she even captivated the Grand Signior
himself. So did Rosamond insult over King Henry the Second.

[4839] ------"I was so fair an object;
Whom fortune made my king, my love made subject;
He found by proof the privilege of beauty,
That it had power to countermand all duty."

It captivates the very gods themselves, _Morosiora numina_,

[4840] ------"Deus ipse deorum
Factus ob hanc formam bos, equus imber olor."

And those _mali genii_ are taken with it, as [4841]I have already proved.
_Formosam Barbari verentur, et ad spectum pulchrum immanis animus
mansuescit_. (Heliodor. _lib. 5._) The barbarians stand in awe of a fair
woman, and at a beautiful aspect a fierce spirit is pacified. For when as
Troy was taken, and the wars ended (as Clemens [4842]Alexandrinus quotes
out of Euripides) angry Menelaus with rage and fury armed, came with his
sword drawn, to have killed Helen, with his own hands, as being the sole
cause of all those wars and miseries: but when he saw her fair face, as one
amazed at her divine beauty, he let his weapon fall, and embraced her
besides, he had no power to strike so sweet a creature. _Ergo habetantur
enses pulchritudine_, the edge of a sharp sword (as the saying is) is
dulled with a beautiful aspect, and severity itself is overcome. Hiperides
the orator, when Phryne his client was accused at Athens for her lewdness,
used no other defence in her cause, but tearing her upper garment,
disclosed her naked breast to the judges, with which comeliness of her body
and amiable gesture they were so moved and astonished, that they did acquit
her forthwith, and let her go. O noble piece of justice! mine author
exclaims: and who is he that would not rather lose his seat and robes,
forfeit his office, than give sentence against the majesty of beauty? Such
prerogatives have fair persons, and they alone are free from danger.
Parthenopaeus was so lovely and fair, that when he fought in the Theban
wars, if his face had been by chance bare, no enemy would offer to strike
at or hurt him, such immunities hath beauty. Beasts themselves are moved
with it. Sinalda was a woman of such excellent feature, [4843]and a queen,
that when she was to be trodden on by wild horses for a punishment, "the
wild beasts stood in admiration of her person," (Saxo Grammaticus _lib. 8.
Dan. hist._) "and would not hurt her." Wherefore did that royal virgin in
[4844]Apuleius, when she fled from the thieves'