The early history of mortals in Greece is scarcely separated from that
of the Gods. The first adventurer that it is perhaps proper to notice,
as his exploits have I know not what of magic in them, is Perseus, the
founder of the metropolis and kingdom of Mycenae. By way of rendering
his birth illustrious, he is said to have been the son of Jupiter, by
Danae, the daughter of Acrisius, king of Argos. The king, being
forewarned by an oracle that his daughter should bear a son, by whose
hand her father should be deprived of life, thought proper to shut her
up in a tower of brass. Jupiter, having metamorphosed himself into a
shower of gold, found his way into her place of confinement, and
became the father of Perseus. On the discovery of this circumstance,
Acrisius caused both mother and child to be inclosed in a chest, and
committed to the waves. The chest however drifted upon the lands of a
person of royal descent in the island of Seriphos, who extended his
care and hospitality to both. When Perseus grew to man's estate, he
was commissioned by the king of Seriphos to bring him the head of
Medusa, one of the Gorgons. Medusa had the wonderful faculty, that
whoever met her eyes was immediately turned into stone; and the king,
who had conceived a passion for Danae, sent her son on this enterprise,
with the hope that he would never come back alive. He was however
favoured by the Gods; Mercury gave him wings to fly, Pluto an invisible
helmet, and Minerva a mirror-shield, by looking in which he could
discover how his enemy was disposed, without the danger of meeting her
eyes. Thus equipped, he accomplished his undertaking, cut off the head
of the Gorgon, and pursed it in a bag. From this exploit he proceeded
to visit Atlas, king of Mauritania, who refused him hospitality, and
in revenge Perseus turned him into stone. He next rescued Andromeda,
daughter of the king of Ethiopia, from a monster sent by Neptune to
devour her. And, lastly, returning to his mother, and finding the king
of Seriphos still incredulous and obstinate, he turned him likewise
into a stone.
The labours of Hercules, the most celebrated of the Greeks of the
heroic age, appear to have had little of magic in them, but to have
been indebted for their success to a corporal strength, superior to
that of all other mortals, united with an invincible energy of mind,
which disdained to yield to any obstacle that could be opposed to him.
His achievements are characteristic of the rude and barbarous age in
which he lived: he strangled serpents, and killed the Erymanthian
boar, the Nemaean lion, and the Hydra.