he drowsy god lies reclined on a bed stuffed
with black plumes, the bedstead is of ebony, the covering is also black,
and his head is surrounded by fantastic visions.

We learn from Statius, that the attendants and guards before the gates
of this palace were Rest, Ease, Indolence, Silence, and Oblivion; as the
ministers or attendants within are a vast multitude of Dreams in
different shapes and attitudes. Ovid teaches us who were the supposed
governors over these, and what their particular districts or offices
were. The three chiefs of all are Morpheus, Phobetor, and Phantasos, who
inspire dreams into great persons only: Morpheus inspires such dreams as
relate to men, Phobetor such as relate to other animals, and Phantasos
such as relate to inanimate things. They have each their particular
legions under them, to inspire the common people with the sort of dreams
which belong to their province.

MINOS was son of Jupiter and Europa, and brother of Rhadamanthus and
Sarpedon. After the death of his father, the Cretans, who thought him
illegitimate, would not admit him as a successor to the kingdom, till he
persuaded them it was the divine pleasure he should reign, by praying
Neptune to give him a sign, which being granted, the god caused a horse
to rise out of the sea, upon which he ascended the throne.

Nothing so much distinguished him as the laws he enacted for the
Cretans, which obtained him the name of one of the greatest legislators
of antiquity. To confer the more authority on these laws, Minos retired
to a cave of Mount Ida, where he feigned that Jupiter, his father,
dictated them to him; and every time he returned thence a new injunction
was promulgated by him. Homer calls him Jupiter's disciple; and Horace
says he was admitted to the secrets of that god. Strabo and Ephorus
contend, that Minos dwelt nine years in retirement in this cave, and
that it was afterwards called the cave of Jupiter.

Antiquity entertained the highest esteem for the institutes of Minos:
and the testimonies of ancient authors on this head are endless. It
will, therefore, suffice to observe that Lycurgus travelled to Crete on
purpose to collect the laws of Minos for the benefit of the
Lacedemonians; and that Josephus, partial as he was to his own nation,
has owned, that Minos was the only one among the ancients who deserved
to be compared to Moses. He was reputed the judge of the supreme court
of Pluto, AEacus judged the Europeans; the Asia