The Anatomy of Melancholy Part 56

[4781] "Otium et reges prius et beatas Perdidit urbes."

Idleness overthrows all, _Vacuo pectore regnat amor_, love tyranniseth in an idle person. _Amore abundas Antiphio_. If thou hast nothing to do,[4782]

_Invidia vel amore miser torquebere_--Thou shalt be haled in pieces with envy, l.u.s.t, some pa.s.sion or other. _Homines nihil agendo male agere disc.u.n.t_; 'tis Aristotle's simile, [4783]"as match or touchwood takes fire, so doth an idle person love." _Quaeritur Aegistus quare sit factus adulter_, &c., why was Aegistus a wh.o.r.emaster? You need not ask a reason of it. Ismenedora stole Baccho, a woman forced a man, as [4784]Aurora did Cephalus: no marvel, saith [4785]Plutarch, _Luxurians opibus more hominum mulier agit_: she was rich, fortunate and jolly, and doth but as men do in that case, as Jupiter did by Europa, Neptune by Amymone. The poets therefore did well to feign all shepherds lovers, to give themselves to songs and dalliances, because they lived such idle lives. For love, as [4786]Theophrastus defines it, is _otiosi animi affectus_, an affection of an idle mind, or as [4787]Seneca describes it, _Juventa gignitur, juxu nutritur, feriis alitur, otioque inter laeta fortunae bonae_; youth begets it, riot maintains it, idleness nourisheth it, &c. which makes [4788]

Gordonius the physician _cap. 20. part. 2._ call this disease the proper pa.s.sion of n.o.bility. Now if a weak judgment and a strong apprehension do concur, how, saith Hercules de Saxonia, shall they resist? Savanarola appropriates it almost to [4789]"monks, friars, and religious persons, because they live solitarily, fair daintily, and do nothing:" and well he may, for how should they otherwise choose?

Diet alone is able to cause it: a rare thing to see a young man or a woman that lives idly and fares well, of what condition soever, not to be in love. [4790]Alcibiades was still dallying with wanton young women, immoderate in his expenses, effeminate in his apparel, ever in love, but why? he was over-delicate in his diet, too frequent and excessive in banquets, _Ubicunque securitas, ibi libido dominatur_; l.u.s.t and security domineer together, as St. Hierome averreth. All which the wife of Bath in Chaucer freely justifies,

_For all to sicker, as cold engendreth hail, A liquorish tongue must have a liquorish tail_.

Especially if they shall further it by choice diet, as many times those Sybarites and Phaeaces do, feed liberally, and by their good will eat nothing else but lascivious meats. [4791]Vinum imprimis generosum, legumen, fabas, radices omnium generum bene conditas, et largo pipere aspersas, carduos hortulanos, lactucas, [4792]erucas, rapas, porros, caepas, nucem piceam, amygdalas dulces, electuaria, syrupos, succos, cochleas, conchas, pisces optime praeparatos, aviculas, testiculos animalium, ova, condimenta diversorum generum, molles lectos, pulvinaria, &c. Et quicquid fere medici impotentia rei venereae laboranti praescribunt, hoc quasi diasatyrion habent in delitiis, et his dapes multo delicatiores; mulsum, exquisitas et exoticas fruges, aromata, placentas, expressos succos multis ferculis variatos, ipsumque vinum suavitate vincentes, et quicquid culina, pharmacopaea, aut quaeque fere officina subministrare possit. Et hoc plerumque victu quum se ganeones infarciant, [4793]ut ille ob Chreseida suam, se bulbis et cochleis curavit; etiam ad Venerem se parent, et ad hanc palestram se exerceant, qui fieri possit, ut non misere depereant, [4794]ut non penitus insaniant? _Aestuans venter cito despuit in libidinem_, Hieronymus ait. [4795]_Post prandia, Callyroenda_. Quis enim continere se potest? [4796]_Luxuriosa res vinum_, fomentum libidinis vocat Augustinus, blandum daemonem, Bernardus; lac veneris, Aristophanes. _Non Aetna, non Vesuvius tantis ardoribus aestuant, ac juveniles medullae vino plenae_, addit [4797]Hieronymus: unde ob optimum vinum Lamsacus olim Priapo sacer: et venerandi Bacchi socia apud [4798] Orpheum Venus audit. Haec si vinum simplex, et per se sumptum praestare possit, nam--[4799]_quo me Bacche rapis tui plenum_? quam non insaniam, quem non furorem a caeteris expectemus? [4800]Gomesius salem enumerat inter ea quae intempstivam libidinem provocare solent, _et salatiores fieri foeminas ob esum salis contendit: Venerem ideo dic.u.n.t ab Oceano ortam_.

[4801] "Unde tot in Veneta scortorum millia cur stint?

In promptu causa est, est Venus orta mari."

_Et hinc foeta mater Salacea Oceani conjux_, verb.u.mque forta.s.se salax a sale effluxit. Mala Bacchica tantum olim in amoribus praevaluerunt, ut coronae ex illis statuae Bacchi ponerentur. [4802]Cubebis in vino maceratis utuntur Indi Orientales ad Venerem excitandum, et [4803]Surax radice Africani. Chinae radix eosdem effectus habet, talisque herbae meminit _mag.

nat. lib. 2. cap. 16_. [4804]Baptista Porta ex India allatae, cujus mentionem facit et Theophrastus. Sed infinita his similia apud Rhasin, Matthiolum, Mizaldum, caeterosque medicos occurrunt, quorum ideo mentionem feci, ne quis imperitior in hos scopulas impingat, sed pro virili tanquam syrtes et cautes consulto effugiat.

SUBSECT. II.--_Other causes of Love-Melancholy, Sight, Being from the Face, Eyes, other parts, and how it pierceth_.

Many such causes may be reckoned up, but they cannot avail, except opportunity be offered of time, place, and those other beautiful objects, or artificial enticements, as kissing, conference, discourse, gestures concur, with such like lascivious provocations. Kornmannus, in his book _de linea amoris_, makes five degrees of l.u.s.t, out of [4805]Lucian belike, which he handles in five chapters, _Visus, Colloquium, Convictus, Oscula, Tactus_. [4806]Sight, of all other, is the first step of this unruly love, though sometime it be prevented by relation or hearing, or rather incensed.

For there be those so apt, credulous, and facile to love, that if they hear of a proper man, or woman, they are in love before they see them, and that merely by relation, as Achilles Tatius observes. [4807]"Such is their intemperance and l.u.s.t, that they are as much maimed by report, as if they saw them. Callisthenes a rich young gentleman of Byzance in Thrace, hearing of [4808]Leucippe, Sostratus' fair daughter, was far in love with her, and, out of fame and common rumour, so much incensed, that he would needs have her to be his wife." And sometimes by reading they are so affected, as he in [4809]Lucian confesseth of himself, "I never read that place of Panthea in Xenophon, but I am as much affected as if I were present with her." Such persons commonly [4810]feign a kind of beauty to themselves; and so did those three gentlewomen in [4811]Balthazar Castilio fall in love with a young man whom they never knew, but only heard him commended: or by reading of a letter; for there is a grace cometh from hearing, [4812] as a moral philosopher informeth us, "as well from sight; and the species of love are received into the fantasy by relation alone:" [4813]_ut cupere ab aspectu, sic velle ab auditu_, both senses affect. _Interdum et absentes amamus_, sometimes we love those that are absent, saith Philostratus, and gives instance in his friend Athenodorus, that loved a maid at Corinth whom he never saw; _non oculi sed mens videt_, we see with the eyes of our understanding.

But the most familiar and usual cause of love is that which comes by sight, which conveys those admirable rays of beauty and pleasing graces to the heart. Plotinus derives love from sight, [Greek: eros] quasi [Greek: horasis]. [4814]_Si nescis, oculi sunt in amore duces_, "the eyes are the harbingers of love," and the first step of love is sight, as [4815]Lilius Giraldus proves at large, _hist. deor. syntag. 13._ they as two sluices let in the influences of that divine, powerful, soul-ravishing, and captivating beauty, which, as [4816]one saith, "is sharper than any dart or needle, wounds deeper into the heart; and opens a gap through our eyes to that lovely wound, which pierceth the soul itself" (Ecclus. 18.) Through it love is kindled like a fire. This amazing, confounding, admirable, amiable beauty, [4817]"than which in all nature's treasure (saith Isocrates) there is nothing so majestical and sacred, nothing so divine, lovely, precious,"

'tis nature's crown, gold and glory; _bonum si non summum, de summis tamen non infrequenter triumphans_, whose power hence may be discerned; we contemn and abhor generally such things as are foul and ugly to behold, account them filthy, but love and covet that which is fair. 'Tis [4818]

beauty in all things which pleaseth and allureth us, a fair hawk, a fine garment, a goodly building, a fair house, &c. That Persian Xerxes when he destroyed all those temples of the G.o.ds in Greece, caused that of Diana, _in integrum servari_, to be spared alone for that excellent beauty and magnificence of it. Inanimate beauty can so command. 'Tis that which painters, artificers, orators, all aim at, as Eriximachus the physician, in Plato contends, [4819]"It was beauty first that ministered occasion to art, to find out the knowledge of carving, painting, building, to find out models, perspectives, rich furnitures, and so many rare inventions."

Whiteness in the lily, red in the rose, purple in the violet, a l.u.s.tre in all things without life, the clear light of the moon, the bright beams of the sun, splendour of gold, purple, sparkling diamond, the excellent feature of the horse, the majesty of the lion, the colour of birds, peac.o.c.k's tails, the silver scales of fish, we behold with singular delight and admiration. [4820]"And which is rich in plants, delightful in flowers, wonderful in beasts, but most glorious in men," doth make us affect and earnestly desire it, as when we hear any sweet harmony, an eloquent tongue, see any excellent quality, curious work of man, elaborate art, or aught that is exquisite, there ariseth instantly in us a longing for the same. We love such men, but most part for comeliness of person, we call them G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses, divine, serene, happy, &c. And of all mortal men they alone ([4821]Calcagninus holds) are free from calumny; _qui divitiis, magistratu et gloria florent, injuria lacessimus_, we backbite, wrong, hate renowned, rich, and happy men, we repine at their felicity, they are undeserving we think, fortune is a stepmother to us, a parent to them. "We envy" (saith [4822]Isocrates) "wise, just, honest men, except with mutual offices and kindnesses, some good turn or other, they extort this love from us; only fair persons we love at first sight, desire their acquaintance, and adore them as so many G.o.ds: we had rather serve them than command others, and account ourselves the more beholding to them, the more service they enjoin us:" though they be otherwise vicious, dishonest, we love them, favour them, and are ready to do them any good office for their [4823]beauty's sake, though they have no other good quality beside. _Dic igitur o fomose, adolescens_ (as that eloquent Phavorinus breaks out in [4824]Stobeus) _dic Autiloque, suavius nectare loqueris; dic o Telemache, vehementius Ulysse dicis; dic Alcibiades utcunque ebrius, libentius tibi licet ebrio auscultabimus_. "Speak, fair youth, speak Autiloquus, thy words are sweeter than nectar, speak O Telemachus, thou art more powerful than Ulysses, speak Alcibiades though drunk, we will willingly hear thee as thou art." Faults in such are no faults: for when the said Alcibiades had stolen Anytus his gold and silver plate, he was so far from prosecuting so foul a fact (though every man else condemned his impudence and insolency) that he wished it had been more, and much better (he loved him dearly) for his sweet sake. "No worth is eminent in such lovely persons, all imperfections hid;" _non enim facile de his quos plurimum diligimus, turpitudinem suspicamur_, for hearing, sight, touch, &c., our mind and all our senses are captivated, _omnes sensus formosus delectat_. Many men have been preferred for their person alone, chosen kings, as amongst the Indians, Persians, Ethiopians of old; the properest man of person the country could afford, was elected their sovereign lord; _Gratior est pulchro veniens e corpore virtus_, [4825]and so have many other nations thought and done, as [4826]Curtius observes: _Ingens enim in corporis majestate veneratio est_, "for there is a majestical presence in such men;" and so far was beauty adored amongst them, that no man was thought fit to reign, that was not in all parts complete and supereminent. Agis, king of Lacedaemon, had like to have been deposed, because he married a little wife, they would not have their royal issue degenerate. Who would ever have thought that Adrian' the Fourth, an English monk's b.a.s.t.a.r.d (as [4827]Papirius Ma.s.sovius writes in his life), _inops a suis relectus, squalidus et miser_, a poor forsaken child, should ever come to be pope of Rome? But why was it? _Erat acri ingenio, facundia expedita eleganti corpore, facieque laeta ac hilari_, (as he follows it out of [4828]Nubrigensis, for he ploughs with his heifer,) "he was wise, learned, eloquent, of a pleasant, a promising countenance, a goodly, proper man; he had, in a word, a winning look of his own," and that carried it, for that he was especially advanced. So "Saul was a goodly person and a fair." Maximinus elected emperor, &c. Branchus the son of Apollo, whom he begot of Jance, Succron's daughter (saith Lactantius), when he kept King Admetus' herds in Thessaly, now grown a man, was an earnest suitor to his mother to know his father; the nymph denied him, because Apollo had conjured her to the contrary; yet overcome by his importunity at last she sent him to his father; when he came into Apollo's presence, _malas Dei reverenter osculatus_, he carried himself so well, and was so fair a young man, that Apollo was infinitely taken with the beauty of his person, he could scarce look off him, and said he was worthy of such parents, gave him a crown of gold, the spirit of divination, and in conclusion made him a demiG.o.d. _O vis superba formae_, a G.o.ddess beauty is, whom the very G.o.ds adore, _nam pulchros dii amant_; she is _Amoris domina_, love's harbinger, love's loadstone, a witch, a charm, &c. Beauty is a dower of itself, a sufficient patrimony, an ample commendation, an accurate epistle, as [4829]Lucian, [4830]Apuleius, Tiraquellus, and some others conclude. _Imperio digna forma_, beauty deserves a kingdom, saith Abulensis, _paradox. 2. cap. 110._ immortality; and [4831]"more have got this honour and eternity for their beauty, than for all other virtues besides:" and such as are fair, "are worthy to be honoured of G.o.d and men."

That Idalian Ganymede was therefore fetched by Jupiter into heaven, Hephaestion dear to Alexander, Antinous to Adrian. Plato calls beauty for that cause a privilege of nature, _Naturae gaudentis opus_, nature's masterpiece, a dumb comment; Theophrastus, a silent fraud; still rhetoric Carneades, that persuades without speech, a kingdom without a guard, because beautiful persons command as so many captains; Socrates, a tyranny, "which tyranniseth over tyrants themselves;" which made Diogenes belike call proper women queens, _quod facerent homines quae praeciperent_, because men were so obedient to their commands. They will adore, cringe, compliment, and bow to a common wench (if she be fair) as if she were a n.o.ble woman, a countess, a queen, or a G.o.ddess. Those intemperate young men of Greece erected at Delphos a golden image with infinite cost, to the eternal memory of Phryne the courtesan, as Aelian relates, for she was a most beautiful woman, insomuch, saith [4832]Athenaeus, that Apelles and Praxiteles drew Venus's picture from her. Thus young men will adore and honour beauty; nay kings themselves I say will do it, and voluntarily submit their sovereignty to a lovely woman. "Wine is strong, kings are strong, but a woman strongest," 1 Esd. iv. 10. as Zerobabel proved at large to King Darius, his princes and n.o.blemen. "Kings sit still and command sea and land, &c., all pay tribute to the king; but women make kings pay tribute, and have dominion over them. When they have got gold and silver, they submit all to a beautiful woman, give themselves wholly to her, gape and gaze on her, and all men desire her more than gold or silver, or any precious thing: they will leave father and mother, and venture their lives for her, labour and travel to get, and bring all their gains to women, steal, fight, and spoil for their mistress's sake. And no king so strong, but a fair woman is stronger than he is. All things" (as [4833]he proceeds) "fear to touch the king; yet I saw him and Apame his concubine, the daughter of the famous Bartacus, sitting on the right hand of the king, and she took the crown off his head, and put it on her own, and stroke him with her left hand; yet the king gaped and gazed on her, and when she laughed he laughed, and when she was angry he flattered to be reconciled to her." So beauty commands even kings themselves; nay whole armies and kingdoms are captivated together with their kings: [4834]_Forma vincit armatos, ferrum pulchritudo captivat; vincentur specie, qui non vincentur proelio_. And 'tis a great matter saith [4835]Xenophon, "and of which all fair persons may worthily brag, that a strong man must labour for his living if he will have aught, a valiant man must fight and endanger himself for it, a wise man speak, show himself, and toil; but a fair and beautiful person doth all with ease, he compa.s.seth his desire without any pains-taking:" G.o.d and men, heaven and earth conspire to honour him; every one pities him above other, if he be in need, [4836]and all the world is willing to do him good.

[4837]Chariclea fell into the hand of pirates, but when all the rest were put to the edge of the sword, she alone was preserved for her person.

[4838]When Constantinople was sacked by the Turk, Irene escaped, and was so far from being made a captive, that she even captivated the Grand Signior himself. So did Rosamond insult over King Henry the Second.

[4839] ------"I was so fair an object; Whom fortune made my king, my love made subject; He found by proof the privilege of beauty, That it had power to countermand all duty."

It captivates the very G.o.ds themselves, _Morosiora numina_,

[4840] ------"Deus ipse deorum Factus ob hanc formam bos, equus imber olor."

And those _mali genii_ are taken with it, as [4841]I have already proved.

_Formosam Barbari verentur, et ad spectum pulchrum immanis animus mansuescit_. (Heliodor. _lib. 5._) The barbarians stand in awe of a fair woman, and at a beautiful aspect a fierce spirit is pacified. For when as Troy was taken, and the wars ended (as Clemens [4842]Alexandrinus quotes out of Euripides) angry Menelaus with rage and fury armed, came with his sword drawn, to have killed Helen, with his own hands, as being the sole cause of all those wars and miseries: but when he saw her fair face, as one amazed at her divine beauty, he let his weapon fall, and embraced her besides, he had no power to strike so sweet a creature. _Ergo habetantur enses pulchritudine_, the edge of a sharp sword (as the saying is) is dulled with a beautiful aspect, and severity itself is overcome. Hiperides the orator, when Phryne his client was accused at Athens for her lewdness, used no other defence in her cause, but tearing her upper garment, disclosed her naked breast to the judges, with which comeliness of her body and amiable gesture they were so moved and astonished, that they did acquit her forthwith, and let her go. O n.o.ble piece of justice! mine author exclaims: and who is he that would not rather lose his seat and robes, forfeit his office, than give sentence against the majesty of beauty? Such prerogatives have fair persons, and they alone are free from danger.

Parthenopaeus was so lovely and fair, that when he fought in the Theban wars, if his face had been by chance bare, no enemy would offer to strike at or hurt him, such immunities hath beauty. Beasts themselves are moved with it. Sinalda was a woman of such excellent feature, [4843]and a queen, that when she was to be trodden on by wild horses for a punishment, "the wild beasts stood in admiration of her person," (Saxo Grammaticus _lib. 8.

Dan. hist._) "and would not hurt her." Wherefore did that royal virgin in [4844]Apuleius, when she fled from the thieves' den, in a desert, make such an apostrophe to her a.s.s on whom she rode; (for what knew she to the contrary, but that he was an a.s.s?) _Si me parentibus et proco formoso reddideris, quas, tibi gratias, quos honores habebo, quos cibos exhibebo_?

[4845]She would comb him, dress him, feed him, and trick him every day herself, and he should work no more, toil no more, but rest and play, &c.

And besides she would have a dainty picture drawn, in perpetual remembrance, a virgin riding upon an a.s.s's back with this motto, _Asino vectore regia virgo fugiens captivitatem_; why said she all this? why did she make such promises to a dumb beast? but that she perceived the poor a.s.s to be taken with her beauty, for he did often _obliquo collo pedes puellae decoros basiare_, kiss her feet as she rode, _et ad delicatulas voculas tentabat adhinnire_, offer to give consent as much as in him was to her delicate speeches, and besides he had some feeling, as she conceived of her misery. And why did Theogine's horse in Heliodorus [4846]curvet, prance, and go so proudly, _exultans alacriter et superbiens_, &c., but that such as mine author supposeth, he was in love with his master? _dixisses ipsum equum pulchrum intelligere pulchram domini fomam_? A fly lighted on [4847]

Malthius' cheek as he lay asleep; but why? Not to hurt him, as a parasite of his, standing by, well perceived, _non ut pungeret, sed ut oscularetur_, but certainly to kiss him, as ravished with his divine looks. Inanimate creatures, I suppose, have a touch of this. When a drop of [4848]Psyche's candle fell on Cupid's shoulder, I think sure it was to kiss it. When Venus ran to meet her rose-cheeked Adonis, as an elegant [4849]poet of our's sets her out,

------"the bushes in the way Some catch her neck, some kiss her face, Some twine about her legs to make her stay, And all did covet her for to embrace."

_Aer ipse amore inficitur_, as Heliodorus holds, the air itself is in love: for when Hero plaid upon her lute,

[4850] "The wanton air in twenty sweet forms danc't After her fingers"------

and those lascivious winds stayed Daphne when she fled from Apollo;

[4851] ------"nudabant corpora venti, Obviaque adversas vibrabant flamina vestes."

Boreas Ventus loved Hyacinthus, and Orithya Ericthons's daughter of Athens: _vi rapuit_, &c. he took her away by force, as she was playing with other wenches at Ilissus, and begat Zetes and Galias his two sons of her. That seas and waters are enamoured with this our beauty, is all out as likely as that of the air and winds; for when Leander swam in the h.e.l.lespont, Neptune with his trident did beat down the waves, but

"They still mounted up intending to have kiss'd him.

And fell in drops like tears because they missed him."

The [4852]river Alpheus was in love with Arethusa, as she tells the tale herself,

[4853] ------"viridesque manu siccata capillos, Fluminis Alphei veteres recitavit amores; Pars ego Nympharum," &c.

When our Thame and Isis meet

[4854] "Oscula mille sonant, connexu brachia pallent, Mutuaque explicitis connectunt colla lacertis."

Inachus and Pineus, and how many loving rivers can I reckon up, whom beauty hath enthralled! I say nothing all this while of idols themselves that have committed idolatry in this kind, of looking-gla.s.ses, that have been rapt in love (if you will believe [4855]poets), when their ladies and mistresses looked on to dress them.

"Et si non habeo sensum, tua gratia sensum Exhibet, et calidi sentio amoris onus.

Dirigis huc quoties spectantia lumina, flamma Succendunt inopi saucia membra mihi."

"Though I no sense at all of feeling have.

Yet your sweet looks do animate and save; And when your speaking eyes do this way turn, Methinks my wounded members live and burn."

I could tell you such another story of a spindle that was fired by a fair lady's [4856]looks, or fingers, some say, I know not well whether, but fired it was by report, and of a cold bath that suddenly smoked, and was very hot when naked Coelia came into it, _Miramur quis sit tantus et unde vapor_, [4857]&c. But of all the tales in this kind, that is the most memorable of [4858]Death himself, when he should have strucken a sweet young virgin with his dart, he fell in love with the object. Many more such could I relate which are to be believed with a poetical faith. So dumb and dead creatures dote, but men are mad, stupefied many times at the first sight of beauty, amazed, [4859]as that fisherman in Aristaenetus that spied a maid bathing herself by the seaside,

[4860] "Soluta mihi sunt omnia membra-- A capite ad calcem. sensusque omnis periit De pectore, tam immensus stupor animam invasit mihi."

And as [4861]Lucian, in his images, confesses of himself, that he was at his mistress's presence void of all sense, immovable, as if he had seen a Gorgon's head: which was no such cruel monster (as [4862]Coelius interprets it, _lib. 3. cap. 9._), "but the very quintessence of beauty," some fair creature, as without doubt the poet understood in the first fiction of it, at which the spectators were amazed. [4863]_Miseri quibus intentata nites_, poor wretches are compelled at the very sight of her ravishing looks to run mad, or make away with themselves.

[4864] "They wait the sentence of her scornful eyes; And whom she favours lives, the other dies."

4865]Heliodorus, _lib. 1._ brings in Thyamis almost besides himself, when he saw Chariclia first, and not daring to look upon her a second time, "for he thought it impossible for any man living to see her and contain himself." The very fame of beauty will fetch them to it many miles off (such an attractive power this loadstone hath), and they will seem but short, they will undertake any toil or trouble, [4866]long journeys. Penia or Atalanta shall not overgo them, through seas, deserts, mountains, and dangerous places, as they did to gaze on Psyche: "many mortal men came far and near to see that glorious object of her age," Paris for Helena, Corebus to Troja.

------"Illis Trojam qui forte diebus Venerat insano Ca.s.sandrae insensus amore."

"who inflamed with a violent pa.s.sion for Ca.s.sandra, happened then to be in Troy." King John of France, once prisoner in England, came to visit his old friends again, crossing the seas; but the truth is, his coming was to see the Countess of Salisbury, the nonpareil of those times, and his dear mistress. That infernal G.o.d Pluto came from h.e.l.l itself, to steal Proserpine; Achilles left all his friends for Polixena's sake, his enemy's daughter; and all the [4867]Graecian G.o.ds forsook their heavenly mansions for that fair lady, Philo Dioneus daughter's sake, the paragon of Greece in those days; _ea enim venustate fuit, ut eam certatim omnes dii conjugem expeterent_: "for she was of such surpa.s.sing beauty, that all the G.o.ds contended for her love." [4868]_Formosa divis imperat puella_. "The beautiful maid commands the G.o.ds." They will not only come to see, but as a falcon makes a hungry hawk hover about, follow, give attendance and service, spend goods, lives, and all their fortunes to attain;

"Were beauty under twenty locks kept fast, Yet love breaks through, and picks them all at last."

When fair [4869]Hero came abroad, the eyes, hearts, and affections of her spectators were still attendant on her.

[4870] "Et medios inter vultus supereminet omnes, Perque urbem aspiciunt venientem numinis instar."

[4871] "So far above the rest fair Hero shined.

And stole away the enchanted gazer's mind."