from their grandfather Belus; and named also Danaides, from their father Danaus, who married them to the fifty sons of his brother. The oracle foretold, that Danaüs should be slain by his son-in-law; wherefore he commanded his daughters to provide daggers, and on their wedding-night to kill their husbands. The daughters performed their promises, and killed their husbands, except Hypermnestra, for she spared Lynceus, her husband, who afterward killed Danaüs, and took his kingdom. This great impiety was thus punished: they were condemned to draw water out of a deep well, and fill a tub, that (like a seive) is full of holes; the water runs out as fast as it is put in, so they are tormented with a perpetual and unprofitable labour. "Assiduas repetunt quas perdunt Belides undas." They hourly fetch the water that they spill. Af Tantalus, another remarkable criminal, was the son of Jupiter and the nymph Plota. He invited all the gods to a feast, to get a plain and clear proof of their divinity: when they came, he killed and quartered his own son Pelops, and boiled him and set the joints before them to eat. All the gods abstained from such horrible diet, except Ceres, who being melancholy and inattentive from the recent loss of her daughter, eat one of the child's shoulders. terward the gods sent Mercury to recall him to life, and gave him an ivory shoulder, instead of the shoulder which Ceres had eaten. This Pelops was the husband of Hippodamia, who bore him, Atreus, and Thyestes; the latter of whom was banished, because he seduced Erope his brother Atreus' wife; and when he was recalled from banishment, he eat up his children; for Atreus killed them, and had them served in dishes to the table, where he and Thyestes dined together. It is said, that the sun could not endure so horrible a sight, and turned his course back again to the east. But as Tantalus' crime was greater, so was his punishment; *for he is tormented with eternal hunger and thirst in the midst of plenty, both of meat and drink he stands in water up to his lips, but cannot reach it; and fruit is placed just to his mouth, which he cannot take hold of. Ovid mentions the punishment of Tantalus, but assigns another reason for it; namely, because he divulged the secrets of the gods to men. "Quærit aquas in aquis, et poma fugacia captat Now this fable of Tantalus represents the condition of a miser, who in the midst of plenty suffers want, and wants as much the things which he has, as those which he has not; as Horace rightly says, where he applies this fable of Tantalus to the real wants of the covetous man. "Tantalus, a labris sitiens fugientia captat Serm. 1. 1. Though Tantalus, you've heard, does stand chin deep At which you smile; now all on't would be true, QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. Who were the Giants? How are they and their actions described? How were they subdued? Who was Typhæus or Typhon, and how is he described? Who was Ægeon, and what were his other names? Who was Tityus? What became of him? Who were the Titans, and what is said of their chief? Hom. Odyss. 11. Who was Phlegyas; what was his crime; and what his puuishment? What is said of Ixion? What is said of Salmoneus? Who was Sysyphus; and what his punishment? Who were the Belides? What is the history of Tantalus? What are the lines of Horace descriptive of Tantalus? CHAPTER VI. MONSTERS OF HELL. ELYSIUM. LETHE. THERE are many strange pictures of these infernal monsters, but the most deformed are the Centaurs, who were the ancient inhabitants of Thessalia, and the first who tamed horses, and used them in war. Their neighbours, who first saw them on horseback, thought that they had partly the members of a man, and partly the limbs of a horse. But the poets tell us another story; for they say that Ixion begat them of a cloud, whence they are called *Nubiginæ ; and Bacchus is said to have overcome them. Geryon, because he was the king of three islands called Balearides, is feigned to have three bodies; or, it may be, because there were three bodies of the same name, whose minds and affections were so united, that they seemed to be governed and to live by one soul. They add, that Geryon kept oxen, which devoured the strangers that came to him: they were guarded by a dog with two heads, and a dragon with seven. Hercules killed the guards and drove the oxen away. The Harpies, so called ffrom their rapacity, were born of Oceanus and Terra. They had the faces of * Virg. Æn. 6. + Ab aprazw, rapio. virgins and the bodies of birds; their hands were armed with claws, and their habitation was in the islands. Their names were Ello, Ocypete, and Celeno; which last brought forth Zephyrus, the "west wind," and Balius, and Xanthus, the horse of Achilles. Virgil gives us an elegant description of these three sisters. "At subitæ horrifico lapsu de montibus adsunt When from the mountain tops, with hideous cry To the three Harpies add the three Gorgons, Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale, who were the daughters of Phorcus and Cete. Instead of hair, their heads were covered with vipers, which so terrified the beholder, that they turned him presently into a stone. Perhaps they intended to represent, by this part of the fable, the extraordinary beauty of these sisters; which was such, that whoever saw them were amazed, and stood immoveable like stones. There were other Gorgons beside, born of the same parents, who were called Latriæ, or Empusæ. They had only one eye and one tooth, common to them all: they kept this tooth and eye at home in a little vessel, and which ever of them went abroad, she used them. They had the faces of women, and also the necks and breasts; but below they were covered with scales, and had the tails of serpents. They used to entice men, and then devour them. The Chimæra *was a monster, which vomited forth fire; he had the head and breast of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a dragon, as it is expressed in a known verse, and described by Ovid: "Prima leo, postrema draco, media inde capella." A lion's head and breast resemble his, His waist a goat's, his tail a dragon's is. " Quoque Chimæra jugo mediis in partibus ignem, Pectus et ora leæ, caudam serpentis habebat." Met. 9. -And on the craggy top Chimæra dwells, with lion's face and mane, A volcano in Lycia occasioned this fable; for in the top of the mountain were lions; in the middle, where was pasture, goats lived; and the bottom of it abounded with serpents. Bellerophon made this mountain habitable, and therefore is said to have killed the Chimæra. The monster Sphynx was begotten of Typhon and Echidna. She had the head and breast of a woman, the wings of a bird, the body of a dog, and the paws of a lion. She lived in the mountain Sphincius, assaulted all passengers, and infested the country about Thebes; insomuch that the oracle of Apollo was consulted concerning her, and answer was made, that unless somebody did resolve the riddle of Sphynx, there would be no end to that great evil. Many endeavoured to explain it, but were overcome, and torn in pieces by the monster. Creon, at that time king of Thebes, published an edict through all Greece, in which if any one could explain the riddle of Sphynx, he promised that he would give him to wife his own sister Jocasta. The riddle was this; +" What animal is that, which walks upon four feet in the morning, upon two at noon, and upon three * Hom, Iliad. 24. + Quidam animal mane quadrupes, meridie bipes, vesperi teis pes esset? |