MOMUS  , in

Greek mythology, the son of NR (Night), the personification of censoriousness . He is frequently mentioned in Lucian as the lampooner of the gods . It is said that Pallas, Hephaestus, and Poseidon entered into a competition as to which of them could create the most useful thing . Hephaestus made a man, Poseidon an ox, Pallas a house . Momus, being called upon to pronounce an opinion as to the merits of these productions, expressed dissatisfaction with all: with the man, because a window ought to have been made in his breast, through which his heart could be seen; with the ox, because its horns were in the wrong place; with the house, because it ought to have been portable, so as to be easily moved to avoid unpleasant neighbours . Momus is reported to have burst with chagrin at being unable to find any but the most trifling defects in Aphrodite . He is represented sometimes as a young, sometimes as an old man, wearing a mask, and carrying a fool's bauble . Hesiod, Theogony, 214; Lucian, Hermotimus, 20, and especially Deorum Concilium; Philostratus, Epistolae, 37 .