ate real {wings of} birds. His
son Icarus stands together with him; and, ignorant that he is handling
{the source of} danger to himself, with a smiling countenance, he
sometimes catches at the feathers which the shifting breeze is ruffling;
and, at other times, he softens the yellow wax with his thumb; and, by
his playfulness, he retards the wondrous work of his father.

After the finishing hand was put to the work, the workman himself poised
his own body upon the two wings, and hung suspended in the beaten air.
He provided his son {with them} as well; and said to him, "Icarus,
I recommend thee to keep the middle tract; lest, if thou shouldst go too
low, the water should clog thy wings; if too high, the fire {of the sun}
should scorch them. Fly between both; and I bid thee neither to look at
Bootes, nor Helice,[17] nor the drawn sword of Orion. Under my guidance,
take thy way." At the same time, he delivered him rules for flying, and
fitted the untried wings to his shoulders. Amid his work and his
admonitions, the cheeks of the old man were wet, and the hands of the
father trembled. He gives kisses to his son, never again to be repeated;
and, raised upon his wings, he flies before, and is concerned for his
companion, just as the bird which has led forth her tender young from
the lofty nest into the air. And he encourages him to follow, and
instructs him in the fatal art, and both moves his own wings himself,
and looks back on those of his son. A person while he is angling for
fish with his quivering rod, or the shepherd leaning on his crook, or
the ploughman on the plough tail, when he beholds them, is astonished,
and believes them to be Divinities, who thus can cleave the air. And now
Samos,[18] sacred to Juno, and Delos, and Paros, were left behind to the
left hand. On the right were Lebynthus,[19] and Calymne,[20] fruitful in
honey; when the boy began to be pleased with a bolder flight, and
forsook his guide; and, touched with a desire of reaching heaven,
pursued his course still higher. The vicinity of the scorching Sun
softened the fragrant wax that fastened his wings. The wax was melted;
he shook his naked arms, and, wanting his oar-like wings, he caught no
{more} air. His face, too, as he called on the name of his father, was
received in the azure water, which received its name[21] from him.

But the unhappy father, now no more a father, said, "Icarus, where art
thou? In what spot shall I seek thee, Icarus?" did