There was no heavy heat, no cold, The dwellers there wax never old, Nor wither with the waning time, But each man keeps that age he had When first he won the fairy clime. The night falls never from on high, Nor ever burns the heat of noon; But such soft light eternally Shines, as in silver dawns of June Before the sun hath climbed the sky! * * * * * All these their mirth and pleasure made Within the plain Elysian, The fairest meadow that may be, With all green fragrant trees for shade, And every scented wind to fan, And sweetest flowers to strew the lea; The soft winds are their servants fleet To fetch them every fruit at will And water from the river chill; And every bird that singeth sweet, Throstle, and merle, and nightingale, Brings blossoms from the dewy vale,-- Lily, and rose, and asphodel,-- With these doth each guest twine his crown And wreathe his cup, and lay him down Beside some friend he loveth well.[53] =47. Pluto (Hades)= was brother of Jupiter. To him fell the sovereignty of the lower world and the shades of the dead. In his character of Hades, the viewless, he is hard and inexorable. By virtue of the helmet or cap given him by the Cyclopes, he moved hither and yon, dark, unseen,--hated of mortals. He was, however, lord not only of all that descends to the bowels of the earth, but of all that proceeds from the earth; and in the latter aspect he was revered as Pluto, or the giver of wealth. At his pleasure he visited the realms of day,--as when he carried off Proserpina; occasionally he journeyed to Olympus; but otherwise he ignored occurrences in the upper world, nor did he suffer his subjects, by returning, to find them out. Mortals, when they called on his name, beat the ground with their hands and, averting their faces, sacrificed black sheep to him and to his queen. Among the Romans he is known also as Dis, Orcus, and Tartarus. But Orcus is rather Death, or the Underworld, than ruler of the shades. [Illustration: FIG. 38. HADES] =48. Proserpina (Persephone)= was the daughter of Ceres and Jupiter. She was queen of Hades,--a name applied both to the ruler of the shades and to his realm. When she is goddess of spring, dear to mankind, Proserpina bears a cornucopia overflowing with flowers, and revisits the earth in duly recurring season. But when she is goddess of death, sitting beside Pluto, she directs the Furies, and, like her husband, is cruel, unyielding, inimical to youth and life and hope. In the story of her descent to Hades will be found a further account of her attributes and fortunes. =49. The Lesser Divinities of the Underworld= were: