Cerberus, the Dog of Hades: The History of an Idea

"flesh-eating," and that the three heads of Cerberus represent infancy, youth, and old age, respectively—the stages through which death entered into the world original Latin: per quas introivit mors in orbem terrarum.¹

A MODERN VIEW.

"Abandon all hope, you who enter" original Italian: Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch' entrate, the famous inscription over the gates of Hell in Dante’s Inferno. Can we bid this "wavering form" original German: schwankende Gestalt, a reference to the "Prelude" of Goethe's Faust—this monstrous vision floating upon the filmy photographs of murky Hades—to stand still, emerge into the light, and assume clear and reasonable outlines?

"Hence, loathed melancholy, born of Cerberus and blackest Midnight." A variation of the opening lines of John Milton’s poem L'Allegro

An American humorist, John Kendrick Bangs, who enjoys setting his satires original: "skits" in Hades, steps in "where angels fear to tread." He lightheartedly launches a discussion as to whether Cerberus is one dog or several. The city of Cimmeria in Hades, having tried—

¹ Fulgentius, Book I, Fable VI, Concerning the Three-Headed Cerberus original Latin: de Tricerbero, p. 20 of the Teubner edition A prestigious series of Greek and Latin classical texts.