Conti introduces us to the classical judges--Minos, Rhadamanthus, and
Aeacus, and also gives us a detailed tour of the underworld, beginning with the rivers Acheron and Styx and continuing with its well-known inhabitants--Charon and Cerberus--as well as a host of monsters, most of them children of Erebus and Night.
They say Menoetius lives yet, son of Actor, And Peleus lives, son of
Aeacus, among the Myrmidons, Either of whom having died, we should greatly grieve." (56)
nota magis nulli domus est sua quam mihi lucus Martis et Aeoliis vicinum rupibus antrum Vulcani; quid agant venti, quas torqueat umbras
Aeacus, unde alius furtivae devehat aurum pelliculae, quantas iaculetur Monychus ornos, Frontonis platani convolsaque marmora clamant semper et adsiduo ruptae lectore columnae.
From there--the point where
Aeacus, besought by drought-stricken citizens, petitioned his father for rain--the sea is visible on all sides, but it remains impossible to distill the more-than-godlike perspective of a map from the complexities of coast and contour.
When
Aeacus taught them to build ships, and exercized them in martial discipline: where by they were both animated, and inabled to resist the injuries of strangers" (347).
Zeus appoints as judges his own sons: two from Asia, Minos and Rhadamanthus, and one from Europe,
Aeacus. Once dead, Rhadamanthus will judge the dead souls from Asia,
Aeacus those from Europe, while Minos will have the privilege of a final judgment if the other two are at a loss about anything.
Hist., VII.lvi.195).(6) And he credits Cadmus with the invention of mining and metallurgy: 'argentum invenit Erichthonius Atheniensis, ut alii
Aeacus, auri metalia et flaturam Cadmus Phoenix ad Pangaeum montem' ('Erichthonius of Athens, or according to others
Aeacus, discovered silver; mining and smelting gold was invented by Cadmus the Phoenician at Mount Pangaeus', Nat.
The ants were changed into humans by Zeus at the request of
Aeacus, king of the island.