served by his sister. After which Thoas was killed, and the image of Diana, which lay hidden among a bundle of sticks, was carried away; and hence Diana was called Fascelis, from fascis, a "bundle."

QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION.

Who were Castor and Pollux, and what was their origin?
Why were white lambs offered upon their altars?

What became of Castor, and what was granted to him at the request of his brother?

What do the Sailors say of the stars Castor and Pollux ?:

What is related of the temple dedicated to them?

What is the story of Clytemnestra?

Who was Diana Taurica; how was she worshipped; and who

was her priestess?

What is related of Agamemnon?

On what account was Diana called Fascelis?

CHAPTER IV.

PERSEUS. ESCULAPIUS.

PERSEUS was the son of Jupiter and Danæ, the daughter of Acrisius, who was shut up by her father in a very strong tower, where no man could enter, because her father had been told by an oracle, that he should be killed by his own grandchild. But nothing is impregnable to love for Jupiter, as we are told by Horace, by changing himself into a shower of gold, descended through the tiles into the lady's apartment.

"Inclusam Danæn turris ahenea
Robustæque fores, et vigilum canum
Tristes excubiæ munierant satis

Nocturnis ab adulteris:

Si non Acrisium, virginis abditæ

Custodem pavidum, Jupiter et Venus

Risissent: fore enim tutum iter et patens,

Converso in pretium Deo."

Carm. 1. 3. 16.

Within a brazen tow'r immur'd,

By dogs and centinels secur'd,

From midnight revels, and intrigues of love,

Fair Dana was kept within her guardian's pow'r:
But gentle Venus smit'd, and amorous Jove

Knew he could soon unlock the door,

And by his art successful prove,

Chang'd to a golden show'r.

As soon as Acrișius had heard that his daughter had brought forth a son, he ordered that she and the infant should be shut up in a chest, and thrown into the sea: the chest was driven to the island Seriphus, where a fisherman found it, took them out, and presented them to king Polydectes; who became enamoured of Danæ, and brought up her son; whom he called Perseus.

Perseus, when he was grown a man, received from Mercury a scythe of adamant, and wings, which he fixed to his feet: Pluto gave him a helmet, and Minerva a shield of brass, so bright, that it reflected the images of things, like a looking-glass. His first exploit was the deliverance of Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus, king of Ethiopia, who was bound by the nymphs to a rock, to be devoured by a sea-monster, because her mother Cassiope, or Cassiopeia, had proudly preferred her daughter's. beauty to theirs; and when he had delivered her, he took her to wife. After which, both the mother and the daughter, and the son-in-law, were placed among the celestial constellations. His next expedition was against the Gorgons, of whom we have spoken before he encountered Medusa, their princess, whose head was supplied with snakes in the place of hair; he saw the image of her head by the brightness of his shield; and, by the favourable assistance of Minerva, struck it off: he then fixed it upon a shield, and, by showing it, afterward turned many persons into stone. Atlas was turned by the sight of it, into the mountain in Mauritania of that

name: because he rudely refused to entertain Perseus. When Medusa's head was cut off, the horse Pegasus sprang from the blood which fell on the ground, he was so called from " [pege] “a fountain," because he was produced near the fountains of the sea. This horse had wings; and flying over the mountain Helicon, he struck it with his hoof, and opened a fountain, which they call in Greek, Hippocrene; and in Latin, Fons Caballinus; that is, the "horse fountain." But afterward, while he drank at the fountain Pyrene in Corinth, where Bellerophon prepared himself for his expedition against the Chimæra, he was taken by him and kept.

Bellerophon's first name was Hipponus; because he first taught the art of governing horses with a bridle but when he had killed Bellerus, a king of Corinth, he was afterward called Bellerophontes. This Bellerophon, the son of Glaucus, king of Ephyra, was equally beautiful and virtuous: he resisted all the temptations by which Sthenobæa, the wife of Prætus, enticed him to love her; and his repulses provoked her so, that in revenge she accused the innocent stranger to her husband. Prætus, however, would not violate the laws of hospitality with the blood of Bellerophon, but sent him into Lycia, to his father-in-law Jobates, with letters, which desired him to punish Bellerophon, as his crime deserved. Jobates read the letters, and sent him to fight against the Solymi, that he might be killed in the battle: but he easily vanquished them, and in many other dangers, to which he was exposed, he always came off conqueror. At last he was sent to kill the Chimera; which he undertook, and performet, when he had procured the horse Pegasus, by the help of Neptune. Therefore Jobates, admiring the bravery of the youth, gave him one of his daughters to wife, allotting him also a part of his kingdom. Sthenobæa killed herself when she

heard this. This happy success so transported Bek-. lerophon, that he endeavoured to fly upon Pegasus to heaven; for which Jupiter, struck him with madness, and he fell from his horse into a field called Aleius Campus, *because in that place Bellerophon wandered up and down blind, to the end of his life : but Pegasus was placed among the stars. Some say that this was the occasion of the fable of the Chimæra. There was a famous pirate, who used to sail in a ship in whose prow was painted a lion, in the stern a dragon, and by the body of the ship a goat was described; and this pirate was killed by Bellerophon, in a long boat that was called Pegasus. From the letters which Bellerophon carried Jobates, tcomes the proverb, "Bellerophon's letters ;" when any one carries letters, which he imagines are wrote in his favour, but are sent to procure his ruin: and such letters are frequently called "Letters of Uriah,” for the same reason.

Esculapius is represented as a bearded old man, leaning on his jointed cane, adorned with a crown of laurel, and encompassed with dogs. He is the god of the physicians and physic, and the son of Apollo by the nymph Ceronis. He improved the art of physic, which before was little understood; and for that reason they accounted him a god. Apollo shot the nymph his mother when she was pregnant, because she admitted the addresses of another young man after he had become enamoured of her. But he repented after he had killed her, took out the child alive, and delivered him to be educated by the physician Chiron, who taught him his own art: the youth made so great a progress in it, that because he restored health to the sick, and gave safety

Ab aλeva erro.

* Βελλεροφοντος γραμματα, Bellerophontis litera usitatius dicta, Litera Uria. Ovid Met. I.