Next to Jove, Poseidon is the strongest of the gods, as the element which he rules demands; and this strength, in works of art, is generally {375} indicated by the breadth of chest given to this god. So Homer, also, wishing to magnify Agamemnon, says-- "Like to Jove that rules the thunder were his kingly head and eyes; Belted round the loins like Ares; like Poseidon was his breast." IL. II. 478. The connection of the god of the waters with Delphi is given by Pausanias x. 5, where it is said, that originally Poseidon possessed the oracle in common with Gaea; a legend easily explained by the fact, that all high mountains necessarily produce copious streams of water of which, no less than of the waves of ocean, Poseidon is lord. Note 10 (p. 142). "A gray-haired woman, weaker than a child." STAN. refers here to the account given by Diodorus of the origin of the Delphic oracle, c. xvi. 26, where he relates, that in the most ancient times the prophetess was a young woman; but that, afterwards, one Echecrates, a Spartan, being smitten with the beauty of a prophetess, had offered violence to her, in consequence of which an edict was published by the Delphians, forbidding any female to assume the office of Pythoness till she was fifty years old. Note 11 (p. 142). ". . . the ravenous crew That filched the feast of Phineus." The Harpies; who, from the names given to them in Homer and Hesiod (and specially from Odyssey xx. 66 and 77 compared) seem to have been impersonations of sudden and tempestuous gusts of wind; though, again, it is not impossible that these winds may be symbolical of the rapacious power of swift and sudden death-- "Venit Mors velociter Rapit nos atrociter," as suggested by BRAUN. See the article by Dr. SCHMITZ in the Biographical Dictionary. Note 12 (p. 142). "Such uncouth sisterhood, apparel'd so." With regard to the dress of the Furies, STAN. quotes a curious passage from Diogenes Laertius, which I shall translate:--"Menedemus, the Cynic," says he, "went to such fantastic excess as to go about in the dress of the Furies, saying, that he was sent as a visitant of human iniquity from Hades, that he might descend again, and report to the Infernal powers. His garb was as follows--a dun-coloured tunic (χιτων) reaching down to the feet, girt with a crimson sash; on his head an Arcadian cap, with the twelve signs of the Zodiac inwoven; tragic buskins, a very long beard, and an ashen rod in his hand."--VI. 9. 2. The Romans were once put to flight by the Gauls, dressed in the terrible garb of the Furies, with burning torches in their hands.--LIVY VII. 17. Note 13 (p. 143). ". . . A bitter pasture truly Was thine from Fate."