Comment on 1826
[The author’s note inserted in the text:]
Perseus was the son of Jupiter and Danae, and had bound himself to produce the head of Medusa, the only mortal of the three Gorgon-Sisters, Stetheno, Euryale, and Medusa. They were said to have golden wings; bodies of impenetrable scales; teeth like the tusks of a wild boar; brazen hands; hair entwined with serpents; but Medusa more particularly the latter, because Neptune had been enamoured with those, originally, golden locks; she gratified his passion in the temple of Minerva, and the incensed Goddess instantly changed those beauteous curls into writhing serpents; moreover, they had the power of turning all who looked at them into stone. According to some authors the Gorgons had but one eye, and one tooth, among them, which they used in turn.
But the Gods favoured Perseus, and his virtues; accordingly Minerva gave him a reflecting shield; Mercury, wings, talaria, and a diamond dagger, called herpe; and Pluto a helmet to render him invisible at will. Favoured, and conducted, by Minerva, he flew through the air, either beyond the Western Ocean, or to Libya, or to Asiatic Scythia, and approaching the Gorgons at the moment they were exchanging their eye, though not venturing to look at them, except through the medium of his shield, to avoid the certainty of being turned to stone, he severed Medusa’s head at a blow, while invisible to her sisters; and from its dropping blood sprang those serpents that infest Africa to this day, and also the horse Pegasus, which conveyed him through the air, and stopped at Mount Helicon, ever afterwards the seat of the Muses.
Last updated 23.09.2016