24
“Next is a handsome god and a pretty boy, a scene of fond foolery. Branchus, sitting on a rock, is holding up a hare and teasing his dog, while the dog is apparently going to spring up at him; Apollo, standing near, is smiling in amusement at the tricks of the lad and the efforts of the dog.
25
“Then comes Perseus again, in the adventure: which preceded the sea-monster. He is cutting off the head of Medusa, and Athena is shielding him. He has done the daring deed, but has not looked, except at the reflection of the Gorgon in the shield, for he knows the cost of looking at the reality.
26
“In the middle of the wall, above the posternOr perhaps, “rear window.” is constructed a shrine of Athena. The goddess is ‘of marble, and is not in harness but as a war-goddess. would appear when at peace.
27
“Then we have another Athena, not of marble this time, but in colours as before. Hephaestus is pursuing her amorously; she is running away and Erichthonius is being engendered of the chase. Mother Earth gave birth to him, not Athena.
28
"On this there follows another prehistoric picture. Orion, who is blind, is carrying Cedalion, and the latter, riding on his back, is showing him the way to the sunlight.
29
"The rising sun is healing the blindness of Orion, and Hephaestus views the incident from Lemnos.
30
“Odysseus is next, feigning madness because he does not want to make the campaign with the sons of Atreus. The ambassadors are there to summon him, All the details of his pretence are true to life—the wagon, the ill-matched team, He yoked an ass and an ox together. the folly of his actions. He is shown up, however, by means of his child. Palamedes, son of Nauplius, comprehending the situation, seizes Telemachus and threatens, sword in hand, to kill him, meeting Odysseus’ pretence of madness with a pretence of anger. In the face of this fright Odysseus grows sane, becomes a father and abandons his pretence.
