th his heifer,)
"he was wise, learned, eloquent, of a pleasant, a promising countenance, a
goodly, proper man; he had, in a word, a winning look of his own," and that
carried it, for that he was especially advanced. So "Saul was a goodly
person and a fair." Maximinus elected emperor, &c. Branchus the son of
Apollo, whom he begot of Jance, Succron's daughter (saith Lactantius), when
he kept King Admetus' herds in Thessaly, now grown a man, was an earnest
suitor to his mother to know his father; the nymph denied him, because
Apollo had conjured her to the contrary; yet overcome by his importunity at
last she sent him to his father; when he came into Apollo's presence,
_malas Dei reverenter osculatus_, he carried himself so well, and was so
fair a young man, that Apollo was infinitely taken with the beauty of his
person, he could scarce look off him, and said he was worthy of such
parents, gave him a crown of gold, the spirit of divination, and in
conclusion made him a demigod. _O vis superba formae_, a goddess beauty is,
whom the very gods adore, _nam pulchros dii amant_; she is _Amoris domina_,
love's harbinger, love's loadstone, a witch, a charm, &c. Beauty is a dower
of itself, a sufficient patrimony, an ample commendation, an accurate
epistle, as [4829]Lucian, [4830]Apuleius, Tiraquellus, and some others
conclude. _Imperio digna forma_, beauty deserves a kingdom, saith
Abulensis, _paradox. 2. cap. 110._ immortality; and [4831]"more have got
this honour and eternity for their beauty, than for all other virtues
besides:" and such as are fair, "are worthy to be honoured of God and men."
That Idalian Ganymede was therefore fetched by Jupiter into heaven,
Hephaestion dear to Alexander, Antinous to Adrian. Plato calls beauty for
that cause a privilege of nature, _Naturae gaudentis opus_, nature's
masterpiece, a dumb comment; Theophrastus, a silent fraud; still rhetoric
Carneades, that persuades without speech, a kingdom without a guard,
because beautiful persons command as so many captains; Socrates, a tyranny,
"which tyranniseth over tyrants themselves;" which made Diogenes belike
call proper women queens, _quod facerent homines quae praeciperent_,
because men were so obedient to their commands. They will adore, cringe,
compliment, and bow to a common wench (if she be fair) as if she were a
noble woman, a countess, a queen, or a goddess. Those intemperate young men
of Greece erected at Delphos a golden image with infinite cos