{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XV/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XV","id":"wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XV","license":"Public Domain / CC-BY-SA (see source)","rights_basis":"wikisource_site_inclusion_policy","source":"wikisource","source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Fable/Chapter_XV","summary":null,"tags":["Headers_applying_DefaultSort_key","Subpages"],"text":"THE GR\u00c6\u00c6 OR GRAY, MAIDS \u2014 PERSEUS \u2014MEDUSA \u2014 ATLAS \u2014 ANDROMEDA\n\nThe Gr\u00e6\u00e6 were three sisters who were gray-haired from their\nbirth, whence their name. The Gorgons were monstrous females with\nhuge teeth like those of swine, brazen claws, and snaky hair. None\nof these beings make much figure in mythology except Medusa, the\nGorgon, whose story we shall next advert to. We mention them\nchiefly to introduce an ingenious theory of some modern writers,\nnamely, that the Gorgons and Gr\u00e6\u00e6 were only personifications of\nthe terrors of the sea, the former denoting the strong billows of\nthe wide open main, and the latter the white-crested waves that\ndash against the rocks of the coast. Their names in Greek signify\nthe above epithets.\n\nPERSEUS AND MEDUSA\n\nPerseus was the son of Jupiter and Dana\u00eb. His grandfather\nAcrisius, alarmed by an oracle which had told him that his\ndaughter's child would be the instrument of his death, caused the\nmother and child to be shut up in a chest and set adrift on the\nsea. The chest floated towards Seriphus, where it was found by a\nfisherman who conveyed the mother and infant to Polydectes, the\nking of the country, by whom they were treated with kindness. When\nPerseus was grown up Polydectes sent him to attempt the conquest\nof Medusa, a terrible monster who had laid waste the country. She\nwas once a beautiful maiden whose hair was her chief glory, but as\nshe dared to vie in beauty with Minerva, the goddess deprived her\nof her charms and changed her beautiful ringlets into hissing\nserpents. She became a cruel monster of so frightful an aspect\nthat no living thing could behold her without being turned into\nstone. All around the cavern where she dwelt might be seen the\nstony figures of men and animals which had chanced to catch a\nglimpse of her and had been petrified with the sight. Perseus,\nfavored by Minerva and Mercury, the former of whom lent him her\nshield and the latter his winged shoes, approached Medusa while\nshe slept, and taking care not to look directly at her, but guided\nby her image reflected in the bright shield which he bore, he cut\noff her head and gave it to Minerva, who fixed it in the middle of her \u00c6gis.\n\nMilton, in his \"Comus,\" thus alludes to the \u00c6gis:\n\n\"What was that snaky-headed Gorgon-shield\n\nThat wise Minerva wore, unconquered virgin,\n\nWherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone,\n\nBut rigid looks of chaste austerity,\n\nAnd noble grace that dashed brute violence\n\nWith sudden adoration and blank awe!\"\n\nArmstrong, the poet of the \"Art of Preserving Health,\" thus\ndescribes the effect of frost upon the waters:\n\n\"Now blows the surly North and chills throughout\n\nThe stiffening regions, while by stronger charms\n\nThan Circe e'er or fell Medea brewed,\n\nEach brook that wont to prattle to its banks\n\nLies all bestilled and wedged betwixt its banks,\n\nNor moves the withered reeds ...\n\nThe surges baited by the fierce North-east,\n\nTossing with fretful spleen their angry heads,\n\nE'en in the foam of all their madness struck\n\nTo monumental ice.\n\n\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022Such execution,\n\nSo stern, so sudden, wrought the grisly aspect\n\nOf terrible Medusa,\n\nWhen wandering through the woods she turned to Stone\n\nTheir savage tenants; just as the foaming Lion\n\nSprang furious on his prey, her speedier power\n\nOutran his haste,\n\nAnd fixed in that fierce attitude he stands\n\nLike Rage in marble!\"\n\n\u2014Imitations of Shakspeare.\n\nPERSEUS AND ATLAS\n\nAfter the slaughter of Medusa, Perseus, bearing with him the head\nof the Gorgon, flew far and wide, over land and sea. As night came\non, he reached the western limit of the earth, where the sun goes\ndown. Here he would gladly have rested till morning. It was the\nrealm of King Atlas, whose bulk surpassed that of all other men.\nHe was rich in flocks and herds and had no neighbor or rival to\ndispute his state. But his chief pride was in his gardens, whose\nfruit was of gold, hanging from golden branches, half hid with\ngolden leaves. Perseus said to him, \"I come as a guest. If you\nhonor illustrious descent, I claim Jupiter for my father; if\nmighty deeds, I plead the conquest of the Gorgon. I seek rest and\nfood.\" But Atlas remembered that an ancient prophecy had warned\nhim that a son of Jove should one day rob him of his golden\napples. So he answered, \"Begone! or neither your false claims of\nglory nor parentage shall protect you;\" and he attempted to thrust\nhim out. Perseus, finding the giant too strong for him, said,\n\"Since you value my friendship so little, deign to accept a\npresent;\" and turning his face away, he held up the Gorgon's head.\nAtlas, with all his bulk, was changed into stone. His beard and\nhair became forests, his arms and shoulders cliffs, his head a\nsummit, and his bones rocks. Each part increased in bulk till he\nbecame a mountain, and (such was the pleasure of the gods) heaven\nwith all its stars rests upon his shoulders.\n\nTHE SEA-MONSTER\n\nPerseus, continuing his flight, arrived at the country of the\n\u00c6thiopians, of which Cepheus was king. Cassiopeia his queen,\nproud of her beauty, had dared to compare herself to the Sea-\nNymphs, which roused their indignation to such a degree that they\nsent a prodigious sea-monster to ravage the coast. To appease the\ndeities, Cepheus was directed by the oracle to expose his daughter\nAndromeda to be devoured by the monster. As Perseus looked down\nfrom his aerial height he beheld the virgin chained to a rock, and\nwaiting the approach of the serpent. She was so pale and\nmotionless that if it had not been for her flowing tears and her\nhair that moved in the breeze, he would have taken her for a\nmarble statue. He was so startled at the sight that he almost\nforgot to wave his wings. As he hovered over her he said, \"O\nvirgin, undeserving of those chains, but rather of such as bind\nfond lovers together, tell me, I beseech you, your name, and the\nname of your country, and why you are thus bound.\" At first she\nwas silent from modesty, and, if she could, would have hid her\nface with her hands; but when he repeated his questions, for fear\nshe might be thought guilty of some fault which she dared not\ntell, she disclosed her name and that of her country, and her\nmother's pride of beauty. Before she had done speaking, a sound\nwas heard off upon the water, and the sea-monster appeared, with\nhis head raised above the surface, cleaving the waves with his\nbroad breast. The virgin shrieked, the father and mother who had\nnow arrived at the scene, wretched both, but the mother more\njustly so, stood by, not able to afford protection, but only to\npour forth lamentations and to embrace the victim. Then spoke\nPerseus: \"There will be time enough for tears; this hour is all we\nhave for rescue. My rank as the son of Jove and my renown as the\nslayer of the Gorgon might make me acceptable as a suitor; but I\nwill try to win her by services rendered, if the gods will only be\npropitious. If she be rescued by my valor, I demand that she be my\nreward.\" The parents consent (how could they hesitate?) and\npromise a royal dowry with her.\n\nAnd now the monster was within the range of a stone thrown by a\nskilful slinger, when with a sudden bound the youth soared into\nthe air. As an eagle, when from his lofty flight he sees a serpent\nbasking in the sun, pounces upon him and seizes him by the neck to\nprevent him from turning his head round and using his fangs, so\nthe youth darted down upon the back of the monster and plunged his\nsword into its shoulder. Irritated by the wound, the monster\nraised himself in the air, then plunged into the depth; then, like\na wild boar surrounded, by a pack of barking dogs, turned swiftly\nfrom side to side, while the youth eluded its attacks by means of\nhis wings. Wherever he can find a passage for his sword between\nthe scales he makes a wound, piercing now the side, now the flank,\nas it slopes towards the tail. The brute spouts from his nostrils\nwater mixed with blood. The wings of the hero are wet with it, and\nhe dares no longer trust to them. Alighting on a rock which rose\nabove the waves, and holding on by a projecting fragment, as the\nmonster floated near he gave him a death stroke. The people who\nhad gathered on the shore shouted so that the hills reechoed the\nsound. The parents, transported with joy, embraced their future\nson-in-law, calling him their deliverer and the savior of their\nhouse, and the virgin both cause and reward of the contest,\ndescended from the rock.\n\n\u00a0\n\nCassiopeia was an \u00c6thiopian, and consequently, in spite of her\nboasted beauty, black; at least so Milton seems to have thought,\nwho alludes to this story in his \"Penseroso,\" where he addresses\nMelancholy as the\n\n\".... goddess, sage and holy,\n\nWhose saintly visage is too bright\n\nTo hit the sense of human sight,\n\nAnd, therefore, to our weaker view\n\nO'erlaid with black, staid Wisdom's hue.\n\nBlack, but such as in esteem\n\nPrince Memnon's sister might beseem,\n\nOr that starred \u00c6thiop queen that strove\n\nTo set her beauty's praise above\n\nThe sea-nymphs, and their powers offended.\"\n\nCassiopeia is called \"the starred \u00c6thiop queen\" because after her\ndeath she was placed among the stars, forming the constellation of\nthat name. Though she attained this honor, yet the Sea-Nymphs, her\nold enemies, prevailed so far as to cause her to be placed in that\npart of the heaven near the pole, where every night she is half\nthe time held with her head downward, to give her a lesson of\nhumility.\n\nMemnon was an \u00c6thiopian prince, of whom we shall tell in a future\nchapter.\n\nTHE WEDDING FEAST\n\nThe joyful parents, with Perseus and Andromeda, repaired to the\npalace, where a banquet was spread for them, and all was joy and\nfestivity. But suddenly a noise was heard of warlike clamor, and\nPhineus, the betrothed of the virgin, with a party of his\nadherents, burst in, demanding the maiden as his own. It was in\nvain that Cepheus remonstrated\u2014\"You should have claimed her when\nshe lay bound to the rock, the monster's victim. The sentence of\nthe gods dooming her to such a fate dissolved all engagements, as\ndeath itself would have done.\" Phineus made no reply, but hurled\nhis javelin at Perseus, but it missed its mark and fell harmless.\nPerseus would have thrown his in turn, but the cowardly assailant\nran and took shelter behind the altar. But his act was a signal\nfor an onset by his band upon the guests of Cepheus. They defended\nthemselves and a general conflict ensued, the old king retreating\nfrom the scene after fruitless expostulations, calling the gods to\nwitness that he was guiltless of this outrage on the rights of\nhospitality.\n\nPerseus and his friends maintained for some time the unequal\ncontest; but the numbers of the assailants were too great for\nthem, and destruction seemed inevitable, when a sudden thought\nstruck Perseus,\u2014\"I will make my enemy defend me.\" Then with a\nloud voice he exclaimed, \"If I have any friend here let him turn\naway his eyes!\" and held aloft the Gorgon's head. \"Seek not to\nfrighten us with your jugglery,\" said Thescelus, and raised his\njavelin in act to throw, and became stone in the very attitude.\nAmpyx was about to plunge his sword into the body of a prostrate\nfoe, but his arm stiffened and he could neither thrust forward nor\nwithdraw it. Another, in the midst of a vociferous challenge,\nstopped, his mouth open, but no sound issuing. One of Perseus's\nfriends, Aconteus, caught sight of the Gorgon and stiffened like\nthe rest. Astyages struck him with his sword, but instead of\nwounding, it recoiled with a ringing noise.\n\nPhineus beheld this dreadful result of his unjust aggression, and\nfelt confounded. He called aloud to his friends, but got no\nanswer; he touched them and found them stone. Falling on his knees\nand stretching out his hands to Perseus, but turning his head away\nhe begged for mercy. \"Take all,\" said he, \"give me but my life.\"\n\"Base coward,\" said Perseus, \"thus much I will grant you; no\nweapon shall touch you; moreover, you shall be preserved in my\nhouse as a memorial of these events.\" So saying, he held the\nGorgon's head to the side where Phineus was looking, and in the\nvery form in which he knelt, with his hands outstretched and face\naverted, he became fixed immovably, a mass of stone!\n\nThe following allusion to Perseus is from Milman's \"Samor\":\n\n\"As 'mid the fabled Libyan bridal stood\n\nPerseus in stern tranquillity of wrath,\n\nHalf stood, half floated on his ankle-plumes\n\nOut-swelling, while the bright face on his shield\n\nLooked into stone the raging fray; so rose,\n\nBut with no magic arms, wearing alone\n\nTh' appalling and control of his firm look,\n\nThe Briton Samor; at his rising awe\n\nWent abroad, and the riotous hall was mute.\"","title":"The Age of Fable/Chapter XV","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":2239}