GLAUCUS
GLAUCUS.
Glaucus is said to have become a sea-divinity in the following manner.
While angling one day, he observed that the fish he caught and threw on
the bank, at once nibbled at the grass and then leaped back into the
water. His curiosity was naturally excited, and he proceeded to gratify
it by taking up a few blades and tasting them. No sooner was this done
than, obeying an irresistible impulse, he precipitated himself into the
deep, and became a sea-god.
Like most sea-divinities he was gifted with prophetic power, and each
year visited all the islands and coasts with a train of marine monsters,
foretelling all kinds of evil. Hence fishermen dreaded his approach, and
endeavoured, by prayer and fasting, to avert the misfortunes which he
prophesied. He is often represented floating on the billows, his body
covered with mussels, sea-weed, and shells, wearing a full beard and long
flowing hair, and bitterly bewailing his immortality.