fascination. To a few, indeed, her favor is a blessing; but to many her gifts are treacherous, destructive of peace. Her various influence is exemplified in the stories of Pygmalion and Adonis, Paris and Æneas, Helen, Ariadne, Psyche, Procris, Pasiphaë, and Phædra. Her power extended over sea as well as land; and her temples rose from many a shore. On the waters swan and dolphin were beloved of her; in air, the sparrow and the dove. She was usually attended by her winged son Cupid, of whom much is to be told. Especially dear to her were Cyprus, Cnidos, Paphos, Cythera, Abydos, Mount Eryx, and the city of Corinth.

2

Of artistic conceptions of Aphrodite, the most famous are the statues called the Venus of Melos, and the Venus of the Medici. A comparison of the two conceptions is instituted in the following poem. The worshipper apostrophizes the Venus of Melos, that "inner beauty of the world," whose tranquil smile he finds more fair than "The Medicean's sly and servile grace":

"From our low world no gods have taken wing;

Even now upon our hills the twain are wandering: 3

The Medicean's sly and servile grace,

And the immortal beauty of thy face.

One is the spirit of all short-lived love

And outward, earthly loveliness:

The tremulous rosy morn is her mouth's smile,

The sky, her laughing azure eyes above;

And, waiting for caress,

Lie bare the soft hill-slopes, the while

Her thrilling voice is heard

In song of wind and wave, and every flitting bird.

Not plainly, never quite herself she shows:

Just a swift glance of her illumined smile

Along the landscape goes;

1 For Venus in poetry and art, see Commentary, § 40.

2 From the Venus of Milo by E. R. Sill, formerly professor of English Literature

in the University of California. The cut, p. 67, represents the Melos.

8 The references are to the Berkeley Hills, the Bay of San Francisco, and the glimpses of the Pacific.

Just a soft hint of singing, to beguile

A man from all his toil;

Some vanished gleam of beckoning arm, to spoil

A morning's task with longing, wild
and vain.

Then if across the parching plain
He seek her, she with passion burns
His heart to fever, and he hears
The west wind's mocking laughter
when he turns,

Shivering in mist of ocean's sullen

tears.

It is the Medicean: well I know The arts her ancient subtlety will show,

The stubble field she turns to ruddy gold;

The empty distance she will fold In purple gauze; the warm glow she has kissed

Along the chilling mist:

Cheating and cheated love that grows to hate

And ever deeper loathing, soon or late.

Thou, too, O fairer spirit, walkest here

Upon the lifted hills:

Wherever that still thought within

the breast

The inner beauty of the world hath

moved;

In starlight that the dome of evening fills;

On endless waters rounding to the

west:

For them who thro' that beauty's

veil have loved

The soul of all things beautiful

the best.

For lying broad awake, long ere the dawn,
Staring against the dark, the blank of space
Opens immeasurably, and thy face

Wavers and glimmers there and is withdrawn.
And many days, when all one's work is vain,
And life goes stretching on, a waste gray plain,
With even the short mirage of morning gone,
No cool breath anywhere, no shadow nigh
Where a weary man might lay him down and die,
Lo! thou art there before me suddenly,

With shade as if a summer cloud did pass,

And spray of fountains whispering to the grass.
Oh, save me from the haste and noise and heat

That spoil life's music sweet:

And from that lesser Aphrodite there —

Even now she stands

Close as I turn, and O my soul, how fair!"

§ 41. Mercury (Hermes), born in a cave of Mount Cyllene in

Arcadia, was the son of Jupiter and Maia

conjecture, his name Hermes means the Hastener. Mercury, swift as the wind, was the servant and herald of Jupiter and the other gods. On his ankles (in plastic art), and his low-crowned, broadbrimmed petasus, or hat, were wings. As messenger of Heaven, he bore a

wand (caduceus) of wood or of gold, twined with snakes and surmounted by wings, and possessed of magical powers over sleeping, waking, and dreams. He was beautiful, and ever in the prime of youthful vigor. To a voice sweettoned and powerful, he added the persuasiveness of eloquence. But his skill was not confined to speech: he was, also, the first of inventors - to him are ascribed the lyre, the syrinx, and the flute. He was the forerunner, too, of mathematicians and astronomers. His agility and strength made him easily prince in athletic pursuits. His cunning rendered him a dangerous foe; he could well