into a stone.

The labours of Hercules, the most celebrated of the Greeks of the
heroic age, appear to have had little of magic in them, but to have
been indebted for their success to a corporal strength, superior to
that of all other mortals, united with an invincible energy of mind,
which disdained to yield to any obstacle that could be opposed to him.
His achievements are characteristic of the rude and barbarous age in
which he lived: he strangled serpents, and killed the Erymanthian
boar, the Nemaean lion, and the Hydra.


DAEDALUS.

Nearly contemporary with the labours of Hercules is the history of
Pasiphae and the Minotaur; and this brings us again within the sphere
of magic. Pasiphae was the wife of Minos, king of Crete, who conceived
an unnatural passion for a beautiful white bull, which Neptune had
presented to the king. Having found the means of gratifying her
passion, she became the mother of a monster, half-man and half-bull,
called the Minotaur. Minos was desirous of hiding this monster from
the observation of mankind, and for this purpose applied to Daedalus,
an Athenian, the most skilful artist of his time, who is said to have
invented the axe, the wedge, and the plummet, and to have found out
the use of glue. He first contrived masts and sails for ships, and
carved statues so admirably, that they not only looked as if they were
alive, but had actually the power of self-motion, and would have
escaped from the custody of their possessor, if they had not been
chained to the wall.