Page:Greek and Roman Mythology.djvu/104

 90 GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY vague one. The appointed lot, the Moera (more rarely found in the plural form, Moerae), or Aisa, is some- times considered an expression of the will of Zeus; in other parts of the Homeric poems it already stands inde- pendently beside, or even above him, and he then, like the other gods, becomes merely the executor of its (or their) decrees. Therefore in Hesiod the Moerae are called sometimes daughters of night, at other times daughters of Zeus and Themis. They decide the fate of every man at his birth; and all the important events of his life, especially marriage and death, follow their decrees. From the time of Hesiod three Moerae were distin- guished : Clotho (' spinner '), who spins the thread of life ; Lachesis (' allotter '), the bestower of life's lot ; Atropos ('the inevitable/ 'the unrelenting'), who sends death. Accordingly in art they carry as symbols a spindle and lots, sometimes also a scroll and a balance, as their mother Themis does. By the Romans they were identified with their Fates (Parcae or Fata). 119. Nemesis, also, who appears personified first in Hesiod, represented originally the idea of the part meas- ured out (cf. ve'/W). She guards the preservation of the just measure; so her attributes are the cubit and the balance. Since she censures and punishes (ve/Aeoraa>, ve/xeo-ioju,ai) every violation of proper moderation, espe- cially such as is occasioned by excessive self-confidence, she becomes also the angry requiter ; and, as the one who subdues arrogance, she carries a bridle, yoke, and whip. But by the dropping of spittle into her bosom and the loosening of her garment it is especially indicated that she is the goddess who warns against presumptuousness ; for it was customary to endeavor to shield oneself from the