Momus, his companion, is the god of joy and pleasantry, and was the buffoon
and satirist of Olympus. He wears as head dress, a cap adorned with small
bells, a mask in one hand, and on the other a bauble, the symbol of folly.
He was constantly engaged in mocking the Gods, and whatever they did was
freely turned into ridicule. He laughed at Minerva, who had made a house,
because she had not formed it moveable, that the annoyance of a bad
neighbourhood might be avoided. He sneered at Neptune's bull, because the
eyes were not placed near enough to the horn, to render his blows surer. He
irritated Vulcan, by observing that if he wished to make man perfect, he
should have placed a window at his heart; and when he found the beauty of
Venus was too perfect to allow of any truth to be mixed with his
bitterness, he declared that the noise made by the goddess in walking was
far too loud to be agreeable, and detracted from her beauty. At last these
illiberal reflections were the cause of his being turned out of Olympus.
Momus has been sung many times by the choice spirits whom he inspired, as
well as by the dissipated youth of the city, and occupies in poetry, a rank
more elevated than that of Comus. He was greatly honoured during the more
dissipated times of Rome, and it was the custom to pour libations to him,
before commencing a nocturnal revel.
* * * * *