HARPIES

THE HARPIES.

The Harpies, who, like the Furies, were employed by the gods as
instruments for the punishment of the guilty, were three female
divinities, daughters of Thaumas and Electra, called Aello, Ocypete, and
Celæno.

They were represented with the head of a fair-haired maiden and the
body of a vulture, and were perpetually devoured by the pangs of
insatiable hunger, which caused them to torment their victims by robbing
them of their food; this they either devoured with great [138]gluttony, or
defiled in such a manner as to render it unfit to be eaten.

Their wonderfully rapid flight far surpassed that of birds, or even of
the winds themselves. If any mortal suddenly and unaccountably
disappeared, the Harpies were believed to have carried him off. Thus they
were supposed to have borne away the daughters of King Pandareos to act
as servants to the Erinyes.

The Harpies would appear to be personifications of sudden tempests,
which, with ruthless violence, sweep over whole districts, carrying off
or injuring all before them.