GRACES, GRATIE, CHARITES, in the heathen theology, were fabulous deities, three in number, who attended on Venus. Their names were, Aglaia, Thalia, and Euphrosyne; or, according to some authors, Pasithea, Euphrosyne, and Aglaia. They were supposed by some to be the daughters of Jupiter and Eurynome, and by others to be the daughters of Bacchus and Venus. Some suppose the Graces to have been four in number; and make them the same with the Horæ or Hours, or rather with the four seasons of the year. A marble in the king of Prussia's cabinet represents the three Graces in the usual manner, with a fourth seated and covered with a large veil, having underneath the words Ad Sorores III. But this group we may understand to be the three Graces, and Venus, who was their sister, as being daughter of Jupiter and Dione. The Graces were always supposed to hold one another by the hands, and never to have parted. They were painted naked, to show that they borrowed nothing from art, and that they had no other beauties than such as were purely natural. Yet in the first ages they were not represented naked, as appears from Pausanias (lib. vi. and ix.), who describes their temple and statues. They were
wood, all but the head, the feet, and the hands, which were of white marble. Their robe or gown was gilt; and one of them held in her hand a rose, another a dye, and the third a sprig of myrtle.