Somnus, or Sleep, is beautifully styled by Hesiod, "Death's half-brother," to intimate the close analogy which exists between the state of the body when the senses are lulled in repose, and the deep stilly silence of the grave.

Pernicious Night, aye, leading in her hand

Sleep, Death's half-brother: sons of gloomy Night
There hold they habitation, Death and Sleep;
Dread deities: nor them the shining sun

E'er with his beam contemplates, when he climbs
The cope of heaven, or when from heaven descends.
Of these, the one glides gentle o'er the space
Of earth, and broad expanse of ocean waves,
Placid to man. The other has a heart

Of iron; yea, the heart within his breast
Is brass, unpitying: whom of men he grasps,
Stern he retains :

Near the Cymmerians, in his dark abode,
Deep in a cavern, dwells the drowsy god;
Whose gloomy mansion, nor the rising sun,
Nor setting visits, nor the lightsome noon;
But lazy vapours round the region fly,
Perpetual twilight, and a doubtful sky:
No crowing cock does there his wings display,
Nor with his horny beak provoke the day;

Theogony.

Nor watchful dogs, nor the more wakeful geese,
Disturb, with nightly noise, the sacred peace;
Nor beast of nature, nor the tame are nigh;
Nor trees with tempests rocked, nor human cry;
But safe repose, without an air of breath
Dwells here, and a dumb quiet next to death.
An arm of Lethe, with a gentle flow,
Arising upwards from the rock below,

The palace moats, and o'er the pebbles creeps,
And with soft murmurs calls the coming sleeps.
Around its entry nodding poppies grow,
And all cool simples that sweet rest bestow;
Night from the plants their sleepy virtue drains,
And passing, sheds it on the silent plains:
No door was there th' unguarded house to keep,
On creaking hinges turned to break his sleep.
But in the gloomy court was raised a bed,
Stuffed with black plumes, and on an ebon stead ;
Black was the covering too where lay the god,
And slept supine.

OVID'S Metamorphoses.

Besides the GODS who have been described, many other personages are included in the mythology of Greece and Rome, some of whom it may be well to particularize. They are called demi-gods, or heroes, and will form the subject of the following chapter.

DEMIGODS AND HEROES.

HERCULES.

This hero was the son of Jupiter and Alcmena; and, on that account, from the time of his birth, he was constantly pursued by the implacable enmity of Juno, who, when he was

only eight months old, sent two serpents to devour him, when Hercules gave the first proof of his extraordinary powers by instantly strangling them both. The education of this hero devolved upon Castor, Linus, Eumolpus, Autolycus, Eurytus, and the famous Chiron; and by them he was instructed in philosophy, horsemanship, driving, music, and, in short, every manly accomplishment. At the age of eighteen he distinguished himself by destroying an enormous lion, which ravaged the country, and destroyed the flocks of Amphitryon : soon after this he undertook the wonderful exploits, usually known as the twelve labours of Hercules, by command of Eurystheus, to whom he was subjected through the artifices of Juno. The gods all gave their assistance in arming him for his conflicts;-Jupiter bestowed a shield; Minerva, a helmet and a coat of arms; Mercury, a sword; Apollo, a bow and arrows; Neptune, a horse; and Vulcan, the most efficient of all, the celebrated brazen club, with which he destroyed so many monsters, and by the assistance of which he performed his first labour, that of killing the famous Nemean lion; which, after its death, he despoiled of its skin, and clothed himself in it. His second task was to slay the Hydra which infested the Lernean marshes; this monster had several heads, of which one was no sooner cut off, than two sprang up

:

in its stead he, however, vanquished it by burning the root of each head. The third exploit was to bring a stag of incredible swiftness alive and unhurt to Eurystheus; this he effected after a chase of a year. His next labour was to destroy an immense wild boar, found in the neighbourhood of Erymanthus; this he did by tracking its footsteps in the snow, and entangling it in a thicket: in the course of this expedition he nearly exterminated the centaurs, and amongst them, unintentionally, wounded his preceptor Chiron, who, dying in consequence, was taken up to heaven, and became the constellation Sagittarius. The fifth performance of Hercules was to cleanse the stables of Augeas, king of Elis, which had contained three thousand oxen for thirty years; this he achieved by turning through them the course of the river Alpheus. Sixthly, he destroyed, with his arrows, the Stymphalides, monstrous birds, which ravaged Arcadia. He next seized an enormous wild bull, which had been sent as a punishment into Crete, and had devoured many of the natives: he brought it alive to Eurystheus. His eighth task was to secure possession of the mares of Diomedes, king of Thrace; he slew him, and gave him to be eaten by them, and then carried them away. His ninth undertaking was to obtain the girdle of the queen of the Amazons; he massacred many of her subjects, and took the girdle from Hippolite, whom he gave in marriage to his

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