A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1110 MOIRA. MOIRA.
the power of other gods over the life of man is inflict the punishment for evil deeds, their proper
expressed. (II. xxiv. 525, Od. i. 17, iii. 208, iv. functions; and with them they direct fate accord208.) But the personification of his Moira is not ing to the laws of necessity, whence they are somecomplete, for he mentions no particular appearance times called the sisters of the Erinnyes. (Aeschyl.
of the goddess, no attributes, and no parentage; Eum. 335, 962, Prom. 516, 696, 895; Tzetz. ad
and his Moira is therefore quite synonymous with Lye. 406.) Later poets also conceive the Moirae
Aloae. (II. xx. 127, xxiv. 209.) If in Od. vii. in the same character. (Virg. Aen. v. 798, xii..197, the KaTachAcOes are the Moirae, and not the 147; Tibull. i. 8. 2; Ov. Trist. v. 3. 17, Met.
Eileithyiae, as some suppose, Aloa and Moira xv. 781; Horat. Carm. Saew. 25, &c.) These
would indeed be two distinct beings, but still grave and mighty goddesses were represented by
beings performing entirely the same functions. the earliest artists with staffs or sceptres, the
The Homeric Moira is not, as some have thought, symbol of dominion; and Plato (De Re Pub. p.
an inflexible fate, to which the gods themselves 617) even mentions their crowns. (Mus. Piomust bow; but, on the contrary, Zeus, as the Clem. tom. vi. tab. B.)
father of gods and men, weighs out their fate The Moirae, as the divinities of the duration of
to them (11. viii. 69, xxii. 209; comp. xix. 108); human life, which is determined by the two points
and if he chooses, he has the power of saving even of birth and of death, are conceived either as godthose who are already on the point of being seized desses of birth or as goddesses of death, and hence
by their fate (Il. xvi. 434, 441, 443); nay, as their number was two, as at Delphi. (Paus. x. 24.
Fate does not abruptly interfere in human affairs, ~ 4; Plut. de Tranq. An. 15, de Ei ap. Delph. 2.)
hut avails herself of intermediate causes, and deter- From this circumstance we may perhaps infer that
mines the lot of mortals not absolutely, but only originally the Greeks conceived of only one Moira,
conditionally, even man himself, in his freedom, is and that subsequently a consideration of her nature
allowed to exercise a certain influence upon her. and attributes led to the belief in two, and ulti(Od. i. 34, II. ix. 411, xvi. 685.) As man's fate mately in three Moirae; though a distribution of
terminates at his death, the goddess of fate at the the functions among the three was not strictly obclose of life becomes the goddess of death, yompa served, for in Ovid, for example (ad Liv. 239), and;avdTroLo (Od. xxiv. 29, ii. 100, iii. 238), and is Tibullus (i. 8. 1.), all three are described as spinmentioned along with death itself, and with ning, although this should be the function of Clotho
Apollo, the bringer of death. (II. iii, 101, v. 83, alone, who is, in fact, often mentioned alone as the
xvi. 434, 853, xx. 477, xxi. 101, xxiv. 132.) representative of all. (Pind. 01. i. 40; Ov. ad
Hesiod (Theog. 217, &c., 904; comp. Apollod. Liv. 164, Fast. vi. 757, Ex Pont. iv. 15. 36.) As
i. 3. ~ 1) has the personification of the Moirae goddesses of birth, who spin the thread of begincomplete; for he calls them, together with the ning life, and even prophesy the fate of the newly
Keres, daughters of Night; and distinguishes three, born, they are mentioned along with Eileithyia,
Yiz. Clotho, or the spinning fate; Lachesis, or who is called their companion and7rdpe3pos. (Paus.
the one who assigns to man his fate; and Atropos, viii. 21. ~ 2; Plat. Sympos. p. 206, d.; Pind. 01.
or the fate that cannot be avoided. According to vi. 70, Nem. vii. 1; Anton. Lib. 29; comp. Eurip.
this genealogy, the Moirae must be considered as Ipkfg. Taur. 207.) In a similar capacity they are
in a state of dependence upon their father, and as also joined with Prometheus, the former, or creator
agreeing with his counsels. Hence he is called of the human race in general. (Hygin. Poet. Astr.
Mompay&6s, i. e. the guide or leader of the Moirae ii. 15.) The symbol with which they, or rather
(Paus. v. 15. ~ 4), and hence also they were repre- Clotho alone, are represented to indicate this funcsented along with their father in temples and tion, is a spindle, and the idea implied in it was
works of art, as at Megara (Paus. i. 40. ~ 3), in carried out so far, that sometimes we read of their
the temple of Despoena in Arcadia (viii. 37. ~ 1), breaking or cutting off the thread when life is to
and at Delphi (x. 24. ~ 4; comp. viii. 42. ~ 2). end. (Ov. Am. ii. 6. 46; Plat. de Re Publ. p. 616.)
They are further described as engraving on in- Being goddesses of fate, they must necessarily
destructible tables the decrees of their father Zeus. know the future, which at times they reveal, and
(Claudian, xv. 202; comp. Ov. Mlet. xv. 808, thus become -prophetic divinities. (Ov. Met. viii.
&c.) Later writers differ in their genealogy of the 454, Trist. v. 3. 25; Tibull. i. 8. 1, iv. 5. 3; CaMoirae from that of Hesiod; thus they are called tull. 64. 307.)'As goddesses of death, they apchildren of Erebus and Night (Cic. De Vat. Deor. pear together with the Keres (Hes. Scut. Here.
iii. 17), of Cronos and Night (Tzetz. ad Lyc. 406), 258) and the infernal Erinnyes, with whom they
of Ge and Oceanus (Athenag. 15; Lycoph. 144), are even confounded, and in the neighbourhood of
or lastly of Ananke or Necessity. (Plat. De Re Sicyon the annual sacrifices offered to them were
Publ. p. 617, d.) the same as those offered to the Erinnyes. (Paus.
It cannot be surprising to find that the character ii. 11. ~ 4; comp. Schol. ad Aesch. Agam. 70;
and nature of the Moirae were conceived differently Aelian, H. A. x. 33; Serv..ad Aen. i. 86.) It
at different times and by different authors. Some- belongs to the same character that, along with the
times they appear as divinities of fate in the strict Charites, they lead Persephone out of the lower
sense of the term, and sometimes only as allego- world into the regions of light, and are mentioned
rical divinities of the duration of human life. In along with Pluto and Charon.. (Orph. Hymn.
the former character they are independent, at the 428; Ov. Fast. vi. 157; comp. Aristoph. Ran.
helm of necessity, direct fate, and watch that the 453.) The various epithets which poets apply to
fate assigned to every being by eternal laws the Moirae generally refer to the severity, infleximay take its course without obstruction (Aeschyl. bility, and sternness of fate.
Prom. 511, 515);' and Zeus, as well as the other They had sanctuaries in many parts of Greece,
gods and men, must submit to them. (Herod. i. such as Corinth (Paus. ii. 4. ~ 7), Sparta (iii. 11.
91; Lactant. Institut. i. 11, 13; Stob, Eclog. i. ~ 8), Olympia (v. 15. ~ 4), Thebes (ix. 25. ~ 4),
pp, 152, 170.) They assign to the Erinnyes, who and elsewhere. The poets sometimes describe