tics and Africans fell to
the lot of Rhadamanthus; and Minos, as president of the infernal court,
decided the differences which arose between these two judges. He sat on
a throne by himself, and wielded a golden sceptre.

RHADAMANTHUS was the son of Jupiter and Europa, and brother of Minos. He
was one of the three judges of hell. It is said that Rhadamanthus,
having killed his brother, fled to OEchalia in Boeotia, where he married
Alcmena, widow of Amphitryon. Some make Rhadamanthus a king of Lycia,
who on account of his severity and strict regard to justice, was said to
have been one of the three judges of hell, where his province was to
judge such as died impenitent. It is agreed, that he was the most
temperate man of his time, and was exalted amongst the law-givers of
Crete, who were renowned as good and just men. The division assigned to
Rhadamanthus in the infernal regions was Tartarus.

AEACUS, son of Jupiter and AEgina, was king of OEnopia, which, from his
mother's name, he called AEgina. The inhabitants of that country being
destroyed by a plague, AEacus prayed to his father that by some means he
would repair the loss of his subjects, upon which Jupiter, in compassion
changed all the ants within a hollow tree into men and women, who, from
a Greek word signifying _ants_, were called _Myrmidons_, and actually
were so industrious a people as to become famous for their ships and
navigation.

The meaning of which fable is this: The pirates having destroyed the
inhabitants of the island, excepting a few, who hid themselves in caves
and holes for fear of a like fate, AEacus drew them out of their retreats
and encouraged them to build houses, and sow corn; taught them military
discipline, and how to fit out and navigate fleets, and to appear not
like ants in holes, but on the theatre of the world, like men. His
character for justice was such, that in a time of universal drought he
was nominated by the Delphic oracle to intercede for Greece, and his
prayers were heard. The pagan world also believed that AEacus, on account
of his impartial justice, was chosen by Pluto, with Minos and
Rhadamanthus, one of the three judges of the dead, and that it was his
province to judge the Europeans, in which capacity he held a plain rod
as a badge of his office.

CHAPTER IX.

_The condemned in Hell._

TYPHOEUS, a giant of enormous size, was, according to Hesiod, son of
Erebus, or Tartarus and Terra. His stature was prodi