and Medusa, of whom the latter alone was mortal, (Hesiod.

"Theogony", 276.) Phorcus was a son of Pontus and Gaia (sea and land), ibid, 287.
(21) The scimitar lent by Hermes (or Mercury) to Perseus for the purpose; with which had been slain Argus the guardian of Io (Conf.

"Prometheus vinctus", 579.) Hermes was born in a cave in Mount Cyllene in Arcadia.
(22) The idea seems to be that the earth, bulging at the equator, casts its shadow highest on the sky: and that the moon becomes eclipsed by it whenever she follows a straight path instead of an oblique one, which may happen from her forgetfulness (Mr.Haskins' note).
(23) This catalogue of snakes is alluded to in Dante's "Inferno", 24.
"I saw a crowd within Of serpents terrible, so strange of shape And hideous that remembrance in my veins Yet shrinks the vital current.

Of her sands Let Libya vaunt no more: if Jaculus, Pareas, and Chelyder be her brood, Cenchris and Amphisbaena, plagues so dire Or in such numbers swarming ne'er she showed." -- Carey.
(See also Milton's "Paradise Lost", Book X., 520-530.) (24) The Egyptian Thebes.
(25) "...

All my being Like him whom the Numidian Seps did thaw Into a dew with poison, is dissolved, Sinking through its foundations." -- Shelley, "Prometheus Unbound", Act iii, Scene 1.
(26) The glance of the eye of the basilisk or cockatrice, was supposed to be deadly.