As there was a Men-tor in Crete, so there was a place of the same name, only reversed, in Sicily, called Tor-men, and Tauromenium. There is reason to think, that the same cruel practices prevailed here. It stood in the country of the Lamiæ, Lestrygons, and Cyclopes, upon the river On-Baal, which the Greeks rendered Onoballus. From hence we may conclude, that it was one of the Cyclopian buildings. Homer has presented us with something of truth, though we receive it sadly mixed with fable. We find from him, that when Ulysses entered the dangerous pass of Rhegium, he had six of his comrades seized by Scylla: and he loses the same number in the cavern of the Cyclops, which that monster devoured. Silenus, in a passage before taken notice of, is by Euripides made to say, that the most agreeable repast to the Cyclops was the flesh of strangers: nobody came within his reach, that he did not feed upon. [637]Γλυκυτατα, φησι, τα κρεα τους ξενους φερειν· Ουδεις μολων δευρ', ὁστις ου κατεσφαγη. From these accounts some have been led to think, that the priests in these temples really fed upon the flesh of the persons sacrificed: and that these stories at bottom allude to a shocking depravity; such, as one would hope, that human nature could not be brought to. Nothing can be more horrid, than the cruel process of the Cyclops, as it is represented by Homer. And though it be veiled under the shades of poetry, we may still learn the detestation, in which these places were held. [638]Συν δε δυω μαρψας ὡστε σκυλακας ποτι γαιῃ Κοπτ', εκ δ' εγκεφαλος χαμαδις ῥεε, δευε δε γαιαν. Τους τε διαμελεϊστι ταμων ὡπλισσατο δορπον· Ησθιε δ' ωστε λεων ορεσιτροφος, ουδ' απελειπεν Εγκατα τε, σαρκας τε, και οστεα μυελοεντα. Ἡμεις δε κλαιοντες ανεσχεθομεν Διι χειρας, Σκετλια εργ' ὁροωντες, αμηχανιη δ' εχε θυμον. [639]He answered with his deed: his bloody hand Snatch'd two unhappy of my martial band, And dash'd like dogs against the rocky floor: The pavement swims with brains, and mingled gore. Torn limb from limb, he spreads the horrid feast, And fierce devours it like a mountain beast. He sucks the marrow, and the blood he drains; Nor entrails, flesh, nor solid bone remains. We see the death, from which we cannot move, And humbled groan beneath the hand of Jove.