came to bathe during the heat of the day. Here the infatuated nymph imprudently disclosed her sentiments. Such frankness merited a generous return, but the ungrateful and sturdy huntsman, unmoved by her advances, rejected her with disgust, upon which the indignant Salmacis prayed the gods to avenge the insult by wedding him for ever to a female form. Her prayer was granted, and the wretched Hermaphroditus, equally amazed and shocked at the change, prayed then in turn, to alleviate the poignancy of his misfortue by sending him companions of similar form. The gods always merciful, listened to his entreaties, and decreed that whoever, thereafter, should bathe in that fountain, should resemble Hermaphroditus, and partake alike the form and qualities of either sex. A herdsmen, whose name was Battus, saw Mercury stealing Admetus' cows from Apollo their keeper. When Mercury perceived that his theft was discovered, he went to Battus, and desired that he would say nothing, and gave him a delicate cow. Battus promised him secrecy. Mercury, to try his fidelity, came in another shape to him, and asked him about the cows; whether he saw them, or knew the place where the thief carried them. Battus denied it; but Mercury pressed him hard, and promised that he would give him both a bull and a cow, if he would discover it. With this promise he was overcome; upon which Mercury was enraged, and laying aside his disguise, turned him into a stone called Index. This story Ovid describes in very elegant verse. The ancients used to set up statues where the roads crossed these statues they called Indices, because with an arm or finger held out they showed the way to this or that place. The Romans placed some in public places and highways; as the Athenians did at their doors to drive away thieves; and they call these statues Hermæ, from Mercury, whose Greek name was Hermes: concerning which Hermæ it is to be observed: 1. That they have neither hands nor feet; and hence Mercury was called Cyllenius, and by contraction Cyllius, which words are derived from a Greek word signifying a man without hands and feet and not from Cyllene, a mountain in Arcadia, on which he was educated. 2. A purse was usually hung to a statue of Mercury, to signify that he was the god of gain and profit, and presided over merchandising; in which, because many times things are done by fraud and treachery, they gave him the name of Dolius. 3. The Romans used to join the statues of Mercury and Minerva together, and these images they called Hermathenæ; and sacrificed to both deities upon the same altar. Those who had escaped any great danger, always offered sacrifices to Mercury: they offered up a calf, and milk, and honey, and especially the tongues of the sacrifices, which, with a great deal of ceremony, they cast into the fire, and then the sacrifice was finished. It is said that the Megarenses first used this ceremony. QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. What is related of Mercury in connexion with Venus? What were the ancient indices? What were the Hermæ ? Why was Mercury called Cyllenius ? Why was he called Dolius?" What were the Hermathenæ ? What were the sacrifices offered to Mercury, and why? CHAPTER V. SEC. 1.-BACCHUS. HIS IMAGE AND BIRTH. BACCHUS, the god of wine, and the captain and emperor of drunkards, is represented with swoln cheeks, red face, and a body bloated and puffed up. He is crowned with ivy and wine-leaves; and has in his hand a thyrsus, instead of a sceptre, which is a javelin with an iron head, encircled by ivy or vineleaves. He is carried in a chariot, which is sometimes drawn by tigers and lions, and sometimes by lynxes and panthers: and, like a king, he has his guards, who are a drunken band of satyrs, demons, nymphs that preside over the wine-presses, fairies of fountains, and priestesses. Silenus oftentimes comes after him, sitting on an ass that bends under his burden. He is sometimes painted an old man, and sometimes a smooth and beardless boy; as Ovid and Tibullus describe him. I shall give you the reason of these things, and of his horns, mentioned also in Ovid: Tibi inconsumpta juventa ? Tu puer æternus, tu formosissimus alto Conspiceris cœlo, tibi, cum sine cornibus adstas, -Still dost thou enjoy Unwasted youth? Eternally a boy Thou'rt seen in heaven, whom all perfections grace: ! According to the poets, the birth of Bacchus was. both wonderful and ridiculous. They say, that when Jupiter was in love with Semele, it excited Juno's jealousy, who endeavoured to destroy her; and in the shape of an old woman, visited Semele, and advised her to oblige him, when |