DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68073#0212
186
OLD WORLD MASTERS
ever, Pasiphae released him. This was of not much advantage, how-
ever, because King Minos had seized all the ships on the coast of
Crete. “Necessity is the mother of invention:” Daedalus had to get
away. The question was “how?”. The result was that Daedalus
made wings for himself and for his son, Icarus, and fastened them on
the shoulders with wax, cautioning the youth not to fly too close to
the sun. Icarus would not pay attention to this advice and, flying too
high, the wax melted and he dropped down and was drowned in that
part of the /Egcan Sea, which is now called after him the Icarian Sea.
Daedalus, however, flew safely over the flLgean and reached Sicily,
where he was protected by Cocalus, King of that Island. When King
Minos heard where Daedalus had taken refuge he sailed with a great
fleet to Sicily; but was murdered there by Cocalus. According to
some accounts, Daedalus alighted on his flight from Crete at Cumae
in Italy, where he erected a temple to Apollo in which he offered
the wings with which he had flown. Like Lindberg, his descendant,
he placed his “We” in a museum!
Many works of art were attributed to Daedalus in Greece, Italy,
Egypt, and the islands of the Mediterranean. Also the Greeks gave
the name of Daedala to the ancient wooden statues of the gods orna-
mented with gilding, bright colors, and real drapery.
It is appropriate to add here a sonnet by an old French poet, Philippe
Desportes (1545-1606) entitled “Icare”:
ICARE
Icare est chut id, lejeune audacieux,
Qui pour voter au del eut assez de courage:
Id tomba son corps degarni de plumage,
Laissant tous braves cceurs de sa chute envieux.
0 bienheureux travail d’un esprit glorieux,
Qui tire un grand gain d’un si petit dommage!
O bienheureux malheur plein de tant d’avantage,
Qu’il rende le vaincu des ans victorieux!
Un chemin si nouveau n’etonna sajeunesse,
Le pouvoir luifaillit, mais non le hardiesse;
Il eut pour le briiler des astres le plus beau;
Il mourut poursuivant une haute aventure;
Le del fut son disir, la mer sa sepulture;
Esl-il plus beau dessein, ou plus riche tombeau?
OLD WORLD MASTERS
ever, Pasiphae released him. This was of not much advantage, how-
ever, because King Minos had seized all the ships on the coast of
Crete. “Necessity is the mother of invention:” Daedalus had to get
away. The question was “how?”. The result was that Daedalus
made wings for himself and for his son, Icarus, and fastened them on
the shoulders with wax, cautioning the youth not to fly too close to
the sun. Icarus would not pay attention to this advice and, flying too
high, the wax melted and he dropped down and was drowned in that
part of the /Egcan Sea, which is now called after him the Icarian Sea.
Daedalus, however, flew safely over the flLgean and reached Sicily,
where he was protected by Cocalus, King of that Island. When King
Minos heard where Daedalus had taken refuge he sailed with a great
fleet to Sicily; but was murdered there by Cocalus. According to
some accounts, Daedalus alighted on his flight from Crete at Cumae
in Italy, where he erected a temple to Apollo in which he offered
the wings with which he had flown. Like Lindberg, his descendant,
he placed his “We” in a museum!
Many works of art were attributed to Daedalus in Greece, Italy,
Egypt, and the islands of the Mediterranean. Also the Greeks gave
the name of Daedala to the ancient wooden statues of the gods orna-
mented with gilding, bright colors, and real drapery.
It is appropriate to add here a sonnet by an old French poet, Philippe
Desportes (1545-1606) entitled “Icare”:
ICARE
Icare est chut id, lejeune audacieux,
Qui pour voter au del eut assez de courage:
Id tomba son corps degarni de plumage,
Laissant tous braves cceurs de sa chute envieux.
0 bienheureux travail d’un esprit glorieux,
Qui tire un grand gain d’un si petit dommage!
O bienheureux malheur plein de tant d’avantage,
Qu’il rende le vaincu des ans victorieux!
Un chemin si nouveau n’etonna sajeunesse,
Le pouvoir luifaillit, mais non le hardiesse;
Il eut pour le briiler des astres le plus beau;
Il mourut poursuivant une haute aventure;
Le del fut son disir, la mer sa sepulture;
Esl-il plus beau dessein, ou plus riche tombeau?