Ely̆sium

and Elysii Campi , a place or island in the infernal regions, where, according to the mythology of the ancients, the souls of the virtuous were placed after death. There happine was complete, the pleasures were innocent and refined. Bowers for ever green, delightful meadows with pleasant streams, were the most striking objects. The air was wholesome, serene, and temperate; the birds continually warbled in the groves, and the inhabitants were ble ed with another sun and other stars. The employments of the heroes who dwelt in these regions of bli were various; the manes of Achilles are represented as waging war with the wild beasts, while the Trojan chiefs are innocently exercising themselves in managing horses, or in handling arms. To these innocent amusements some poets have added continual feasting and revelry, and they suppose that the Elysian fields were filled with all the incontinence and voluptuousne which could gratify the low desires of the debauchee. The Elysian fields were, according to some, in the Fortunate Islands on the coast of Africa, in the Atlantic. Others place them in the island of Leuce; and, according to the authority of Virgil, they were situate in Italy. According to Lucian, they were near the moon; or in the centre of the earth, if we believe Plutarch. Virgil , Æneid , bk. 6 , li. 638 .— Homer , Ody ey , bk. 4 .— Pindar. — Tibullus , bk. 1 , poem 3, li. 57 .— Lucian. — Plutarch , ♦ de Consul. ♦ Unidentified, po ible typo for ‘Consolatio ad A poll onium’