CHAR′ON was the son of Nox and Erebus. He was the ferryman who conveyed
the spirits of the dead, in a boat, over the rivers Acheron and Styx to
the Elysian Fields. “Charon’s toll” was a coin put into the hands of
the dead with which to pay the grim ferryman.
“From the dark mansions of the dead,
Where Charon with his lazy boat
Ferries o’er Lethe’s sedgy moat.”
CHARYB′DIS. A dangerous whirlpool on the coast of Sicily. Personified,
it was supposed to have been a woman who plundered travellers, but was
at last killed by Hercules. Scylla and Charybdis are generally spoken
of together to represent alternative dangers.
“Charybdis barks, and Polyphemus roars.”