Fates. In Greek and Roman mythology the Fates are identical with the Parcae. They were three sisters, daughters of Night, whom Jupiter permitted to decide the fortune and especially the duration of mortal life. One of them "Clotho," attached the thread; the second, "Lachesis," spun it; and the third, "Atropos," cut it off, when the end of life arrived. They were viewed as inexorable, and ranked among the inferior divinities of the lower world. Their worship was not very general. The Parcae were generally represented as three old women, with chaplets made of wool and interwoven with the flowers of the Narcissus, wearing long robes, and employed in their works: Clotho with a distaff; Lachesis having near her sometimes several spindles; and Atropos holding a pair of scissors.
