Heathen mythology Part 33

He went to his palace, expecting to meet with an hospitable reception from Atlas, by announcing himself the son of Jupiter, but he found himself grievously deceived. It occurred to the recollection of Atlas, that an ancient tradition had announced that his gardens were to be plundered of their fruits by one of the sons of the King of Heaven; and not only did he rudely refuse to shelter him, but offered violence to his person, and attempted to slay him.

Finding himself unable to contend with so powerful a foe, Perseus was obliged to have recourse to the head of Medusa, and Atlas was instantly changed into a large mountain, which bore the same name in the deserts of Africa.

"At this confession Atlas ghastly stared, Mindful of what an oracle declared, That the dark womb of time concealed a day, Which should, disclosed, the gloomy gold betray: {192} All should at once be ravished from his eyes, And Jove's own progeny enjoy the prize.

For this, the fruit he loftily immured, And a fierce dragon the strait pa.s.s secured; For this, all strangers he forbade to land, And drove them from the inhospitable strand, To Perseus then: 'Fly quickly, fly this coast, Nor falsely dare thy acts and race to boast.'

In vain the hero for one night entreats; Threat'ning he storms, and next adds force to threats.

By strength not Perseus could himself defend, For who in strength with Atlas could contend?-- 'But since short rest to me thou wilt not give, A gift of endless rest from me receive.--'

He said, and backward turned, no more concealed The present, and Medusa's head reveal'd.

Soon the high Atlas a high mountain stood; His locks, and beard, became a leafy wood: His hands and shoulders into ridges went, The summit head still crowned the deep ascent: His bones a solid, rocky hardness gained: He thus immensely grown (as fate ordained), The stars, the heavens, and all the G.o.ds sustained.

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As Perseus pursued his journey, after inflicting this just punishment upon his foe, across the territories of Lybia, he discovered on the coast of Ethiopia, the beautiful Andromeda, exposed to the fury of a sea-monster, which for some time had ravaged the country, and to appease which, the oracle of Jupiter Ammon had declared, {193} nothing could avail, excepting the exposure of the maiden to its anger. At this moment, when the monster was going to destroy her, Perseus saw, and was captivated with her beauty.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

He offered Cepheus, her father, his aid in delivering her from danger, provided he would give the maiden to him in marriage, as a reward for his exertions.

"Chained to a rock she stood; young Perseus stayed His rapid flight, to view the beauteous maid.

So sweet her form, so exquisitely fine, She seemed a statue by a hand divine, Had not the wind her waving tresses shewed And down her cheeks the melting sorrows flowed.

Her faultless form the hero's bosom fires, The more he looks, the more he still admires.

Th' admirer almost had forgot to fly, And swift descended, fluttering, from on high."

OVID.

This princess had been promised in marriage to Phineus, her uncle, when Neptune sent a sea-monster to ravage the country, because Ca.s.siope, her mother, had boasted herself fairer than Juno and the Nereides.

"In me the son of thundering Jove behold, Got in a kindly shower of fruitful gold, Medusa's snaky head is now my prey, And through the clouds I boldly wing my way.

{194} If such desert be worthy of esteem, And, if your daughter I from death redeem.

Shall she be mine? Shall it not then be thought, A bride, so lovely, was too cheaply bought?

For her, my arms, I willingly employ, If I may beauties, which I save, enjoy."

OVID.

Cepheus consented to bestow his daughter upon Perseus, and immediately the hero raised himself in the air, flew towards the monster, as it advanced to devour Andromeda, and plunging his dagger in his right shoulder, destroyed it. This happy event was attended with great rejoicings, and the nuptials of Andromeda with Perseus, soon followed.

The universal joy, was, however, quickly interrupted: for Phineus, dissatisfied with thus losing his promised bride, entered the palace with a number of armed men, and attempted to carry her off. In vain did the father and mother of Andromeda interfere.

"Chief in the riot, Phineus first appeared, The rash ringleader of this boisterous herd, And brandis.h.i.+ng his brazen pointed lance, 'Behold,' he said, 'an injured man advance,'

Stung with resentment for his ravished wife, Nor shall thy wings O Perseus, save thy life; Nor Jove himself, tho' we've been often told He got thee in the form of tempting gold.

His lance was aimed, when Cepheus ran and said; 'Hold, brother, hold, what brutal rage has made Your frantic mind so black a crime conceive?

Are these the thanks that you to Perseus give?

This the reward that to his worth you pay, Whose timely valour saved Andromeda?

Nor was it he, if you would reason right, That forced her from you, but the jealous spite Of envious Nereids, and Jove's high degree, And that devouring monster of the sea, That, ready with his jaws wide gaping stood, To eat my child, the fairest of my blood.

You lost her then when she seemed past relief, And wish'd, perhaps, her death, to ease your grief With my afflictions; not content to view Andromeda in chains, unhelped by you, Her spouse and uncle, will you grieve that he Exposed his life, the dying maid to free?

And shall you claim his merit? Had you thought Her charms so great, you should have bravely sought, That blessing on the rocks where fixed she lay; But now let Perseus bear his prize away.

By service gained, by promised faith possessed; To him I owe it, that my age is blest Still with a child: nor think that I prefer Perseus to thee, but to the loss of her."

OVID.

{195}

A fierce contest ensued, and Perseus must have fallen a victim to the fury of Phineus, had he not employed the same arms which had proved so successful against Atlas.

"Fierce Phineus now repents the wrongful fight, And views his varied friends, a dreadful sight; He knows their faces, for their help he sues, And thinks, not hearing him, that they refuse, By name lie begs their succour, one by one, Then doubts their life, and feels the friendly stone.

Struck with remorse, and conscious of his pride, Convict of sin he turn'd his eyes aside; With suppliant mien to Perseus thus he prays, 'Hence with the head, as far as winds and seas Can bear thee: Hence; oh! quit the Cephan sh.o.r.e And never curse it with Medusa more; That horrid head which stiffens into stone, Those impious men who daring death, look on: I warred not with thee out of hate or strife, My honest cause was to defend my wife, First pledged to me; what crime could I suppose To arm my friends, and vindicate my spouse?

'Twas thine to conquer by Minerva's power, Favoured of heaven, thy mercy I implore, For life I sue, the rest to thee I yield: In pity from my sight remove the s.h.i.+eld!'

Phineus turned to shun the s.h.i.+eld, Full in his face the staring head he held, As here and there he strove to turn aside, The wonder wrought, the man was petrified, All marble was his frame, his burned eyes, Dropped tears which hung upon the stone like ice; In suppliant posture, with uplifted hands And fearful look, the guilty statue stands."

OVID.

He but showed the head of the Gorgon to his adversaries, and they turned to stone in the very att.i.tudes they were when they first beheld it. The friends of Cepheus, however, and those who a.s.sisted Perseus, were saved from the same fate by a previous warning of Perseus.

Soon after this memorable adventure, Perseus went to Seriphos, and arrived there at the very moment that his mother Danae sought the altar of Minerva, to save herself from the violence of Polydectes; Dictys, who had preserved her and Perseus from the sea, had attempted to defend her from her enemy, and Perseus therefore sensible of his merit and of his humanity, placed him on the throne of Seriphos, after he had employed Medusa's head to turn the wicked Polydectes {196} into stone, with those of his court who were accomplices in his guilt.

When these celebrated exploits were finished, Perseus felt a desire to return to his native country, and arrived with his mother and Andromeda on the Peloponnesian coast, as some funeral games were being celebrated in honour of the deceased King of Larissa. Here he sought to signalise himself in throwing the quoit, but in this he was attended by an evil fate, and had the misfortune to kill a man with a quoit which he had thrown in the air: this proved to be Acresius, who thus met the fate the oracle had decreed, and to avoid which, he had been guilty of the barbarous act of throwing his daughter and her son into the sea.

This unfortunate murder preyed upon the spirit of Perseus, and though by the death of Acresius he was ent.i.tled to the throne of Argos, he refused to accept it, fearing it would constantly remind him of the parricide he had committed; and exchanged his kingdom for the maritime coast of Argolis.

The time of the death of Perseus is unknown, it is universally agreed however, that he received divine honours like the rest of the ancient heroes.

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HEROES.

Heroes are mortals, who, by their glorious achievements, have excited the admiration of their kind, and received the respect due to those immortal spirits, who have distinguished themselves in the service of their country.

Homer represents a hero as a prince of the ancient time, loved and protected by the G.o.ds: while in Hesiod, they are the early order of beings who preceded the frail human race. {197}

THESEUS.

"Aye, this is he, A proud and mighty spirit: how fine his form, Gigantic! moulded like the race that strove To take Jove's heaven by storm, and scare him from Olympus. There he sits, a demi-G.o.d, Stern as when he of yore forsook the maid Who, doating saved him from the Cretan toil, Where he had slain the Minotaur. Alas!

Fond Ariadne, thee did he desert, And heartless left thee on the Naiad's sh.o.r.e To languish. This is he who dared to roam The world infernal, and on Pluto's queen, Ceres' own lost Prosperina, did lay His hand: thence was he prisoned in the vaults Beneath, 'till freed by Hercules. Methinks (So perfect is the Phidian stone) his sire, The sea G.o.d Neptune, hath in anger stopped The current of life, and with his trident touch Hath struck him into marble."

BARRY CORNWALL.

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This hero, one of the most celebrated of antiquity, was the son of aegeus, by aethra, daughter of Pittheus, though not publicly acknowledged to be the King of Athens, being educated at Traezene, in the house of Pittheus. When he came to maturity, he was sent by his mother to aegeus, and a sword which had been hidden beneath a stone until he became of age, and by which he was to {198} make himself known to his parent, was shown to him, and ordered to be taken. The usual journey for travellers to his father's court, at Athens, was by sea, but Theseus determined to signalise himself by encountering the dangers which attended the journey on land, and which consisted in robbers and wild beasts, rendering the road almost impa.s.sable: however, these obstacles were all met, and destroyed by his courage. He arrived at Athens in safety, where his reception was not so cordial as he hoped, for Medea, who resided with aegeus, felt that her influence with this monarch would be destroyed, if once Theseus gained his proper footing in his father's house, and she tried to poison him before his return was known to the Athenians. With a refinement of cruelty, she endeavoured to make aegeus give a cup of poison to him, as an unknown stranger at a feast; but the sword at his side saved Theseus, for his father recognised it, and introduced him to the people of Athens as his son, all of whom gladly hailed the ill.u.s.trious man, who had cleansed them of robbers and pirates, as the offspring of their monarch.

The Pallantides, however, who expected to succeed their uncle on his throne, were enraged at the reception of Theseus, and attempted to a.s.sa.s.sinate him; their barbarous intent recoiled upon themselves, for they were all slain by young Theseus.

The bull of Marathon which ravaged the neighbouring country, next engaged his attention, and taking the animal alive, he led it through the streets of Athens, previously to sacrificing it on the altar of Minerva.

At this time, the Minotaur was receiving the annual tribute of seven of the n.o.blest youth of Athens, and Theseus could not fail of being ranked among them, to be devoured by the monster.

------------"The Minotaur was fed, With human victims for Androgeos dead.

The flower of Athens were compelled to bleed, For thus the cruel oracle decreed, Till Theseus; to preserve his country's blood, Himself devoted for the public good."