Mercŭrius

, a celebrated god of antiquity, called Hermes by the Greeks. There were no le than five of this name according to Cicero; a son of Cœlus and Lux; a son of Valens and Coronis; a son of the Nile; a son of Jupiter and Maia; and another called by the Egyptians Thaut. Some add a sixth, a son of Bacchus and Proser pine. To the son of Jupiter and Maia, the actions of all the others have been probably attributed, as he is the most famous and the best known. Mercury was the me enger of the gods, and of Jupiter in particular; he was the patron of travellers and of shepherds; he conducted the souls of the dead into the infernal regions, and not only presided over orators, merchants, declaimers, but he was also the god of thieves, pickpockets, and all dishonest persons. His name is derived a mercibus , because he was the god of merchandise among the Latins. He was born, according to the more received opinion, in Arcadia, on mount Cyllene, and in his infancy he was entrusted to the care of the Seasons. The day that he was born, or more probably the following day, he gave an early proof of his craftine and dishonesty, in stealing away the oxen of Admetus which Apollo tended. He gave another proof of his thievish propensity, by taking also the quiver and arrows of the divine shepherd, and he increased his fame by robbing Neptune of his trident, Venus of her girdle, Mars of his sword, Jupiter of his sceptre, and Vulcan of many of his mechanical instruments. These specimens of his art recommended him to the notice of the gods, and Jupiter took him as his me enger, interpreter, and cup-bearer in the a embly of the gods. This last office he discharged till the promotion of Ganymede. He was presented by the king of heaven with a winged cap called petasus , and with wings for his feet called talaria . He had also a short sword called herpe , which he lent to Perseus. With these he was enabled to go into whatever part of the universe he pleased with the greatest celerity; and besides, he was permitted to make himself invisible, and to a ume whatever shape he pleased. As me enger of Jupiter he was entrusted with all his secrets. He was the amba ador and plenipotentiary of the gods, and he was concerned in all alliances and treaties. He was the confidant of Jupiter’s amours, and he often was set to watch over the jealousy and intrigues of Juno. The invention of the lyre and its seven strings is ascribed to him. This he gave to Apollo, and received in exchange the celebrated caduceus with which the god of poetry used to drive the flocks of king Admetus. See: Caduceus . In the wars of the giants against the gods, Mercury showed himself brave, spirited, and active. He delivered Mars from the long confinement which he suffered from the superior power of the Aloides. He purified the Danaides of the murder of their husbands, he tied Ixion to his wheel in the infernal regions, he destroyed the hundred-eyed Argus, he sold Hercules to Omphale the queen of Lydia, he conducted Priam to the tent of Achilles, to redeem the body of his son Hector, and he carried the infant Bacchus to the nymphs of Nysa. Mercury had many surnames and epithets. He was called Cyllenius, Caduceator, Acacetos, from Acacos, an Arcadian; Acacesius, Tricep halos, Triplex, Chthonius, Camillus, Agoneus, Delius, Arcas, . His children are also numerous as well as his amours. He was father of Autolycus by Chione; of Myrtillus by Cleobula; of Libys by Libya; of Echion and Eurytus by Anti an ira; of Cephalus by Creusa; of Prylis by I a; and of Priapus, according to some. He was also father of Hermaphroditus by Venus; of Eudorus by Polimela; of Pan by Dryope, or Penelope. His worship was well established, particularly in Greece, Egypt, and Italy. He was worshipped at Tanagra in Bœotia, under the name of Criophorus, and represented as carrying a ram on his shoulders, because he delivered the inhabitants from a pestilence by telling them to carry a ram in that manner round the walls of their city. The Roman merchants yearly celebrated a festival on the 15th of May, in honour of Mercury, in a temple near the Circus Maximus. A pregnant sow was then sacrificed, and sometimes a calf and particularly the tongues of animals were offered. After the votaries had sprinkled themselves with water with laurel leaves, they offered prayers to the divinity, and entreated him to be favourable to them, and to forgive whatever artful measures, false oaths, or falsehoods they had used or uttered in the pursuit of gain. Sometimes Mercury appears on monuments with a large cloak round his arm, or tied under his chin. The chief ensigns of his power and offices are his caduceus , his petasus , and his talaria . Sometimes he is represented sitting upon a crayfish, holding in one hand his caduceus, and in the other the claws of the fish. At other times he is like a young man without a beard, holding in one hand a purse, as being the tutelary god of merchants, with a cock on his wrists as an emblem of vigilance, and at his feet a goat, a scorpion, and a fly. Some of his statues represented him as a youth fasci no erecto . Sometimes he rests his foot upon a tortoise. In Egypt his statues represented him with the head of a dog, whence he was often confounded with Anubis, and received the sacrifice of a stork. Offerings of milk and honey were made because he was the god of eloquence, whose powers were sweet and persuasive. The Greeks and Romans offered tongues to him by throwing them into the fire, as he was the patron of speaking of which the tongue is the organ. Sometimes his statues represent him as without arms, because, according to some, the power of speech can prevail over everything, even without the a istance of arms. Homer , Ody ey , bk. 1 , . ; Iliad , bk. 1 , . ; Hymn to Hermes .— Lucian , Dialog i Mortuorum .— Ovid , Fasti , bk. 5 , li. 667 ; Metamorphoses , bks. 1, 4, 11, 14.— Martial , bk. 9 , ltr. 35 .— Statius , Thebiad , bk. 4 .— Pausanias , bks. 1, 7, 8, & 9.— Orpheus. — Plutarch , Numa .— Varro , de Lingua Latina , bk. 6 .— Plato , Phædras .— Livy , bk. 36 .— Virgil , Georgics , bk. 1 ; Æneid , bk. 1 , li. 48 .— Diodorus , bks. 4 & 5.— Apollo dor us , bks. 1, 2, & 3.— A poll on i us , Argonautic a , bk. 1 .— Horace , bk. 1 , ode 10.— Hyginus , Poetic a Astronomic a , bk. 2 .— Tzetzes , Lycophron , li. 219 .— Cicero , de Natura Deorum .— Lac tanti us [Placid us]. — Phi lost ratus , bk. 1 , Imagines , ch. 27 .— Marcus Manilius. — Macrobius , bk. 1 , Saturnalia , ch. 19 .――Trismegistus, a priest and philosopher of Egypt, who taught his countrymen how to cultivate the olive, and measure their lands, and to understand hieroglyphics. He lived in the age of Osiris, and wrote 40 books on theology, medicine, and geography, from which San chon i a thon the Phœnician historian has taken his theogonia. Diodorus , bks. 1, & 5.— Plutarch , de Iside et Osiride .— Cicero , bk. 3 , de Natura Deorum .