What were the sacrifices offered to Mars, and on what se count?

What rite did the ancient warriors perform before they went out to battle?

CHAPTER VII.

SEC. 1.—THE CELESTIAL GODDESS, JUNO. HER IMAGE AND DESCENT.

We have viewed the five celestial gods; let us now look upon the goddesses that follow them in order. First observe Juno, riding in a golden chariot drawn by peacocks, holding a sceptre in ner hand, and wearing a crown beset with roses and lilies.

Juno's chariot is finely represented by Homer; and Hebe is mentioned as her attendant ·

At her command rush forth the steeds divine;
Rich with immortal gold their trappings shine:
Bright Hebe waits: by Hebe, ever young,
The whirling wheels are to the chariot hung.
On the bright axle turns the bidden wheel
Of sounding brass; the polish'd axle, steel:
Eight brazen spokes in radiant order flame;
Such as the heav'ns produce: and round the gold
Two brazen rings of work divine were roll'd.
The bossy naves, of solid silver, shone ;
Braces of gold suspend the moving throne;
'he car, behind, an arching figure bore;
The bending concave form'd an arch before;

silver the beam, th' extended yoke was gold,

And golden reins th' immortal coursers hold. Homer.

Juno is the queen of the gods, and both the sister and wife of Jupiter :

"Jovisque

Et soror et conjux." Virg. Æn. 1.

Her father was Saturn, and her mother Ops; she was born in the island Samos, and there lived ill she was married.

She seems very august and majestical. How beautiful is that face, how comely are all her limbs? how well does a sceptre become those hands, and a crown that head? how much beauty is there in her smiles? She is full of majesty, and worthy of the greatest admiration.

Her servant is Iris, the daughter of Thaumus and Electra, and sister to the Harpies. She is Juno's messenger, and Mercury is Jupiter's; though Jupiter and the other gods, the Furies, nay, sometimes men have sent her on messages. Because of her swiftness she is painted with wings, and she some→ umes rides on a rainbow, as Ovid says:

Effugit, et rémeat per quos modo venerat arcus." Met. 3. On the same bow she went she soon returns.

It is her office to unloose the souls of women from the chains of the body, as Mercury unlooses those of men. We have an example of this in Dido, who laid violent hands on herself, for when she was almost dead, Juno sent Iris to loose her soul from her body, as Virgil describes at large, in the fourth book of his Eneid:

"Tum Juno omnipotens longum miserata dolorem,
Difficilesque obitus, Irim demisit Olympo,

Quæ luctantem animum nexosque resolveret artus.
Ergo Iris croceis per cœlum roscida pennis,
Mille trabens varios adverso Sole colores,
Devolat, et supra caput astitit: hunc ego Diti
Sacrum jussa fero, teque isto corpore solvo.
Sic ait, et dextra crinem secat: omnis et una
Dilapsus calor, atque in ventos vita recessit."
Then Juno, grieving that she should sustain
A death so ling'ring, and so full of pain,
Sent Iris down to free her from the strife
Of lab'ring nature and dissolve her life.
Downward the various goddess took her flight,
And drew a thousand colours from the light;
Then stood about the dying lover's head,
And said, I thus devote thee to the dead:
This off'ring to the infernal gods I bear.

Thus while she spoke, she cut the fatal hair:

The struggling soul was loos'd and life dissolv'd in air But in this Iris differs from Mercury; for he is sent both from heaven and hell, but she is sent from heaven only. He oftentimes was employed in messages of peace, whence he was called the peacemaker; but Iris was always sent to promote strife and dissension, as if she were the goddess of discord: and therefore some think that her name was given to her from the contention which she perpetually creates; though others say, she was called Iris, because she delivers her messages by speech, and not in writing

QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION.

How is Juno represented?

Repeat Homer's description of her chariot ?

Who is Juno, and what relation does she bear to Jupiter and Saturn?

How is she represented with regard to her figure?

Who is Iris, and for what purpose was she employed?

How is she painted?

What office does Iris bear with respect to the souls of women In what does Iris differ from Mercury?

SEC. 2. THE CHILDREN, AND DISPOSITION OF JUNO.

Vulcan, Mars, and Hebe, were the children of Juno by Jupiter. Although some say that Hebe had no other parent than Juno. Hebe, on account of her extraordinary beauty was, by Jupiter, made goddess of youth, and held the office of cupbearer of Jupiter. But by an unlucky fall she offended the king of the gods, who turned her out from her office, and put Ganymede in her stead.

Juno's worst fault was jealousy, of which the following are instances. Jupiter loved Io, the daughter of Inachus. When Juno observed that Jupiter was absent from heaven she suspected the cause of his absence. Therefore she immediately flew down to the earth after him. As soon as Jupiter perceived