The Mysteries of All Nations

ch Circe-Infernal Deities-Passage to Tartarus-Palace of Pluto-Judges of Hell-Goddesses of Destiny-Furies-Night, Death, and Sleep: by whom presided over-Names of Monsters condemned in

m, with horns and brutish ears; they have crooked hands, rough hairy bodies, goats' legs and

s and the chase. Pallas is esteemed the goddess of shepherds and pasture, and is the reputed inventress of corn, and is thought by some to be Ceres or Vesta. Flora is

to his wishes. The Nymphs are a company of neat charming virgins, living near the gardens of Pomona. They are of three classes:-1st the Celestial Nymphs, called Genii, who guide the spheres and dispense the influences of the stars to things on earth. 2nd, the Terrestrial Nymphs, a

e feet, like those of horses, and is provided with two tails. Oceanus is the son of C?lum and Vesta, husband to Tethys, god of the sea, and father of the rivers and springs. Nereus, also the son of Oceanus and Tethys, is father of fifty daughters, called Nereides or Sea Nymphs. Pal?mon and his mother Ino, together with the fisherman Glaucus, are reckoned among the sea deities. The Sirens resemble mermaids, having the faces of women, but bodies of flying fish. They are reported to be excellent songsters, that play on the Sicilian coasts, and tempt passengers on shore, where they sing

he passage leading thereto is a wide dark cave, through which one has to pass by a steep rocky descent till he arrives at a gloomy grove and an unnavigable lake called Avernus, from which such poisonous vapours rise as to kill birds flyi

swore by it and broke his oath, he was deprived of his godhead, and was prohibited from drinking nectar for a hundred years; the river Cocytus, which flows out of Styx with

the infernal regions, where the gate is guarded by Cerberus, a dog with three heads,

covered with darkness, holding a key in his hand, and crowned with

two are sons of Jupiter by Europa, and the last is his son

y. They order and manage the fatal thread of life. Clotho draws the thread, Laches

ommon name of Erinnys. They have faces like women, their looks are full of terror, they hold lighted torches in their hands, and snakes and serpents cling to their

rs over death; and Somnus is the god of sleep, who, by

d Celeno. The Gorgons are Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale, daughters of Phorcys and Cete. They have heads covered with snakes instead of hair, which so terrifies beholders that they immediately turn into stones. The Lami? and Empus? have each only one eye and one tooth. They have faces, necks, and breasts like women, but their bodies are covered with scales, and they have the tails

emple at Delphi, for which he was sentenced to have a great stone hung over his head, ready every moment to fall and crush him to pieces. Ixion, for an assault on Juno, was struck down to hell, and tied to a wheel, which kept continually turning. Sisyphus is a notorious robber, condemned to roll a stone up to the top of a hill, which is made to roll down again immediately; and as he has to begin and roll it up again as soon as it comes down, his labour is perpetual. The Danaides are fifty virgins (sisters), who all but one, by the command of their father Danaus,

he body. This is the heathen paradise, consisting of pleasant plains, the most verdant fields, the shadiest groves, and the finest and most temperate air that can be found. After the souls of th

ectar for their drink, both of which have the propert

he infernal gods were black. To Jupiter a white ox was sacrificed; to Neptune, Mars, and Apollo a bull, ram, and boar; to Ceres, milk, honey, and a sow-pig were offered; to ?scul

es, the ash to Mars, the oak to Jove, the laurel to Apollo, the myrtle to Venus, the