[4] Euripides.

[5] Archilochus.

[6] This function of Mercury, as Psycho-Pompos, or conductor of
departed souls to Hades, is often misunderstood. He was a Pompos not so
much for the safety of the dead (though that was an important
consideration) as for the peace of the living. The Greeks had an
overwhelming fear of the dead, as is evident from the propitiatory rites
to their shades; hence the necessity of putting them under strict
charge,--even against their will. (Horace, I. Ode xxiv. 15.) All
Mercury's qualifications point to this office, by which he defends the
living against the invasions of the dead. Hence his craft and
agility;--for who so fleet and subtle as a ghost?

[7] Plato's _Republic_, at the close.




THE MINISTER'S WOOING.

[Continued.]

CHAPTER XXII.


Mary returned to the house with her basket of warm, fresh eggs, which
she set down mournfully upon the table. In her heart there was one
conscious want and yearning, and that was to go to the friends of him