ath, or immortal, but that their years
wore in a manner innumerable; that prophecies were inspired by the
Nymphs, as well as the other deities; and that they had foretold the
destruction of several cities: they were likewise esteemed as the
authors of divination.

Meursius is of opinion, that the Greeks borrowed their notion of these
divinities from the Phoenicians, for _nympha_, in their language,
signifying _soul_, the Greeks imagined that the souls of the ancient
inhabitants of Greece had become Nymphs; particularly that the souls of
those who had inhabited the woods were called Dryads; those who
inhabited the mountains, Ore{)a}des; those who dwelt on the sea-coasts,
Nereids; and, lastly, those who had their place of abode near rivers or
fountains, Naiads. Though goats were sometimes sacrificed to the Nymphs,
yet their stated offerings were milk, oil, honey and wine. They were
represented as young and beautiful virgins, and dressed in conformity to
the character ascribed to them.

CHAPTER VII.

_Gods of the Sea._

NEPTUNE was the son of Saturn, and Rhea or Ops, and brother of Jupiter.
When arrived at maturity, he assisted his brother Jupiter in his
expeditions, for which that god, on attaining to supreme power, assigned
him the sea and the islands for his empire. Whatever attachment Neptune
might have had to his brother at one period, he was at another expelled
heaven for entering into a conspiracy against him, in conjunction with
several other deities; whence he fled, with Apollo, to Laomedon, king of
Troy, where Neptune having assisted in raising the walls of the city,
and being dismissed unrewarded, in revenge, sent a sea-monster to lay
waste the country.

On another occasion, this deity had a contest with Vulcan and Minerva,
in regard to their skill. The goddess, as a proof of her's, made a
horse, Vulcan a man, and Neptune a bull, whence that animal was used in
the sacrifices to him, though it is probable that, as the victim was to
be black, the design was to point out the raging quality and fury of the
sea, over which he presided. The Greeks make Neptune to have been the
creator of the horse, which he produced from out of the earth with a
blow of his trident, when disputing with Minerva who should give the
name to Cecropia, which was afterwards called Athens, from the name in
Greek of Minerva, who made an olive tree spring up suddenly, and thus
obtained the victory.

In this fable, however, it