The parents, transported with joy, embraced their future
son-in-law, calling him their deliverer and the savior of their
house, and the virgin both cause and reward of the contest,
descended from the rock.
Cassiopeia was an Aethiopian, and consequently, in spite of her
boasted beauty, black; at least so Milton seems to have thought,
who alludes to this story in his "Penseroso," where he addresses
Melancholy as the
".... goddess, sage and holy,
Whose saintly visage is too bright
To hit the sense of human sight,
And, therefore, to our weaker view
O'erlaid with black, staid Wisdom's hue.
Black, but such as in esteem
Prince Memnon's sister might beseem,
Or that starred Aethiop queen that strove
To set her beauty's praise above
The sea-nymphs, and their powers offended."
Cassiopeia is called "the starred Aethiop queen" because after her
death she was placed among the stars, forming the constellation of
that name. Though she attained this honor, yet the Sea-Nymphs, her
old enemies, prevailed so far as to cause her to be placed in that
part of the heaven near the pole, where every night she is half
the time held with her head downward, to give her a lesson of
humility.
Memnon was an Aethiopian prince, of whom we shall tell in a future
chapter.
Pages:
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198