Below the major gods was an infinity of smaller ones, who presided over physical and moral matters. There were, for example, wood and tree nymphs; Dryads and hamadryads--gods of rivers, such as Simois and Scamander. Pan presided over husbandmen; Hermes, over thieves, &c. Others, like Eros, fulfilled the duty of bringing the sexes together. Hymen secured them in marriage, and Venus had the duty of insuring connubial happiness, whilst Lucina's business was to bring the offspring of the marriage into the world--with as little pain or danger as possible. Then, again, Fortune brought good luck. The "furies" brought evil, and the "fates" ruled the destiny of mortals. Against some of these gods others rebelled. For example, there were the Titans, the sons of Heaven and Earth (Caelus et Terra), who were all of gigantic stature, and may be said to be identical with the giants spoken of in Gen. vi. 2-4, as being the offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men. These Titans were much disliked by their father, and confined in the bowels of the earth, or, as we should say, in Hell; but their mother relieved them, and they in turn revenged themselves upon their progenitor. When Jupiter succeeded to Cronos or Saturn, the giants, the sons of Tartarus and Terra, or Hell and Earth, united with their half-brothers, the Titans, and attacked Olympus, and its gods, in dismay, assumed disguises and fled into Egypt--a rare spot, whence also came as history tells us, the founder of Christianity and the doctrine of the Trinity. To regain his position, Jupiter found a man--a son of his own--whom he had begotten by lying three nights in the heart of the earth, or, as the fable has it, in the arms of Alcmena--Hercules by name, to attack the allied monsters, and thus with the aid of a mortal the gods became victorious. Just as in more modern days the divine mission and position of Jesus of Nazareth and Mahomet of Mecca, have been determined by the arms of human warriors. The power of men in heaven is wonderful, considering how great is their weakness upon earth! It is probable, that to the Greeks, Milton owed his ideas of _Paradise Lost_.