his hand a trident, or three-pronged scepter, the emblem of his
authority.

His sumptuous palace-halls were built
Deep down in ocean, golden, glittering, proof
Against decay of time.

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book XIII.

Mars was the god of war, and Pluʹto, also called Dis and Haʹdes, was god
of the regions of the dead. One of the most glorious and powerful of the
gods was Apollo, or Phœʹbus, or Sminʹtheus, for he had many names. He
was god of the sun, and of medicine, music, and poetry. He is
represented as holding in his hand a bow, and sometimes a lyre. Homer
calls him the "god of the silver bow," and the "far-darting Apollo," for
the ancients believed that with the dart of his arrow he sent down
plagues upon men whenever they offended him.

The other principal deities mentioned by Homer are Mi-nerʹva, or
Palʹlas, the goddess of wisdom; Vulʹcan, the god of fire; and Merʹcu-ry,
or Herʹmes, the messenger of Jupiter. Vulcan was also the patron, or
god, of smiths. He had several forges; one was on Mount Olympus, and
another was supposed to be under Mount Ætʹna in Sicʹi-ly. Here, with his
giant workmen, the Cyʹclops, he made thunderbolts for Jupiter, and
sometimes armor and weapons of war for earthly heroes.

The gods, it was believed, made their will known to men in various
ways,--sometimes by the flight of birds, frequently by dreams, and
sometimes by appearing on earth under different forms, and speaking
directly to kings and warriors. Very often men learned the will of the