advanced him to heaven; and his prosperity made him so arrogant, that he attempted to make love to Juno. This insolent attempt was discovered to Jupiter, who sent a cloud in the shape of Juno, which the deceived lover embraced, and thence those monsters, the Centaurs, were born: he was then thrown down to the earth again; where, because he boasted every where that he had gained the heart of the queen of the gods, he was struck with thunder down into hell, and tied fast to a wheel, which continually turns about. Salmoneus was king of Elis; his ambition was not satisfied with an earthly crown, for he desired divine honours; and, that the people might esteem him a god, he built a brazen bridge over the city, and drove his chariot upon it, imitating by this noise Jupiter's thunder; he also threw down lighted torches, and those who were struck by them, were taken and killed. Jupiter would not suffer so great insolence, and therefore threw the proud man from his stage into hell, where Eneas, when he visited the infernal regions, saw himn punished as Virgil relates; "Vidi crudeles dantem Salmonea pœnas, Dum flammas Jovis et sonitus imitatur Olympi." En & Salmoneus suffering cruel pains I found, For emulating Jove; the rattling sound Sisiphus was a famous robber killed by Theseus he is condemned in hell to roll *a great and unwieldy stone to the top of a high hill, and as oft as the stone almost touches the top of the mountain, it slides down again. The Belides were fifty virgin sisters, so called from their grandfather Belus; and named also Danaides, from their father Danaüs, 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. 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. Af 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 rope 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 Flumina. Quid rides? mutato nomine, de te 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 What became of him? Who was Egeon, and what were his other names › What became of him when he was subdued? Who was Tityus? What became of him? Who were the Titans, and what is said of their chief r * Hom. Odyss. 11. Who was Phlegyas; what was his crime; and what his pun ishment? 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 from their rapacity, were born of Oceanus and Terra. They had the faces of * Virg. Æn. 6. † Ab apraza, rapio. at night?" Edipus, encouraged with the hopes of the reward, undertook it, and happily explained it; so that the Sphynx was enraged, and cast herself headlong into the sea, and died. He said, that the animal was a man, who in his infancy creeps upon his hands and feet, and so may be said to go on four feet; when he grows up he walks on two feet; but when he grows old, he uses the support of a stafi, and so may be said to walk on three feet. This Edipus was the son of Laius, king of Thebes, Soon after his birth, Laius commanded a soldier to carry his son Edipus into a wood, and then destroy him; because it had been foretold by the oracle, that he should be killed by his own son. But the soldier was moved with pity toward the child, and afraid to imbrue his hands in royal blood; wherefore he pierced his feet with a hook, and hanged him on a tree to be killed with hunger. One of the shepherds of Polybius, king of Corinth, found him, and brought him to the queen, who, because she had no children, educated him as her own son, and from *his swollen feet called him Edipus. When Edipus came to age, he knew that king Polybius was not his father, and therefore resolved to find out his parents he consulted the oracle, and was told that he should meet his father in Phocis. In his journey he met some passengers, among whom was his father, but he knew him not: a quarrel arose, and in the fray he by chance killed his father. After this he proceeded on his journey, and arrived at Thebes, where he overcame Sphynx, and for his reward married Jocasta, whom he knew not to be his mother then, but discovered it afterward. He had, by her, two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, and two daugters, Antigone and Ismena. When afterward * Puerum Edipum vovacit a tumere pedum adta enim tumen et res pedem significat, † Senecæ Edip. |