lling this deity to witness by
a sort of oath expressed in these terms, _Me Dius Fidius!_ that is, so
help me the god Fidius! or Hercules.

PERSEUS was the son of Jupiter and Dan{)a}e, daughter of Acrisius king
of Argos. When Perseus was grown up, Polydectes, who was enamored of his
mother, finding him an obstacle to their union, contrived to send him on
an exploit, which he hoped would be fatal to him. This was to bring him
the head of Med{=u}sa, one of the Gorgons. In his expedition Perseus was
favored by the gods; Mercury equipped him with a scymetar, and the wings
from his heels; Pallas lent him a shield which reflected objects like a
mirror; and Pluto granted him his helmet, which rendered him invisible.
In this manner he flew to Tartessus in Spain, where, directed by the
reflection of Med{=u}sa in his mirror, he cut off her head, and brought
it to Pallas. From the blood arose the winged horse Peg{)a}sus.

After this the hero passed into Mauritania, where repairing to the court
of Atlas, that monarch ordered him to retire, with menaces, in case of
disobedience; but Perseus, presenting his shield, with the dreadful head
of Med{=u}sa, changed him into the mountain which still bears his name.
In his return to Greece he visited Ethiopia, mounted on Peg{)a}sus, and
delivered Androm{)e}da, daughter of Cepheus, (who was exposed on a rock
of that coast to be devoured by a monster of the deep) on condition he
might make her his wife: but Phineas, her uncle, sought to prevent him,
by attempting, with a party, to carry off the bride. The attempt,
notwithstanding, was rendered abortive; for the hero, by showing them
the head of the Gorgon, at once turned them to stone.

Perseus having completed these exploits, was desirous of revisiting
home, and accordingly set off for that purpose with his wife and his
mother. Arriving on the coast of Peloponnesus, and learning that
Teutamias, king of Larissa, was then celebrating games in honor of his
father, Perseus, wishing to exhibit his skill at the quoit, of which he
has been deemed the inventor, resolved to go thither. In this contest,
however, he was so unfortunate as to kill Acrisius, the father of his
mother, who, on the report that Perseus was returning to the place of
his nativity, had fled to the court of Teutamias his friend, to avoid
the denunciation of the oracle, which had induced him to exercise such
cruelty on his offspring. At what time Perseus died is unknown; but all