As soone as that the worke was done, the workman by and by
Did peyse his bodie on his wing, and in the Aire on hie
Hung wavering; and did teach his sonne how he should also flie.
I warne thee (quoth he) Icarus a middle race to keepe.
For if thou hold to low a gate, the dankenesse of the deepe
Will overlade thy wings with wet. And if thou mount to hie,
The sunne will sindge them. Therefore see betweene them both thou flie.
OVID, The Fall of Icarus (Golding's translation)

ICARUS DID NOT HEED HIS FATHER'S WARNING. HE FLEW TOO close to his "father" the sun and had his "wings clipped" by the heat. He fell back to the earth-mother and drowned in the sea. This myth seems to be the earliest recorded embodiment of the metaphors of floating, flying, and/or antigravity to address