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OF MYTHOLOGY.

Mythology is the term by which the ancient Greek or Roman used to
distinguish hiss religion from the rival religions of other and
heretical pagans. Just as Orthodoxy, according to DEAN SWIFT, means "my
doxy," and Heterodoxy, the doxy of other people; so the pious Roman used
to speak of "my thology" as the only genuine religion; the "thologies"
of other men being cheap and worthless counterfeits of the real article.
The classic mythology had a large and varied assortment of deities, from
which every man could select a supply to suit himself. Thus the lawyer
could place a bust of Mercury, the god of chicanery, in his office, and
so secure the patronage of the god and save the expense of a tin sign
announcing his profession. The editor could dedicate his paper to the
service of Janus, the two-faced deity, and thus pursue his business
without perilling his reputation for religious consistency. The
advantages of this sort of thing need hardly be enlarged upon.

We propose to give easy and familiar descriptions of the more important
gods of classic mythology, for the benefit of our younger readers. We
therefore begin without further delay, with the chief deities of
Olympus, the celestial Tammany Hall of the period. The Olympians formed
a sort of Ring which governed the entire celestial and infernal world,
and as they were the only judges of elections, they retained the power
undisturbed.

JUPITER. This individual was a jolly, good-tempered, old Olympian who
lived in great terror of his wife, JUNO, and was sadly addicted to