HELL.
Ques. How was Hell described?
Ans. The entrance to the infernal regions was by a wide, dark cave, through which the departed souls were obliged to pass; they next came to a gloomy grove, and a black lake, called Avernus; this was overhung with such poisonous vapors that no birds could fly over it. The ferryman, Charon, was always waiting on the shore to carry the dead to the other side of the lake. The ghosts of those who had not been buried with funeral rites, were obliged to wander for a hundred years by the gloomy waters of Avernus, before Charon could carry them to the other side. This superstition made the ancients very careful about burying their dead.
Ques. What do you say of the rivers of Hell?
Ans. The Styx was the most remarkable. When any of the gods swore by the Styx, the oath was sacred; if any deity was guilty of breaking such an oath, he was deprived of nectar, and excluded from the table of the gods for a year and nine days. Lethe was also a river of Hell; the name means oblivion; it is so called, because when the dead drank of its waters, they forgot all that had passed upon this earth.
Ques. What monster kept the gate of Pluto’s palace?
Ans. Cer´berus; a three-headed dog, whose body was clothed with snakes instead of hair.