HERMAPHRODITUS

Homer in the Odyssey speaks of the good-looking Hermes as the herald of the gods, and also as guide of the dead to Hades. He, in common with so many of the immortals, and others, fell under the spell of Aphrodite, and Hermaphrodite is their son. He was a strikingly handsome god, and the passions of a goodly number of godesses were excited by his elegant style.

One day he chanced to bath in the fountain of Salmacis in Caria, and he was noticed by a nymph who pretended to be a statue on a pedestal close by some laurels on the island in the middle of the fountain.

The nymph knew she could never hope to gain the heart of the handsome god, so she prayed to the deities of Salmacis that her life could be blended with Hermaphroditus for ever, and they granted her wish. The nymph is believed to be the metamorphosis of Scylla, and although it is thought that Hermaphrodite was neither one sex nor the other, it is true that Zeus comprehended in him a being who was more perfect sexually than any of the other immortals.
- DANIEL