nys was a
general name given to the Furies by the Greeks. They were three in
number--Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera. These were so called,
either from the Greek +eris nou+, 'the discord of the mind,' or
from +en te era naiein+, 'their inhabiting the earth,' watching
the actions of men.]

EXPLANATION.

If Ovid is not here committing an anachronism, and making Jupiter,
before the deluge, relate the story of a historical personage, who
existed long after it, the origin of the story of Lycaon must be
sought in the antediluvian narrative. It is just possible that the
guilty Cain may have been the original of Lycaon. The names are not
very dissimilar: they are each mentioned as the first murderer; and
the fact, that Cain murdered Abel at the moment when he was offering
sacrifice to the Almighty, may have given rise to the tradition that
Lycaon had set human flesh before the king of heaven. The Scripture,
too, tells us, that Cain was personally called to account by the
Almighty for his deed of blood.

The punishment here inflicted on Lycaon was not very dissimilar to
that with which Cain was visited. Cain was sentenced to be a fugitive
and a wanderer on the face of the earth; and such is essentially the
character of the wolf, shunned by both men and animals. Of course,
there are many points to which it is not possible to extend the
parallel. Some of the ancient writers tell us, that there were two
Lycaons, the first of whom was the son of Phoroneus, who reigned in
Arcadia about the time of the patriarch Jacob; and the second, who
succeeded him, polluted the festivals of the Gods by the sacrifice of
the human race; for, having erected an altar to Jupiter, at the city
of Lycosura, he slew human victims on it, whence arose the story
related by the Poet. This solution is given by Pausanias, in his
Arcadica. We are also told by that historian, and by Suidas, that
Lycaon was, notwithstanding, a virtuous prince, the benefactor of his
people, and the promoter of improvement.

FABLE VIII. [I.244-312]

Jupiter, not thinking the punishment of Lycaon sufficient to strike
terror into the rest of mankind, resolves, on account of the universal
corruption, to extirpate them by a universal deluge.

Some, by their words approve the speech of Jupiter, and give spur to
him, {indignantly} exclaiming; others, by {silent} assent fulfil their
parts. Yet the {ent