By the Lacedaemonians, the image of Somnus was always placed near that of
death on account of their apparent resemblance.
"How wonderful is death,
Death and his brother Sleep!
One, pale as yonder waning moon,
With lips of lurid blue;
The other rosy as the morn
When throned in ocean's wave,
It blushes o'er the world:
Yet both so passing wonderful!"