those nymphs were called *Oreades, or Oriestiades, because they presided over the mountains, Napææ, because they had dominion over the groves and valleys. Others Limoniades, because they looked after the meadows and fields. And others, Meliæ, from the ash, a tree sacred to them; and these were supposed to be the mothers of those children, who were accidentally born under a tree, or exposed there.

Of the marine nymphs, those which presided over the seas, were called Ñereïdes or Nereinæ, from the sea god Nereus, and the sea nymph Doris, their parents; which Nereus and Doris were born of Tethys and Oceanus, from whom they were called Oceanitides and Oceaniæ. Others of those nymphs preside over the fountains, and were called Naïdes or Naïades others inhabit the rivers, and were called Fluviales or Potamides and others preside over the lakes and ponds, and were called Limnades. All the gods had nymphs attending them. Jupiter speaks of his in Ovid':

:

"Sunt mihi Semidei, sunt rustica numina Fauni,
Et Nymphæ, Satyrique, et monticolæ Sylvani.

Half gods and rustic Fauns attend my will,
Nymphs, Satyrs, Sylvans, that on mountains dwell.

Neptune had many nymphs, insomuch that Hesiod and Pindar call him **Nymphagetes, that is, the captain of the nymphs: the poets generally gave him fifty. Phoebus likewise had nymphs called Agannippidæ and Musæ. Innumerable were the nymphs of Bacchus, who were called by different names,

Bacchæ, Bassarides, Eloides, and Thyades. Hunting nymphs attended upon Diana; sea nymphs, called Nereïdes, waited upon Tethys; and fourteen very beautiful nymphs belonged to Juno:

-“Bis septem præstanti corpore Nymphæ."

Virg. Æn. 1. Twice seven the charming daughters of the main, Around my person wait, and bear my train.

Out of all which I will only give you the history of

two.

Arethusa was one of Diana's nymphs: her virtue was as great as her beauty. The pleasantness of the place invited her to cool herself in the waters of a fine clear river: Alpheus, the god of the river, assumed the shape of a man, and arose out of the water; he first saluted her with kind words, and then approached near to her: but away she flies, and he follows her; and when he had almost overtaken her, she was dissolved with fear, into a fountain, with the assistance of Diana, whom she in plored. Alpheus then resumed his former shape of water, and endeavoured to mix his stream with hers, but in vain; for to this day Arethusa continues her flight, and by her passage through a cavity of the earth, she goes under ground into Sicily. Alpheus also follows by the like subterraneous passage, till

at last he unites and marries his own streams to those of Arethusa in that island. Virg. Æn. 2.

Echo was formerly a nymph, though nothing of her but her voice remains now, and even when she was alive, she was so far deprived of her speech, that she could only repeat the last words of those sentences which she heard:

"Corpus adhuc Echo, non vox erat; et tamen usum
Garrula non alium; quam nunc habet, oris habebat ;
Reddere de multis ut verba novissima posset."

Ovid. Met. 3.

She was a nymph, though only now a sound;
Yet of her tongue no other use was found,
Than now she has; which never could be more,
Than to repeat what she had heard before.

Juno inflicted this punishment on her for her talkativeness for when, prompted by her jealousy, she came down to discover Jupiter among the nymphs, Echo detained her very long with her tedious discourses, that the nymphs might have an opportunity to escape, and hide themselves:

"Fecerat hoc Juno, quia cum deprendere posset
Sub Jove sæpe suo nymphas in monte jacentes,
Illa deam longo prudens sermone tenebat,
Dum fugerent nymphæ."

This change impatient Juno's anger wrought,
Who, when her Jove she o'er the mountains sought,
Was oft by Echo's tedious tales misled,

Till the shy nymphs to caves and grotto's fled.

This Echo by chance met Narcissus rambling in the woods; and she so admired his beauty that she fell in love with him : she discovered her love to him, courted him, followed and embraced him, but he broke from her embraces, and hastily fled from her sight upon which the despised nymph hid herself in the woods, and pined away with grief, so that every part of her but her voice was consumed, and her bones were turned into stones.

"Vox tantum, atque ossa supersunt;

Vox manet: ossa ferunt lapidis traxisse figuram ;
Inde latet sylvis, nulloque in monte videtur,
Omnibus auditur: sonus est qui vivit in illa."

Her flesh consumes and moulders with despair,
And all her body's juice is turn'd to air;
So wond'rous are the effects of restless pain,
That nothing but her voice and bones remain;
Nay, e'en the very bones at last are gone,
And metamorphos'd to a thoughtless stone;
Yet still the voice does in the woods survive,
The form's departed, but the sound's alive.

WL TOTENTIe. Seroque:

wedem me copia fecit.

Are corrore possem:

West, eiem quod amamus abesset.”

at last, by the favour of the gods, was turned into a daffodil, a flower called by his own name.

QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION.

Who are the Nymphs; how are they engaged; and from whence do they derive their general name?

From whom do they get their peculiar names, and into what classes are they divided?

Who are the celestial Nymphs?

Give some account of the terrestrial Nymphs.
Over what did the marine Nymphs preside?
Whom did the Nymphs attend?

What is said of Arethusa ?

Who was Echo, and what is her history?

What is the history of Narcissus ?

CHAPTER XVII. ·

THE INFERIOR RURAL DEITIES.

RUSINA, the goddess to whose care all parts of the country are committed.

Collina, she who reigns over the hills.

Vallonia, who holds her empire in the valleys. Hippona, who presides over the horses and stables.

Bubona, who hath the care of the oxen.

Seia, who takes care of the seed, while it lies buried in the earth. She is likewise called Segetia, because she takes care of the blade as soon as it appears green above the ground.

Runcina is the goddess of weeding. She is invoked when the fields are to be weeded.

Occator is the god of harrowing. He is worshipped when the fields are to be harrowed.

Sator and Sarritor are the gods of sowing and raking.