in the vast abyss, which was the most
terrible part even of that division.

The fifth division is that of Elysium, or the place of the blessed; here
Virgil places those who died for their country, those of pure lives,
truly inspired poets, the inventors of arts, and all who have done good
to mankind: he does not speak of any particular districts for these, but
supposes that they have the liberty of going where they please in that
delightful region, and conversing with whom they please; he only
mentions one vale, towards the end of it, as appropriated to any
particular use; this is the vale of Lethe or forgetfulness, where many
of the ancient philosophers, and the Platonists in particular, supposed
the souls which had passed through some periods of their trial, were
immersed in the river which gave its name to it, in order to be put into
new bodies, and to fill up the whole course of their probation, in an
upper world.

In each of these three divisions, on the other side of the river Styx,
which perhaps were comprehended under the name of Ades, as all the five
might be under that of Orcus, was a prince or judge: Minos for the
regions of Erebus; Rhadamanthus for Tartarus; and AEacus for Elysium,
Pluto and Proserpine had their palace at the entrance of the road to the
Elysian fields, and presided as sovereigns over the whole subterraneous
world.

PLUTO, son of Saturn and Ops, assisted Jupiter in his wars, and after
victory had crowned their exertions in placing his brother on the
throne, be obtained a share of his father's dominions, which, as some
authors say, was the eastern continent, and lower regions of Asia; but,
according to the common opinion, Pluto's division lay in the west. He
fixed his residence in Spain, and lived in Iberia, near the Pyrrenaean
mountains: Spain being a fertile country, and abounding in minerals and
mines, Pluto was esteemed the god of wealth; for it must be here
observed, that the poets confound Pluto, god of hell, with Plutus, god
of riches, though they were distinct deities, and always so considered
by the ancients.

Pluto's regions being supposed to lie under ground; and as he was the
first who taught men to bury their dead, it was thence inferred that he
was king of the infernal regions, whence sprung a belief, that as all
souls descended to him, so when they were in his possession, he bound
them with inevitable chains, and delivered them to be tried by judges,
after which he dispens