362 Albert S. Cook, 



Non terruit ipse Typhoeus. 

 Arduus arma tenens, 



in a chorus to the praise of Hercules. 



This Typhon is sometimes confounded with the Egyptian Typhon 

 (or Set), the enemy of Osiris (Phitarch, Is. and Osir.), as the Greek 

 Typhon was the enemy of Zeus. According to one account, he 

 was overthrown b}' Horus (Herodian 2. 15G). 



The heroes of mythology have always been slayers of dragons 

 and monsters, from Hercules to Beowulf, and in Eg3-pt and Babylonia 

 as well as in Greece and England. The Pythian Apollo slays the 

 serpent (according to Hyginus, Fab. 140, when only four days old ; 

 cf. the exploits of Hermes in the Homeric Hymn), and St. George, 

 like Michael, overthrows the Dragon. See Dieterich, Abraxas, 

 pp. Ill ff. 



The astronomical poets loved to associate the signs of the heav- 

 ens with the corresponding legendary personages and their exploiis. 

 Similarly, in Prudentius' account of the star in the east, representing 

 the infant Christ, passing over the face of heaven, and destroying 

 the constellation of the serpent, we may have an allusion to the 

 downfall of the Old Dragon at the birth of Christ (see Brockhaus, 

 Prudentius, p. 251, note). Prudentius' lines are {Apoth. 615-620): 



' Vidimus hunc,' aiunt, ' puerum per sidera ferri, 

 Et super antiques signorum ardescere tractus. 

 Diriguit trepidans Chaldaeo in vertice pernox 

 Astrologus : cessisse angiiem, fugisse leonem, 

 Contraxisse pedes lateris manco ordine cancrum, 

 Cornibus infractis domitum mugire juvencum,' etc. 



See note on 172, and cf. Phineas Fletcher, Purple Island 11. 

 456 ff. 



Hercules, b}- sla3'ing the serpents in his cradle, would but be con- 

 tinuing the work begun in the overthrow of T3'phon. The story 

 is graphically told by Theocritus, Idyll. 24. After the exploit, Tire- 

 sias the prophet was called in, and uttered this prediction concern- 

 ing the infant : ' Such a man, even this thy son , shall mount to 

 the starry firmament. . . . Twelve labors is he fated to accomplish, 

 and thereafter to dwell in the house of Zeus. . . . And the son of 

 the Immortals . . . shall he be called. . . . Yeril}- that day shall come 

 when the ravening wolf, beholding the fawn in his lair, will not 

 seek to work him harm.' A similar account is given by Pindar 

 {Nem. 1), who closes thus : ' But he in peace himself should obtain 

 a reward of rest from his great toils throughout all time continually 



