ne fixth Book of the E N E I D. 39 



kind ; '^dly, of thofe who have been cut off by an untimely 

 death, fo that their real characters could not be exactly afcer- 

 tained ; i^thly, of thofe who, though guilty of crimes, had not 

 committed any thing very atrocious ; and, lajlly, of thofe whofe 

 'crimes, though atrocious, were confidered as the effefls, rather 

 of an unhappy deftiny, than of wilful depravation. 



That the fouls of good men, who were to have an eternal 

 abode in Elyfium, were previoufly obliged to undergo purgation 

 by fuffering, is not exprefsly declared, but may be inferred 

 from what Anchises fays, " Quifque fuos patimur manes:" 

 " every one of m undergoes what is inflifted on him by his 

 " manes i"^ that is, by thofe deities of the nether world who 

 were the difpenfers of expiatory punifliment. This is the ori- 

 ginal, or at leaft the moft ufual fenfe of the word manes, which, 

 however, fometimes denotes metonymically the infernal regions 

 in general, and fometimes, but more rarely, the fouls or fliades 

 who inhabited thofe regions. In Tartarus, it does not appear 

 that the Manes had any thing to do. The difpenfers of punifti- 

 ment in that dreadful place wereTifiphone and her fifter- furies. 

 The Manes mvifl have been a gentler fort of beings. Some derive 

 the word from manus or manis, which they fay (on what autho- 

 rity 1 know not) is an old adjeflive fignifying good. The invo- 

 cations of the Manes pradlifed at funerals, the altars that were 

 eredled to them, and thofe monumental infcriptions which be- 

 gan with the words Dis Manibus, were all, no doubt, intended 

 as afls of worfiiip, or as compliments, to thefe deities, and 

 fuppofed to incline them to mercy in their treatment of the per- 

 fons deceafed, whofe fouls were now in their hands in purga- 

 tory. Horace tells us, that the Manes, as well as the gods 

 above, might be rendered placable by fong — " Carmine di fuperi 

 " placantur,carmine manes." But the furies were inexorable and 

 mercilefs — " Nefciaque humanis precibus manfuefcere corda." 

 And I do not find thatworlhip, or any other honours, were, ex- 

 cept by witches *, paid them, though to mother Midnight, whofe 



daughters 

 ♦HoR. Sat. I. 8. *. 33. 



