238 



Tall Bearded Iris 



FIG. LVII. THREE STEMS OF CAPRICE 



to the dying and a blessing to the dead. It is this 

 that Virgil refers to in the lines describing the death 

 of Dido on her funeral pyre: 



Then Juno, pitying her disastrous fate, 



Sends Iris down her pangs to mitigate. 



(Since if we fall before the appointed day 



Nature and death continue long their fray). 



Iris descends; "This fatal lock (says she) 



To Pluto I bequesth, and set thee free"; 



Then clips her hair: cold numbness straight bereaves 



Her corpse of sense, and the air her soul receives. 



Virgil: fiLneid IV (Denham's tr.). 



