116 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS RITES. 
in the heart ‘the passion of love; and such was his power, that not even 
the gods themselves could suppress the sentiment when once awakened. 
And thus Eros ruled in heaven, earth, and hell. He was usually repre- 
sented as a beautiful, light-haired, rosy-cheeked boy, with wings, bow, 
arrows, and quiver; sometimes also bearing a torch, to indicate his charac- 
ter as illuminator of the soul. As vanquisher and ruler of the gods and 
men, he often pursued his sports, employing temporarily the attributes of 
other deities or heroes. Thus he appears (pl. 29, jig. 5) armed with the 
shield, helmet, and lance, or (jig. 6) investing himself in the equipments of 
Ares in token of his having subdued even the god of war. /%g.3 shows 
him borne by Heracles, who is clothed in the lion’s skin, and carries the 
characteristic club in the left hand; and in jig. 4 he is riding on a tamed 
lion, and playing on Apollo’s lyre, a felicitous emblem of the united power 
of music and love. Slyness, desire, dissimulation, wantonness, caprice, and 
love of dominion constituted his prominent characteristics. His method of 
kindling the feeling of love was by sending an arrow into the heart of his 
victim. The point of the arrow was touched by his mother sometimes with 
honey, sometimes with gall; and Eros took a mischievous delight in inflict- 
ing wounds even upon the gods most distinguished for sobriety, seriousness, 
and dignity ; in creating the tender feeling in hearts the most dissimilar; 
and exciting love when its reciprocation was improbable, or its gratification 
attainable only through violence. He did not even spare his mother. 
Accordingly Zeus, who from the moment of his birth discovered his ten- 
dencies to wily artifice, commanded his mother Aphrodite to destroy him; 
but she concealed him in forests, where he was nourished and brought up 
by wild beasts. Here he grew sufficiently strong to carve out for himself a 
bow from ash-wood, and arrows from the cypress; and he first employed 
his weapon upon the animals around him, with a view to the attaimment of 
greater skill in hitting men and gods. When afterwards he was transferred 
to Olympos, he endeavored to ingratiate himself into the favor of all the gods. 
He succeeded with all except Themis, Artemis, and Pallas Athene. 
Hephestos so loved the boy that he wrought for him a silver bow and 
golden arrows, which he thenceforward used. 
Among the numerous stories of Eros, none have a better claim to notice 
than that of his connexion with Psyche. Psyche was the daughter of a 
king, and her beauty was such as to cause her to be mistaken for Aphrodite 
herself. Her two less favored sisters were married, but Psyche remained 
single, no suitor deeming himself worthy to be the husband of one so lovely. 
At length Eros saw and loved her, and resolved to make her his wife. The 
sorrowful father in the meantime consulted the oracle of Apollo, and 
received instructions that as his daughter had been selected for the bride of 
a winged dragon, he should lead her with a funeral procession to a moun- 
tain, and there leave her. The oracle was obeyed, and amid the tears 
of the people Psyche was left in a solitary spot. So soon however as all 
had retired, a Zephyr caught her up and bore her to the palace of the god 
of love. Here she was surrounded by every imaginable joy and comfort. 
Invisible hands fulfilled her wishes before they were clear even to herself. 
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