Ante deos omnes primum generavit amorem. 1 Some think it is the selfsame fire Prometheus fetched from heaven. Plutarch, amator. libello, will have Love to be the son of Iris and Favonius; but Socrates in that pleasant dialogue of Plato, when it came to his turn to speak of love (of which subject Agatho the rhetorician, magniloquus Agatho, that chanter Agatho, had newly given occasion), in a poetical strain, telleth this tale: when Venus was born, all the gods were invited to a banquet, and amongst the rest, Porus the god of bounty and wealth; Penia or Poverty came a begging to the door; Porus well whittled with nectar (for there was no wine in those days) walking in Jupiter's garden, in a bower met with Penia, and in his drink got her with child, of whom was born Love; and because he was begotten on Venus's birthday, Venus still attends upon him. The moral of this is in 2 Ficinus. Another tale is there borrowed out of Aristophanes : in the beginning of the world, men had four arms and four feet, but for their pride, because they compared themselves with the gods, were parted into halves, and now peradventure by love they hope to be united again and made one. Otherwise thus, Vulcan met two lovers, and bid them ask what they would and they should have it; but they made answer, O Vulcane faber Deorum, &c. "O Vulcan the gods' great smith, we beseech thee to work us anew in thy furnace, and of two make us one; which he presently did, and ever since true lovers are either all one, or else desire to be united." Many such tales you shall find in Leon Hebræus, dial. 3, and their moral to them. The reason why Love was still painted young (as Phornutus 5 and others will), “is because young men are most apt to love; soft, fair, and fat, because such folks are soonest taken; naked, because all true 4 1 Affluentiæ Deus. 2 Cap. 7, Comment. in Plat. Convivium. 3 See more in Valesius, lib. 3, cont. med. et cont. 13. 4 Vives, 3, de animâ; oramus te ut tuis artibus et caminis nos refingas, et ex duobus unum facias; quod et fecit, et exinde amatores unum sunt et unum esse petunt. 5 See more in Natalis Comes, Imag. Deorum. Philostratus, de Imaginibus. Lilius Giraldus, Syntag. de diis. Phornutus, &c. 6 Juvenis pingitur quod amore plerumque juvenes capiuntur; sic et mollis, formosus, nudus, quod simplex et apertus hic affectus; ridet quod oblectamentum præ se ferat, cum pharetrâ, &c. affection is simple and open; he smiles, because merry and given to delights; hath a quiver, to show his power, none can escape; is blind, because he sees not where he strikes, whom he hits," &c. His power and sovereignty is expressed by the poets, in that he is held to be a god, and a great commanding god, above Jupiter himself; Magnus Dæmon, as Plato calls him, the strongest and merriest of all the gods according to Alcinous and Athenæus. Amor virorum rex, amor rex et deûm, as Euripides, the god of gods and governor of men; for we must all do homage to him, keep a holiday for his deity, adore in his temples, worship his image (numen enim hoc non est nudum nomen), and sacrifice to his altar, that conquers all, 3 and rules all: 8 4" Mallem cum leone, cervo et apro Eolico, Cum Anteo et Stymphalicis avibus luctari "I had rather contend with bulls, lions, bears, and giants than with Love;" he is so powerful, enforceth all to pay tribute to him, domineers over all, and can make mad and sober whom he list; insomuch that Cæcilius in Tully's Tusculans, holds him to be no better than a fool or an idiot, that doth not acknowledge Love to be a great god. 6" Cui in manu sit quem esse dementem velit, That can make sick, and cure whom he list. Homer and Stesichorus were both made blind, if you will believe & Leon Hebræus, for speaking against his godhead; and though Aristophanes degrade him, and say that he was 7 scornfully rejected from the council of the gods, had his wings clipped besides, that he might come no more amongst them, and to his farther disgrace banished heaven forever, and confined to dwell on earth, yet he is of that 1 A petty Pope claves habet superorum et inferorum, as Orpheus, &c. 2 Lib. 13, cap. 5, Dipnoso. 3. Regnat et in superos jus habet ille deos. Ovid power, majesty, 4 Plautus. 5 Selden, proleg. 8 cap. omnipotency, and dominion, that no creature can withstand him. 1" Imperat Cupido etiam diis pro arbitrio, Et ipsum arcere ne armipotens potest Jupiter." He is more than quartermaster with the gods. "Tenet Thetide æquor, umbras Eaco, cœlum Jove: "2 8 and hath not so much possession as dominion. Jupiter himself was turned into a satyr, shepherd, a bull, a swan, a golden shower, and what not for love; that as Lucian's Juno right well objected to him, ludus amoris tu es, thou art Cupid's whirligig; how did he insult over all the other gods, Mars, Neptune, Pan, Mercury, Bacchus, and the rest? Lucian brings in Jupiter complaining of Cupid that he could not be quiet for him; and the moon lamenting that she was so impotently besotted on Endymion, even Venus herself confessing as much, how rudely and in what sort her own son Cupid had used her being his mother, "now drawing her to Mount Ida, for the love of that Trojan Anchises, now to Libanus for that Assyrian youth's sake. And although she threatened to break his bow and arrows, to clip his wings, and whipped him besides on the bare buttocks with her pantofle, yet all would not serve, he was too headstrong and unruly." That monster-conquering Hercules was tamed by him: 5 66 Quem non mille feræ, quem non Sthenelejus hostis, Whom neither beasts nor enemies could tame, Nor Juno's might subdue, Love quell'd the same. Your bravest soldiers and most generous spirits are enervated with it, ubi mulieribus blanditiis permittunt se, et inquinantur amplexibus. Apollo, that took upon him to cure all dis 1 Sophocles. 2" He divides the empire of the sea with Thetis,-of the Shades, with Eacus,-of the Heaven, with Jove." 3 Tom. 4. 4 Dial. deorum, tom. 3. Quippe matrem ipsius quibus modis me afficit, nunc in Idam adigens Anchisa causâ, &c. 6 Jampridem et plagas ipsi in nates incussi sandalio. 7 ALtopilus, fol. 79. eases, 1 could not help himself of this; and therefore 2 Soc rates calls Love a tyrant, and brings him triumphing in a chariot, whom Petrarch imitates in his triumph of Love, and Fracastorius, in an elegant poem expresseth at large, Cupid riding, Mars and Apollo following his chariot, Psyche weeping, &c. In vegetal creatures what sovereignty love hath, by many pregnant proofs and familiar examples may be proved, especially of palm-trees, which are both he and she, and express not a sympathy but a love-passion, and by many ob servations have been confirmed. 8" Vivunt in venerem frondes, omnisque vicissin Et platano platanus, alnoque assibilat alnus." Constantine, de Agric. lib. 10, cap. 4, gives an instance out of Florentius his Georgics, of a palm-tree that loved most fervently, 4" and would not be comforted until such time her love applied herself unto her; you might see the two trees bend, and of their own accords stretch out their boughs to embrace and kiss each other; they will give manifest signs of mutual love." Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. 24, reports that they marry one another, and fall in love if they grow in sight; and when the wind brings the smell to them they are marvellously affected. Philostratus, in Imaginibus, observes as much, and Galen, lib. 6, de locis affectis, cap. 5, they will be sick for love; ready to die and pine away, which the husbandmen perceiving, saith 5 Constantine, " stroke many palms that grow together, and so stroking again the palm that is enamoured, they carry kisses from one to the other; 1 Nullis amor est medicabilis herbis. 2 Plutarch, in Amatorio. Dictator quo creato cessant reliqui magistratus. 3 Claudian. descript. vener. aulæ. "Trees are influenced by love, and every flourishing tree in turn feels the passion: palms nod mutual vows, poplar sighs to poplar, plane to plane, and alder breathes to alder." 4 Neque prius in lis desiderium cessat dum dejectus con soletur; videre enim est ipsam arborem incurvatam, ultro ramis ab utrisque vicissim ad osculum exporrectis. Manifesta dant mutui desiderii signa. 5 Multas palmas contingens quæ simul crescunt, rursusque ad amantem regrediens, eamque manu attingens, quasi osculum mutuo ministrare videtur, expediti con cubitus gratiam facit. or tying the leaves and branches of the one to the stem of the other, will make them both flourish and prosper a great deal better; 1" which are enamoured, they can perceive by the bending of boughs, and inclination of their bodies." If any man think this which I say to be a tale, let him read that story of two palm-trees in Italy, the male growing at Brundusium, the female at Otranto (related by Jovianus Pontanus in an excellent poem, sometimes tutor to Alphonsus junior, King of Naples, his secretary of state, and a great philosopher)" which were barren, and so continued a long time," till they came to see one another growing up higher, though many stadiums asunder. Pierius in his Hieroglyphics, and Melchior Guilandinus, Mem. 3, tract. de papyro, cites this story of Pontanus for a truth. See more in Salmuth, Comment. in Pancirol. de Novâ repert. Tit. 1, de novo orbe, Mizaldus, Arcanorum, lib. 2, Sand's Voyages, lib. 2, fol. 103, &c. If such fury be in vegetals, what shall we think of sensible creatures, how much more violent and apparent shall it be in them! 2" Omne adeò genus in terris hominumque ferarum, "All kind of creatures in the earth, And fishes of the sea, And painted birds do rage alike; This love bears equal sway." 8" Hic deus et terras et maria alta domat.” Common experience and our sense will inform us how violently brute beasts are carried away with this passion, horses above the rest-furor est insignis equarum. 466 Cupid in Lucian bids Venus his mother be of good cheer, for he was now familiar with lions, and oftentimes did get on their backs, 1 Quam vero ipsa desideret affectu ramorum significat, et ad illam respicit; amantur, &c. 2 Virg. 3 Georg. 3 Propertius. 4 Dial. deorum. Confide, mater, leonibus ipsis familiaris jam factus sum, et sæpe conscendi eorum terga et apprehendi jubas; equorum more insidens eos agito, et illi mihi cau. dis adblandiuntur |