The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-08-25
MYTHOLOGY.

MN INTO heIl-iire; ne shall remain therei II
forever"
MYTHOLOGY.
In the Greek mythology, which was copied
by the Romans. the place of future punish
ment is called Tartarus. The universe is
represented IN the poetry of Homer and
Hesiod as a hollow globe, divided by fiat
earth. In the top Of the upper hemisphere
was Olympus, the home OF the gods; in the
hemisphere beneath the earth was hades, the
abode of all the dead; aud in its lowest
depths was Tartarus. An anvil would be
nine days and nights in falling from Olym-
pus to the earth; nine days and nights from
the earth to the bottom of Tartarus
Around it. moreover, a braZen fence has
been forged, and about it night is poured in
three rows In Tartarus there is darkness,
and the air has no motion. PTometheus,
who was guilty Of overreacning Zeus, was
punished by being chained TO a rock, part
of the time on earth and part in Tartarus
An eagle devoured his liver every day, and
it wasrenewed every night. Ixion, who had
been treacherouS to Zeus, was Chained by the
hands and feet to q wheel which is
described as winged and fiery, and said to
have rolled perpetually in the air. He is
further said TO have been scourged and
compelled to exclaim: "Benefactors should
be honored."
authors as guilty Of treachery of various
kinds. His wickedness during life was
severely punished III the lower world
where he had to roll up hill huge marble
block, which. as soon as it reached the top,
always rolled down again" Tantalus was
a wealthy king who divulged the secrets Of
Zeus. 'The god punished him by placing
him In the nether world in the midst of a
lake, but rendering it impossible for him to
drink when he was thirsty, the water al ways
withdrawing when he stopped. Bran ches
laden with fruit. moreover, hung over mis-
head. but when he stretched out his hand
to reach the fruit the branches withdrew
Over his head there was suspended huge
rock, ever threatening to crush him." The
Danaides, or fifty daughters of Danaus. all
but one of whom in obedience to their
father killed their husbands on their wed
ding night, were punished in Tartarus by
being compelled everlastingly to pour water
into sieve.
MORSE.
According to the Scandinavian myth
ology, all who die bravely in battle are
sDatc led away to Valhalle, Odin's magnif-
cent banquet hall in the sky. Those who,
after lives of ignople labor or inglorious
ease, die of sickness, descend to a cold and
dismal cavern beneath the ground, called
Nifiheim-l. e., the mist-world. This abode
is ruled by the goddess of death. whose
for reprobstes is RasTond, 'V deoper
underground than Nihheim, and far
toward the frigid north. This grim
prison is described in the following passage
from the prose Edda," written in Iceland
in the thirteenth century: "In Nastrond
there is vast and direful structure with
doors that face the north. 1t is formed en-
tirely Of the backs of serpents, waited to-
gether like wicker-work. But the serpents'
heads are turned toward the inside of the
hall and continually vomit forth foods of
venom, IN which wade all those who COM
nit murder or who forswear themselves.
THE FATHERS.
The fathers of the christian church gener-
ally taught the existence of hell Of ma
terial fire aud birthstone Alger gives as
their belief that at the resurrection the
damned ''were to be banished forever to
a fiery hell in the center of the earth, there
to endure uncomprehended agonies, both
physical and spiritual, without any respite
without any end.n The strict IteraH
with which these doctrines were held is
strikinglY shown in Jeromes artless
question: ''If the dead be not raised with
flesh and bones, how can the damned,
after the judgment, gnash their teeth in
hellF "Origen, who was a Platonist, and
hereto on many points" says Alger, twas
severely condemned for saying that the fire
of hell was inward and of the conscience
rather than outward and Of the body"
Tertuflian says: THE damned burned
eternally without consuming, as the vol
canoes, which are vents from the stored
subterranean fire of hell, burn forever with
out wasting" These words point also to the
belief, noted above, that hell was located
under the earth.
In the middle ages the christian concep-
ton of hell became more detailed and more
terrible. The details can be found not only
in the books of the period but they were
favorite subjects for miracle plays and for
works of art, esl eclally for the pictures
carvings and painted windows with which
cathedrals were adorned The monks Of
the period produced an extensive literature
of visions describing the torments of hell.
In these visions, according to Lecky-
POOR DEVIL
"The devil was REPRESENTED bound by red
hot chains on a burning gridiron in the
center of hell The screams of his never
ending agony made its rafters to resound;
but his hands were free, and with these he
seized the lost souls. crushed them like
grapes against his teeth, and then drew
them by his breath down the fiery cavern
of his throat Demo s with hooks Of red
hot iron plunged souls alternately into fire
and ice. Some of the lost were hung up by
their tongues, others were sawn asunder
others gnawned by serpents, others beaten
together on an anvil and welded into sin
gle mass, others boiled and thea strained
through cloth, others twined il the en-
braces Of demons, whose limbs were of
flame. The fire of earth, it was said, was
but picture of that hell. The latter was
so immeasurably more intense that it alone
could be called real"
By far the most elaborate description of
the punishments of sinners which the mid
die ages produced is that of Dante, whose
Inferno combines the torments of the
classical Tartarus and the horrors Of the
christian hell. In this poem, which was
written about 1900, the author represents
himself as being conducted through the in
fernal regions by Virgil. Within the gates
of hell, but before crossing the river
Acheron. the visitors found those who had
lived ''withouten infamy or praise" and
angels who had been neither faithful nor
rebellious, but only selfish. They "were
naked, and were stung exceedingly by CAD
flies and by hornets that were there"
Beyond Acheron were found the great ones
of old, whose sin was lack of baptism.
These were "only so far punished that
without hope we live on in desire"
The reformers made little change in the
medieval conception of hell Calvin writes:
Forever harassed by dreadfdl temaest,