THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

TABULA VI.
ATLAS IN MONTEM MUTATUR.
Perseus having cut off the head of Medusa, on his return to the court of Poly-
dectes, begs the hospitality of Atlas. Being refused by Atlas, and treated
with indignity, Perseus turns upon him the head of Medusa, and transforms
him to a mountain.
EXPLICATIO.
THE explanation of this Fable will necessarily differ, according to the
view taken of Perseus. Some consider him as a real personage, some
as the personification of a tribe, and others again, as an emblem of the
Mithriac worship. Those regarding his birth historically, suppose that
Proetus, by corrupting the fidelity of the guards of Danae with money,
gained access to her; and, that by making Jupiter the fictitious father
of Perseus, the usual scandal was avoided. Mythically considered,
others regard Jupiter descending in a shower of gold, as Mithras, or the
golden Sun, fertilizing Danae, the dry and arid earth, from whom Perseus
is produced. Considering Perseus as the personification of a tribe, we
may regard him as a maritime expedition going out, which is said, there
fore, to be the son of Danae, from t>avs, a ship. This appears the more
probable, as, again, he and his mother are said to be enclosed in an ark
and thrown into the sea.
The Gorgons, whom Perseus visits for the purpose of obtaining the
head of Medusa, appear to be forces of the sea, or savage nations infest
ing the sea, who, on account of the fear which they excited, were said
to transform beholders to stone. We will devote more particular atten
tion to them hereafter, in another Fable.
Diodorus Sjculus tells us, that Atlas was an ancient astronomer, and
the inventor of the sphere. Tzetzes also states, that he was an astrono
mer of Libya, devoted ardently to investigations of the heavens, and, that
having ascended a lofty mountain for the purpose of observation, he fell
into the .sea, whence both the sea and the mountain were named after
him. This would appear the more reasonable, as he is said to be the
father of the Pleiades and Hyadcs. The golden apples, and the serpent
by which they were guarded, it will be evident from the notes, were tra
ditions of the events that took place in Paradise. Some, however,
regard the golden apples as rich flocks of sheep, since pipa, signifies
sheep as well as apples; while some regard them as gold mines in the
vicinity of the mountain. If Atlas used the summits of Atlas as an ob
servatory, it would be sufficient to connect his name with the range aftei
death, and cause the myth of his transformation.
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ED tamen ambobus versse solatia form
Magna nepos fuerat, quem debellata colebat
India, quem positis celebrabat Achai'a templis.
Solus, Abantiades, ab origine cretus eadem,
Acrisius superest, qui mcenibus arceat urbis
Argolicee ; contraque deum ferat arma ; genusque
Non putet esse Jovis. Neque enim Jovis esse putabat
Persea, quem pluvio Danae conceperat auro.
2. Nepos. Bacchus, the son of Semele.
3. Achaia. Acha'ia, a part of Greece, is here used to signify the
whole of Greece.
4. Alanliades. Acrisius, the son of Abas.
4. A b origine eodem: of the same origin. Jupiter, the father of
Bacchus, was also the father of Belue, who was the father of Atlas,
and grandfather of Acrisius.
8. Pertea. Perseus was the son | by fishermen, who carried Danae and Per
-~_^ ol Jupiter by Danae, the daughter seus to Polydectcs, king of the island.
^-"-- of Acrisius. An oracle had told Conceiving at length a passion for Dinae,
Acrisius that he would perish by the hands and contemplating her dishonor, Polyof
his grandson, wherefore he enclosed dcctes sought to engage Perseus in an
Danae in a brazen tower. But Jupiter is enterprise which would ensure his de
said to have entered the chamber of Da struction. Perseus promised to bring him
nae, in a shower of gold, and Perseus was the head of Medusa, the only one of the
the reealt of their union. After his birth, Gordons which was mortal, and by the aid
he and his mother were exposed in an ark of Pluto's helmet, which rendered him in
which was carried by the winds to the visible, Minerva's buckler, and Mercury's
island of Seriphos. The ark was found wings and lalaria, and a short dagger of
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