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Article ON SYMBOLS AND SYMBOLISM. ← Page 13 of 19 →
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On Symbols And Symbolism.
This on her hand tho Cyprian goddess laid , ' Take this , and with it all thy wish , ' she said . With smiles she took the charm , and smiling , press'd The powerful cestus to her snowy breast . " Wakefield has some very pertinent remarks on the subject , in his note on this passage : —
" The allegory ( metaphor ) of the cestus lies very open throughout , though the impertinoneies of Eustathius on this head are unspeakable : in it are comprised the most powerful incentives to love , as well as the strongest effects of the passion . The just admiration of this passage has been always so great and universal , that the cestus of Venus has become proverbial . The beauty of the fines which in a few Avords comprehend this agreeable fiction can scarcelbe equalledso beautiful an oriinal
y ; g has produced very fine imitations , wherein we may observe a few additional figures , expressing some of the improvements which the affectation or the artifice of the fair sex have introduced into the art of love since Homer ' s time . Tasso has finely imitated this description , in the ' Magical Girdle of Armida' ( Gierus . Lib . cant , xvi . ) : —
" ' Tenon Salegm e placide e tranquille Eepulse e cari vezzi e liete paci Sorrisi , parrolete e dolci stifle Di pianto e sospir tronchi e molli baci . ' " Mons . de la Matte ' s imitation is likewise Avonderfully beautiful : — " Ce Tissuce symbole et la cause a la fois
, Du pouvoir de l'amour , du charme de ses lois , Elle enflamme les yeux de cet ardeur qui touche , D'un sourire enchanteur elle anirne la bouche , Passionne la voix , en adoucit les sons , Prete ces tours heureux plus forts que les raisons Inspire pour toucher ces tendres strategems , Ces refus attirans , l'ecueil des sages memes ,
En la nature enfin y voulut renfermer , Tout ce qui persuade et ce qui fuit aimer . En prenant ce tissu , qui Venus lui presente , Junon n ' etait que belle , elle devient charmante . Les graces et les ris , les plaisirs et les jeux , Surpris cherchent Venus , doutant qui Test des deux ; L'amour meme trompe , trouve Junon plus belle , Et son arc a la maine , deja vole apres elle . "
Without defending all the conceits which the French poet has grafted on the Homeric masterpiece , Ave may remark , that Spenser ( " Fairy Queen , " book ii . cant , v . ) describes the zone in a less pleasing view ; for , instead of inciting the natural desires , it had the poAver to suppress them in the person Avho wore itActive and passive workings arehoweverso
fre-. , , quently interchanged in the minds of the unreflective , that we need not Avonder to find the latter power , after the lapse of so many ages , prevalent . But Spenser forcibly illustrates the poAver of this girdle as a symbol of chastity , Avhen he tells us
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Symbols And Symbolism.
This on her hand tho Cyprian goddess laid , ' Take this , and with it all thy wish , ' she said . With smiles she took the charm , and smiling , press'd The powerful cestus to her snowy breast . " Wakefield has some very pertinent remarks on the subject , in his note on this passage : —
" The allegory ( metaphor ) of the cestus lies very open throughout , though the impertinoneies of Eustathius on this head are unspeakable : in it are comprised the most powerful incentives to love , as well as the strongest effects of the passion . The just admiration of this passage has been always so great and universal , that the cestus of Venus has become proverbial . The beauty of the fines which in a few Avords comprehend this agreeable fiction can scarcelbe equalledso beautiful an oriinal
y ; g has produced very fine imitations , wherein we may observe a few additional figures , expressing some of the improvements which the affectation or the artifice of the fair sex have introduced into the art of love since Homer ' s time . Tasso has finely imitated this description , in the ' Magical Girdle of Armida' ( Gierus . Lib . cant , xvi . ) : —
" ' Tenon Salegm e placide e tranquille Eepulse e cari vezzi e liete paci Sorrisi , parrolete e dolci stifle Di pianto e sospir tronchi e molli baci . ' " Mons . de la Matte ' s imitation is likewise Avonderfully beautiful : — " Ce Tissuce symbole et la cause a la fois
, Du pouvoir de l'amour , du charme de ses lois , Elle enflamme les yeux de cet ardeur qui touche , D'un sourire enchanteur elle anirne la bouche , Passionne la voix , en adoucit les sons , Prete ces tours heureux plus forts que les raisons Inspire pour toucher ces tendres strategems , Ces refus attirans , l'ecueil des sages memes ,
En la nature enfin y voulut renfermer , Tout ce qui persuade et ce qui fuit aimer . En prenant ce tissu , qui Venus lui presente , Junon n ' etait que belle , elle devient charmante . Les graces et les ris , les plaisirs et les jeux , Surpris cherchent Venus , doutant qui Test des deux ; L'amour meme trompe , trouve Junon plus belle , Et son arc a la maine , deja vole apres elle . "
Without defending all the conceits which the French poet has grafted on the Homeric masterpiece , Ave may remark , that Spenser ( " Fairy Queen , " book ii . cant , v . ) describes the zone in a less pleasing view ; for , instead of inciting the natural desires , it had the poAver to suppress them in the person Avho wore itActive and passive workings arehoweverso
fre-. , , quently interchanged in the minds of the unreflective , that we need not Avonder to find the latter power , after the lapse of so many ages , prevalent . But Spenser forcibly illustrates the poAver of this girdle as a symbol of chastity , Avhen he tells us