daughter of Night, is the mother of a family of evils, almost too numerous
to mention. Having been refused admission to the nuptials of Thetis and
Peleus, it is said that it was she, who, to revenge herself, threw on the
table among the festal company, the apple, with the inscription, "To the
most beautiful."
This apple was the origin of the Trojan war, and of innumerable misfortunes
to the Greeks.
The goddess is represented with a pale and ghastly look, her garments torn,
her eyes sparkling with fire, holding a dagger concealed in her bosom. Her
head is generally enwreathed with serpents, and she is imagined to be the
cause of all the miseries, dissensions, and quarrels, which fall upon the
inhabitants of the earth. {253}
We have now enumerated the most remarkable of the Allegorical Divinities,
the number being too great to mention all. For the same reason we must omit
the crowd of Emperors, Kings, and Princes, who, having the folly to believe
themselves gods, found mortals sufficiently weak to grant them faith, and
to accord them homage.
In concluding the Greek Mythology, however, we must mention several fables,
which are so intimately connected therewith, as almost to form part of its
history.
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