The Fall of Icarus, painted by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) in 1636. Daedalus, the story went, was an Athenian whose father was named Eupalamas, or ‘skill-hand’. Tragedy struck when Daedalus murdered his nephew Perdix (sometimes named Talus) in a fit of envy at the boy’s obvious talent. He narrowly avoided execution by fleeing to Crete, where he designed the labyrinth in which King Minos imprisoned the Minotaur, a monstrous man with a bull’s head and shoulders. After his ill-fated escape from Crete, Daedalus settled in Sicily. Minos pursued him there, but the wrathful king was suffocated in a hot bath said to have been constructed by Daedalus.
Part 1 of 2
WHEN now the finishing touches had been put upon the work, the master workman himself balanced his body on two wings and hung poised on the beaten air. He taught his son also and said: “I warn you, Icarus, to fly in a middle course, lest, if you go too low, the water may weight your wings; if you go too high, the fire may burn them. Fly between the two. And I bid you not to shape your course by Boötes or Helice or the drawn sword of Orion,* but fly where I shall lead.” At the same time he tells him the rules of flight and fits the strange wings on his boy’s shoulders.
While he works and talks the old man’s cheeks are wet with tears, and his fatherly hands tremble. He kissed his son, which he was destined never again to do, and rising on his wings, he flew on ahead, fearing for his companion, just like a bird which has led forth her fledglings from the high nest into the unsubstantial air.
He encourages the boy to follow, instructs him in the fatal art of flight, himself flapping his wings and looking back on his son.
* Boötes is a constellation known also as the Herdsman, whose brightest star is Arcturus; Helice is the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear; Orion is the constellation known also as the Hunter.
Précis
Ovid tells how the legendary craftsman Daedalus, in order to escape Crete, fixed wings to his arms and those of his son Icarus. Keenly aware of the risks involved, he pleaded tearfully with Icarus to follow him closely, and fly neither too low nor too high. Then with a kiss Daedalus led the way, anxiously looking back over his shoulder. (60 / 60 words)
Part Two
The harbour of Efdílos on the Aegean island of Icaria, just west of Samos. According to myth, the island took its name from Icarus, whose body washed up on its shores. Of him, no other tale tells, but Daedalus was enduringly famous. He was said to be the first carpenter, and was credited by the ancients with inventing the saw, the axe, the plumb-line and glue, not to mention mechanical human figures and an ingenious folding chair. It was said that he was a fine worker in metals, and the first sculptor to carve figures whose arms were not pinned to their sides, and whose legs were not fused together.
Now some fisherman spies them, angling for fish with his flexible rod, or a shepherd, leaning upon his crook, or a ploughman, on his plough-handles — spies them and stands stupefied, and believes them to be gods that they could fly through the air.
And now Juno’s sacred Samos had been passed on the left, and Delos and Paros;* Lebinthus was on the right and Calymne, rich in honey, when the boy began to rejoice in his bold flight and, deserting his leader led by a desire for the open sky, directed his course to a greater height. The scorching rays of the nearer sun softened the fragrant wax which held his wings. The wax melted; his arms were bare as he beat them up and down, but, lacking wings, they took no hold on the air. His lips, calling to the last upon his father’s name, were drowned in the dark blue sea, which took its name from him. But the unhappy father, now no longer father, called: “Icarus, Icarus, where are you? In what place shall I seek you? Icarus,” he called again; and then he spied the wings floating on the deep, and cursed his skill.
* Flying northeast from Crete towards Icaria, where Icarus came to grief, the two bird-men would pass Paros and Naxos on the left first, with Lebinthus (Levitha) and Calymne (Kalymnos) on the right; then Delos on the left, and finally Icaria, with Samos just beyond it. It would seem that they were turning east under Samos and almost at the coast of Asia Minor when Icarus soared up jubilantly into the air.
Précis
Daedalus and Icarus flew over the Aegean islands, drawing astonishment from all who saw them pass. Northeast they flew; but near Samos, Icarus recklessly broke formation. As he rose higher and higher, the heat of the sun melted the wax that glued the feathers of his wings, and Icarus fell, vanishing beneath the waves and leaving only scattered feathers behind. (60 / 60 words)
