Part 63

Ille caput flavum lauro Parnasside vinctus— Verrit humum Tyrio saturatâ murice pallâ, &c.

Μνήμοσυνῃ. This goddess is celebrated by Hesiod, in his Theogony, as the mother of the Muses:

ἐκ ἧς αἱ Μοῦσαι χρυσάμπυκες ἐξεγένοντο ἐννέα, τῇσιν ἅδον θαλίαι, καὶ τέρψις ἀοιδῆς.

So Akenside, in The Pleasures of Imagination:

Ye beauteous offspring of Olympian Jove And Memory divine, Pierian maids.

That this mythology is judicious, has been remarked by Plutarch in his rules for the education of children; since nothing so much cherishes learning as memory. There is a statue of Mnemosyne in the Clementine Museum of Visconti, Vol. +i.+

Ἑρμῇ. Mercury is here introduced in one of his most creditable capacities, as the author of letters, and the god of orators and eloquence:

The god of wit, from Atlas sprung, Who by persuasive power of tongue And graceful exercise refined The savage race of human kind!

Ἑρμῆς ἀγαθὸς τοῖς ἐπὶ λόγους ὁρμωμένοις, καὶ ἀθληταῖς, καὶ παιδοτρίβαις, κ. τ. λ.

Οἱ δὲ ἀμφὶ τὰ ἐρωτικὰ Ἀφροδίτῃ. In the Rape of Helen, Venus is called Ἁρμονίης βασίλεια, (v. 26.) θαλάμων βασίλεια, (v. 137.) and γάμων βασίλεια, (v. 306.) queen of marriage. And to the same purport is the description of Nemesian:

cui cura jugales Concubitus hominum totis connectere sêclis.

μάλιστα δὲ ἀγαθὴ περὶ γάμους καὶ κοινωνίας, καὶ περὶ τέκνων γονὰς, says the dream-interpreter, of the goddess of love, συνδέσμων γὰρ καὶ ἐπιγόνων ἐστὶν αἰτία. The reader will remember her angry speech (tangit et ira Deos) in the prologue of the Hippolytus,

τοὺς μὲν σέβοντας τἀμὰ πρεσβεύω κράτη, σφάλλω δ’ ὅσοι φρονοῦσιν εἰς ἡμᾶς μέγα, κ. τ. λ.

and her vengeful and infuriate character, as drawn by Apollonius Rhodius in reference to the Lemnians:

οὕνεκά μιν γεράων ἐπιδηρὸν ἄτισσαν.

and amplified by Valerius Flaccus, L. +ii.+ vs. 29.

Ἔρωτι. Venus confesses that she has little power without the aid of her favourite son Cupid:

Nate, meæ vires, mea magna potentia, &c. Ad te confugio, et supplex tua numina posco.

She is accompanied by him and Ἵμερος (whom the Grecian mythologists seem to have distinguished from Ἔρως) in the Theogony of Hesiod.

τῇ δ’ Ἔρος ὡμάρτησε, καὶ Ἵμερος ἕσπετο καλός.

The Odes of Anacreon afford many graphic sketches of the mischievous little god:

φέροντα τόξον, πτέρυγάς τε καὶ φαρέτρην.

Πειθοῖ. Suada or Suadela—the goddess of persuasion—nuptiarum conciliatrix. In the temple of Jupiter at Olympia, as described by Pausanias, Cupid is seen receiving Venus rising out of the sea, and the goddess Πειθὼ placing a crown on her head: and so in the Rape of Helen, she is the bearer of the bridal chaplet:

καὶ στέφος ἀσκήσασα γαμήλιον ἤλυθε Πειθὼ, τοξευτῆρος Ἔρωτος ἐλαφρίζουσα φαρέτρην.

Horace unites Suadela and Venus in the attractions of “the well-bemoney’d swain”—“benè-nummatum decorat Suadela Venusque.” And Artemidorus says her appearance is ominous of good to all persons, and on all occasions; Πειθὼ δὲ καὶ Χάριτες, καὶ Ὧραι, καὶ Νύμφαι πρὸς πάντα καὶ πᾶσιν εἰσὶν ἀγαθαί.

Χάρισιν. The Graces of Heathen mythology were ladies of great influence: simplicity of manners, gracefulness of deportment, gaiety of disposition, liberality, eloquence, and wisdom, were all derived from them:

σὺν γὰρ ὑμῖν τὰ τερπνὰ καὶ τὰ γλυκέα γίνεται πάντα βροτοῖς· εἰ σοφὸς, εἰ καλὸς, εἴ τις ἀγλαὸς ἀνήρ.

In the Theogony they “keep their court with the God of Love,” and revel in banquets; and in Horace’s supplicatory Ode to Venus, they are associated with the “Regina Cnidi Paphique,” Cupid, the Nymphs, Hebe, and Mercury: