The Furies (or the Εὐμενίδες, _i.e._ the _Gracious-minded_, as they are called by a delicate euphemism) are generally looked upon as the impersonations of an evil conscience, the incarnated scourges of self-reproach. In this view there is no essential error; but it may be beneficial, in entering on the perusal of the present piece, to place before the modern reader more literally the true Homeric idea of these awful Powers. In the Iliad and Odyssey, frequent mention is made of the Erinnyes; and from the circumstances, in which their names occur, in various passages of these poems, there can be no doubt that we are to view them primarily as the impersonation of an imprecation or curse, which a person, whose natural rights have been grossly violated, pronounces on the person, by whom this violation comes.[f1] Thus the father of Phoenix (Il. ix. 453), being offended by the conduct of his son in relation to one of his concubines, "loads him with frequent curses, and invokes the hated Furies"-- Πολλὰ κατηρατο, στυγερὰς δ᾽ ἐπίκεκλετ Εριννΰς, and "the gods," it is added, "gave accomplishment to his curse, the subterranean Jove, and the awful Persephone." In the same book we find, in the narration of the war, between the Curetes and the Ætolians, about Calydon, how Althaea, the mother of Meleager, being offended with her son on account of his having slain her brother, cursed him, and invoked Pluto and Proserpine that he might die, and Her the Fury that walketh in darkness, Heard from Erebus' depths, with a heart that knoweth no mercy. Both these instances relate to offences committed against the revered character of a parent; but the elder brother also has his Erinnys.--(Il. xv. 204), and even the houseless beggar--(Od. xvii. 575), and, more than all, he to whose prejudice the sacred obligation of truth and honour have been set at nought by the perjured swearer-- Mighty Jove, be thou my witness, Jove of gods supremest, best, Earth, and Sun, and Furies dread, that underneath the ground avenge Whoso speaks and sweareth falsely-- says Agamemnon--(Il. xix. 257)--in restoring the intact Briseis to Achilles.