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THE SHIELD OF HERCULES.
101
"There was the knight, of fair-haired Danae born,
Perseus, nor yet the buckler with his feet
Touched, nor yet distant hovered: strange to think;
For nowhere on the surface of the shield
He rested: so the crippled artist god,
Illustrious, framed him with his hands in gold."
—E. 297-302.
Perseus, nor yet the buckler with his feet
Touched, nor yet distant hovered: strange to think;
For nowhere on the surface of the shield
He rested: so the crippled artist god,
Illustrious, framed him with his hands in gold."
—E. 297-302.
The other is where the noise of the Gorgons' feet, as they tread, is represented as realised in connection with the sculptured shield:—
"Close behind the Gorgons twain
Of nameless terror, unapproachable,
Came rushing: eagerly they stretched their arms
To seize him: from the pallid adamant
Audibly as they rushed, the clattering shield
Clanked with a sharp shrill sound."
—E. 314-319.
Of nameless terror, unapproachable,
Came rushing: eagerly they stretched their arms
To seize him: from the pallid adamant
Audibly as they rushed, the clattering shield
Clanked with a sharp shrill sound."
—E. 314-319.
Next to the serpent-heads on the shield was wrought a fight betwixt boars and lions—an occasion to the poet of spirited description:—
"Wild from the forest, herds of boars were there,
And lions, mutual glaring: these in wrath
Leaped on each other; and by troops they drove
Their onset: nor yet these nor those recoiled,
Nor quaked in fear: of both the backs uprose,
Bristling with anger: for a lion huge
Lay stretched amidst them, and two boars beside,
Lifeless: the sable blood down-dropping oozed
Into the ground. So these with bowed backs
Lay dead beneath the terrible lions; they
For this the more incensed, both savage boars
And tawny lions, chafing sprang to war."
—E. 231-242.
And lions, mutual glaring: these in wrath
Leaped on each other; and by troops they drove
Their onset: nor yet these nor those recoiled,
Nor quaked in fear: of both the backs uprose,
Bristling with anger: for a lion huge
Lay stretched amidst them, and two boars beside,
Lifeless: the sable blood down-dropping oozed
Into the ground. So these with bowed backs
Lay dead beneath the terrible lions; they
For this the more incensed, both savage boars
And tawny lions, chafing sprang to war."
—E. 231-242.
