190 PROSERPINA. 



sent. When Horace calls Vulcan ' Avidus,' he thinks of him 

 as the power of Fire ; when he speaks of Jupiter's red right 

 hand, he thinks of him as the power of rain with lightning ; 

 and when Homer speaks of Juno's dark eyes, you have to re- 

 member that she is the softer form of the rain power, and to 

 think of the fringes of the rain-cloud across the light of the 

 horizon. Gradually the idea becomes personal and human 

 in the " Dove's eyes within thy locks," * and " Dove's eyes 

 by the river of waters " of the Song of Solomon. 



46. " Or Cytherea's breath," the two thoughts of softest 

 glance, and softest kiss, being thus together associated with 

 the flower : but note especially that the Island of Cythera was 

 dedicated to Yenus because it was the chief, if not the only 

 Greek island, in which the purple fishery of Tyre was estab- 

 lished ; and in our own minds should be marked not only as 

 the most southern fragment of true Greece, but the virtual 

 continuation of the chain of mountains which separate the 

 Spartan from the Argive territories, and are the natural home 

 of the brightest Spartan and Argive beauty which is symbolized 

 in Helen. 



47. And, lastly, in accepting for the order this name of 

 Cytherides, you are to remember the names of Viola and 

 Giulietta, its two limiting families, as those of Shakspeare's 

 two most loving maids the two who love simply, and to the 

 death : as distinguished from the greater natures in whom 

 earthly Love has its due part, and no more ; and farther still 

 from the greatest, in whom the earthly love is quiescent, or 

 subdued, beneath the thoughts of duty and immortality. 



It may be well quickly to mark for you the levels of loving 

 temper in Shakspeare's maids and wives, from the greatest to 

 the least. 



48. 1. Isabel. All earthly love, and the possibilities of it, 

 held in absolute subjection to the laws of God, and the judg- 

 ments of His will. She is Shakspeare's only * Saint.' Queen 

 Catherine, whom you might next think of, is only an ordinary 



* Septuagint, " the eyes of doves out of thy silence." Vulgate, "the 

 eyes of doves, besides that which is hidden in them." Meaning th 

 dim look of love, beyond all others in sweetness. 



