Hi tamen ex merito poenas subiere, sed unus 200
miles erat Persei: pro quo dum pugnat, Aconteus
Gorgone conspecta saxo concrevit oborto;
quem ratus Astyages etiamnum vivere, longo
ense ferit: sonuit tinnitibus ensis acutis.
dum stupet Astyages, naturam traxit eandem, 205
marmoreoque manet vultus mirantis in ore.
nomina longa mora est media de plebe virorum
dicere: bis centum restabant corpora pugnae,
Gorgone bis centum riguerunt corpora visa.
Paenitet iniusti tum denique Phinea belli; 210
sed quid agat? simulacra videt diversa figuris
adgnoscitque suos et nomine quemque vocatum
poscit opem credensque parum sibi proxima tangit
corpora: marmor erant; avertitur atque ita supplex
confessasque manus obliquaque bracchia tendens 215
‘vincis’ ait, ‘Perseu! remove tua monstra tuaeque
saxificos vultus, quaecumque est, tolle Medusae,
tolle, precor! non nos odium regnique cupido
conpulit ad bellum, pro coniuge movimus arma!
causa fuit meritis melior tua, tempore nostra: 220
non cessisse piget; nihil, o fortissime, praeter
hanc animam concede mihi, tua cetera sunto!’
talia dicenti neque eum, quem voce rogabat,
respicere audenti ‘quod’ ait, ‘timidissime Phineu,
et possum tribuisse et magnum est munus inerti, 225
pone metum! tribuam: nullo violabere ferro.
quin etiam mansura dabo monimenta per aevum,
inque domo soceri semper spectabere nostri,
ut mea se sponsi soletur imagine coniunx.’
dixit et in partem Phorcynida transtulit illam, 230
ad quam se trepido Phineus obverterat ore.
tum quoque conanti sua vertere lumina cervix
deriguit, saxoque oculorum induruit umor,
sed tamen os timidum vultusque in marmore supplex
submissaeque manus faciesque obnoxia mansit. 235
Victor Abantiades patrios cum coniuge muros
intrat et inmeriti vindex ultorque parentis
adgreditur Proetum; nam fratre per arma fugato
Acrisioneas Proetus possederat arces.
sed nec ope armorum nec, quam male ceperat, arce 240
torva colubriferi superavit lumina monstri.
Te tamen, o parvae rector, Polydecta, Seriphi,
nec iuvenis virtus per tot spectata labores
nec mala mollierant, sed inexorabile durus
exerces odium, nec iniqua finis in ira est; 245
detrectas etiam laudem fictamque Medusae
arguis esse necem. ‘dabimus tibi pignora veri.
parcite luminibus!’ Perseus ait oraque regis
ore Medusaeo silicem sine sanguine fecit.
Hactenus aurigenae comitem Tritonia fratri 250
se dedit; inde cava circumdata nube Seriphon
deserit, a dextra Cythno Gyaroque relictis,
quaque super pontum via visa brevissima, Thebas
virgineumque Helicona petit. quo monte potita
constitit et doctas sic est adfata sorores: 255
‘fama novi fontis nostras pervenit ad aures,
dura Medusaei quem praepetis ungula rupit.
is mihi causa viae; volui mirabile factum
cernere; vidi ipsum materno sanguine nasci.’
excipit Uranie: ‘quaecumque est causa videndi 260
has tibi, diva, domos, animo gratissima nostro es.
vera tamen fama est: est Pegasus huius origo
fontis’ et ad latices deduxit Pallada sacros.
quae mirata diu factas pedis ictibus undas
silvarum lucos circumspicit antiquarum 265
antraque et innumeris distinctas floribus herbas
felicesque vocat pariter studioque locoque
Mnemonidas; quam sic adfata est una sororum:
‘o, nisi te virtus opera ad maiora tulisset,
in partem ventura chori Tritonia nostri, 270
vera refers meritoque probas artesque locumque,
et gratam sortem, tutae modo simus, habemus.
sed (vetitum est adeo sceleri nihil) omnia terrent
virgineas mentes, dirusque ante ora Pyreneus
vertitur, et nondum tota me mente recepi. 275
Daulida Threicio Phoceaque milite rura
ceperat ille ferox iniustaque regna tenebat;
templa petebamus Parnasia: vidit euntes
nostraque fallaci veneratus numina vultu
“Mnemonides” (cognorat enim), “consistite” dixit 280
“nec dubitate, precor, tecto grave sidus et imbrem”
(imber erat) “vitare meo; subiere minores
saepe casas superi.” dictis et tempore motae
adnuimusque viro primasque intravimus aedes.
desierant imbres, victoque aquilonibus austro 285
fusca repurgato fugiebant nubila caelo:
inpetus ire fuit; claudit sua tecta Pyreneus
vimque parat, quam nos sumptis effugimus alis.
ipse secuturo similis stetit arduus arce
“qua” que “via est vobis, erit et mihi” dixit “eadem” 290
seque iacit vecors e summae culmine turris
et cadit in vultus discussisque ossibus oris
tundit humum moriens scelerato sanguine tinctam.’
These, indeed, deserved the punishment they received. But there was one, Aconteus, a soldier on Perseus’ side, who, while fighting for his friend, chanced to look upon the Gorgon’s face and hardened into stone. Astyages, thinking him still a living man, smote upon him with his long sword. The sword gave out a sharp clanging sound; and while Astyages stood amazed, the same strange power got hold on him, and he stood there still with a look of wonder on his marble face. It would take too Iong to tell the names of the rank and file who perished. Two hundred men survived the fight; two hundred saw the Gorgon and turned to stone.
But now at last Phineus repents him of his unrighteous strife. But what is he to do? He sees images in various attitudes and knows the men for his own; he calls each one by name, prays for his aid, and hardly believing his eyes, he touches those who are nearest him: marble, all! He turns his face away, and so stretching out sideways suppliant hands that confess defeat, he says: “Perseus, you are my conqueror. Remove that dreadful thing; that petrifying Medusa-head of yours—whosoever she may be, oh, take it away, I beg. It was not hate of you and lust for the kingly power that drove me to this war. It was my wife I fought for. Your claim was better in merit, mine in time. I am content to yield. Grant me now nothing, O bravest of men, save this my life. All the rest be yours.” And he thus spoke, not daring to look at him to whom he prayed, Perseus replied: “Most craven Phineus, dismiss your fears; what I can give (and ‘tis a great boon for your coward soul), I will grant: you shall not suffer by the sword. Nay, but I will make of you a monument that shall endure for ages; and in the house of my father-in-law you shall always stand on view, that so my wife may find solace in the statue of her promised lord.” So saying, he bore the Gorgon-head where Phineus had turned his fear-struck face. Then, even as he strove to avert his eyes, his neck grew hard and the very tears upon his cheeks were changed to stone. And now in marble was fixed the cowardly face, the suppliant look, the pleading hands, the whole cringing attitude.
Victorious Perseus, together with his bride, now returns to his ancestral city; and there, to avenge his grandsire, who little deserved this championship, he wars on Proetus. For Proetus had driven his brother out by force of arms, and seized the strong-hold of Acrisius. But neither by the force of arms, nor by the stronghold he had basely seized, could he resist the baleful gaze of that dread snake-wreathed monster.
But you, O Polydectes, ruler of Little Seriphus, were not softened by the young man’s valour, tried in so many feats, nor by his troubles; but you were hard and unrelenting in hate, and your unjust anger knew no end. You even refused him his honour, and declared that the death of Medusa was all a lie. “We will give you proof of that,” then Perseus said; “protect your eyes!” (this to his friends). And with the Medusa-face he changed the features of the king to bloodless stone.
During all this time Tritonia1 had been the comrade of her brother born of the golden shower.
But now, wrapped in a hollow cloud, she left Seriphus, and, passing Cythnus and Gyarus on the right, by the shortest course over the sea she made for Thebes and Helicon, home of the Muses. On this mountain she alighted, and thus addressed the sisters versed in song: “The fame of a new spring has reached my ears, which broke out under the hard hoof of the winged horse of Medusa. This is the cause of my journey: I wished to see the marvellous thing. The horse himself I saw born from his mother’s blood.” Urania replied: “Whatever cause has thee to see brought our home, O goddess, thou art most welcome to our hearts. But the tale is true, and Pegasus did indeed produce our Spring.” And she led Pallas aside to the sacred waters. She long admired the spring made by the stroke of the horse’s hoof; then looked round on the ancient woods, the grottoes, and the grass, spangled with countless flowers. She declared the daughters of Mnemosyne to be happy alike in their favourite pursuits and in their home. And thus one of the sisters answered her: “O thou, Tritonia, who wouldst so fitly join our band, had not thy merits raised thee to far greater tasks, thou sayest truth and dost justly praise our arts and our home. We have indeed a happy lot were we but safe in it. But (such is the licence of the time) all things affright our virgin souls, and the vision of fierce Pyreneus is ever before our eyes, and I have not yet recovered from my fear. This bold king with his Thracian soldiery had captured Daulis and the Phocian fields, and ruled that realm which he had unjustly gained. It chanced that we were journeying to the temple on Parnasus. He saw us going, and feigning a reverence for our divinity, he said: ‘O daughters of Mnemosyne’—for he knew us—‘stay your steps and do not hesitate to take shelter beneath my roof against the lowering sky and the rain’—for rain was falling—‘gods have often entered a humbler home.’ Moved by his words and by the storm, we yielded to the man and entered his portal. And now the rain had ceased, the south wind had been routed by the north, and the dusky clouds were in full flight from the brightening sky. We were fain to go on our way; but Pyreneus shut his doors, and offered us violence. This we escaped by donning our wings. He, as if he would follow us, took his stand on a lofty battlement and cried to us: ‘What way you take, the same will I take also’; and, quite bereft of sense, he leaped from the pinnacle of the tower. Headlong he fell, crushing his bones and dyeing the ground in death with his accursed blood.”
Athena