64 PROSERPINA. 



you keep your own hands too long in water, they 

 shrivel at the finger-ends. 



26. So that you must not attach any great 

 botanical importance to the characters of contrasted 

 aspects in leaves, which I wish you to express by 

 the words ' Apolline ' and ' Arethusan ' ; but their 

 mythic importance is very great, and your careful 

 observance of it will help you completely to 

 understand the beautiful Greek fable of Apollo 

 and Daphne. There are indeed several Daphnes, 

 and the first root of the name is far away in 

 another field of thought altogether, connected with 

 the Gods of Light. But etymology, the best of 

 servants, is an unreasonable master ; and Professor 

 Max Muller trusts his deep-reaching knowledge of 

 the first ideas connected with the names of Athena 

 and Daphne, too implicitly, when he supposes 

 this idea to be retained in central Greek theology. 



Athena ' originally meant only the dawn, among 

 nations who knew nothing of a Sacred Spirit. 

 But the Athena who catches Achilles by the hair, 

 and urges the spear of Diomed, has not, in the mind 

 of Homer, the slightest remaining connection with 

 the mere beauty of daybreak. Daphne chased by 

 Apollo, may perhaps — though I doubt even this 

 much of consistence in the earlier myth — have 



meant the Dawn pursued by the Sun. But there is 



