s? There is no deity in heaven who has passed unscathed from his
assaults; except, perhaps, Diana only, who may have escaped him by
fleeing to the woods; though some there be who tell that she did not
flee, but rather concealed the wound. If haply, however, thou, in the
hardness of thy unbelief, rejectest the testimony of heaven, and
searchest rather for examples of those in this nether world who have
felt his power, I affirm them to be so multitudinous that where to begin
I know not. Yet this much may I tell thee truly: all who have confessed
his sway have been men of might and valor. Consider attentively, in the
first place, that undaunted son of Alcmena, who, laying aside his arrows
and the formidable skin of the huge lion, was fain to adorn his fingers
with green emeralds, and to smooth and adjust his bristling and
rebellions hair. Nay, that hand which aforetime had wielded the terrific
club, and slain therewith Antaeus, and dragged the hound of hell from the
lower world, was now content to draw the woolen threads spun from
Omphale's distaff; and the shoulders whereon had rested the pillars of
the heavens, from which he had for a time freed Atlas, were now clasped
in Omphale's arms, and afterward, to do her pleasure, covered with a
diaphanous raiment of purple. Need I relate what Paris did in obedience
to the great deity? or Helen? or Clytemnestra? or AEgisthus? These are
things that are well known to all the world. Nor do I care to speak of
Achilles, or of Scylla, of Ariadne or Leander, of Dido, or of many
others, of whom the same tale could be told, were there need to tell it.
Believe me when I affirm that this fire is holy, and most potent as
well. Thou hast heard that heaven and earth are subject to my son
because of his lordship over gods and men. But what shall I say of the
power that he exercises over irrational animals, whether celestial or
terrene? It is through him that the turtle is fain to follow her mate;
it is through him that my pigeons have learned to caress his ringdoves
with fondest endearments. And there is no creeping or living creature
that has ever at any time attempted to escape from his puissance: in the
woods the timid stag, made fierce by his touch, becomes brave for sake
of the coveted hind and by bellowing and fighting, they prove how strong
are the witcheries of Love. The ferocious boars are made by Love to
froth at the mouth and sharpen their ivory tusks; the African lions,
when Love quic