Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1124

Rh 1110 MOIRA. the power of other gods over the life of man is expressed. (//. xxiv. 525, Od. i. 17, iii. 208, iv. 208.) But the personification of his Moira is not complete, for he mentions no particular appearance of the goddess, no attributes, and no parentage ; and his Moira is therefore quite synonymous with Alo-a. (//. XX. 127, xxiv. 209.) If in Od. vii. 197, the KaTaKAa;0ej are the Moirae, and not the Eileithyiae, as some suppose, Altra and Moira would indeed be two distinct beings, but still beings performing entirely the same functions. The Homeric Moira is not, as some have thought, an inflexible fate, to which the gods themselves must bow ; but, on the contrary, Zeus, as the father of gods and men, weighs out their fate to them {IL viii. 69, xxii. 209 ; comp. xix. 108) ; and if he chooses, he has the power of saving even those who are already on the point of being seized by their fate (//. xvi. 434, 441, 443) ; nay, as Fate does not abruptly interfere in human affairs, but avails herself of intermediate causes, and deter- mines the lot of mortals not absolutely, but only conditionally, even man himself, in his freedom, is allowed to exercise a certain influence upon her. {Od. i. 34, //. ix. 411, xvi. 685.) As man's fate terminates at his death, the goddess of fate at the close of life becomes the goddess of death, jxotpa daudroio {Od. xxiv. 29, ii. 100, iii. 238), and is mentioned along with death itself, and with Apollo, the bringer of death. (//. iii. 101, v. 83, xvi. 434, 853, xx. 477, xxi. 101, xxiv. 132.) Hesiod (T/ieo(f. 217, &c., 904 ; comp. Apollod. i. 3. § 1) has the personification of the Moirae complete ; for he calls them, together with the Keres, daughters of Night ; and distinguishes three, viz. Clotho, or the spinning fate ; Lachesis, or the one who assigns to man his fate ; and Atropos, or the fate that cannot be avoided. According to this genealogy, the Moirae must be considered as in a state of dependence upon their father, and as agreeing with his counsels. Hence he is called Moipayerrjs^ i. e. the guide or leader of the Moirae (Paus. V. 15. § 4), and hence also they were repre- sented along with their father in temples and works of art, as at Megara (Paus. i. 40, § 3), in the temple of Despoena in Arcadia (viii. 37. § 1 ), and at Delphi (x. 24. § 4 ; comp. viii. 42. § 2). They are further described as engraving on in- destructible tables the decrees of their father Zeus. (Claudian, xv. 202 ; comp. Ov. Met. xv. 808, &c.) Later writers differ in their genealogy of the Moirae from that of Hesiod ; thus they are called children of Erebus and Night (Cic. De Nat. Dear. iii. 17), of Cronos and Night (Tzetz. ad Z^c. 406), of Ge and Oceanus (Athenag. 15 ; Lycoph. 144), or lastly of Ananke or Necessity. (Plat. De Re Pwi/. p. 617, d.) It cannot be surprising to find that the character and nature of the Moirae were conceived differently at different times .ind by different authors. Some- times they appear as divinities of fate in the strict sense of the term, and sometimes only as allego- rical divinities of the duration of human life. In the former character they are independent, at the helm of necessity, direct fate, and watch that the fate assigned to every being by eternal laws may take its course without obstruction (Aeschyl. Prom. 511, 515) ; and Zeus, as well as the other gods and men, must submit to them. (Herod, i. 91 ; Lactant. InstUut. i. II, 13; Stob. Eclog. i. pp. 162, 170.) They assign to the Erinnyes, who MOIRA. inflict the punishment for evil deeds, their proper functions ; and with them they direct fate accord- ing to the laws of necessity, whence they are some- times called the sisters of the Erinnyes. (Aeschyl. Eum. 335, 962, Prom. 516, 696, 895 ; Tzetz. ad Lye. 406.) Later poets also conceive the Moirae in the same character. (Virg. Aen. v. 798, xii. 147 ; Tibull. i. 8. 2 ; Ov. TrisL v. 3. 17, Mel. XV. 781 ; Horat. Carm. Saec. 25, &c.) These grave and mighty goddesses were represented by the earliest artists with staffs or sceptres, the symbol of dominion ; and Plato (De Be Pub. p. 617) even mentions their crowns. {Mus. Pio- Clem. tom. vi. tab. B.) The Moirae, as the divinities of the duration oi human life, which is determined by the two points ^f birth and of death, are conceived either as god- desses of birth or as goddesses of death, and hence their number was two, as at Delphi. (Paus. x. 24. § 4 ; Plut. de Tranq. An. 15, de Ei ap. Delph. 2.) From this circumstance we may perhaps infer that originally the Greeks conceived of only one Moira, and that subsequently a consideration of her nature and attributes led to the belief in two, and ulti- mately in three Moirae ; though a distribution of the functions among the three was not strictly ob- served, for in Ovid, for example {wl Liv. 239), and Tibullus (i. 8. 1 . ), all three are described as spin- ning, although this should be the function of Clotho alone, who is, in fact, often mentioned alone as the representative of all. (Pind. 01. i. 40 ; Ov. ad Liv. 164, Fast. vi. 757, Ex Pont. iv. 15. 36.) As goddesses of birth, who spin the thread of begin- ning life, and even prophesy the fate of the newly born, they are mentioned along with Eileithyia, who is called their companion and -ndpi^pos. (Paus. viii. 21. § 2 ; Plat. Sympos. p. 206, d. ; Pind. 01. vi, 70, Nem. vii, 1 ; Anton. Lib. 29 ; comp. Eurip. Iphig. Taur. 207.) In a similar capacity they are also joined with Prometheus, the former, or creator of the human race in general. (Hygin. Poet. A sir. ii. 15.) The symbol with which they, or rather Clotho alone, are represented to indicate this func- tion, is a spindle, and the idea implied in it was carried out so far, that sometimes we read of their breaking or cutting off the thread when life is to end. (Ov. Am. ii. 6. 46 ; Plat, de Re Publ. p. 616.) Being goddesses of fate, they must necessarily know the future, which at times they reveal, and thus become prophetic divinities. (Ov. Met. viii. 454, Trist. v. 3. 25 ; Tibull. i. 8. 1, iv. 5. 3; Ca- tull. 64. 307.) As goddesses of death, they ap- pear together with the Keres (Hes, Sent. Here. 258) and the infernal Erinnyes, with whom they are even confounded, and in the neighbourhood of Sicyon the annual sacrifices offered to them were the same as those offered to the Erinnyes. (Pans, ii. 11. § 4; comp. Schol. ad Aesclu Agam. 70; Aelian, //. A. x. 33 ; Serv. ad Aen. i. 86.) It belongs to the same character that, along with the Charites, they lead Persephone out of the lower world into the regions of light, and are mentioned along with Pluto and Charon. (Orph. Hymn. 428; Ov. Fast. vi. 157; comp. Aristoph. Ran. 453.) The various epithets which poets apply to the Moirae generally refer to the severity, inflexi- bility, and sternness of fate. They had sanctuaries in many parts of Greece, such as Corinth (Paus. ii. 4, § 7), Sparta (iii. II. § 8), Olympia (v. 15, § 4), Thebes (ix. 25. § 4), and elsewhere. The poets sometimes describe