Sīrēnes

, sea nymphs who charmed so much with their melodious voice, that all forgot their employments to listen with more attention, and at last died for want of food. They were daughters of the Achelous by the muse Calliope, or, according to others, by Melpomene or Terpsichore. They were three in number, called Par the nope, Ligeia, and Leucosia, or, according to others, Mœolpe, Aglaophonos, and Thelxiope, or Thelxione, and they usually lived in a small island near cape Pelorus in Sicily. Some authors suppose that they were monsters, who had the form of a woman above the waist, and the rest of the body like that of a bird; or rather that the whole body was covered with feathers, and had the shape of a bird, except the head, which was that of a beautiful female. This monstrous form they had received from Ceres, who wished to punish them, because they had not a isted her daughter when carried away by Pluto. But, according to Ovid, they were so disconsolate at the rape of Proser pine, that they prayed the gods to give them wings that they might seek her in the sea as well as by land. The Sirens were informed by the oracle, that as soon as any persons pa ed by them without suffering themselves to be charmed by their ♦ songs, they should perish; and their melody had prevailed in calling the attention of all pa engers, till Uly es, informed of the power of their voice by Circe, stopped the ears of his companions with wax, and ordered himself to be tied to the mast of his ship, and no attention to be paid to his commands, should he wish to stay and listen to their song. This was a salutary precaution. Uly es made signs for his companions to stop, but they were disregarded, and the fatal coast was pa ed with safety. Upon this artifice of Uly es, the Sirens were so disappointed, that they threw themselves into the sea and perished. Some authors say that the Sirens challenged the Muses to a trial of skill in singing, and that the latter proved victorious, and plucked the feathers from the wings of their adversaries, with which they made themselves crowns. The place where the Sirens destroyed themselves was afterwards called Sirenis , on the coast of Sicily. Virgil, however, Æneid , bk. 5 , li. 864 , places the Sirenum Scoupli on the coast of Italy, near the island of Caprea. Some suppose that the Sirens were a number of lascivious women in Sicily, who prostituted themselves to strangers, and made them forget their pursuits while drowned in unlawful pleasures. The Sirens are often represented holding, one a lyre, a second a flute, and the third singing. Pausanias , bk. 10 , ch. 6 .— Homer , Ody ey , bk. 12 , li. 167 .— Strabo , bk. 6 .— Ammianus , bk. 29 , ch. 2 .— Hyginus , fable 141.— Apollo dor us , bk. 2 , ch. 4 .— Ovid , Metamorphoses , bk. 5 , li. 555 ; De Ars Am at or i a , bk. 3 , li. 311 .— Silius Italic us , bk. 12 , li. 33 . ♦ ‘sons’ replaced with ‘songs’