ent himself
with the torch of love. Cupid, vexed at the taunt, replied
threateningly, "Thine arrows may strike all things else, Apollo, but
mine shall strike thee." So saying he drew from his quiver two arrows,
one of gold, to excite love, and one of lead, to repel it. With the
golden one he shot Apollo through the heart, with the leaden he shot
the nymph Daphne. So Apollo became nearly mad with love for Daphne,
but the maid fled from him with horror. He pursued her, and when he
was close upon her, she turned into a laurel-tree.

Cupid continued to work havoc with his arrows. Even his mother Venus
could not escape their power. One day, when frolicking with her boy,
she was wounded by one of the darts, and before the wound healed she
saw and loved Adonis. When that youth was killed in a struggle with a
wild boar, she was inconsolable.

Another romantic tragedy for which Cupid was responsible was the love
between Hero and Leander. These two young people lived in towns on
opposite sides of the Hellespont. Leander was one day worshipping in
the temple of Venus, in Hero's town, Sestos, when he saw Hero, and was
at that moment shot by Cupid's arrow. His love was returned, and every
night he swam across the channel to see his lady love, until one night
a tempest arose, and he was drowned. The waves bore his body to the
shore, where Hero found him, and in her despair threw herself into the
sea and was also drowned.

[Illustration: CUPID. _South Kensington Museum, London._]

Such legends as these were dear to the hearts of the Greeks. Their
poets and artists were very fond of the subject of Cupid. Now
Michelangelo's early artistic training was under the influence of the
Greek culture. He was an inmate of the household of Lorenzo de'
Medici, who was an ardent lover of all that was beautiful in Greek
art and literature. At the table of the prince the youth must often
have heard the old Greek myths related, and in the gardens he saw
splendid Greek marbles. It was natural, then, that among his early
works in sculpture he should choose the subject of Cupid. His idea
was, however, his own, and was not at all such as a Greek would have
imagined. Classic art always represented the god of love as a merry
little winged boy, while in this statue he is seen as a well-grown
youth. His face is strong and masterful, instead of innocently gay.

He has dropped on one knee to take an arrow from the ground. In his
raised left hand he holds t