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She first invented and taught the art of tilling the earth, of fowing pulfe and corn, and of making bread; whereas before, men only ate acorns. As foon as agriculture was introduced, and men began to contend about the limits of thofe fields, which before were common and uncultivated, she enacted laws, and determined the rights and properties of each perfon, when difputes arofe.

Ceres is beautiful, because the earth which the resembles, gives a very delightful and beautiful fpectacle to beholders; especially when it is arrayed with plants, diversified with trees, adorned with flowers, enriched with fruits, and covered with green herbs, when it difplays the honours of the Spring, and pours forth the gifts of Autumn with a

bountiful hand.

She holds a lighted torch, because when Proferpine was stolen away by Pluto, fhe lighted torches with the flames of mount Etna, and with them fought her daughter through the whole world.

Among various nations, the first fruits of the earth were offered to Ceres, as goddess of corn and agriculture.

CHAP.

CHAP. XXXIV.

OF NEPTUNE, AND OTHER MARINE DEITIES.

NEPTUNE was the fon of Saturn and Ops,

and brother of Jupiter and Pluto. In the divifion of his father's kingdom by Jupiter, the empire of the fea was allotted to Neptune.

Having joined with Apollo in a conspiracy against Jupiter, they were both driven from heaven; and, by Jupiter's command, forced to ferve Laomedon in building the walls of Troy. Neptune, not receiving the reward of his fervices, fent a fea-monfter on the coafts, which ravaged the country.

Neptune afterwards became charmed with the beauty of Amphitrite, but could not for a long time obtain her. At laft, however, by the affistance of a dolphin, and the power of flattery, he drew her into marriage. Neptune, as an acknowledgment of this kindness, placed the dolphin among the stars, and he became a conftellation.

In a difpute with Minerva, who should give a name to Athens, the capital city of Greece, he ftruck the ground with his trident, and produced a

horse;

horfe; for which reafon, the Athenians facrificed to him that animal.

Neptune is esteemed governor of the sea, and father of the rivers and fountains. He is reprefented riding on the sea in a car, in the form of a fhell, drawn by fea-horses, preceded by Tritons. He holds a trident in his right hand, as an emblem of his fovereignty, and is attended by the young Tritons and Sea Nymphs.

OCEANUS, a marine deity, defcended from Cœlus and Vefta, was called, by the ancients, not only the father of rivers, but also of animals, and of the gods themselves.

THETIS, goddess of the fea, and wife of Oceanus, is faid to have had many fons; the chief of whom was Nereus, who dwelt in the Egean Sea, and by his wife Doris, had fifty daughters, called from him Nereides. Thetis is represented fitting in a chariot, in the form of a fhell, drawn by dolphins.

AMPHITRITE was daughter of Oceanus and Doris, goddess of the fea, and wife of Neptune. She is by the poets frequently taken for the sea itself.

TRITON, the fon of Neptune and Amphitrite, was, alfo his companion and trumpeter. In the upper part of his body he bears the refemblance of a man,

and

and of a fish in the lower part. Moft of the fea' gods, from him, are called Tritons.

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The SYREN'S were inhabitants of the fea. They had faces of women, but the bodies of flying fifh. Their names were Parthenope, Liga, and Leucofia. Thefe dwelt near the coast of Sicily, and... drew to them all paffengers by the sweetness of their finging, and then devoured them.

CHAP. XXXV, "

OF THE INFERNAL DEITIES, PLUTO AND PROSERPINE.

PLUTO was the fon of Saturn and Rhea, and

brother of Jupiter and Neptune. In the divifion of his father's kingdom, when he was dethroned by Jupiter, Pluto had the western parts affigned to him, which gave rife to the poetical fable, that he was the god of hell..

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He is called Dis by the Latins, and Hades by the Greeks, which laft fignifies dark and gloomy.

Hé fits on a dark throne, holding a key instead of a fceptre, and wearing a crown of ebony.

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Sometimes he is crowned with a diadem, fometimes with cypress, and fometimes with the daffodil, which flower Proferpine was gathering, when he stole her away.

His horses and chariot are of a black colour; and himself is often painted with a rod in his hand for a fceptre, and covered with a head-piece.

PROSERPINE is queen of hell, the infernal Juno, and wife of Pluto. She was daughter of Jupiter and Ceres.

When none of the goddeffes would marry Pluto, because of his deformity, the god being vexed that he was defpifed, and forced to live a fingle life, in a rage mounted his chariot, and suddenly sprung up from a den in Sicily, amongst a company of very beautiful virgins, who were gathering flowers in the fields. Pluto, inflamed with the love of Proferpine, carried her off with him, and funk into the earth, not far from Syracuse, where fuddenly a lake arofe.

The Nymphs, her companions, being struck with terror, acquainted her mother with the lofs of her daughter. Ceres, with lighted torches from mount Ætna, long fought her in vain; but at last, being informed by the Nymph Arethufa, that she was ftolen by Pluto, fhe went down into hell, where fhe found Proferpine, queen of those dark domi

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