e his death, resolved instantly to take the field. For this
purpose, Vulcan, at the request of Thetis, made her son a complete
suit of armour and weapons. With these celestial arms, many of the
Trojans were put to death. Achilles, falling in love with Polyxena, a
daughter of the Trojan king, whilst soliciting her hand in the temple
of Minerva, was wounded by her brother Paris in the heel, which caused
his death.

Acrisius, the son of Abas, king of Argos and Ocalea, being informed by
an oracle that he would be put to death by his daughter Danae's son,
confined her in a tower, to prevent her having children; but without
effect, for Jupiter, in a golden shower, entered the chamber of Danae,
and she became the mother of Perseus. She and her infant son were
then, by order of Acrisius, exposed to the sea in a slender bark,
which the wind drifted to Seriphus, where both were taken ashore by
some fishermen and carried to Polydectes, the king of the island. The
king conceived a violent attachment to the mother, but sought the
destruction of the son. Danae and her son left Seriphus and went to
Larissa. Danae built Ardea; and on its being burned, the inhabitants
said it was changed into a bird. Perseus, by the aid of Pluto's
invisible helmet, Minerva's buckler, and Mercury's wings (the
Talaria), and short dagger made of diamonds (called Herpe), deprived
Medusa, one of the Gorgons, of life, and carried off her head in
triumph. He killed the sea monster to which Andromeda was exposed, and
then married her. A memorable battle ensued at their nuptials.
Phineus, the uncle of Andromeda, who passionately loved her, entered
with a band of armed men, and attempted to carry her off by violence.
But Perseus made a brave resistance; and at last, finding himself on
the point of being overpowered, presented the Gorgon's head, which
instantly turned all his enemies to stone in the posture in which they
were then standing. Immediately after this he returned to Seriphus, in
time to protect his mother from the insult of Polydectes, to whom
Perseus showed the Gorgon's head, which converted him into stone also.
Medusa, it will be remembered, was the only one of the three Gorgons
who was mortal. Her sisters, Stheno and Euryale, were neither subject
to old age nor death. She greatly surpassed the other two in elegance
of figure and comeliness of face; but in nothing was her superiority
more remarkable than in the beauty of her locks. Minerva, provoked