"Cessit immanis tibi blandienti Cerberus; quamvis furiale centum Ore trilingui."—1. 3. od. 11 Hell's grisly porter let you pass, QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION Give Virgil's description of hell, and the translation What is said of the monsters at the entrance? Who is Charon ? What is his business? Repeat Virgil's description. Does Charon take all, promiscuously? What is said of Acheron? What is Styx? How are Cocytus and Phlegethon described? What becomes of the souls of the dead after they have passed these rivers? Repeat Virgil's description of Cerberus. CHAPTER II. PLUTO. PLUTUS. PLUTO is the king of hell, son of Saturn and Ops, and brother of Jupiter and Neptune. He had these infernal dominions allotted to him, not only because in the division of his father's kingdom the western parts fell to his lot, but also, because the invention of burying, and of honouring the dead with funeral obsequies, proceeded from him: for the same reason he is thought to exercise a sovereignty over the dead. Look upon him, he sits on a throne covered with darkness, and discover, if you can, his habit, and the ensign of his majesty, more narrowly. He holds a key in his hand, instead of a sceptre, and is crowned with ebony. Sometimes he is crowned with a diadem; and sometimes with the flowers of narcissus, or white daffodils, and sometimes with cypress leaves; because those plants greatly please him, and especially the narcissus, since he stole away Proserpine, when she gathered that flower. Very often a rod is put into his hand in the place of a sceptre, with which he guides the dead to hell: and sometimes he wears a head-piece, which makes him *invisible. His chariot and horses are of a black colour, and when he carried away Proserpine he rode in his chariot. But if you would know what the key signifies which he has in his hand, the answer is plain, that when once the dead are received into his kingdom, the gates are locked against them, and there is no regress thence into this life again. "Facilis descensus Averni : Noctes atque dies patet atri janua Ditis; Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras, Hoc opus, hic labor est." To th' shades you go a downhill easy way; Virg. Æn. 6. His Greek name †Pluton or Pluto, as well as his Latin name Dis, signifies wealth. The reason why he is so called, is, because all our wealth comes from the lowest and most inward bowels of the earth; and because, as Cicero observes, all the natural powers * Hom. Iliad. 5. † Ovid. Met. 5. agros divitiæ. Terrena vis omnis ac natura ipsi dicata credebatur. Cic. de Nat. Deor. 2. and faculties of the earth are under his direction; for all things proceed from the earth, and go thither again. The name Ads [Hades,] by which he is called among the Greeks, *signifies dark, gloomy, and melancholy; or else, tas others guess, invisible; because he sits in darkness and obscurity: his habitation is melancholy and lonesome, and he seldom appears to open view. He is likewise called Agesilaus, because he leads people to the infernal regions; and sometimes ||Agelastus, because it was never known that Pluto laughed. His name Februus, comes from the old word februo, because purifications and lustrations were used at funerals: whence the month of February receives also its appellation: at which time especially, the sacrifices called Februo were offered by the Romans to this god. He is also called Orcus or Urgus, and Ouragus, as some say, because he excites and hastens people to their ruin and death: but others think that he is so named Tbecause, like one that brings up the rear of an army, he attends at the last moments of men's lives. He is called Summanus, that is, the chief **of all the infernal deities; the principal governor of all the ghosts and departed spirits. The thunder that happens in the night is attributed to him: whence he is * Adns aides, id est, triste, tenebrosum. + Aut quasi aoparos, quod videri minime possit, aut ab a privante, et du videre. Socr. ap. Plut. Phurnut. Gaza. ap. Lil. Gyr. Η Παρα το αγειν τος λαος, a ducendis populis ad inferos. Ab a non, e ysλaw rideo, quod sine risu sit. Orcus quasi Urgus et Ouragus ab urgendo, quod homines urgeat in interitum. Cic. in Verrem. 6. Oupayos, eum significat qui agmen claudit; simili modo Pluto postremum humanæ vitæ actum excipit. Guth. 1. i. c. 4. de Jur. Man. ** Quasi summus Deorum manium. Aug, de Civ. Dei. l. 4: commonly styled also, the Infernal Jupiter, the Stygian Jupiter, the Third Jupiter; as Neptune is the second Jupiter. The Fates will tell you that Pluto presides over life and death; that he not only governs the departed spirits below, but also can lengthen or shorten the lives of men here on the earth, as he thinks fit. "O maxime noctis Arbiter, umbrarumque potens, cui nostra laborant Claud. de Rap. Pros Great prince o' th' gloomy regions of the dead, Though Plutus be not an infernal god, I join him to Pluto, because their names and office are very similar; they are both of them goûs of riches, which are the root of all evil, and which nature, our common parent, hath placed near hell; and, indeed, there is not a nearer way to hell than to hunt greedily after riches. Plutus was the son of Jason, or Jasius, by Ceres: he was blind and lame, injudicious, and timorous. And truly these infirmities are justly ascribed to him; for if he were not blind and injudicious, he would never pass over good men, and heap his treasures upon the bad. He is lame, because great estates come slowly. He is fearful and timorous, because rich men watch their treasure with a great deal of fear and care. QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. Who is Pluto, and how did he become possessed of his dominion? How is he painted? What does the key signify? What does his name Pluto signify, and why is he se called? What does the name Hades signify? Why is he called Agesilaus? From what does his name Februus come? Why is he called Orcus? Why is he called Summanus, and what else is he styled? In what respects is Plutus like Pluto? Who was Plutus, and how is he represented? CHAPTER III. PROSERPINE. THE FATES. THE FURIES. SHE who sits next to Pluto is the Queen of hell, *the infernal Juno, †the "lady" (as the Greeks commonly call her,) and the most beloved wife of Pluto, the daughter of Ceres and Jupiter. She is called both Proserpine and Libera. When all the goddesses refused to marry Pluto, because he was so deformed, he was vexed at this contempt and scorn, and troubled that he was forced to live a single life; wherefore, in a rage, he seated himself in a chariot, and arose on a sudden from a den in Sicily, where he saw a company of very beautiful virgins gathering flowers in the fields of Enna, a beautiful place, situate about the middle of the island. One of them, Proserpine, pleased him' above the rest, for she surpassed them all in beauty. He carried her with him from that place, and on a sudden sunk into the earth near Syracuse. In the place where he descended, a lake arose and Cicero says, the people of Syracuse keep yearly festivals, to which great multitudes of both sexes resort. |