PERSEUS.
[Sidenote: Acrisius and Danae.]
The life of Acrisius, King of Argos, had been a burden to him ever
since the unfortunate day when an oracle had predicted that he would
be killed by his grandson. Until then the king had been very fond of
his only child, Danae, and until then, too, had thought with pride of
the time when he would bestow her hand in marriage upon the noblest of
all who came to woo.
Now his plans were all changed, and his only wish was to keep her
unmated,--a somewhat difficult task, for the maiden was very fair, and
Acrisius knew that the wily God of Love would endeavor to find some
way to outwit him and bring his plans to naught. After much thought,
Acrisius decided to lock Danae up in a brazen tower, around which he
stationed guards to prevent any one from even approaching the captive
princess.
But, although safely concealed from the eyes of men, Danae was plainly
seen by the everlasting gods; and Jupiter, looking down from Olympus,
beheld her in all her loveliness and in all her loneliness. She was
seated on top of her brazen tower, her eyes wistfully turned toward
the city, where girls of her age enjoyed freedom, and were allowed to
marry when they pleased.
[Sidenote: The shower of gold.]
Jupiter, pitying her isolation and admiring her beauty, resolved to go
down and converse with her for a little while. To avoid being seen, he
changed himself into a golden shower, and gently dropped down on the
turret beside her, where his presence and spirited conversation soon
won the maiden's heart.
"Danae, in a brazen tower
Where no love was, loved a shower."
Shelley.
This first successful visit was frequently repeated, and Danae no
longer felt lonely and deserted, for Jupiter spent most of his time
with her, pursuing his courtship most diligently, and finally winning
her to a secret marriage, to which no one offered the slightest
objection, as no one suspected his visits, which he continued quite
unmolested.
[Sidenote: Birth of Perseus.]
But one morning the guards rushed in terror to Acrisius' palace to
announce that Danae, his daughter, had given birth to a son, who, on
account of his beauty, was called Perseus. The king no sooner learned
this astonishing news, than he flew into a great rage, vowed that
mother and child should perish, and dispatched the guards to fetch the
unfortunate victims.
Acrisius, however, was not cruel enough to stain his own hands with
his child's blood, or to witness her execution: so he ordered that she
should be placed in an empty cask with her helpless infant, and
exposed to the fury of the waves. These orders were speedily executed;
and Danae's heart sank with terror when she felt the cask buffeted
about by the great waves far out of sight of land, and out of all
reach of help. Clasping her babe close to her bosom, she fervently
prayed the gods to watch over them both, and bring them in safety to
some hospitable shore.
"When round the well-fram'd ark the blowing blast
Roar'd, and the heaving whirlpools of the deep
With rough'ning surge seem'd threatening to o'erturn
The wide-tost vessel, not with tearless cheeks
The mother round her infant gently twined
Her tender arm, and cried, 'Ah me! my child!
What sufferings I endure! thou sleep'st the while,
Inhaling in thy milky-breathing breast
The balm of slumber.'"
Simonides (Elton's tr.).
[Sidenote: Danae at Seriphus.]
Her piteous prayer was evidently heard, for, after much tossing, the
cask was finally washed ashore on the Island of Seriphus, where
Polydectes, the king, kindly received mother and child. Here Perseus,
the golden-haired, grew to manhood, and here made his first appearance
in games and combats.
In the mean while, Polydectes had fallen in love with Danae, and
expressed his desire to marry her; but Danae did not return his
affections, and would not consent. Angry at her persistent refusal of
his proposals, Polydectes wished to compel her to obey, and thereby
incurred the wrath of young Perseus, who loudly declared that none
should dare force his mother as long as he were there to defend her.
This boast did not at all allay the monarch's wrath; and, hoping to
get rid of the young boaster, he bade him go forth and slay Medusa, if
he wished to convince people that his bravery was real.
[Sidenote: The Gorgons.]
This Medusa was one of the three Gorgons. Her sisters, Euryale and
Stheno, although immortal, had never had any claims to beauty; but
Medusa, when only a girl, had been considered very handsome indeed.
Her home, in a land where the sun never shone, was very distasteful to
her, so she entreated Minerva to let her go and visit the beautiful
sunny south.
But when Minerva refused to grant her wish, she reviled the goddess,
and declared that nothing but a conviction that mortals would no
longer consider her beautiful if they but once beheld Medusa, could
have prompted this denial. This presumptuous remark so incensed
Minerva, that, to punish her for her vanity, she changed her beautiful
curling locks into hissing, writhing serpents, and decreed that one
glance into her still beautiful face would suffice to change the
beholder into stone.
"Fatal Beauty! thou didst seem
The phantom of some fearful dream.
Extremes of horror and of love
Alternate o'er our senses move,
As, rapt and spellbound, we survey
The horrid coils which round thee play,
And mark thy wild, enduring smile,
Lit by no mortal fire the while,
Formed to attract all eyes to thee,
And yet their withering blight to be;
Thy power mysterious to congeal
And from life's blood its warmth to steal,
To petrify the mortal clay
In its first gleam of wild dismay,
Is a dread gift to one like thee,
Cursed with a hateful destiny."
Mrs. St. John.
[Sidenote: Perseus' quest.]
The gods, who had carefully watched over Perseus through his childhood
and youth, now decided to lend him their aid, so that he might
successfully accomplish the great task of slaying Medusa. Pluto lent
him a magic helmet, which made the wearer invisible at will; Mercury
attached his own winged sandals to the youth's heels, to endow him
with great rapidity of flight; while Minerva armed him with her own
mirrorlike shield, the dreadful Ægis.
"Minerva thus to Perseus lent her shield;
Secure of conquest, sent him to the field:
The hero acted what the queen ordain'd,
So was his fame complete."
Prior.
[Sidenote: The Grææ.]
Thus equipped, Perseus flew northward until he came to the land of
perpetual darkness, the home of the Grææ, three horrible sisters, who
possessed but one eye and one tooth, which they handed about and used
in turn, and who were the only living beings cognizant of the place
where Medusa dwelt.
Invisible by virtue of his magic helmet, Perseus drew near the cave
without fear of detection, and intercepted the eye while on its way
from one sister to another. As soon as it was safe in his possession,
he spoke to them, promising to restore it if they would only give him
accurate directions for finding Medusa. The sisters, eager to recover
the treasured eye, immediately gave the desired information; and
Perseus, having honorably fulfilled his share of the contract,
departed in search of Medusa.
[Sidenote: Death of Medusa.]
Perseus at last perceived the Gorgon's home in the dim distance; and,
as he was fully aware of Medusa's petrifying proclivities, he advanced
very cautiously, holding his shield before him at such an angle that
all surrounding objects were clearly reflected on its smooth,
mirrorlike surface.
He thus discovered Medusa asleep, raised his sword, and, without
looking at anything but her mirrored form, severed her head from her
body, seized it in one hand, and, holding it persistently behind his
back, flew away in great haste, lest the two remaining Gorgons should
fall upon him and attempt to avenge their sister's death.
[Sidenote: Birth of snakes.]
Perseus then swiftly winged his way over land and sea, carefully
holding his ghastly trophy behind him; and as he flew, Medusa's blood
trickled down on the hot African sand, where it gave birth to a race
of poisonous reptiles destined to infest the region in future ages,
and cause the death of many an adventurous explorer. The drops which
fell into the sea were utilized by Neptune, who created from them the
famous winged steed called Pegasus (p. 154).
"And the life drops from thy head
On Libyan sands, by Perseus shed,
Sprang a scourging race from thee--
Fell types of artful mystery."
Mrs. St. John.
The return journey was long and wearisome, and on his way the hero had
many adventures. Once, when flying high above a mountainous country,
he caught a glimpse of Atlas, his pale face turned up to the heavens,
whose weight he had patiently borne for many a long year,--a burden
which seemed all the more grievous after the short taste of freedom he
had enjoyed while Hercules stood in his place (pp. 228-9),--
[Illustration: PERSEUS.--Cellini. (Loggia de' Lanzi, Florence.)]
"Supporting on his shoulders the vast pillar
Of Heaven and Earth, a weight of cumbrous grasp."
Æschylus (Potter's tr.).
[Sidenote: Atlas petrified.]
When Atlas saw Perseus flying toward him, hope revived, for he
remembered that Fate had decreed that it was this hero who was to slay
the Gorgon; and he thought, that, if he could but once gaze upon her
stony face, he would be free from pain and weariness forever. As soon
as the hero was within hearing, Atlas therefore addressed him as
follows:--
"'Hasten now, Perseus, and let me look upon the Gorgon's face, for the
agony of my labor is well-nigh greater than I can bear.' So Perseus
hearkened unto the word of Atlas, and he unveiled before him the dead
face of Medusa. Eagerly he gazed for a moment on the changeless
countenance, as though beneath the blackness of great horror he yet
saw the wreck of her ancient beauty and pitied her for her hopeless
woe. But in an instant the straining eyes were stiff and cold; and it
seemed to Perseus, as he rose again into the pale yellow air, that the
gray hairs which streamed from the giant's head were like the snow
which rests on the peak of a great mountain, and that in place of the
trembling limbs he saw only the rents and clefts on a rough hillside."
Thus the mere sight of Medusa changed Atlas into the rugged mountains
which have since borne his name; and, as their summits are lost in the
clouds, the ancients supposed they sustained the full weight of the
heavenly vault.
[Sidenote: Story of Andromeda.]
Thence Perseus flew on until he reached the seashore, where a strange
sight greeted him. Away down on the "rock-bound coast," so near the
foaming billows that their spray continually dashed over her fair
limbs, a lovely maiden was chained fast to an overhanging rock. This
maiden was the Princess Andromeda. To atone for the vanity of her
mother, Cassiopeia, who claimed she was fairer than any of the sea
nymphs, she had been exposed there as prey for a terrible sea monster
sent to devastate the homes along the coast.
[Illustration: PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA.--Coypel.]
An oracle, when consulted, declared that the monster would not depart
until Andromeda was sacrificed to his fury; and Perseus could even now
perceive the receding procession which had solemnly accompanied her to
the appointed place of sacrifice, and chained her fast.
At the same time, too, he saw the waters below the maiden lashed to
foam by the monster's tail, and the scales of his hideous body slowly
rising up out of the water. Fascinated by this horrible sight, the
maiden's eyes were fixed on the monster. She did not see the rapid
approach of her deliverer, who, dauntless, drew his sword from its
scabbard, and, swooping down, attacked the monster, cheered by the
shouts of the people, who had seen him, and now rushed back to witness
the slaying of their foe.
"On the hills a shout
Of joy, and on the rocks the ring of mail;
And while the hungry serpent's gloating eyes
Were fixed on me, a knight in casque of gold
And blazing shield, who with his flashing blade
Fell on the monster. Long the conflict raged,
Till all the rocks were red with blood and slime,
And yet my champion from those horrible jaws
And dreadful coils was scathless."
Lewis Morris.
Of course, this fierce struggle could have but one conclusion; and
when Perseus had slain the monster, freed Andromeda from her chains,
and restored her to the arms of her overjoyed parents, they
immediately offered any reward he might be pleased to claim. When he,
therefore, expressed a desire to marry the maiden he had so bravely
rescued, they gladly gave him her hand, although in early youth the
princess had been promised to her uncle Phineus.
[Sidenote: Phineus petrified.]
Preparations for the marriage were immediately begun; and the former
suitor, who had been too cowardly to venture a single blow to deliver
her from the monster, prepared to fight the rival who was about to
carry off his promised bride. Unbidden he came to the marriage feast
with a number of armed followers, and was about to carry off
Andromeda, when Perseus suddenly bade his adherents stand behind him,
unveiled the Medusa head, and, turning its baleful face toward Phineus
and his followers, changed them all into stone.
The interrupted marriage feast was now resumed; and when it was over,
Perseus took his bride to Seriphus. There, hearing that Polydectes had
dared to ill treat his mother because she still refused to accede to
his wishes and become his wife, he changed the importunate king into a
rock by showing him his Medusa trophy, gave the kingdom to the king's
brother, and, accompanied by wife and mother, returned to his native
land. The borrowed helmet, sandals, and shield were all duly restored
to their respective owners, and the Medusa head was given to Minerva
in token of gratitude for her help. Greatly pleased with this gift,
the goddess set it in the center of her terrible Ægis, where it
retained all its petrifying power, and served her in many a fight.
[Sidenote: Return to Argos.]
Arrived at Argos, Perseus discovered that a usurper had claimed his
grandfather's throne. To hurl the unlawful claimant from his exalted
seat, and compel him to make full restitution and atonement, was but a
trifle for the hero who had conquered Medusa; and Acrisius, now old
and weak, was taken from the prison where he languished, and restored
to his wonted honors, by the very youth he had been taught to fear.
But the gods' decree was always sure to be fulfilled sooner or later;
and one day, when Perseus was playing quoits, he accidentally killed
his grandfather. To remain at Argos, haunted by the memory of this
involuntary crime, was too painful for him: so he exchanged his
kingdom for another, that of Mycenæ, which he ruled wisely and well.
When Perseus died, after a long and glorious reign, the gods, who had
always loved him, placed him among the stars, where he can still be
seen, with his wife Andromeda, and mother-in-law Cassiopeia.