Pluto

“ Persephone. But the dark green waters hide their prey.
And then he sees her!
Quickly, thrashing his way to the drowning girl, Pluto dives beneath the murky depths. He lifts her from the water's deadly embrace. Cradled in Pluto's arms, her face white above the dark surface, she seems more dead than living. Thrashing the deadly waves Pluto brings her to the shore.
Demo raises the broken sword high, waiting!
Pluto stalks onto the shore carrying her like a doll, gently, in his huge arms. Turning to Demo, Pluto growls in the angry voice he could not renounce, "Save her." ”

“ The black horses had rushed along so swiftly that they were already beyond the limits of the sunshine. But the duskier it grew, the more did Pluto's visage assume an air of satisfaction. After all, he was not an ill-looking person, especially when he left off twisting his features into a smile that did not belong to them. Proserpina peeped at his face through the gathering dusk, and hoped that he might not be so very wicked as she at first thought him.
"Ah, this twilight is truly refreshing," said King Pluto, "after being so tormented with that ugly and impertinent glare of the sun. ”

“ So a division was made whereby Pluto became king of the underworld—or Hades; Neptune took the dominion of the sea; and Jupiter, having married his sister, Juno, established his dwelling in Olympus as lord of heaven and earth.
The kingdom of Pluto41 was dreaded by all mortals, and its ruler inspired men with great fear. Though Pluto was known to visit the earth from time to time, no one wished to see his face, and each man dreaded the moment when he should be obliged to appear before the grim monarch of Hades, and be assigned a place among the innumerable dead. ”

“ Thus did they come to the chariot of the glorious Apollo, and standing by the heads of his horses like two grey clouds that bar the passage of the sun, they begged him to tell them the name of him who had stolen fair Proserpine.
"No less a thief was he," said Apollo, "than Pluto, King of Darkness and robber of Life itself. Mourn not, Demeter. Thy daughter is safe in his keeping. The little nymph who played in the meadows is now Queen of the Shades. Nor does Pluto love her vainly. She is now in love with Death." ”

“ The roots and all the summits of many-rilled Ida were shaken, and the city of the Trojans, and the ships of the Greeks. Pluto himself, king of the nether world, trembled beneath, and leaped up from his throne, terrified, and shouted aloud, lest earth-shaking Neptune should rend asunder the earth over him, and disclose to mortals and immortals his mansions, terrible, squalid, which even the gods loathe. So great a tumult arose from the gods engaging in combat. Against king Neptune, indeed, stood Phœbus Apollo, having his winged shafts, and against Mars the azure-eyed goddess Minerva. ”

“ On the other side, Pluto, fierce, in a mantle black as night, with a tiara of diamonds and a sceptre of ebony, is in the midst of an isle enclosed by the windings of the Styx;—and this ghostly stream rushes into the darkness, which forms under the cliff a great black gap, a shapeless abyss. ”

“ PLUTO—HADES.
Ques. Who was Pluto?
Ans. He was the son of Saturn and Ops, and the brother of Jupiter and Neptune. In the division of his father’s kingdom, the infernal regions were allotted to him, and he is therefore called the king of Hell.
Ques. How is Pluto represented?
Ans. He is seated on a throne in the midst of clouds and darkness; he wears a crown of ebony, and holds a key in his hand instead of a sceptre.
Ques. What does the key signify?
Ans. It seems to imply, that when once the dead are received into Pluto’s kingdom, the gates are locked upon them and there is no escape. ”

“ What does Pluto’s name signify?
Ans. The Greek name Pluto, and the Latin word Dis, signify wealth, because this god is supposed to control the hidden treasures of the earth. The thunder that happens in the night time is attributed to Pluto, and he is often styled the Infernal Jupiter.
[Pg 100] Ques. Was Pluto the same as Plutus?
Ans. No; Plutus was the god of riches, and was supposed to be the son of Jason and Ceres. He is described as being blind and lame, injudicious, and timorous. ”

“ And as she touched the plant a white flower bloomed, fell into her outstretched hand.
"As you have died for love, oh Pluto, I pity you. And though you will be remembered for the evil of your ways, and as master of the infernal regions, one consolation you shall have." ”

“ It will be a magnificent sight when we get to my palace."
"Is it much farther?" asked Proserpina. "And will you carry me back when I have seen it?"
"We will talk of that by and by," answered Pluto. "We are just entering my dominions. Do you see that tall gateway before us? When we pass those gates, we are at home. And there lies my faithful mastiff at the threshold. Cerberus! Cerberus! Come hither, my good dog!"
So saying, Pluto pulled at the reins, and stopped the chariot right between the tall, massive pillars of the gateway. ”

“ All fourteen of the other Gods had been there this time; a simple quorum wasn't enough. Pluto, with his dead-black, light-absorbent skin casting a shade of gloom about him, had slouched into the Court of the Gods, looking at everybody and everything with lackluster eyes. ”

“ His doctor, versed in sciences, With wig beneath his hat, Argued and showed with wondrous ease, From Celsus and Hippocrates, When he in judgment sat,— "Right worshipful the mayor of hell, The liver's wrong, I see full well." "He's but a booby," Pluto said, "With all his trash and pills! A man like me—pray where's his head? A young man yet—his wits have fled! While youth my veins yet fills! ”

“ Since the world could not well spare the goddess of beauty, Jupiter refused to let her go to the sunless realm of Pluto; but neither would that dread ruler consent to give up Adonis to her longing arms. Then the gods, touched by the depth of Venus's grief, interceded in her behalf, and reluctantly Pluto agreed to allow Adonis to spend six months with the goddess in the warmth and joy of the sunlight if for the rest of the year he would be content to dwell in Hades. ”

“ It was on one of these occasions that Pluto kidnapped Proserpina, the fair goddess of vegetation, daughter of Ceres, whom he set on his throne in Hades, and crowned his queen (p. 183) .
Worship of Pluto.
[Pg 160] Pluto is always represented as a stern, dark, bearded man, with tightly closed lips, a crown on his head, a scepter and a key in hand, to show how carefully he guards those who enter his domains, and how vain are their hopes to effect their escape. No temples were dedicated to him, and statues of this god are very rare. Human sacrifices were sometimes offered on his altars ”

“ O Pluto, lord of hell!
Extend thy grace to his departed soul:
Receive his corpse, and furnish it with breath,
That he may revel in the realms of death:—
So that our loss may be thy kingdom’s gain.”
A pause ensued: and then a dreadful cry
Came up the grave, which rent the gloomy sky.
With it arose a wave of crimson flame
Up straight towards a cloud that cover’d them;
Which shaped itself into a feather’d beam,
And wrote upon the cloud, thus: “Bassareus lives!” ”

“ Pluto’s voice is heard, bawling for more hot water, and the curtains of the bath being pulled apart, he is seen in his bath, and does not look in the least like the Pluto whom we have seen in our youth, in the furtively inspected cut of the lesson-book, listening to Orpheus, and weeping iron tears. He is “made up” with a faithful attention to the dramatist’s duty to remind Frenchmen of their responsibilities. ”

“ Plutus is the god of Riches, and as the minister of the deity of the dead, inhabits the court of Pluto, thereby indicating that the precious metals are in the bowels of the earth. He was brought up by the goddess of peace, and the Greeks spoke of him as a fickle divinity, because represented as blind, he spreads by chance in his rapid course, the gold, silver, and precious stones, which escape from a box he holds in his hands ”

“ There is yet another figure which is concerned in conducing the manes or ghost to the realms of Pluto, and this is LOVE. He precedes the descending spirit on expanded wings, lights him with his torch, and turning back his beautiful countenance beckons him to advance. The antient God of love was of much higher dignity than the modern Cupid. ”

“ Bona Dea, Longinus, if there are gods, they are evil, and the most evil of all is old Sejanus, may Pluto transfix him with his white-hot fork! Why must he forever be doing us ill?”
“Perhaps, who knows, he may be serving us well in calling me to Rome. ”

“ Neptune, as we have seen, remained monarch of the watery realm; and Pluto, notwithstanding his metamorphosis into Satan, still continued to be prince of the lower regions. They fared better than did their brother Jupiter, who, after the overthrow of their father, Saturn, became ruler of heaven, and as sovereign of the universe resided at Olympus, where, surrounded by his merry troop of gods, goddesses, and nymphs-of-honour, he carried on his ambrosial rule of joy. ”

“ Pluto strong.] “Some,” says Diodorus, “think that Osiris is Serapis: others that he is Dionusus: others still that he is Pluto: many take him for Zeus or Jupiter, and not a few for Pan.” This was an unnecessary embarrassment, for they were all titles of the same god. Pluto, among the best mythologists, was esteemed the same as Jupiter; and indeed the same as Proserpine, Ceres, Hermes, Apollo, and every other deity. Bryant.
[197] Earth-shaker Neptune.] The patriarch was commemorated by the name of Poseidon. ”

“ The other brother of Jupiter was a sad pale-faced being, whose kingdom was underneath the earth, where the sun never shone and where there was darkness and weeping and sorrow all the time. His name was Pluto, or Aidoneus, and his country was called the Lower World, or the Land of Shadows, or Hades. Men said that whenever any one died, Pluto would send his messenger, or Shadow Leader, to carry that one down into his cheerless kingdom ”

“ Here comes Pluto into reflection on the screen. It is a large planet, half again as large as our Earth planet, or planet Venus and almost two and a half times as large as planet Mars, and they show us the whole of Pluto at one time.
This planet, too, is inhabited, we can see, for they are bringing portions of it into magnification showing us its inhabitation. The people seems to be a dwarf type of people, around three and a half feet to four feet tall at the most. They are built rather slender for their height, but well formed. ”

“ Pluto is generally represented as holding a trident with three prongs, and has a key in his hand, to intimate that whoever enters can never return. He is considered as a hard-hearted and inexorable deity, with a grim and dismal countenance, for which reason, temples were not raised to his honour, as to the remainder of the gods ”

“ Now, however so nice this pleasant little retreat, and “fit for a goddess,” it would appear that none of these ladies could be persuaded by Pluto to share his throne. Finding the honour of his alliance everywhere “declined, with thanks,” he took at last the desperate step of carrying off to his subterranean realm Proserpine, the daughter of his brother Jupiter, and his sister Ceres. The bereaved mother lighted torches on Mount Ætna, and incessantly, both by day and night, sought for her daughter all over the world, but in vain. ”

“ I placed my hand on the door to open it when the sentry spoke with unexpected civility.
"Take care of the beast, signore!"
"The beast--what beast?" I asked, pretending not to know anything of Pluto's existence.
"His excellency's bear--do not fear it--else it might injure you--cospetto! But it is a perfect fiend if you run from it. It killed a poor woman the other day." ”

“ None of the goddesses were willing to marry Pluto, or share his gloomy kingdom. He determined, nevertheless, to obtain a wife, even if he had to do so by violence. Proser ́pine, the daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, was gathering daffodils with her companions in the plains of Enna, when Pluto suddenly appeared among them in a chariot drawn by black horses. As the maidens fled in terror, he seized Proser ́pine, and striking the waters of the fountain Cy ́ane with his trident, he opened a passage, through which he descended with his prize. ”

“ The Story of Proserpina When Jupiter made himself ruler of the world, he imprisoned some of the warring giants under Mount Etna in Sicily, much to the disgust of Pluto, who was always fearing that when the giants got restless and turned over and over underground (thus causing earthquakes) , they would some day make such a large crack in the earth that daylight would be let into Hades. So Pluto often went up out of his sunless land to look carefully over the island, and to be sure that no new fissure was being made in the earth's surface. ”

“ From which, O Jove! with Pluto intercede,
That of these torments Bacchus may be freed:
And if ’tis possible, O Jupiter!
With all thy majesty in Earth and Air,
Thy wit, thy wisdom, and unrivalled power;
Whose eloquence of speech, whose well-earn’d store
Of heav’nly honours, none can e’er surpass,—
Speak thou to Pluto, that I may repass
Through that great gulf, back to those orient plains,
There bask again among those teeming vines;—
There——” but as he spake this word [155] (and ’twas his last!)
Loud thunders clapp’d, and lightnings rent the Vast
Tornadoes, furiously the plains career’d ”

“ "Ye furies," she cries, "and dreadful Styx, ye sufferings of the damned, and Chaos, for ever eager to destroy the fair harmony of worlds, and thou, Pluto, condemned to an eternity of ungrateful existence, Hell, and Elysium, of which no Thessalian witch shall partake, Proserpine, for ever cut off from thy health-giving mother, and horrid Hecate, Cerebrus [Errata: read Cerberus] ”