Page:Hesiod, and Theognis.djvu/117

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THE SHIELD OF, HERCULES.
103

The description of Perseus, and his encounter with the Gorgons, has been partially anticipated, though our citations did not include the Gorgon's head covering all his back, his silver knapsack with gold tassels, or his invisible cap, the "helmet of Hades," which occurs in the fifth book of the Iliad, and has passed into a proverb. Above this group were wrought two cities, one at war, the other at peace. The details of the former are life-like; able-bodied men engaged in fight, women beating their breasts upon the walls, the elders at the gates asking help of the blessed gods; whilst the Fates with interest survey and fan the work of siege and slaughter with a prospect to a coming banquet of blood:—

"Hard by there stoodClotho, and Lachesis, and AtroposSomewhat in years inferior: nor was sheA mighty goddess; yet those other FatesExceeding, and of birth the elder far."—E. 346-350.

Had the translator read size for years, Hesiod's account would have tallied with the evidence of vases and terra-cottas, which represent Clotho as the tallest, and Atropos the most decrepit of the weird sisters. Appropriately near this group is seen—

"Misery, wan and ghastly, worn with woe,Arid and swoln of knee, with hunger's painsFaint falling: from her lean hands long the nailsOutgrew: an ichor from her nostrils flowed.Blood from her cheeks distilled to earth: with teethAll wide, disclosed in grinning agony
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