a Roman divinity. The connection of his name with merx, goods, and mercuri, to traffic, indicates that the first idea of his character was that of the patron of merchandise. As the Latin writers, however, became intimate with the literature of Greece, they identified his life and functions with those of the Greek god Hermes. Mercury, therefore, was said to be the son of Jupiter and Maia, and to have been born in a cave of the Arcadian mountain Cyllene. Scarcely had he seen the light when he seized upon a tortoise, and out of its shell framed the first lyre. He then proceeded to Pleistria, and drove off part of the flock of Apollo to a cave in Pylos. The owner detecting the theft, pursued, and recovered his property; but was so charmed with the music of the newly-invented lyre, that he returned the oxen, and presented to the young god a golden staff called caduceus. At the same time Jupiter installed him in the office of herald and messenger of the gods. In this capacity Mercury tied Tylon on the wheel, chained Prometheus to Mount Caucasus, assisted Perseus to kill Medusa, conducted Juno, Minerva, and Venus to Paris, and slew Argos the hundred-eyed. He was also employed to lead the ghosts of the dead to the other world, to infuse dreams into the brain, and to cause or dispel slumber by the passes of his magic wand. From his character as a herald, Mercury came to be considered an adept in eloquence, and therefore the patron of orators, poets, and other men of genius. Since his office also led him to be the promoter of intercourse and agreement between parties at a distance from each other, he was regarded as the god of commerce and of all the other means that produce peace and unity among nations. Yet as he was sometimes sent on hostile missions, and was not scrupulous on these occasions about the devices he employed, he was supposed to listen to the prayers of thieves and robbers. His patronage was likewise extended to shepherds, musicians, travellers, and athletes. He is said to have invented letters, arithmetic, astronomy, music, and the syrinx. The two most celebrated temples of Mercury were situated, the one upon Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, and the other near the Circus Maximus in Rome. His festivals were called hermae. His images, styled hermae, were set up at cross roads and in the porches of temples and mansions. Mercury is generally represented as a naked youth, displaying in his limbs the beauty of the boy mingled with the full vigour of manhood, holding a purse in his right hand and his winged caduceus in his left, wearing one pair of wings on his sandals and another on his hat, and bending forward on tiptoe, as if speeding over sea and land on some important errand.