ACCOUNT OF THE PRiNCIPAt HEATHEI^ GODDESSES. 279 



tri'te was the wife of Neptune. Her sister was The'tis, 

 another sea-goddess ; and hence, when the sun sets, she is 

 said to sink into Thetis's lap. The foregoing are the prin- 

 cipal goddesses. 



Flo'ra was the goddess of flowers, and Pomo'na was the 

 goddess of fruits. Belio'na was an inferior goddess of war; 

 Aure'ra was the goddess of the morning, or rather of day- 

 break. The'mis, the sister of Sa'turn, was the goddess of 

 righteousness and justice : her daughter Astre'a also repre- 

 sents justice ; she is sometimes called the Virgin, and in 

 this character has a place among the stars, being denoted by 

 the constellation Vir'go, or the Virgin. Hyge'ia was the 

 goddess of health. He'be was the goddess of youth, and 

 was cup-bearer to Jupiter. A'te was the goddess of mis- 

 chief. The Muses were nine virgin-goddesses who pre- 

 sided over every kind of learning, and in that character at- 

 tended on Apollo. They were sisters ; the principal of 

 them were Cli'o, who was the muse of history ; Thali'a, of 

 comedy, Melpom'ene, of tragedy ; Terpsic'hore, of dancing; 

 and Ura'nia, of mathematics and astronomy. They are 

 sometimes called merely the Nine, in reference to their 

 rmmber. 



Parncis'sus and Hel'icon were two mountains Siicred to 

 Apollo and the Muses; at the feet of which flowed twa 

 streams, whose waters were supposed to communicate th6 

 inspiration of prophecy, or of poetry. Peg'asus was a 

 winged horse of the Muses. The Graces were three sisters, 

 who were supposed to give its attractive charms to beauty 

 of every kind, and to dispense the gift of pleasing. The 

 Furies were three sisters of a very different character ; they 

 were the most deformed and horrible of all the deities. In- 

 stead of hair, they had snakes hanging from their heads. 

 They carried chains, and whips with lashes of iron or of 

 scorpions in one hand, and lighted torches in the other. 

 They were the bearers of the vengeance of heaven. The 

 Destinies or Fates, were also three sisters, of whom One was 

 represented as holding a distaff; another drawing from it a 

 thread, signifying the life of man ; and the third with a pair 

 of shears, ready to cut the thread whenever she should 

 choose. The Dry'ads and Ham'adryads were rural god- 

 desses, each having a single tree in her charge. The Na'- 

 iads were goddesses presiding over springs, wells, and foun- 



