nd a sow-pig
were offered; to AEsculapius, goats and poultry; to the Lares, a cock;
to the Sun, a horse; to Juno, a she-lamb; to Venus, a dove; to Diana,
a crow; to Pan and Minerva, she-goats; and to the Fauns, kids.

The fir and vine were sacred to Bacchus, the cypress to Pluto, the
cedar to the Furies, the ash to Mars, the oak to Jove, the laurel to
Apollo, the myrtle to Venus, the olive to Minerva, the poplar to
Hercules, the pine to Cybele, and the rose to Venus.

CHAPTER XI.

Achilles's Mother--Prediction concerning the taking of
Troy--Bravery, Armour, Love, and Death of
Achilles--Acrisius's Daughter--Danae and her son
Perseus--Ardea changed into a Bird--Pluto's Invisible
Helmet--Minerva's Buckler--Mercury's Wings--Medusa
deprived of Life--Sea Monster--A Gorgon's Head and its
Virtues--Stheno and Euryale not subject to Old Age or
Death--Minerva's Revenge against Medusa--Serpents in
Africa and Pegasus produced by Medusa's Blood--Tales
by the Daughters of Minyas--Punishment by Bacchus--The
Search of Cadmus for his sister Europa--Halcyon's
Sorrow--Transmigration--Strength and Exploits of
Hercules--Love Potion--Hymen--Jason's
Adventures--Power and Cruelty of Medea--How a
Favourable Wind was procured--Manner in which Orion
came into Existence--False Swearer
punished--Palladium--The Life and Deeds of
Paris--Golden Apple--Marriage of Peleus and
Thetis--Impiety of Pentheus--Rhea and her Sons--Scylla
turned into a Sea Monster.

Achilles's mother being endowed with a prophetic spirit, knew that her
son would lose his life at Troy. She dipped him in the river Styx, by
which he was rendered invulnerable, except in the heel, by which he
was held during the operation. The seer Calchas announced that,
without Achilles, Troy could not be taken. His mother, to keep him
from danger, concealed him among King Lycomedes's daughters, disguised
as a girl; but being discovered by Ulysses, he joined his countrymen,
and sailed for the Trojan coast. After giving many proofs of his
bravery and military prowess, he quarrelled with Agamemnon,
commander-in-chief of the Grecian army, and in disgust withdrew from
the contest. During the absence of Achilles, the Trojans were
victorious; but his friend Patroclus, clad in his armour, having
rashly encountered Hector, fell by the hand of that hero. Achilles, to
reveng