DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9260#0180
PHOSEON Lib. IV.
PHOSES. Book IV. 14,
Hofpes ait, Quoniam fcitaris digna re-
latu,
Accipe quaefiti cauffam. clariffima forma,
JSdultorumque fuit fpes invidiofa procorum
Illamec in tot a confpeclior ulla capillis 795
Pars juit. invent, qui fe vidiffe referret.
Hanc pelagi reffior templo vitiaffe JVLinervae
Dicitur. aver fa eft, & cajlos aegide vultus
Nata Jovis texit. neve hoc impune fuiffet,
Gorgoneum turpes crinem mutavit in hy-
dros. 800
JSfunc quoque, ut attonitos for mi dine t err eat
hoftes,
Peffore in adverfo, quos fecit, fuflinet an-
gues.
EXPLICATION OF THE
AFter the Defeat of the Gorgons , Perfeus pafled
through Mauritania, where the famous Atlas
reigned. But that Prince, having been warned,
by an Oracle, to have a Care of a Son of Jupiter,
denyed him the Rights of Hofpitality; upon which,
Perfeus fhewed him the Head of Medufa and turned
him into Stone : Or, more properly fpeaking, killed
him in the Mountains which have born his Name ever
lince. He carried away the Golden Apples that grew
in the Garden of the Hefperides, which were watched
by a Dragon that Juno had given them ; that is to
fay, he plundered the Treaiiires of that Prince of
Mauritania: Since it is very probable that thofe Gol-
den Apples were either the Mines which Atlas had
difcovered in the Mountains, and fecured with a Guard
of Armed Men and Dogs* or Sheep, fo fine in thofe
Parts that they might well be called Golden Sheep
or elfe thofe Oranges and Lemmons, fo famous in all the
Poets, with which the Gardens of that Country, called
Tingitana , at that Time abounded. Perfeus killed
Atlas in the Bottom of thofe Mountains, which bear
his and his Grand-Father's Name > and which gave
rife to the Fable that he was changed into a Mountain.
But I fhall treat this Matter more amply in the Hifto-
ries of Hercules, Atlas, and the Hefperides.
After the Voyage of Mauritania, Perfeus palling
through (^/Ethiopia delivered Andromeda from a
Monfter that was to have devoured her. Cafliopea
her Mother having preferred her to the Nereides for
Beauty, the Oracle of Ammon ordered her Daughter
to be expofed, on a Rock, to the Fury of a Monfter,
which Neptune was to fend out of the Sea as we
learn from Ovid, Apollodorus, Lucretius, Philoftra-
tus, and feveral other ancient Authors. The Foun-
Great Perfeus then: With me you lliafl pe/ailj
Worth the Relation, to relate a Tale.
Medufa once had Charms ■> to gain her Love
A rival Crowd of envious Lovers ftrove.
They, who have feen her, own, they ne'er did trace
More moving Features in a Tweeter Face.
Yet above all, her Length of Hair, they own,
In golden Ringlets wav'd, and graceful lhone.
Her Neptune faw, and with fuch Beauties fir'd,
Refolv'd to compafs, what his Soul deiir'd.
In chafte Miner-vas Fane, he, luitful, ftay'd,
And {eiz'd, and rifled the young "blulhing Maid.
The bafhful Goddeis turn'd her Lyes away,
Nor durft fuch bold Impurity furvey;
But on the raviih'd Virgin Vengeance takes,
Her {hilling Hair is chaiVd to hifline Snakes.
Thefe, in her /F.gis, Pallas joys to bear, ^
The hilling Snakes her Foes more fare eninare, >
Than they did Lovers once, when mining Hair. ^
XVIII, and XIX. FABLES.
dation of the Fable comes from hence Andromeda
was contracted to a Prince who was fierce , proud,
and brutifli, and who, in a Pyratical manner, very
much infefted the Seas : The Condition of the
Contract was that he mould let Commerce be
free and undifturbed in the Dominions of her Fa-
ther Cepheus (1). Perfeus , being informed of this
Circumftance , gave chafe to that Rover and killed
him: That Action was reprefented under the Defcrip-
tion of a Combat with a Monfter. Phineus, the Uncle
of Andromeda, not being able to deftroy that Pyrate,
was obliged to yield up his Pretenlions to our Hero
and, as the Dread he ftood in of the Valour of Perfeus
kept him inactive, it was fabled that he was changed
into Stone.
As the ancient Fictions are always very obfeure,
every One is at liberty to interprete them after his own
Fancy; thus we fhall not be furprized when we read
in other Authors, that Phineus himfelf was the Mon-
fter fpoken of in this Fable, or that the Monfter it felf
was the Name of the Ship , on board of which the
Pyrate, I have juft mentioned , was to have carried
away Andromeda. That Ship was , perhaps , called
the Whale, as others were named the Centaur, the
Chimera &c. and this Conjecture is not without Foun-
dation. Antiquity has preferved this Hiftory in a
Monument (z)y where we fee Perfeus taking down
Andromeda from the Rock, upon which file had been
expofed. That Princefs appears cloathed in a very
modeft manner , whereas Ovid , who endeavours
nothing more than to fill the Imagination with loole
obfeene Ideas, expofes her quite naked.
(1) VoJJius, de Idol. Lib. I. Cap. 30.
(2) Admlr. Ant. Rom.
THE END OF THE FOURTH BOOK.
Tom. I.
P. O Y I D I I
PHOSES. Book IV. 14,
Hofpes ait, Quoniam fcitaris digna re-
latu,
Accipe quaefiti cauffam. clariffima forma,
JSdultorumque fuit fpes invidiofa procorum
Illamec in tot a confpeclior ulla capillis 795
Pars juit. invent, qui fe vidiffe referret.
Hanc pelagi reffior templo vitiaffe JVLinervae
Dicitur. aver fa eft, & cajlos aegide vultus
Nata Jovis texit. neve hoc impune fuiffet,
Gorgoneum turpes crinem mutavit in hy-
dros. 800
JSfunc quoque, ut attonitos for mi dine t err eat
hoftes,
Peffore in adverfo, quos fecit, fuflinet an-
gues.
EXPLICATION OF THE
AFter the Defeat of the Gorgons , Perfeus pafled
through Mauritania, where the famous Atlas
reigned. But that Prince, having been warned,
by an Oracle, to have a Care of a Son of Jupiter,
denyed him the Rights of Hofpitality; upon which,
Perfeus fhewed him the Head of Medufa and turned
him into Stone : Or, more properly fpeaking, killed
him in the Mountains which have born his Name ever
lince. He carried away the Golden Apples that grew
in the Garden of the Hefperides, which were watched
by a Dragon that Juno had given them ; that is to
fay, he plundered the Treaiiires of that Prince of
Mauritania: Since it is very probable that thofe Gol-
den Apples were either the Mines which Atlas had
difcovered in the Mountains, and fecured with a Guard
of Armed Men and Dogs* or Sheep, fo fine in thofe
Parts that they might well be called Golden Sheep
or elfe thofe Oranges and Lemmons, fo famous in all the
Poets, with which the Gardens of that Country, called
Tingitana , at that Time abounded. Perfeus killed
Atlas in the Bottom of thofe Mountains, which bear
his and his Grand-Father's Name > and which gave
rife to the Fable that he was changed into a Mountain.
But I fhall treat this Matter more amply in the Hifto-
ries of Hercules, Atlas, and the Hefperides.
After the Voyage of Mauritania, Perfeus palling
through (^/Ethiopia delivered Andromeda from a
Monfter that was to have devoured her. Cafliopea
her Mother having preferred her to the Nereides for
Beauty, the Oracle of Ammon ordered her Daughter
to be expofed, on a Rock, to the Fury of a Monfter,
which Neptune was to fend out of the Sea as we
learn from Ovid, Apollodorus, Lucretius, Philoftra-
tus, and feveral other ancient Authors. The Foun-
Great Perfeus then: With me you lliafl pe/ailj
Worth the Relation, to relate a Tale.
Medufa once had Charms ■> to gain her Love
A rival Crowd of envious Lovers ftrove.
They, who have feen her, own, they ne'er did trace
More moving Features in a Tweeter Face.
Yet above all, her Length of Hair, they own,
In golden Ringlets wav'd, and graceful lhone.
Her Neptune faw, and with fuch Beauties fir'd,
Refolv'd to compafs, what his Soul deiir'd.
In chafte Miner-vas Fane, he, luitful, ftay'd,
And {eiz'd, and rifled the young "blulhing Maid.
The bafhful Goddeis turn'd her Lyes away,
Nor durft fuch bold Impurity furvey;
But on the raviih'd Virgin Vengeance takes,
Her {hilling Hair is chaiVd to hifline Snakes.
Thefe, in her /F.gis, Pallas joys to bear, ^
The hilling Snakes her Foes more fare eninare, >
Than they did Lovers once, when mining Hair. ^
XVIII, and XIX. FABLES.
dation of the Fable comes from hence Andromeda
was contracted to a Prince who was fierce , proud,
and brutifli, and who, in a Pyratical manner, very
much infefted the Seas : The Condition of the
Contract was that he mould let Commerce be
free and undifturbed in the Dominions of her Fa-
ther Cepheus (1). Perfeus , being informed of this
Circumftance , gave chafe to that Rover and killed
him: That Action was reprefented under the Defcrip-
tion of a Combat with a Monfter. Phineus, the Uncle
of Andromeda, not being able to deftroy that Pyrate,
was obliged to yield up his Pretenlions to our Hero
and, as the Dread he ftood in of the Valour of Perfeus
kept him inactive, it was fabled that he was changed
into Stone.
As the ancient Fictions are always very obfeure,
every One is at liberty to interprete them after his own
Fancy; thus we fhall not be furprized when we read
in other Authors, that Phineus himfelf was the Mon-
fter fpoken of in this Fable, or that the Monfter it felf
was the Name of the Ship , on board of which the
Pyrate, I have juft mentioned , was to have carried
away Andromeda. That Ship was , perhaps , called
the Whale, as others were named the Centaur, the
Chimera &c. and this Conjecture is not without Foun-
dation. Antiquity has preferved this Hiftory in a
Monument (z)y where we fee Perfeus taking down
Andromeda from the Rock, upon which file had been
expofed. That Princefs appears cloathed in a very
modeft manner , whereas Ovid , who endeavours
nothing more than to fill the Imagination with loole
obfeene Ideas, expofes her quite naked.
(1) VoJJius, de Idol. Lib. I. Cap. 30.
(2) Admlr. Ant. Rom.
THE END OF THE FOURTH BOOK.
Tom. I.
P. O Y I D I I