this
account of her death. But Seneca, in his Hippolytus, says that she
only appeared before her husband in extreme grief, holding a sword
in her hand to signify the violence which Hippolytus had offered
her. On this, Theseus implored the assistance of Neptune, who sent a
monster out of the sea, to frighten his horses, as he was driving
along the sea-shore: on which, they took fright, and throwing him
from his chariot, he was killed. It has been suggested that the true
meaning of this is, that Theseus having ordered his son to come and
justify himself, he made so much haste that his horses ran away with
him; and his chariot being dashed over the rocks, he was killed.

Seneca also differs from the other writers, in saying that Phaedra
did not put herself to death till she had heard of the catastrophe
of Hippolytus, on which she stabbed herself. The people of Troezen,
regretting his loss, decreed him divine honours, built a temple, and
appointed a priest to offer yearly sacrifices to him. Euripides
says, that the young women of Troezen, when about to be married, cut
off their hair and carried it to the temple of Hippolytus. It was
also promulgated that the Gods had translated him to the heavens,
where he was changed into the Constellation, called by the Latins
'Auriga,' or 'the Charioteer.' Later authors, whom Ovid here
follows, added, that AEsculapius restored him to life, and that he
afterwards appeared in Italy under the name of Virbius. This story
was probably invented as a source of profit by the priesthood, who
were desirous to find some good reason for introducing his worship
into the Arician grove near Rome. This story is mentioned by
Apollodorus, who quotes the author of the Naupactan verses in favour
of it, and by the Scholiasts of Euripides and Pindar.

The ancient Etrurians were great adepts in the art of divination;
their favourite method of exercising which was by the inspection of
the entrails of beasts, and the observation of the flight of birds;
and from them, as we learn from Cicero in his book on Divination,
the system spread over the whole of Italy. Tages is supposed to have
been the first who taught this art, and he wrote treatises upon it,
which, according to Plutarch, were quoted by ancient authors. It not
being known whence he came, or who were his parents, he was called,
in the language of the poets, a son of the earth. Ammia