Two gates the silent house of Sleep adorn *Morpheus, the servant of Somnus, who can put on any shape or figure, presents these dreams to those who sleep; and these dreams were brought from a great spreading elm in hell, under whose shade they usually sit. Near the three Furies and the three Fates, tyou see the three judges of hell, Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Eacus, who are believed to be judges of the souls of the dead; because they exercised the offices of judges in Crete with the greatest prudence, discretion, and justice. The first two were the sons of Jupiter by Europa: the last was the son of Jupiter by Egina. When all the subjects of queen Ægina were swept away in a plague, beside Eacus, he begged of his father, that he would repair the race of mankind, which was almost extinct; Jupiter heard his prayer, and turned ‡a great multitude of ants, which crept about a hollow old oak, into men, who afterward were called Myrmidones, from μupun [Murmex,] which word signifies an ant. These three had their particular province assigned by Pluto in this manner: Rhadamanthus was appointed to judge the Asiatics, and acus the Europeans, each holding a staff in his hand; but Minos holds a golden Sceptre and sits alone, and oversees the judgments of Rhadamanthus and acus; and if in their courts there arose a case that was ambiguous and difficult, then Minos used to take the cognizance thereof, and decide it. Cicero adds to these a fourth judge, Triptolemus; but we have already discoursed of him in his proper place. * Ovid. Met. 11. Virg. Æn. 6. + Hom. Odyss. 2. Ovid. Met. 7. Plata in Georg 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 man· kind? 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. Nat. Comes, 1.6. Ovid. Met. 1. || Hom. Hymn. in Apollin. called Phlegra, from λy [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: "Nititur ille quidem, pugnatque resurgere sæpe : Ovid. Met. 5. He struggles oft, and oft attempts to rise; O'er his huge thighs; and Etna 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. "Ægeon qualis, centum cui brachia dicunt, And as Ægeon, when with heav'n he strove, At fifty mouths his flaming breath expires, 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 month: "Nec non et Tityon, terræ omniparentis alumnum, Pectore: nec fibris requies data ulla renatis." Virg. Æn. 6. There Tityus tortur'd lay, who took his birth Here his gigantic limbs, with large embrace, A rav'nous vulture in his open side 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. Æn. 6. 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 pre eepts 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 sister, and obtained his pardon from the gods, whe |