mother; but it was Nemesis who prompted the deed, and presided over its
execution.

Homer makes no mention of Nemesis; it is therefore evident that she was a
conception of later times, when higher views of morality had obtained among
the Greek nation.

Nemesis is represented as a beautiful woman of thoughtful and benign aspect
and regal bearing; a diadem crowns her majestic brow, and she bears in her
hand a rudder, balance, and cubit;--fitting emblems of the manner in which
she guides, weighs, and measures all human events. She is also sometimes
seen with a wheel, to symbolize the rapidity with which she executes
justice. As the avenger of evil she appears winged, bearing in her hand
either a scourge or a sword, and seated in a chariot drawn by griffins.
{142}

Nemesis is frequently called Adrastia, and also Rhamnusia, from Rhamnus in
Attica, the chief seat of her worship, which contained a celebrated statue
of the goddess.

Nemesis was worshipped by the Romans, (who invoked her on the Capitol), as
a divinity who possessed the power of averting the pernicious consequences
of envy.

NIGHT AND HER CHILDREN.
DEATH, SLEEP, AND DREAMS.

NYX (NOX).

Nyx, the daughter of Chaos, being the personification of Night, was,
according to the poetic ideas of the Greeks, considered to be the mother of
everything mysterious and inexplicable, such as death, sleep, dreams, &c.
She became united to Erebus, and their children were Aether and Hemera (Air
and Daylight), evidently a simile of the poets, to indicate that darkness
always precedes light.

Nyx inhabited a palace in the dark regions of the lower world, and is
represented as a beautiful woman, seated in a chariot, drawn by two black
horses. She is clothed in dark robes, wears a long veil, and is accompanied
by the stars, which follow in her train.

THANATOS (MORS) AND HYPNUS (SOMNUS).

Thanatos (Death) and his twin-brother Hypnus (Sleep) were the children of
Nyx.

Their dwelling was in the realm of shades, and when they appear among
mortals, Thanatos is feared and hated as the enemy of mankind, whose hard
heart knows no pity, whilst his brother Hypnus is universally loved and
welcomed as their kindest and most beneficent friend.

But though the ancients regarded Thanatos as a gloomy and mournful
divinity, they did not represent him with any exterior repulsiveness. On
the contrary, he appears as a beautiful youth, who holds in his hand an
inverted {143} torch, embl