Origin of Names 67 



Iris. Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas 

 Of wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats and pease; 



The queen o' the sky 



Whose watery arch, and messenger, am I, 

 Bids thee leave these; and with her sovereign grace, 

 Here on this grass-plot, in this very place, 

 To come and sport: * * 



Ceres. Hail, many-colour'd messenger, that ne'er 

 Dost disobey the wife of Jupiter; 

 Who, with thy saffron wings, upon my flowers 

 Diffusest honey-drops, refreshing showers: 

 And with each end of thy blue bow dost crown 

 My bosky acres and my unshrubbed down, 

 Rich scarf to my proud earth. 



Shakespeare: Tempest. 



But light-foot Iris brought it yester-eve. 



Tennyson: Oenone. 



She is generally represented as using the rainbow as 

 her pathway through the air. 



While elsewhere thus the war proceeds, 



Saturnian Juno swiftly speeds 



Her Iris from above 



To valiant Turnus: 



And thus the child of Thaumas speaks, 



Heaven's beauty flushing in her cheeks: 

 ***** 



E'en as she spoke, her wings she spread, 

 And skyward on her rainbow fled. 



Firgil: yEneid IX (Conington's tr.). 



