SOMNUS.

Somnus, the son of Night, presided over sleep. According to some mythologists, his palace was a dark cave, where the sun never penetrates; at the entrance are a number of poppies and somniferous herbs. Virgil places him in the entrance to the infernal shades, on account of his relation to Lethe; but Ovid and Statius give him a place on our Earth.

The God of Sleep is represented as a child stretched on a couch in a profound slumber, holding in his hand a bunch of poppies, which serve also for a pillow. The Dreams stand by him; and Morpheus, as his attendant, watches to prevent the disturbance of his repose. Sometimes his head rests upon a lion's skin and sometimes on a lion (as in a statue in Maffei), with one arm either a little over or under his head, and the other hanging carelessly by the side of the couch, having placed in it poppies, or a horn full of poppy juice.

He is often winged; and so like Cupid as to be frequently mistaken for him, notwithstanding the lizard at his feet, the proper attribute of Somnus, as it sleeps during half the year. The lizard is not mentioned by the poets, and may have been used by artists merely for the sake of distinction, though the poppy seems sufficient for the purpose, except in some few pieces, where the distinguishing attributes of both are blended together. In that case, it may be intended to represent Cupids under the character of Somnus.

Poets speak often of the wings of Somnus and of their being black, as most proper for the god who chiefly rules at night. For the same reason, the figures of him are of ebony, basalt, or dark colored marble. Such is the fine statue at Florence, which holds a horn in the hand so remissly, that the poppy juice is running out of it. Somnus is supposed to give sleep to mortals by shedding some drops from his horn, by touching them with his virga or rod, or by gently passing by their bedside. When he gave troubled sleep, or tumultuous dreams, he mixed the water of some infernal river with his poppy juice.

Statius describes Somnus more frequently than any other poet. He represents him as standing on the highest point in the moon's course, and hovering down from thence just at midnight, with his wings spread over the Earth. He speaks of several relievos on

each of which this god was grouped with appropriate companions. In the first, he was with Voluptas, as the goddess of feasts; in the second, with Labor, represented as tired and inclined to rest; in the third, with Bacchus; and in the fourth, with the God of Love.

All these fine images are in Statius' description of the palace. of Sleep. He places it in the unknown parts of Ethiopia; and Ovid in Italy, near the lake Avernus. Somnus' attendants before the gates, were Rest, Ease, Indolence, Silence, and Oblivion; and within, were a multitude of dreams in various forms and attitudes. Over these, says Ovid, presided the three chiefs who inspire great persons only with dreams. Morpheus, such as relate to men; Phobætor, such as relate to animals; and Photæsæ, such as relate to inanimate things.

MORPHEUS.

Morpheus, the God of Dreams and son of Night, can assume any shape at pleasure, presenting dreams to those who sleep. To the palace of Somnus there are said to be two gates, one of ivory and the other of horn, out of which dreams pass and repass-the false through the ivory, the true through the transparent horn.

Morpheus is sometimes represented as a man advanced in years, with two large wings on his shoulders, and two small ones attached to his head. In the museum Pia Clementina, he is represented in relief on a cippus (See Note 7), as a boy treading lightly on tip-toe; on his head are two wings; in his right hand he holds a horn from which he appears to be pouring something; his left holds a stalk bearing three poppy heads. On a relief in the villa Borghese, the god of dreams is again represented as a boy with wings, and holding the poppy stalk, but without the horn.

MOMUS.

Momus, a son of Night, was the god of raillery and repartee; at the feasts of the gods he played the buffoon. His office was to reprove the faults of the gods, which he did in so sarcastic a manner as to put himself out of favor. He blamed Vulcan, because in the human form which he made of clay, he had not placed a window in the breast, by which whatever was done or

thought there might easily be brought to light. He censured the house made by Minerva, because it was not movable, by which means a bad neighborhood might be avoided. Of the bull which Neptune made, he observed, that the blows might have been surer, if the eyes were nearer the horns. Venus herself was exposed to his satire; and when the sneering god could find no fault in the figure of the goddess, he observed as she retired, that the noise of her feet was too loud, and very improper in the goddess of beauty. For these illiberal reflections upon the gods, he was driven from Heaven.

Momus is generally represented raising a mask from his face, and holding a small figure in his hand.

CHARON.

Charôn, a god of Hell, and son of Erebus and Night, conducted the souls of the dead in a boat over the rivers Styx and Acheron, to the infernal regions. But he conveyed no one without their tribute, and it was a custom among the ancients in preparing the dead for burial, to place a piece of money under the tongue for Charon.

When a departed soul presented herself for a passage in his boat, he first inquired whether the traveller could furnish the requisite fee; and if it should happen that the obolus had been forgotten, the poor soul was left to wander on the gloomy shores a hundred years before being conducted over the river; and such as had not been honored with a funeral, were subjected to the same penalty.

"A hundred years they wander on the shore,

At length, their penance done, are wafted o'er."-Æn. vi.

Among the ancients, it was considered an inexpressible cruelty to deny to the dead a burial; and for this reason, all great commanders were careful, after a battle, to inter the bodies of those whose lives had been lost in their service.

No living person was received into Charon's boat, unless he could show a golden bough which he had received from the Sybil as a passport. Yet it is said that Æneas by his piety, Hercules and Theseus by their valor, and Orpheus by his music, obtained the privilege of passing to and fro in old Charon's ferry boat.

WORK