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 nativity at Argos, others at Samos, near the river Imbrasus. The latter opinion is, however, the more generally received. Samos, was highly honored, and received the name of Parthenia, from the consideration that so eminent a virgin as Juno was educated and dwelt there till her marriage.

As queen of heaven, Juno was conspicuous for her state. Her usual attendants were Terror, Boldness—Castor and Pollux, accompanied by fourteen nymphs; but her most inseparable adherent was Iris, who was always ready to be employed in her most important affairs: she acted as messenger to Juno, like Mercury to Jupiter. When Juno appeared as the majesty of heaven, with her sceptre and diadem beset with lilies and roses, her chariot was drawn by peacocks, birds sacred to her; for which reason, in her temple at Euboea, the emperor Adrian made her a most magnificent offering of a golden crown, a purple mantle, with an embroidery of silver, describing the marriage of Hercules and Hebe, and a large peacock, whose body was of gold, and his train of most valuable jewels. There never was a wife more jealous than Juno; and few who have had so much reason: on which account we find from Homer that the most absolute exertions of Jupiter were barely sufficient to preserve his authority.

There was none except Apollo whose worship was more solemn or extensive. The history of the prodigies she had wrought, and of the vengeance she had taken upon persons who had vied with, or slighted her, had so inspired the people with awe, that, when supposed to be angry, no means were omitted to mitigate her anger; and had Paris adjudged to her the prize of Beauty, the fate of Troy might have been suspended. In resentment of this judgment, and to wreak her vengeance on Paris, the house of Priam, and the Trojan race, she appears in the Iliad to be fully employed. Minerva is commissioned by her to hinder the Greeks from retreating; she quarrels with Jupiter; she goes to battle; cajoles Jupiter with the cestus of Venus; carries the orders of Jupiter to Apollo and Iris; consults the gods on the conflict between Æneas and Achilles; sends Vulcan to oppose Xanthus; overcomes Diana, &c.

She is generally pictured like a matron, with a grave and majestic air, sometimes with a sceptre in her hand, and a veil on her head: she is represented also with a spear in her hand, and sometimes with a patĕra, as if she were about to sacrifice: on some medals she has a peacock at her feet, and sometimes holds the Palladium. Homer represents her in a chariot adorned with gems, having wheels of ebony, nails of silver, and horses with reins of gold, though more commonly her chariot is drawn by peacocks, her favourite birds. The most obvious and striking character of Juno, and that which we are apt to imbibe the most early of any, from the writings of Homer and Virgil, is that of an imperious and haughty wife. In both of these poets we find her much oftener scolding at Jupiter than caressing him, and in the tenth Æneid in particular, even in the council of the gods, we have a remarkable instance of this.

If, in searching out the meaning of this fable, we regard the account of Varro, we shall find, that by Juno was signified the earth; by Jupiter, the heavens; but if we believe the Stoics, by Juno is meant the air and its properties, and by Jupiter the ether: hence Homer supposes she was nourished by Oceănus and Tethys: that is, by the sea; and agreeable to this mythology, the poet makes her shout aloud in the army of the Greeks, the air being the cause of the sound.

MINERVA, or Pallas, was one of the most distinguished of the heathen deities, as being the goddess of wisdom and science. She is supposed to have sprung, fully grown and completely armed, from the head of Jupiter.

One of the most remarkable of her adventures, was her contest with Neptune. When Cecrops founded Athens, it was agreed that whoever of these two deities could produce the most beneficial gift to mankind, should have the honor of giving their name to the city. Neptune, with a stroke of his trident, formed a horse, but Minerva causing an olive-tree to spring from the ground, obtained from the god the prize. She was the goddess of war, wisdom, and arts, such as spinning, weaving, music, and especially of the pipe. In a word, she was patroness of all those sciences which render men useful to society and themselves, and entitle them to the esteem of posterity.

She is described by the poets, and represented by the sculptors and painters in a standing attitude, completely armed, with a composed but smiling countenance, bearing a golden breast-plate, a spear in her right hand, and the Ægis in her left, having on it the head of Medusa, entwined with snakes. Her helmet was usually encompassed with olives, to denote that peace is the end of war, or rather because that tree was sacred to her: at her feet is generally placed the owl or the cock, the former being the emblem of wisdom, and the latter of war.Minerva represents wisdom, that is, skilful knowledge joined with discreet practice, and comprehends the understanding of the noblest arts, the best accomplishments of the mind, together with all the virtues, but more especially that of chastity. She is said to be born of Jupiter's brain, because the ingenuity of man did not invent the useful arts and sciences, which, on the contrary, were derived from the fountain of all wisdom. She was born armed, because the human soul, fortified with wisdom and virtue, is invincible; in danger, intrepid; under crosses, unbroken; in calamities, impregnable.

The owl, a bird seeing in the dark, was sacred to Minerva; this is symbolical of a wise man, who, scattering and dispelling the clouds of error, is clear-sighted where others are blind.

VENUS was one of the most celebrated deities of the ancients. She was the goddess of beauty, the mother of love, and the queen of laughter. She is said to have sprung from the froth of the sea, near the island Cyprus, after the mutilated part of the body of Urănus had been thrown there by Saturn. Hence she obtained the name of Aphrodite, from Αφρος, froth. As soon as Venus was born, she is said to have been laid in a beautiful couch or shell, embellished with pearls, and by the assistance of Zephyrus wafted first to CythērÆ, an island in the ÆgÆan, and thence to Cyprus; where she arrived in the month of April. Here, immediately on her landing, flowers sprung beneath her feet, the HorÆ or Seasons awaited her arrival, and having braided her hair with fillets of gold, she was thence wafted to heaven. As she was born laughing, an emanation of pleasure beamed from her countenance, and her charms were so attractive, in the assembly of the gods, that most of them desired to obtain her in marriage. Vulcan, however, the most deformed of the celestials, became the successful competitor.

One of the most remarkable adventures of this goddess was her contest with Juno and Minerva for the superiority of beauty. At the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, the goddess Discordia, resenting her not being invited, threw a golden apple among the company, with this inscription, Let the fairest take it. The competitors for this prize were Juno, Venus, and Minerva. Jupiter referred them to Paris, who then led a shepherd's life on Mount Ida. Before him the goddesses appeared. Juno offered him empire or power, Minerva wisdom, and Venus promised him the possession of the most beautiful woman in the world. Fatally for himself and family, the shepherd, more susceptible of love than of ambition or virtue, decided the contest in favor of Venus.

The sacrifices usually offered to Venus, were white goats and swine, with libations of wine, milk and honey. The victims were crowned with flowers, or wreaths of myrtle, the rose and myrtle being sacred to Venus. The birds sacred to her were the swan, the dove, and the sparrow.

It were endless to enumerate the variety of attitudes in which Venus is represented on antique gems and medals; sometimes she is clothed in purple, glittering with diamonds, her head crowned with myrtle intermixed with roses, and drawn in her car of ivory by swans, doves, or sparrows: at other times she is represented standing with the Graces attending her, and in all positions Cupid is her companion. In general she has one of the prettiest, as Minerva has sometimes one of the handsomest faces that can be conceived. Her look, as she is represented by the ancient artists and poets, has all the enchanting airs and graces that they could give it.

LATONA. This goddess was daughter of CÆus the Titan and Phoebe, or, according to Homer, of Saturn. As she grew up extremely beautiful, Jupiter fell in love with her; but Juno, discovering their intercourse, not only expelled her from heaven, but commanded the serpent Python to follow and destroy both her and her children. The earth also was caused by the jealous goddess to swear that she would afford her no place in which to bring forth. It happened, however, at this period, that the island Delos, which had been broken from Sicily, lay under water, and not having taken the oath, was commanded by Neptune to rise in the Ægean sea, and afford her an asylum. Latona, being changed by Jupiter into a quail, fled thither, and from this circumstance occasioned it to be called Ortygia, from the name in Greek of that bird. She here gave birth to Apollo and Diana. Niŏbe, daughter of Tantălus, and wife of Amphīon, king of Thebes, experienced the resentment of Latona, whose children Apollo and Diana, at her instigation, destroyed. Her beauty became fatal to Tityus, the giant, who was put to death also by the same divinities. After having been long persecuted by Juno, she became a powerful deity, beheld her children exalted to divine honors, and received adoration where they were adored.

In explanation of the fable, it may be observed, that as Jupiter is taken for the maker of all things, so Latona is physically understood to be the matter out of which all things were made, which, according to Plato, is called Λητω or Latona, from ληθειν to lie hid or concealed, because all things originally lay hid in darkness till the production of light, or birth of Apollo.

AURORA, goddess of the morning, was the youngest daughter of Hyperion and Theia, or, according to some, of Titan and Terra. Orpheus calls her the harbinger of Titan, for she is the personification of that light which precedes the appearance of the sun. The poets describe this goddess as rising out of the ocean in a saffron robe, seated in a flame-colored car, drawn by two or four horses, expanding with her rosy fingers the gates of light, and scattering the pearly dew. Virgil represents her horses as of flame color, and varies their number from two to four, according as she rises slower or faster.

She is said to have been daughter of Titan and the earth, because the light of the morning seems to rise out of the earth, and to proceed from the sun, which immediately follows it. She is styled mother of the four winds, because, after a calm in the night, the winds rise in the morning, as attendant upon the sun, by whose heat and light they are begotten. There is no other goddess of whom we have so many beautiful descriptions in the poets.