Use of Plant and Flower 239 



Or as the passage is translated by another poet: 



Then Juno, pitying her long pain, 



And all that agony of death, 



Sent Iris down to part in twain 



The clinging limbs and struggling breath. 



***** 



So down from Heaven fair Iris flies 

 On saffron wings impearled with dews. 

 That flash against the sunlit skies 

 A thousand variegated hues; 

 Then stands at Dido's head, and cries: 

 "This lock to Dis I bear away 

 And free you from your load of Clay": 

 So shears the lock: The vital heats 

 Disperse, and breath in air retreats. 



Virgil: JEneid IV (Conington's tr.). 



For the religious sentiments associated with Fleur- 

 de-lis later in the Christian era see under Metaphor, 

 page 87, Religious Symbol, page 90. 



