a fabled king of Phrygia and Paphlagonia, was, according to the common accounts, the son of Jupiter and the nymph Pluto. The ordinary account of him is, that being invited by Jupiter to the divine table, he afterwards divulged the secrets intrusted to him, and the gods punished him with perpetual hunger and thirst. He was chained in a lake, the water of which reached up to his chin, but retired when he attempted to drink. The branch of a tree loaded with fruit hung down even to his lips, but on his attempting to pluck the fruit the branch sprang upwards. Many other fables are told regarding Tantalus. His punishment was proverbial among the ancients, and hence the use of the English verb, "to tantalize."