She was so pale and
motionless that if it had not been for her flowing tears and her
hair that moved in the breeze, he would have taken her for a
marble statue. He was so startled at the sight that he almost
forgot to wave his wings. As he hovered over her he said, "O
virgin, undeserving of those chains, but rather of such as bind
fond lovers together, tell me, I beseech you, your name, and the
name of your country, and why you are thus bound." At first she
was silent from modesty, and, if she could, would have hid her
face with her hands; but when he repeated his questions, for fear
she might be thought guilty of some fault which she dared not
tell, she disclosed her name and that of her country, and her
mother's pride of beauty. Before she had done speaking, a sound
was heard off upon the water, and the sea-monster appeared, with
his head raised above the surface, cleaving the waves with his
broad breast. The virgin shrieked, the father and mother who had
now arrived at the scene, wretched both, but the mother more
justly so, stood by, not able to afford protection, but only to
pour forth lamentations and to embrace the victim. Then spoke
Perseus: "There will be time enough for tears; this hour is all we
have for rescue. My rank as the son of Jove and my renown as the
slayer of the Gorgon might make me acceptable as a suitor; but I
will try to win her by services rendered, if the gods will only be
propitious.
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