscious bears, Bellerophon, like thee
His own indictment; he condemns himself.
Who reads his bosom reads immortal life,
Or nature there, imposing on her sons,
Has written fables; man was made a lie."
Vol. II. p. 12.
Pegasus, being the horse of the Muses, has always been at the service of the
poets. Schiller tells a pretty story of his having been sold by a needy poet, and put to the
cart and the plough. He was not fit for such service, and his clownish master could
make nothing of him. But a youth stepped forth and asked leave to try him. As soon as
he was seated on his back, the horse, which had appeared at first vicious, and
afterwards spirit-broken, rose kingly, a spirit, a god; unfolded the splendor of his wings
and soared towards heaven. Our own poet Longfellow also records an adventure of this
famous steed in his Pegasus in Pound.
Shakespeare alludes to Pegasus in Henry IV, where Vernon describes Prince
Henry: -
"I saw young Harry, with his beaver on,
His cuishes on his thighs, gallantly armed,
Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury,
And vaulted with such ease into his seat,
As if an angel dropped down from the clouds,
To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus,
And witch the world with noble horsemanship."
The Centaurs.
These monsters were represented as men from the head to the loins while the
remainder of the body was that of a horse. The ancients were too fond of a horse to
consider the union of his nature with man's as forming a very degraded compound, and
accordingly the Centaur is the only one of the fancied monsters of antiquity to which any
good traits are assigned. The Centaurs were admitted to the companionship of man,
Age of Fable or Beauties of Mythology Page 16