COMUS
Comus is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "a revel, merry-making; a personification of revelry as a deity." Avery says that in late Roman mythology Comus "is the god of mirth and drunken revelry, represented as a white-clad winged youth carrying a torch" ("Comus"). Comus is also the title of a masque written by John Milton and "presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634, before the Earl of Bridgewater, Lord President of Wales" (Harvey). However, Harvey disputes the denomination of "masque" asserting that the work " is strictly a pastoral entertainment." He also notes the name "Comus" did not appear in the title of its first three printed editions. The name comes "from one of the characters, a pagan god invented by Milton, son of Bacchus and Circe, who waylays travelers and tempts them to drink a magic liquor which changes their countenances into the faces of wild beasts." It appears likely that Hawthorne had this characterization in mind when he calls the denizens of Merry Mount "the crew of Comus" and describes their atavistic appearance and behavior.
Avery, Catherine B. Ed. The New Century Classical Handbook. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1962.
Harvey, Paul. Ed. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1967.
Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933.