Let us now turn our eyes toward the tribunal of Pluto; where you see, in that dismal picture, continual trials and all persons, as well the accusers as the offenders, who have been formerly wicked in their lives, receive their death impartially from the three Fates; after death they receive their sentence impartially from the three judges; and after condemnation, their punishment impartially from the three Furies. The Fates are represented by three ladies: their garments are made of ermine, white as snow, and bordered with purple. They were born either of Nox and Erebus, or of Necessity, or of the Sea, or of that rude and undigested mass which the ancients called Chaos. They are called Parcæ in Latin; because, as *Varro thinks, they distributed good and bad things to persons at their birth; or, as the common and received opinion is, because they spare nobody. They are also called Fatum, "fate ;" and are three in number, because they order, the past, present, and future time. Fate, says Cicero, is all that which God hath decreed and resolved shall come to pass, and which the Grecians call Eμapuen [Eimarmene.] Fatum is derived from the word fari, to pronounce or declare; because when any one is born, these three sisters pronounce what fate will befall him. Their names and offices are as follows; the name of one is Clotho; the second is called Lachesis ; * Parcæ dicuntur partu, a quod nascentibus hominibus bona malaque conferre censentur. + Aut a parcendo per Antiphrasin, quod nemini parcant. Serv. in Æn. 1. Est autem Fatum id omne quod a Deo constitutum et de signatum est ut eveniat, quod Græci appvn appellant. De Fato et Divinat. A verbo xλwow id est, neo. § Ab λayxxvw, sortior. the third *Atropos, because she is unalterable, unchangeable. These names the Grecians give them, Nona, Decima, and Morta. Their To them is intrusted the management of the fatal thread of life: for Clotho draws the thread between her fingers; Lachesis turns about the wheel; and Atropos cuts the thread spun with a pair of scissors. That is, Clotho gives us life, and brings us into the world; Lachesis determines the fortunes that shall befall us here; and Atropos concludes our lives. +One speaks, the other writes, and the third spins. The Furies have the faces of women. looks are full of terror; they hold lighted torches in their hands; snakes and serpents lash their necks and shoulders. They are called in Latin sometimes Furiæ; because they make men mad, by the stings of conscience which guilt produces. They are also called Diræ, Eumenides, and ¶Canes; and were the offspring of **Nox and ††Acheron. Their proper names are Alecto, Tisiphone, and Magæra ; and they are esteemed virgins; because, since they are the avengers of all wickedness, nothing can corrupt and pervert them from inflicting the punishment that is due to the offender. There are only three Furies, because there are three principal passions of the mind, anger, covetousness, and lust, by which mankind are chiefly hurried into all sorts of wickedness; for anger begets revenge, covetousness provokes us to get immoderate wealth by right or wrong, and lust persuades us to pursue our pleasures at any rate. Indeed some add a fourth Fury, called Lisso; that is, rage and madness; but * Ab a privativa particula, et rper verto, quod verti et flecte nequeat. Una loquitur, altera scribit, tertia fila ducit. Serv. in Æn. 1. Virg. Æn. 3. # Ibid. 11. § Ibid. 8. Ibid. 4. **Ibid. 6. she is easily reduced to the other three: as also Erinnys, a name common to them all. The office of the Furies is to observe and punish the crimes of bad men, and to torment the consciences of secret offenders; whence they are commonly also entitled *the goddesses, the discoverers and revengers of bad actions. They punish and torment the wicked, by frightening and following them with burning torches. You see the picture of them there, and you will find them beautifully described in the twelfth book of Virgil's Æneid: "Dicuntur geminæ pestes, cognomine Diræ, Deep in the dismal regions, void of light, 346 With serpents girt alike, and crown'd with hissing hair, QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. Who was Proserpine? How did Pluto obtain her for his wife? What steps did Ceres take to recover her daughter? What favour did Ceres obtain for Proserpine? What do the Fates, the Judges, and the Furies determine? Who are the Fates? Why are they called Parcæ ? What is fate, according to Cicero ? From what is the word "fate" derived? What are the names and offices of the Fates? How are the Furies described? What are their common and what their proper names ? Why are there only three Furies? What is the office of the Furies? * Deæ speculatrices et vindices Facinorum. CHAPTER IV. NIGHT. DEATH. SLEEP. THE JUDGES OF HELL. Nox is, of all the gods, the most ancient: she was the sister of Erebus, and the daughter of the first Chaos; and of these two, Nox and Erebus, Mors [death] was born. She is represented as a skeleton, dressed usually with a speckled garment and black wings but there are no temples nor sacrifices, nor priests consecrated to Mors, because she is a goddess whom no prayers can move, or sacrifices pacify. Somnus [Sleep] is the brother of Death, and also hath wings, like her. Iris, who was sent by Juno to the palace of this god, mentions the great benefits that he bestows on mankind; such as quiet of mind, tranquillity, freedom from care, and refreshment of the spirits, by which men are enabled to proceed in their labours: "Somne, quies rerum, placidissime Somne Deorum, Fessa ministeriis mulces reparasque labori." Ov. Met. 11. And for new toil the body dost refresh. In this palace there are two gates, out of which dreams pass and repass; one of these gates was made of clear ivory, through which false dreams pass; the other was made of transparent horn, and through that gate true visions come to men: "Sunt geminæ Somni portæ, quarum altera fertur Virg. Æo. 6:3 Two gates the silent house of Sleep adorn; *Morpheus, the servant of Somnus, who can put on any shape or figure, presents these dreams to those who sleep; and these dreams were brought from a great spreading elm in hell, under whose shade they usually sit. Near the three Furies and the three Fates, tyou see the three judges of hell, Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Æacus, who are believed to be judges of the souls of the dead; because they exercised the offices of judges in Crete with the greatest prudence, discretion, and justice. The first two were the sons of Jupiter by Europa: the last was the son of Jupiter by Egina. When all the subjects of queen Ægina were swept away in a plague, beside Eacus, he begged of his father, that he would repair the race of mankind, which was almost extinct; Jupiter heard his prayer, and turned ‡a great multitude of ants, which crept about a hollow old oak, into men, who afterward were called Myrmidones, from μvpung [Murmex,] which word signifies an ant. These three had their particular province assigned by Pluto in this manner: Rhadamanthus was appointed to judge the Asiatics, and Æacus the Europeans, each holding a staff in his hand; but Minost holds a golden Sceptre and sits alone, and oversees the judgments of Rhadamanthus and acus; and if in their courts there arose a case that was ambiguous and difficult, then Minos used to take the cognizance thereof, and decide it. Cicero adds to these a fourth judge, Triptolemus; but we have already discoursed of him in his proper place. * Ovid. Met. 11. Virg. Æn. 6. Hom. Odyss. 2. Ovid. Met. 7. Plata in Georg |