PARCX (Mapes), the Fates, were goddesses who were supposed to preside over the destinies of man. In Homer we only read of one deity, Mo7pa or Alva; but in Hesiod and all succeeding poets we read of three Fates : Clotho (KA.c0005), the " Spinster ;" Lachesis (Aaxiass), the " Distributor ; " and Atropos ("Arptoros), the " Unchangeable." In one passage Hesiod (' Theog.,' 904) calls them the daughters of Zeus and Themis ; and in another (' Theog.; 217), the daughters of Night, which agrees with the statement of Cicero (` De Nat. Deor.,' M. 17), who makes them the daughters of Night and Darkness (Erebus). This contradiction seems to have arisen from the different notions enter tained by the ancients respecting the relative power of Zeus and the Fates, since they were sometimes represented as ruling the gods and Zeus himself, and at other times as merely carrying into effect the determinations of Zeus. In the ancient Ureek writers, and espe cially the tragic poets, the gods themselves are represented as subject to the decrees of fate ; but in later times the Fates appear to have been generally regarded as subject to Zeus. Thus we learn from Pausaniaa (v. 15, s. 4 ; x. 24, s. 4) that Zeus was worshipped both at Olympia and Delphi under the name of Moipayirsis, or" Leader of the Fates," which title was also applied to Apollo at Delphi. (Pans., it. 24, s. 4.) Pausanias, in describing (i. 40, a. 8) a celebrated statue of Zeus at Megara, on the head of which the Fates (Moipat) were placed, remarks that this was done because destiny (TO we/sassafras) is obedient to Zeus alone.
The Fates are usually spoken of by the Greek and Roman poets as spinning the destinies of men (' Il ; xx. 128 ; Od.; vii. 197); and according to mythologists, each of the three presided over different periods of human life : Clotho over the beginning, Atropos the end, and Lachesis the general course of the life of each individual. Apu leius (' De Mundo,' p. 280, Bipont), whose opinion however can scarcely be regarded as representing the popular. belief upon the subject, assigns a different office to each of the Fates. Atropos he regards as the Fate of past time, Lachesis of future, and Clotho of present events. In Greek art the Fates are sometimes represented as matrons winged. In some instances Atropos has a style, holds scales, or points to the hour on a sun-dial, or is cutting the thread of life ; Clotho is spinning; Lachesis holds a roll, or is writing.
There was a temple at Lacednmon sacred to the Fates (Paul., iii. II, s. 8), and there were also altars sacred to them in the neighbourhood of Sicyon. (Pans. ii. 11, a. 4) They had also in later times a small temple at Rome in the eleventh district (regio) of the city (Onuphr. Panvin. spud Rosin., i , c. 13); but their worship seems to have pre vailed at Rome to a very small extent.