The God of Sleep is represented as a child stretched on a couch in a profound slumber, holding in his hand a bunch of poppies, which serve also for a pillow. The Dreams stand by him; and Morpheus, as his attendant. watches to prevent the disturbance of his repose. Some times his head rests upon a lion's skin and sometimes on a lion, with one arm either a little over or under his head, and the other hanging carelessly by the side of the couch, having placed in it poppies, or a horn full of poppy juice.

He is often winged; and so like Cupid as to be frequently mistaken for him, notwithstanding the lizard at his feet, the proper attribute of Somnus, as it sleeps during half the year. The lizard is not mentioned by the poets, and may have been used by artists merely for the sake of distinction, though the poppy seems sufficient for the purpose, except in some few pieces, where the distinguishing attributes of both are blended together. In that case, it may be intended to represent Cupids under the character of Somnus.

Poets speak often of the wings of Somnus and of their being black, as most proper for the god who chiefly rules at night. For the same reason, the figures of him arc of ebony, basalt, or dark-colored marble.

MORPHEUS.

Morpheus, the God of Dreams and son of Night, can assume any shape at pleasure, presenting dreams to those who sleep. To the palace of Somnus there are said to be two gates, one of ivory and the other of horn, out of which dreams pass and repass-the false through the ivory, the true through the transparent horn.

Morpheus is sometimes represented as a man advanced in years, with two large wings on his shoulders, and two small ones attached to his head.

MOMUS.

Momus (Mockery), a son of Night, was the god of raillery and repartee; at the feasts of the gods he played the buf foon. His office was to reprove the faults of the gods, which he did in so sarcastic a manner as to put himself out of favor. He blamed Vulcan, because in the human form which he made of clay, he had not placed a window in the breast, by which whatever was done or thought there might easily be brought to light. He censured the house made by Minerva, because it was not movable, by which means a bad neighborhood might be avoided. Of the bull which Neptune made, he observed, that the blows might have been surer, if the eyes were nearer the horns. Venus herself was exposed to his satire; and when the sneering god could find no fault in the figure of the goddess, he observed as she retired, that the noise of her feet was too loud, and very improper in the goddess of beauty. For these illiberal reflections upon the gods, he was driven from Heaven.

Momus is generally represented raising a mask from his face, and holding a small figure in his hand.

CHARON.

Charon, a god of Hell, and son of Erebus and Night, conducted the souls of the dead in a boat over the rivers Styx and Acheron, to the infernal regions. But he conveyed no one without their tribute, and it was a custom among the ancients in preparing the dead for burial, to place a piece of money under the tongue for Charon.

When a departed soul presented herself for a passage in his boat he first inquired whether the traveller could furnish the requisite fee; and if it should happen that the obolus had been forgotten, the poor soul was left to wander on the gloomy shores a hundred years before being con

ducted over the river; and such as had not been honored with a funeral, were subjected to the same penalty.

Among the ancients, it was considered an inexpressible cruelty to deny to the dead a burial; and for this reason, all great commanders were careful, after a battle, to inter the bodies of those whose lives had been lost in their service.

No living person was received into Charon's boat, unless he could show a golden bough which he had received from the Sybil as a passport. Yet it is said that Æneas by his piety, Hercules and Theseus by their valor, and Orpheus by his music, obtained the privilege of passing to and fro in old Charon's ferry boat.

Charon is represented as an old man with a ragged garment, a long grey neglected beard, and his forehead lined with wrinkles.

NEREUS.

Nereus, the son of Pontos and Terra, was the personification of the smooth sea.

He married Doris, the daughter of Oceanos, and their children were the Nereïdes, or the nymphs of the sea. They are said to have been fifty in number, and their names are all mentioned; yet but few of them are introduced into the history of the gods. The greater part of them are represented as forming a splendid retinue when Thetis and Amphitrite, the principal ones, appeared on the

sea.

The imagination of the ancients allowed no place to remain uninhabited, and therefore formed a multitude of creatures, and a variety of abodes, in regions which none but immortals could inhabit; and the rising of the marine deities from their crystal palaces to the surface of the wa ters afforded a subject for some attractive fables among the ancient poets. When on the sea shore, the Nereïdes .

resided in grottoes and caves, which were adorned with shells and shaded with vine branches.

They are represented as young and handsome virgins, sitting on dolphins, and holding Neptune's trident, or sometimes garlands of flowers. Their duty was to attend upon the more powerful deities of the sea, and to be subservient to the will of Neptune.

The Nereides were implored as well as the rest of the deities. Their altars were chiefly on the coasts of the sea where the piety of mankind made them offerings of milk, oil, and honey, and often of the flesh of goats; as they had the power of ruffling or calming the waters, they were always addressed by sailors, who implored their protection, and that they would grant them a favorable voyage and a prosperous return.

Nereus was represented as an old man, with a long flow ing beard, and hair of an azure color, and sometimes crowned with sea weed. The chief place of his residence was in the Ægean Sea, where he was surrounded by his daughters, who often danced around him in chorus.

He had the gift of prophecy, and informed those who consulted him of the different fates that awaited them.

AMPHITRITE. THETIS. GALATEA.

Amphitrite became the wife of Poseidon, and Thet was married to the Thessalian king, Peleus. Galatea loved Acis, the handsome shepherd, and the monstrous Cyclop Polyphemos, sued in vain for her favor. On a certain occa sion, the monster beheld the nymph at the foot of Moun Etna, embracing his handsome rival. He became dis tracted with furious jealousy, and tearing up a rock from its roots, raised it in the air, and hurled it upon the lov ers in order to bury them under its weight.

The nymph swiftly escaped into the sea, but Acis, overwhelmed by the massy stone, sprang forth from beneath

it as a purling brook, the waters of which produced a meandering stream that bore his name.

THAUMAS.

Astonishment at the grand spectacles of nature rises out of the sea, and with a few leading features, is personified in Thaumas, a son of Pontos.

Thaumas is the father, and the Oceanide, Electra (Brightness), the mother of Iris or the rainbow; that wonderful being, who, on account of the rapidity with which her feet touch the earth, ere her head has left the clouds, is represented as the female messenger of the immortals. She shared with Mercury the honor of conveying to the inhabitants of the earth the mandates of the superior divinities; especially of Juno, to whose service she was particularly attached, and whose person she constantly attended.

Her most serious charge was to cut the thread of life which seemed to detain the soul in the expiring body; she is thus represented by Virgil, as being sent by Juno from Olympus to release the struggling soul of Dido.

HARPIES.

Children of the same parents are the swift-winged Harpies, Aello, Ocypete, and Celano; who, like raging tornadoes, rush forth from the sea and seize their prey-a horror to mortals who are unable to resist their rapacious claws. They are represented as having the faces of virgins, the bodies of vultures, and the claws of lions.

They were sent by Juno to plunder the tables of Phineus. whence they were driven to the islands called Strophades They plundered neias during his voyage towards Italy. and predicted many of the calamities which attended him

According to Damm, the term Harpya signifies properly a violent wind, carrying off any thing that is exposed to