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A NATURAL HISTORY 



TrS IP HO NE, ouQ of them, enraged at an innocent 

 Youth, pluck'doffone of her Snakes, and threw if at him, which 

 wound about his Body, and immediately flrangled him. Some 

 fay, that we fee thele three Furies on a Medal of the Emperor 

 Philip, flruck at Antioch, on whofe Reverfe are reprefented three 

 Women, arm'd with a Key, burning Torches, Poniards, and Ser- 

 pents. 



T H E Daffodil was facred to the Furies, and fuch as oBered 

 Sacrifice to them were crowned with it. "* 



As foon as departed Souls had been examined hy Mi jios, Ra- 

 'lamanthus, 'SivA/Eacus, and found guilty, and Sentence paft, they 

 were delivered to the Furies, who cafl them down headlong into 

 Tartarus^ the Place of Torment,— and all thofe who had lived 

 well, were conduded to the Elyjian Fields. 



HOMER fpeaks of them as the Executioners of Juftice upon 

 falfe Swearers, among other Inflances : 



. Infernal Furies, and 'Tartarean Gods^ 

 Who rule the Dead, and horrid Woes prepare 

 For perjiifdVJngs, and all ivho faljly Jwear , 



The Harpies \ were monftrous and cruel Birds defcrib'd with 

 Womens Faces, and Dragons Fails, to render them more formi- 

 dable to Mankind : The Antients looked upon them as Demons 

 or Genii, which lafl Homer calls Podarge. About Kaskan in 

 Ferjia, is a fine and fertile Country, but plagued with Multi- 

 tudes of Sco7'pions, which haunt the Inhabitants, efpecially in that 

 Town (one of the moft populous and eminent Marts in that Em- 

 pire) where the Inhabitants, for fear of that venemous Animal, 

 dare not fleep upon the Floor (as in other Places, where they on- 

 ly throw a Quilt upon the Tapeflry) but have light Couches, 

 hanging down from the Roof, like Seamens Hammocks, or 

 hanging Beds on fhip-board. 



They have indeed a ready Help againil: its venemousWounds, 

 which is made of the Filings of Copper, tempered with Vinegar 

 and Honey, which proves a fpeedy Cure j but if negleded, the 

 Patient is in danger of his Life. This, fays the Hifl:orian, 

 I prefume, has been iirft found out by the antipathetick Qua- 

 lity, 



* From Euftathius, on the firft Book of the Iliad. 

 f Aelloy Ocypete, and Celano, Virg. iELncid. lib. 3. 



