that Bacchus meant no more than the improvement of the world by tillage,
and the culture of the vine.

[Illustration:

JUNO & MINERVA GOING TO ASSIST THE GREEKS.

SATURNIA LENDS THE LASH, THE COURSERS FLY.

Pope's Homer's Illiad, B. 8. L. 47.
Pl. 4.]

MARS was the son of Jupiter and Juno, or of Jupiter and Erys. He was
held in high veneration among the Romans, both on account of his being
the father of Romulus, their founder, and because of their own genius,
which always inclined them to war. Numa, though otherwise a pacific
prince, having, during a great pestilence, implored the favor of the
gods, received a small brass buckler, called _anc{=i}le_ from heaven,
which the nymph Egeria advised him to keep with the utmost care, as the
fate of the people and empire depended upon it. To secure so valuable a
pledge, Numa caused eleven others of the same form to be made, and
intrusted the preservation of these to an order of priests, which he
constituted for the purpose, called _Salii_, or priests of Mars, in
whose temple the twelve ancilia were deposited.

The fiercest and most ravenous creatures were consecrated to Mars: the
horse, for his vigor; the wolf, for his rapacity and quickness of sight;
the dog, for his vigilance; and he delighted in the pye, the cock, and
the vulture. He was the reputed enemy of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom
and arts, because in time of war they are trampled on, without respect,
as well as learning and justice.

Ancient monuments represent this deity as of unusual stature, armed with
a helmet, shield, and spear, sometimes naked, sometimes in a military
habit; sometimes with a beard, and sometimes without. He is often
described riding in a chariot, drawn by furious horses, completely
armed, and extending his spear with one hand, while, with the other, he
grasps a sword imbued with blood. Sometimes Bellona, the goddess of war,
(whether she be his sister, wife or daughter, is uncertain,) is
represented as driving his chariot, and inciting the horses with a
bloody whip. Sometimes Discord is exhibited as preceding his chariot,
while Clamor, Fear, Terror, with Fame, full of eyes, ears, and tongues,
appear in his train.

CHAPTER II.

_Celestial Goddesses._

JUNO, daughter of Saturn and Rhea, was sister and wife of Jupiter.
Though the poets agree that she came into the world at the same birth
with her husband, yet they differ as to the place. Some fix her nativi