Herse

Family: Cecrops's family · Role: virgin · First appears: Fable 23

In fable 23, Minerva entrusted Ericthonius in a basket to Cecrops’s three daughters—Herse, Pandrosos, and Aglauros—for safekeeping, forbidding them to inspect it. In fable 27, Mercury sought Aglauros’s help to gain access to Herse, saying, “Herse is the cause of my coming; I pray thee to favor one in love.”

By fable 28, Herse’s good fortune and marriage to Mercury were a source of jealousy for Aglauros, whom Envy poisoned with “jagged thorns.” Fable 66 names Herse as one possible mother of Cephalus, whose father was Deioneus or, according to some writers, Mercury.

Relationship record

Life events

Minerva entrusted Ericthonius in a basket to Cecrops’s three daughters, forbidding them to inspect it.(Fable23)
- With: Minerva Ericthonius Aglauros Pandrosos
- “Pallas had enclosed Ericthonius, an offspring born without a mother, in a basket made of Actæan twigs; and had given it to keep to the three virgins born of the two-shaped[71] Cecrops, and had given them this injunction, that they should not inquire into her secrets.”
Mercury asks Aglauros to facilitate his access to Herse and favor his love.(Fable27)
- With: Mercury Aglauros
- “Herse is the cause of my coming; I pray thee to favor one in love.”
Envy poisons Aglauros and makes her jealous of Herse’s happiness.(Fable28)
- With: Envy Aglauros
- “But after she has entered the chamber of the daughter of Cecrops, she executes her orders; and touches her breast with her hand stained with rust, and fills her heart with jagged thorns.”

Fable 23

parent: Cecrops “had given it to keep to the three virgins born of the two-shaped[71] Cecrops”
siblings with Pandrosos “had given it to keep to the three virgins born of the two-shaped[71] Cecrops”
siblings with Aglauros “Aglauros alone calls her sisters cowards”
guardian: Minerva “For once upon a time, Pallas had enclosed Ericthonius, an offspring born without a mother, in a basket made of Actæan twigs; and had given it to keep to the three virgins born of the two-shaped[71] Cecrops, and had given them this injunction, that they should not inquire into her secrets.”

Fable 27

parent: Cecrops “Mercury, falling in love with Herse, the daughter of Cecrops,”
siblings with Aglauros “Nor will I invent pretences; do thou only be willing to be attached to thy sister, and to be called the aunt of my offspring. Herse is the cause of my coming;”
courtship with Mercury “Herse is the cause of my coming; I pray thee to favor one in love.”
admirer: Mercury “Mercury, falling in love with Herse, the daughter of Cecrops, endeavors to engage Aglauros in his interest, and by her means, to obtain access to her sister.”

Fable 28

siblings with Aglauros “And that these causes of mischief may not wander through too wide a space, she places her sister before her eyes, and the fortunate marriage of {that} sister, and the God under his beauteous appearance, and aggravates each particular. By this, the daughter of Cecrops being irritated, is gnawed by a secret grief, and groans, tormented by night, tormented by day, and wastes away in extreme wretchedness, with a slow consumption, as ice smitten upon by a sun often clouded. She burns at the good fortune of the happy Herse, no otherwise than as when fire is placed beneath thorny reeds, which do not send forth flames, and burn with a gentle heat.”
married with Mercury “And that these causes of mischief may not wander through too wide a space, she places her sister before her eyes, and the fortunate marriage of {that} sister, and the God under his beauteous appearance, and aggravates each particular. By this, the daughter of Cecrops being irritated, is gnawed by a secret grief, and groans, tormented by night, tormented by day, and wastes away in extreme wretchedness, with a slow consumption, as ice smitten upon by a sun often clouded. She burns at the good fortune of the happy Herse, no otherwise than as when fire is placed beneath thorny reeds, which do not send forth flames, and burn with a gentle heat.”
parent: Cecrops (Herse is identified as one of Cecrops's daughters earlier in the chapter.) “And that these causes of mischief may not wander through too wide a space, she places her sister before her eyes, and the fortunate marriage of {that} sister, and the God under his beauteous appearance, and aggravates each particular.”
courtship with Mercury “And that these causes of mischief may not wander through too wide a space, she places her sister before her eyes, and the fortunate marriage of {that} sister, and the God under his beauteous appearance, and aggravates each particular.”

Fable 66

parent: Cecrops “Mercury and Herse, the daughter of Cecrops.”
child: Cephalus (An alternative genealogy identifies Herse as Cephalus's mother.) “He was the son of Deioneus, or according to some writers, of Mercury and Herse, the daughter of Cecrops.”

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Extracted from the original text of The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Made with Rho MD.