PERSEUS.
Ques. Who was Perseus?
Ans. He was the son of Jupiter, and of Danaë, the only daughter of Acrisius, king of Argos. This prince had been warned by an oracle that his daughter would have a son, who was destined to deprive him of life. Acrisius resolved, in consequence, that Danaë should never marry. To guard against the possibility of such an event, he imprisoned her in a brazen apartment which he had diligently guarded.
Jupiter had seen and admired the young princess, and he now found means to visit her by transforming himself into a shower of gold, which we may take for a poetical manner of saying that he bribed the guards. When Acrisius discovered that his precautions had been of no avail, he enclosed Danaë and her infant son in a coffer, which he cast into the sea. The coffer was carried by the waves to the island of Seriphus, where a fisherman named Dictys drew it ashore in his net. He was much surprised at beholding Danaë and the infant Perseus, and brought them immediately to Polydectes, who reigned in that island. Polydectes received the strangers kindly, but when Perseus was grown, he strove to effect his destruction by engaging him in an expedition against the Gorgons. This adventure has been already related, in the article on Minerva. It was followed by the rescue of Androm´eda, which is too remarkable to be omitted.
Ques. Who was Androm´eda?
Ans. She was the daughter of Cepheus, king of Ethiopia. Her mother, Cassiopeia, had boasted that she was fairer than Juno and the Nereides. The offended nymphs complained to Neptune, who sent a sea-monster to ravage the dominions of Cepheus. The people, in their distress, had recourse to the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, but the god declared that the country could not be freed from this calamity, unless Androm´eda were given up to be devoured by the monster. Cepheus consented to the sacrifice, and his daughter was chained to a rock by the sea-shore, where she was abandoned to her fate.
Perseus, returning through the air, from his conquest of the Gorgons, saw the unhappy maiden and resolved to rescue her. He asked her hand as his only reward, which Cepheus readily promised.
When the sea-monster appeared, Perseus showed him the head of Medusa, and changed him into a rock, which was long famous upon that coast. Phineus, who had been betrothed to Androm´eda, opposed her marriage with Perseus, and changed the nuptial solemnities into a scene of discord and bloodshed.
The head of the Gorgon again procured for Perseus an easy victory. He warned his friends to avert their eyes, and displayed the frightful trophy, upon which Phineus and his followers were changed into stone, in the very attitudes in which they fought.
Polydectes, who had persecuted Danaë in the absence of Perseus, was punished in the same manner. The hero afterwards fulfilled the oracle by killing his grandfather, whom he did not know, by an accidental blow of a quoit.
Perseus, Androm´eda, Cepheus, and Cassiopeia were changed, after death, into the constellations which bear their names.