The Greeks also believed in an Elys'ium--some distant island of the ocean, ever cooled by refreshing breezes, and where spring perpetual reigned--to which, after death, the blessed were conveyed, and where they were permitted to enjoy it happy destiny. In the Fourth Book of the Odyssey the sea god Pro'teus, in predicting for Menelaus a happier lot than that of Hades, thus describes the Elysian plains: But oh! beloved of Heaven! reserved for thee A happier lot the smiling Fates decree: Free from that law beneath whose mortal sway Matter is changed and varying forms decay, Elysium shall be thine--the blissful plains Of utmost earth, where Rhadaman'thus reigns. Joys ever young, unmixed with pain or fear, Fill the wide circle of the eternal year. Stern Winter smiles on that auspicious clime; The fields are florid with unfading prime; From the bleak pole no winds inclement blow, Mould the round hail, or flake the fleecy snow; But from the breezy deep the blest inhale The fragrant murmurs of the western gale. --POPE'S Trans. Similar views are expressed by the lyric poet PINDAR in the following lines: All whose steadfast virtue thrice Each side the grave unchanged hath stood, Still unseduced, unstained with vice-- They, by Jove's mysterious road, Pass to Saturn's realm of rest-- Happy isle, that holds the blest; Where sea-born breezes gently blow O'er blooms of gold that round them glow, Which Nature, boon from stream or strand Or goodly tree, profusely showers; Whence pluck they many a fragrant band, And braid their locks with never-fading flowers. --Trans. by A. MOORE. There is so much similarity between the mythology of the early Greeks and that of many of the Asiatic nations, that we give place here to the supposed meditations of a Hindu prince and skeptic on the great subject of a future state of existence, as a fitting close of our brief review of the religious beliefs of the ancients. Among the Asiatic nations are to be found accounts of the Creation, and of multitudes of gods, good and evil, all quite as pronounced as those that are derived from the Grecian myths; and while the wildest and grossest of superstitious fancies have prevailed among the common people, skepticism and atheistic doubt are known to have been nearly universal among the learned. The poem which we give in this connection, therefore, though professedly a Hindu creation, may be accepted not only as portraying Hindu doubt and despondency, but also as a faithful picture of the anxiety, doubt, and almost utter despair, not only of the ancient Greeks; but of the entire heathen world, concerning the destiny of mankind.