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; and for that reason they never spoke well of him, but thought of him only as the enemy of life.

A great number of other Mighty Beings lived with Jupiter amid the clouds on the mountain top,—­so many that I can name a very few only.  There was Venus, the queen of love and beauty, who was fairer by far than any woman that you or I have ever seen.  There was Athena, or Minerva, the queen of the air, who gave people wisdom and taught them how to do very many useful things.  There was Juno, the queen of earth and sky, who sat at the right hand of Jupiter and gave him all kinds of advice.  There was Mars, the great warrior, whose delight was in the din of battle.  There was Mercury, the swift messenger, who had wings on his cap and shoes, and who flew from place to place like the summer clouds when they are driven before the wind.  There was Vulcan, a skillful blacksmith, who had his forge in a burning mountain and wrought many wonderful things of iron and copper and gold.  And besides these, there were many others about whom you will learn by and by, and about whom men told strange and beautiful stories.

They lived in glittering, golden mansions, high up among the clouds—­so high indeed that the eyes of men could never see them.  But they could look down and see what men were doing, and oftentimes they were said to leave their lofty homes and wander unknown across the land or over the sea.

And of all these Mighty Folk, Jupiter was by far the mightiest.

[Illustration]

THE GOLDEN AGE.

Jupiter and his Mighty Folk had not always dwelt amid the clouds on the mountain top.  In times long past, a wonderful family called Titans had lived there and had ruled over all the world.  There were twelve of them—­six brothers and six sisters—­and they said that their father was the Sky and their mother the Earth.  They had the form and looks of men and women, but they were much larger and far more beautiful.

The name of the youngest of these Titans was Saturn; and yet he was so very old that men often called him Father Time.  He was the king of the Titans, and so, of course, was the king of all the earth besides.

Men were never so happy as they were during Saturn’s reign.  It was the true Golden Age then.  The springtime lasted all the year.  The woods and meadows were always full of blossoms, and the music of singing birds was heard every day and every hour.  It was summer and autumn, too, at the same time.  Apples and figs and oranges always hung ripe from the trees; and there were purple grapes on the vines, and melons and berries of every kind, which the people had but to pick and eat.