"Both I detain," Said he, "the other two I dedicate To the two Powers that soften virgin hearts, To her who ratifies the nuptial vow." She would have wept to see her father weep; But some God pitied her, and purple wings (What God's were they?) hovered and interposed.1 But the oracle was yet to be fulfilled. The lovers, full of their own happiness, after all, forgot to pay due honor to Aphrodite; and the goddess was provoked at their ingratitude. She caused them to give offence to Cybele. That powerful goddess took from them their human form: the huntress heroine, triumphing in the blood of her lovers, she made a lioness; her lord and master a lion, - and yoked them to her car, where they are still to be seen in all representations, in statuary or painting, of the goddess Cybele. § 96. Hero and Leander. 2. On Hellespont, guilty of true love's blood, Some say, for her the fairest Cupid pin'd, And, with still panting rockt, there took his rest. 1 From W. S. Landor's Hippomenes and Atalanta. 2 The poetical passages are from Marlowe's Hero and Leander, First Sestiad. Marlowe's narrative was completed by Chapman. See Musæus of Alexandria, De Amore Herois et Leandri; Verg. Georg. 3: 258; Ovid, Her. 18:19; Stat. Theb. 6:535. In Abydos dwelt the manly Leander, who, as luck would have it, bethought himself one day of the festival of Venus in Sestos, and thither fared to do obeisance to the goddess. On this feast-day, - O cursèd day and hour! As after chanc'd, they did each other spy. ... Vail'd to the ground, veiling her eyelids close; And thus Leander was enamourèd. Stone-still he stood, and evermore he gaz'd, Till with the fire, that from his countenance blaz'd, It lies not in our power to love or hate, When two are stript long e'er the course begin, And one especially do we affect Of two gold ingots, like in each respect: He kneel'd; but unto her devoutly prayed: Chaste Hero to herself thus softly said, 'Were I the saint he worships, I would hear him'; And, as she spake those words, came somewhat near him. He started up; she blush'd as one asham'd; Wherewith Leander much more was inflam'd. He touch'd her hand; in touching it she trembled: ww So they conversed by touch of hands, till Leander, plucking up courage, began to plead with words, with sighs and tears. These arguments he us'd, and many more; Wherewith she yielded, that was won before. To touch the sacred garments which I wear.' . . . Then she told him of the turret by the murmuring sea where all day long she tended Venus' swans and sparrows : 'Come thither.' As she spake this, her tongue tripp'd, For unawares, 'Come thither,' from her slipp'd; And suddenly her former colour chang'd, And here and there her eyes through anger rang'd; At one self instant, she, poor soul, assays, Strove to resist the motions of her heart: And hands so pure, so innocent, nay, such As might have made Heaven stoop to have a touch, Did she uphold to Venus, and again Vow'd spotless chastity; but all in vain; For a season all went well. Guided by a torch which his mistress reared upon the tower, he was wont of nights to swim the strait, that he might enjoy her company. But one night a tempest arose, and the sea was rough; his strength failed, and he was drowned. The waves bore his body to the European shore, where Hero became aware of his death, and in her despair cast herself into the sea and perished. A picture of the drowning Leander is thus described by Keats1: Come hither all sweet maidens soberly, Down looking aye, and with a chasten'd light, Untouch'd, a victim of your beauty bright, § 97. Pygmalion and the Statue.2 Pygmalion saw so much to blame in women, that he came at last to abhor the sex and resolved to live unmarried. He was a sculptor, and had made with wonderful skill a statue of ivory, so beautiful that no living woman was to compare with it. It was indeed the perfect semblance of a maiden that seemed to be alive, and that was prevented from moving only by modesty. His art was so perfect that it concealed itself, and its product looked like the workmanship of nature. Pygmalion at last fell in love with his counterfeit creation. Oftentimes he laid his hand upon it as if to assure himself whether it were living or not, and could not even then believe that it was only ivory. The festival of Venus was at hand, a festival celebrated with great pomp at Cyprus. Victims were offered, the altars smoked, and the odor of incense filled the air. When Pygmalion had 1 Sonnet: On a Picture of Leander." 2 Ovid, Metam. 10:243-297. www performed his part in the solemnities, he stood before the altar and, according to one of our poets, timidly said: — "O Aphrodite, kind and fair, That what thou wilt canst give, That clothe her cedar frame Ah, touch them with thy flame! And let her choose me, as I chose, And then an altar in thy court Thy doves be bought and sold!" 1 According to another version of the story, he said not, "bid mine image live," but "one like my ivory virgin." At any rate, with such a prayer, he threw incense on the flame of the altar. Whereupon Venus, as an omen of her favor, caused the flame to shoot up thrice a fiery point into the air. When Pygmalion reached his home, to his amazement he saw before him his statue garlanded with flowers. Yet while he stood, and knew not what to do He trembled at the sight, for though her eyes, 1 Andrew Lang, The New Pygmalion. |