HALIEUTICA, IV. 23-43 



delight. Whether then thou art the eldest-bom" 

 among the blessed gods and from unsmiling Chaos 

 didst arise \\'ith fierce and flaming torch and didst 

 first establish the ordinances of wedded love and 

 order the rites of the marriage-bed ; or whether 

 Aphrodite of many counsels, queen of Paphos,'' bare 

 thee a winged god on soaring pinions, be thou 

 gracious and to us come gentle and with fair weather 

 and in tempered measure ; for none refuses the work 

 of Love. Everywhere thou bearest sway and every- 

 where thou art desired at once and greatly feared ; 

 and happy is he who cherishes and guards in his 

 breast a temperate Love. Nor doth the race of 

 Heaven suffice thee nor the breed of men '^ ; thou 

 rejectest not the xsild beasts nor all the brood of 

 the barren air ; under the coverts of the nether 

 deep dost thou descend and even among the finny 

 tribes thou dost array thy darkhng shafts ; that 

 naught may be left ignorant of thy compeUing 

 power, not even the fish that swims beneath the 

 waters. 



Behold what love for one another and keen 

 desire do the spotted Parrot-wTasses ^ entertain and 

 in trouble forsake not one another but in a spirit of 

 helpfulness, many a time, when one Parrot-wrasse 

 is struck by the deadly hook, another rushes to his 



rrepir^OLV xpi'fai'f, etV'wj dvffj^uKfcri divan. Cf. Plato, St/mp. 

 178 A, Xen. Si/mp. 8. 1. Otherwise Eros is son of 

 Aphrodite and Ares : Simonid. fr. 72 (rxerXte rai So\6fj.r]Ses 

 'AtppoSircLS, I t6v 'Apa Kojcofiaxo-vi^ riKev. 



* In Cyprus. 



* Soph. Antic/. 785 (poirg^i 5' virepirovTios If r' a.ypov6ixoi.i 

 oi'Xatj' I Koi a' oCt' ddavdrwy <f>v^iuos ovSfU \ oC'6' afiepiwv i-r' 

 ayffpJnrwv. Cf. Soph. fr. 856 fia^pxerat ney ixOCuv T\wT(p 

 •fivei, ! ivecTi. 5' iv x^pcov rerpacrKeXti yoirg ; Lucret. i. 1-23 



' H. i. 13* n. 



405 



