DAUGHTERS of darkling night, much-nam'd, draw near
Infinite Fates, and listen to my pray'r;
Who in the heav'nly lake (where waters white 3
Burst from a fountain hid in depths of night,
And thro' a dark and stony cavern glide, 5
A cave profound, invisible) abide;
190:3 Ver. 3.] Who in the heav'nly lake, &c. Gesner confesses he is ignorant what the poet means by the λίμνη Ὀυρανία, or heavenly lake; as likewise of the dark cavern in which he places the Fates. At first sight indeed the whole seems impenetrably obscure, but on comparing this Hymn with the 68th, to the Furies, we shall find that the poet expressly calls them the Fates; and places them in an obscure cavern by the holy water of Styx. And from hence it appears, that the Heavenly Lake is the same with the Stygian Pool; which is called heavenly perhaps, because the Gods swear by it. But it is not wonderful that the water is called white; since Hesiod, in Theog. v. 791. speaks of the Stygian waters as falling into the sea with silvery whirls. And what strengthens the illustration full more, Fulgentius places the Fates with Pluto.
