159 
And in the Twelfth Night, Viola, in declaring her mis¬ 
sion to Olivia, says, — 
“ I bring no overture of war, no taxation of homage ; I hold the olive 
in my hand : my words arc as full of peace as matter.** 
Milton associates it with holier recollections, and 
brings us back to the Flood. 
“ Forthwith from out the ark a raven flies, 
And after him, the surer messenger, 
A dove, sent forth once and again to spy 
Green tree or ground whereon his foot may light: 
The second time returning in his bill 
An olive-leaf he brings, pacific sign.” 
He introduces it again, most beautifully, in his Ode on 
the Nativity: — 
“ But he her fears to cease, 
Sent down the meek-eyed Peace, 
She, crown’d with olive-green, came softly gliding 
Down through the turning sphere, 
His ready harbinger 
With turtle wing the amorous clouds dividing.” 
Pope, in the “ Messiah, ” thus appropriately personi¬ 
fies peace: — 
