Page:Hesiod, and Theognis.djvu/89

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THE THEOGONY.
75
Was nourished in their midst. The wafting wavesFirst bore her to Cythera the divine:To wave-encircled Cyprus came she then,And forth emerged a goddess in the charmsOf awful beauty. Where her delicate feetHad pressed the sands, green herbage flowering sprang.Her Aphrodite gods and mortals name,The foam-born goddess: and her name is knownAs Cytherea with the blooming wreath,For that she touched Cythera's flowery coast;And Cypris, for that on the Cyprian shoreShe rose amid the multitude of waves.Love tracked her steps, and beautiful DesirePursued; while soon as born she bent her wayTowards heaven's assembled gods: her honours theseFrom the beginning: whether gods or men Her presence bless, to her the portion fallsOf virgin whisperings and alluring smiles,And smooth deceits, and gentle ecstasy,And dalliance and the blandishments of love."—F. 258-283.

The concluding verses of this passage are notable as enumerating the fabled assessors of Venus; and the italicised lines, which find modern parallels in Milton, Scott, and Tennyson,[1] may have suggested the invo-

  1. ↑
    "Now when as sacred light began to dawnIn Eden on the humid flowers that breathedTheir morning incense, when all things that breatheFrom the earth's great altar send up silent praiseTo the Creator;" &c.—Paradise Lost, ix.
    "A foot more light, a step more true,Ne'er from the heath-flower dash'd the dew;E'en the slight harebell raised its headElastic from her airy tread."—Lady of the Lake, i. 18.
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