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Cocytus is increafed by the tears of the wicked; and flows with a lamentable noife, imitating the miferable.

Phlegethon fwells with fiery waves, and rolls ftreams of fire. The fouls of the dead, having paffed over thefe rivers, are carried into Pluto's palace.

Lethe is the river of forgetfulness. If the ghofts of the dead drank the waters of this river, they were faid to lose the remembrance of all that had passed in this world.

CHA P. XL.

SINGULAR PUNISHMENTS.

FABLE relates four remarkable punishments in

Tartarus. 1. Ixion, for attempting to feduce Juno, was by Jupiter caft into hell, and condemned to be chained to a wheel, which continually whirled round. 2. The rebel Giants, after their defeat by Jupiter, were punished in the severest manner, for their enormous crimes. The poets, in speaking of these monsters, fay, they had snakes

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inftead of legs. 3. Tantalus is reprefented as hanging over the waters, which are always flowing from him; and, at the fame time, the finest fruit almost touches his lips, which he is not permitted to tafte. To this eternal torment of hunger and thirst he was condemned, for having invited the gods to a feast, when, to prove their divinity, he killed, boiled, and ferved up the joints of his fon Pelops, as a repaft for them. 4. Syfiphus, the fon of Æolus, is doomed to roll a huge round ftone to the top of a mountain, whence it immediately defcends, and makes his labour perpetual. This punishment was allotted him, because he revealed the fecrets of the gods. He was alfo a notorious robber.

CHAP. XLI.

OF THE INFERIOR DEITIES.

THE poets mention feveral deities of inferior

note, ftiled Dii Minores:

EOLUS god of the winds, tempefts, and hurricanes, was the son of Jupiter and Alcefta.—Aquilo and Bereas are cold winds of the north.-Eurus, or

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the genius of the east winds, prefided over all the eaftern quarter of the heavens.-Zephyrus, or the weft wind, prefided over the weft, and is the mildest of all the wind deities.-Aufler, or Notus, the genius of the fouth wind, was the chief director of the fouth. Thefe deities were all brothers, fons of Aftræus, the eldest brother of Saturn, by Aurora.

MOMUS, fon of Nox and Somnus, was the god of jefting, banter, and folly. He is represented with a mask and grotefque face. He was rather a jefter, mocker, or mimic of the gods, than a god himself.

MORPHEUS was the god of fleep.

PAN, son of Mercury and Penelope, was the god of the woods and fhepherds. He is reprefented half man, and half goat, with a large pair of horns on his head, a crook in one hand, and a pipe, compofed of reeds, in the other. The Arcadians much admired his mufic, and paid him divine honours. -SYLVANUS and FAUNUS were also gods of the forefts, from whom were defcended the other rural deities, as Satyrs, Sylvans, Fauns, Nymphs, or Dryades, who were all inhabitants of the woods.

FLORA was the goddefs of the spring and flowers, and wife of Zephyrus. She is reprefented adorned with garlands, and near her is a basket of flowers.

POMONA

POMONA prefided over gardens, orchards, and fruit trees. She was beloved of Vertumnus, as Ovid

relates.

TERMINUS was a deity, who prefided over the boundaries of lands, which were held fo facred, that whoever removed a land-mark, or ploughed it up, was fubject to death.

PRIAPUS was the fon of Venus and Bacchus. It was his business to drive away birds, and guard the fruit and trees.

CHAP. XLII.

OF CUPID, AND OTHER INFERIOR DEITIES.

CUPID, god of love, fon of Mars and Venus,

is represented blind, with a bow in his hand, and a quiver of arrows on his fhoulders, with which he wounds the hearts of lovers.

HYMENÆUS, or Hymen, is the god of marriage; and is represented under the figure of a young man, holding a torch in his hand, with a crown of roses, and fweet marjoram on his head.

The PENATES and LARES were alfo deemed gods. The first prefided over provinces and kingdoms, and the latter over houses and particular families.

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families. The Lares alfo prefided over the highways; and they were wont to facrifice to these houfhold gods, frankincenfe, wine, bread, corn, and a cock; and, according to fome writers, a lamb and a hog.

The GENII alfo were fpirits, or deities, that prefided over all perfons and places. And, indeed, fo great was the number of these inferior gods, that the ancient mythology furnished almoft as many deities as there are things in nature.

ESCULAPIUS, fon of Apollo, was the god of phyfic. He was flain by Jupiter with a thunderbolt forged by the Cyclops, on the complaint of Pluto, for raifing the dead, or rather recovering men by his fkill in medicine from their fickness. He was worfhipped under the figure of a ferpent; and fometimes he is reprefented feated on a throne of gold and ivory, holding a rod environed with a ferpent, and a dog at his feet.

The CYCLOPS, four in number, were fons of Neptune and Amphitrite. They were fervants of Vulcan, and had only one eye placed in the middle of their foreheads.

SILENUS was the fofter father of Bacchus. He is accounted the god of abftruse mysteries and knowledge. He is reprefented as a fat, old, drunken fellow, riding on an ass.

CHAP

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