Editing Proteus (section)

===In literature===
The poet [[John Milton]], aware of the association of Proteus with the Hermetic art of [[alchemy]], wrote in ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' of alchemists who sought the [[philosopher's stone]]:
{{Poemquote|text=
In vain, though by their powerful Art they bind
Volatile [[Hermes]], and call up unbound
In various shapes old Proteus from the Sea,
Drain'd through a [[Alembic|Limbec]] to his native form.|author=John Milton|title=''Paradise Lost''|source=III.603–06}}

[[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] uses the image of Proteus to establish the character of his great royal villain [[Richard III of England|Richard III]] in the play ''[[Henry VI, Part 3|Henry VI, Part Three]]'', in which the future usurper boasts:
{{Poemquote|text=I can add colours to the chameleon,
Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,
And set the murderous Machiavel to school.
Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
Tut, were it farther off, I'll pluck it down.
|author=William Shakespeare|title=''Henry VI, Part Three''|source=Act III, Scene ii}}

Shakespeare also names one of the main characters of his play ''[[The Two Gentlemen of Verona]]'' Proteus.

In 1807, [[William Wordsworth]] finished his [[sonnet]] on the theme of a modernity deadened to [[Nature]], which opens "[[The world is too much with us]]", with a sense of nostalgia for the lost richness of a world numinous with deities: 
{{Poemquote|text=
...&nbsp;I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea.
Or hear old [[Triton (mythology)|Triton]] blow his wreathèd horn.<ref name="WSU">[http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/wordsworth.html "Wordsworth"]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060623014133/http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/wordsworth.html |date=2006-06-23 }}.</ref>}}

[[James Joyce]]'s ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]''<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.readprint.com/chapter-6364/James-Joyce |chapter=Chapter 3 |title=Ulysses |first=James |last=Joyce |via=Readprint.com |access-date=2018-11-05 |archive-date=2008-12-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203133042/http://www.readprint.com/chapter-6364/James-Joyce |url-status=dead |author-link=James Joyce |title-link=Ulysses (novel) }}</ref> uses Protean transformations of matter in time for self-exploration. "Proteus" is the title provided for the third chapter in the [[Linati schema for Ulysses]].