Parcae (The fates). Powerful goddesses who presided over the birth and life of mankind. They were three in number, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, daughters of Nox and Erebus. Parcae is from "pars," a lot; and the corresponding Moirae is from "meros," a lot. The fates were so called because they decided the lot of every man. Among early peoples the superiority which they ascribed to their deities consisted chiefly in freedom from bodily decay, a sort of immortal youth, ability to move with wonderful celerity, to appear and disappear at pleasure with a noble and beautiful form, and to exert an immediate influence upon the condition of mortals. In these respects, however, their power was limited, according to the general opinion, being controlled by an eternal and immutable relation of things, termed fate, and to the Parcae, or fates, was attributed a power over all destinies and at times control of the gods themselves.
