QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION, Who is Nox, and how was Mors produced? How is Mors, or Death, represented? Who is Somnus, and what benefits does he bestow on mankind? Who is Morpheus and Somnus? Who are the judges of hell, and whose sons were they? CHAPTER V. THE MOST FAMOUS OF THE CONDEMNED IN HELL FROM the judges let us proceed to the criminals, whom you see represented there in horrid colours. It will be enough if we take notice of the most celebrated of them, and notice their crimes, and the punishments inflicted on them. The giants were the sons of Terra [the earth] when she received the blood of Coelum, which flowed from that dishonourable wound given him by his son Saturn. They are all very tall in stature, with horrible dragon's feet; their looks and their bodies are altogether full of terror. Their impudence *was so great, that they strove to depose Jupiter from the possession of heaven; and when they engaged with the celestial gods, they theaped up mountains upon mountains, and thence darted trees, set on fire, against the gods and heaven. They hurled also prodigious massy stones and solid rocks, some of which, falling upon the earth again, became mountains; others fell into the sea, and became islands. This battle was fought upon the Phlegræan plains, near the borders of Campania, which country is Hom. Odyss. 12. Ovid. Met. 1. Hom. Hymn. in Apollin called Phlegra, from paya [phlego] uro, for it abounds in subterraneous fires, and hot baths flowing continually. The giants were beaten and all cut off, either by Jupiter's thunder, Apollo's arrows, or by the arms of the rest of the gods. And some say, that out of the blood of the slain, which was spilt upon the earth, serpents and such envenomed and pernicious animals were produced. The most eminent of those giants were, Typhoeus, or Typhon, the son of Juno, had no father. So vast was his magnitude, that he touched the east with one hand, and the west with the other, and the heavens with the crown of his head. A hundred dragon's heads grew from his shoulders; his body was covered with feathers, scales, rugged hair, and adders; from the ends of his fingers snakes issued, and his two feet had the shape and folds of a serpent's body; his eyes, sparkled with fire, and his mouth belched out flames. He was at last overcome, and thrown down; and, lest he should rise again, the whole island of Sicily was laid upon him: Nititulle quidem, pugnatque resurgere sæpe : Ovid. Met. 6. He struggles oft, and oft attempts to rise; O'er his huge thighs; and Ætna keeps his heads. This island was also called Trinacria, because it bears the shape of a triangle, in the corners of which are the three promontories, Pelorus, Pachynus, and Lilybæus; Pelorus was placed on his right hand, Pachynus on his left, and Lilybæus lay upon his legs. Egeon was another prodigious and cruel giant: Virgil tells us that he had fifty heads and a hundred hands, from which he was called Centumgeminus, and by the Grecians, Briareus. "Egeon qualis, centum cui brachia dicunt, And as Ægeon, when with heav'n he strove, En. 10.$65 He hurled a hundred rocks against Jupiter at one throw; yet Jupiter dashed him down, bound him in a hundred chains, and thrust him under the mountain Etna; where, as soon as he moves his side, the mountain casts forth great flames of fire. Tityus was the son of Jupiter and Elara, born in a subterraneous cave, in which Jupiter hid his mother, fearing the anger of Juno. She brought forth a child of so prodigious a bulk that the earth was rent to give him a passage out of the cave; and thence he was believed to be a son of the earth. Juno afterward persuaded this giant to accuse Latona of criminal conduct; for which Jupiter struck him with thunder down into hell: there he lies, stretched out, covering nine acres of ground with his body; and a vulture continually gnaws his liver, which grows again every montlr: "Nec non et Tityon, terræ omniparentis alumnum, Pectore: nec fibris requies data ulla renatis." Virg. Æn. 65 There Tityus tortur'd lay, who took his birth Here his gigantic limbs, with large embrace, Th' immortal hunger lasts, th' immortal food remains. To these we may add the Titans, the sons of Terra and Colum; the chief of whom was Titanus, Saturn's eldest brother: they made war against Saturn, because the birth of Jupiter was concealed, and conquered him; but they were afterward overcome by Jupiter, and cast down into hell. Phlegyas, who was the king of the Lapithæ in Thessalia, and the father of the nymph Coronis. When he heard that Apollo had deceived his daughter, he went in anger and fired the temple of Apollo at Delphi for which the enraged god shot him through the body with an arrow, and inflicted on him the following punishment: A great stone hangs over his head, which he imagines every moment will fall down and crush him to pieces : "Quos super atra silex jamjam lapsura, cadentique -A massy stone, Ready to drop, hangs o'er his cursed head. Virg. En. 6. 5 Thus he sits, perpetually fearing what will never come to pass; which makes him frequently call out to men, to observe the rules of justice and the precepts of religion : "Discite justitiam moniti, et non temnere Divos." Learn justice hence, and don't despise the gods, Ixion was the son of Phlegyas: he killed his own şister, and obtained his pardon from the gods, who 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 Æneas, when he visited the infernal regions, saw him punished as Virgil relates; "Vidi crudeles dantem Salinonea pœnas, Dum flammas Jovis et sonitus imitatur Olympi." n. 6. 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 * Ingens et non exsuperabile saxum. Virg. 6 |