The third painting shows Bellerophon receiving from Minerva a golden
bridle with which he may guide the winged horse, Pegasus. The hero
had incurred the dislike of his kinsman, Proteus, King of Argos, who
sent him with a sealed message to Iobates, King of Lycia. The message
desired Iobates to cause Bellerophon to be slain. Being unwilling
to do this directly, Iobates sent him to encounter the Chimæra, a
horrible monster, part lion, part goat, and part serpent, which
was devastating his domains, and which had overpowered all who had
ventured to attack it. By the help of Minerva and the winged horse,
Bellerophon was successful.
Orpheus, who charmed with his song the rocks, the trees, the wild
beasts, and even the infernal powers, incurred the wrath of Bacchus,
whose divinity he refused to worship. Bacchus therefore inflamed his
priestesses, the Mœnads, or Bacchantes, against the poet, who was
slain, as here represented by Mr. McEwen, in one of their orgies.
Perseus was the son of Jupiter and Danaë. Danaë’s father had heard
that his daughter’s son would be the cause of his death. He therefore
set the mother and child afloat in the sea in a chest, which was
safely cast upon the island of Seriphos, the ruler of which was
Polydectes. By the time Perseus had grown to manhood, Polydectes had
fallen madly in love with Danaë, and, fearing lest Perseus should
be a bar to his passion, he ordered him to cut off the head of
the Gorgon Medusa, whose face turned to stone everyone who looked
upon it. Assisted by Minerva, Perseus succeeded in his adventure.
Returning to Seriphos he found Danaë persecuted by Polydectes, and,
appearing at the palace of the king while he and his court were
sitting at dinner, he drew the head of Medusa from his wallet and
turned the whole company into stone.
[Illustration: PROMETHEUS AND PANDORA.--BY WALTER McEWEN.]
Prometheus is represented as warning his brother Epimetheus not to
accept Pandora from the gods. Prometheus, who, with his brother, was
the first of mankind, had outwitted Jupiter in the matter of offering
sacrifices; Jupiter, in return, had withheld fire from earth.
Prometheus, however, secured it by stealth from heaven, and Jupiter
in revenge formed Pandora, the first woman, and sent her to become
the bride of Epimetheus. Epimetheus disregarded his brother’s advice
and took Pandora and with her the fatal box, which, when opened,
let loose a cloud of evils to torment, with only delusive Hope to
console, mankind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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