Argus, the dog of Ulysses, who recognised his master on his return to Ithaca, when none else knew him.

The dog, whom fate had granted to behold
His lord, when twenty tedious years had rolled,
Takes a last look, and, having seen him, dies;
So closed for ever faithful Argus' eyes!

HOMER.

Acis, a Sicilian shepherd, beloved by the nymph Galatea;

killed by the giant Polyphemus, and changed into a river. Argus, a man famed amongst mythologists for having a hundred eyes; he was slain by Mercury, and transformed by Juno into a peacock.

The head of Argus (as with stars the skies)

Was compassed round, and wore a hundred eyes.
But two by turns their lids in slumber steep;
The rest on duty still their station keep;
Nor could the total constellation sleep.

OVID.

Acteon, a famous huntsman, changed into a stag by Diana, for inadvertently disturbing her whilst bathing; he was chased and devoured by his own dogs.

Abydos, a city in Asia, on the borders of the Hellespont, celebrated for having been the scene of the loves of Hero and Leander; and also for the bridge of boats, constructed by Xerxes, from thence to Sestos. Adonis, a beautiful youth, beloved by Venus and Proserpine. Atlas, changed by Jupiter into a mountain for rebellion, and doomed to support the heavens on his shoulders: he was the father of the Atlantides.

Atlas, enforced by stern necessity,

Props the broad heaven; on earth's far borders, where

Full opposite th' Hesperian virgins sing

With shrill sweet voice, he rears his head and hands,
Aye, unfatigable: Heaven's counsellor
So doomed his lot.

he was

HESIOD.

Admeta, the daughter of Eurystheus, and priestess of the temple of Juno

at Argos.

Achaia, one of the names by which ancient Greece was known.
Acheron, one of the four rivers of hell,; Homer notices it with the

others:

Where Phlegethon's loud torrents rushing down,
Hiss in the flaming gulf of Acheron;

And where, slow rolling from the Stygian bed,
Cocytus' lamentable waters spread.

As

Ammon, a name by which Jupiter was worshipped amongst the Egyptians,

under the form of a ram.

There, but unlike the Jove by Rome adored,

A form uncouth, stands Heaven's Almighty Lord.
No regal ensigns grace his potent hand,

Nor shakes he there the lightning's flaming brand;
But, ruder to behold, a horned ram
Belies the god, and Ammon is his name.

LUCAN.

Acropolis, the citadel of Athens, sacred to Minerva; it was built on a

lofty rock, and accessible only on one side.

Eacus, the son of Jupiter and Ægina, one of the judges of hell.
Alecto, one of the furies.

One who delights in wars and human woes:
E'en Pluto hates his own mis-shapen race;
Her sister furies fly her hideous face;

So frightful are the forms the monster takes,
So fierce the hissings of her speckled snakes.

VIRGIL.

K

a daughter of Ceus, one of the Titans: she married Perses.

Asteria, blest in fame:

Whom Perses to his spacious palace led,
That he might call her spouse.

HESIOD.

Avernus, a lake of Campania, in Italy; from its gloomy appearance, and. the unwholesome vapour arising from its waters, it was usually considered as the entrance to the infernal regions, and was said to be unfathomable.

Here th' innavigable lake extends,
O'er whose unhappy waters, void of light,
No bird presumes to steer his airy flight,
Such deadly stenches from the depth arise,
And steaming sulphur that infects the skies.
From hence the Grecian bards their legends make,
And give the name Avernus to the lake.

Etna, a volcanic mountain of Sicily; the subterranean noises which at times were heard near it were conjectured, by the ancients, to proceed from the forges of Vulcan and his workmen.

Mount Etna thence we spy,

Known by the smoky flames which cloud the sky.

Aglaia, one of the Graces.

VIRGIL.

Vulcan, as his bride,

The gay Aglaia led, the youngest Grace.

VIRGIL.

HESIOD.

Arcadia, a country of Peloponnesus, anciently called Pelasgia, famed for its fertile plains and lofty mountains. Pan, the god of shepherds, with his train, resided there.

The fruitful fields of Arcady.

OVID.

Brotheus, a son of Vulcan, who, on account of his deformity, precipitated himself into Etua.

Bunea, a name given to Juno.

Bellona, the goddess of war, and companion of Discordia; anciently called

Duelliona.

Discord, dyed in blood, with garments rent,
Divides the press: her steps Bellona treads,
And shakes her iron rod above their heads.

Brizo, the goddess of dreams, worshipped at Delos.
Bellerophon, the son of Glaucus, king of Ephyre.

Castor and Pollux, the twin sons of Jupiter and Leda; they form the constellation Gemini.

Pollux, who wields with furious sway

The deathful gauntlet, matchless in the fray;
And Castor, glorious on th' embattled plain,
Curbs the proud steed, reluctant to the rein:
By turns they visit this ethereal sky,

And live alternate, and alternate die:

In hell beneath, on earth, in heaven above,
Reign the twin gods, the fav'rite sons of Jove.

VIRGIL.

The chiefest she: who walks upon the steps
Of kingly judges in their majesty:
And whomsoe'er of heavenly-nurtured kings
Jove's daughters will to honour, looking down
With smiling aspect on his cradled head,
They pour a gentle dew upon his tongue,
And words, as honey sweet, drop from his lips.

HOMER.

Cynthia and Cynthius, names by which Diana and Apollo are known. Collina, the goddess of hills.

Calliope, the Muse of eloquence and heroic poetry; she is frequently represented crowned with laurel, and holding in her hand the three most famous poems of antiquity.

HESIOD.

Calpe, one of the pillars of Hercules, now called Gibraltar, opposite to mount Abyla, in Africa.

Circe, a famed enchantress, who transformed the companions of Ulysses into swine.

Canens, a nymph, the wife of Picus, king of the Laurentes, who was changed by Circe into a bird, upon which she pined away, and became a voice.

Chiron, the chief of the Centaurs, a race inhabiting the north of Thessaly, who, on account of their skill in horsemanship, were described as half men, half horses. Chiron instructed Esculapius in the science of medicine, and Hercules in that of astronomy: he was also the preceptor of Achilles, and many other heroes, and after death became the constellation Sagittarius.

Chiron, of all the double race the best:

'Midst golden stars he stands refulgent now,
And threats the scorpion with his bended bow.

Comus, god of laughter and mirth.

Cadmus, the son of Agenor: he founded the city of Thebes, and invented sixteen letters of the Greek alphabet.

Clytemnestra, the daughter of Jupiter and Leda; she murdered her husband Agamemnon, and, in her turn, fell by the hand of her son Orestes. She appears to have disgraced the name of woman.

Should posterity one virtuous find,

Name Clytemnestra, they will curse the kind.

LUCAN.

Cymodoce, who calms, at once, the waves

Of the dark sea, and blasts of heaven-breathed winds.

HOMER.

Concordia, the goddess of peace.
Cymodoce, one of the Nereides, famed for the sweetness of her voice.

HESIOD.