[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' den, in a desert, make such an apostrophe to her ass on whom she rode; (for what knew she to the contrary, but that he was an ass?) Si me parentibus et proco formoso reddideris, quas, tibi gratias, quos honores habebo, quos cibos exhibebo? [4845]She would comb him, dress him, feed him, and trick him every day herself, and he should work no more, toil no more, but rest and play, &c. And besides she would have a dainty picture drawn, in perpetual remembrance, a virgin riding upon an ass's back with this motto, Asino vectore regia virgo fugiens captivitatem; why said she all this? why did she make such promises to a dumb beast? but that she perceived the poor ass to be taken with her beauty, for he did often obliquo collo pedes puellae decoros basiare, kiss her feet as she rode, et ad delicatulas voculas tentabat adhinnire, offer to give consent as much as in him was to her delicate speeches, and besides he had some feeling, as she conceived of her misery. And why did Theogine's horse in Heliodorus [4846]curvet, prance, and go so proudly, exultans alacriter et superbiens, &c., but that such as mine author supposeth, he was in love with his master? dixisses ipsum equum pulchrum intelligere pulchram domini fomam? A fly lighted on [4847] Malthius' cheek as he lay asleep; but why? Not to hurt him, as a parasite of his, standing by, well perceived, non ut pungeret, sed ut oscularetur, but certainly to kiss him, as ravished with his divine looks. Inanimate creatures, I suppose, have a touch of this. When a drop of [4848]Psyche's candle fell on Cupid's shoulder, I think sure it was to kiss it. When Venus ran to meet her rose-cheeked Adonis, as an elegant [4849]poet of our's sets her out,
———the bushes in the way
Some catch her neck, some kiss her face,
Some twine about her legs to make her stay,
And all did covet her for to embrace.
Aer ipse amore inficitur, as Heliodorus holds, the air itself is in love: for when Hero plaid upon her lute,
[4850]The wanton air in twenty sweet forms danc't
After her fingers———
and those lascivious winds stayed Daphne when she fled from Apollo;
[4851]———nudabant corpora venti,
Obviaque adversas vibrabant flamina vestes.
Boreas Ventus loved Hyacinthus, and Orithya Ericthons's daughter of Athens: vi rapuit, &c. he took her away by force, as she was playing with other wenches at Ilissus, and begat Zetes and Galias his two sons of her. That seas and waters are enamoured with this our beauty, is all out as likely as that of the air and winds; for when Leander swam in the Hellespont, Neptune with his trident did beat down the waves, but
They still mounted up intending to have kiss'd him.
And fell in drops like tears because they missed him.
The [4852]river Alpheus was in love with Arethusa, as she tells the tale herself,
[4853]———viridesque manu siccata capillos,
Fluminis Alphei veteres recitavit amores;
Pars ego Nympharum, &c.
When our Thame and Isis meet
[4854]Oscula mille sonant, connexu brachia pallent,
Mutuaque explicitis connectunt colla lacertis.
Inachus and Pineus, and how many loving rivers can I reckon up, whom beauty hath enthralled! I say nothing all this while of idols themselves that have committed idolatry in this kind, of looking-glasses, that have been rapt in love (if you will believe [4855]poets), when their ladies and mistresses looked on to dress them.
Et si non habeo sensum, tua gratia sensum
Exhibet, et calidi sentio amoris onus.
Dirigis huc quoties spectantia lumina, flamma
Succendunt inopi saucia membra mihi.
Though I no sense at all of feeling have.
Yet your sweet looks do animate and save;
And when your speaking eyes do this way turn,
Methinks my wounded members live and burn.
I could tell you such another story of a spindle that was fired by a fair lady's [4856]looks, or fingers, some say, I know not well whether, but fired it was by report, and of a cold bath that suddenly smoked, and was very hot when naked Coelia came into it, Miramur quis sit tantus et unde vapor, [4857]&c. But of all the tales in this kind, that is the most memorable of [4858]Death himself, when he should have strucken a sweet young virgin with his dart, he fell in love with the object. Many more such could I relate which are to be believed with a poetical faith. So dumb and dead creatures dote, but men are mad, stupefied many times at the first sight of beauty, amazed, [4859]as that fisherman in Aristaenetus that spied a maid bathing herself by the seaside,
[4860]Soluta mihi sunt omnia membra—
A capite ad calcem. sensusque omnis periit
De pectore, tam immensus stupor animam invasit mihi.
And as [4861]Lucian, in his images, confesses of himself, that he was at his mistress's presence void of all sense, immovable, as if he had seen a Gorgon's head: which was no such cruel monster (as [4862]Coelius interprets it, lib. 3. cap. 9.), “but the very quintessence of beauty,” some fair creature, as without doubt the poet understood in the first fiction of it, at which the spectators were amazed. [4863]Miseri quibus intentata nites, poor wretches are compelled at the very sight of her ravishing looks to run mad, or make away with themselves.
[4864]They wait the sentence of her scornful eyes;
And whom she favours lives, the other dies.
4865]Heliodorus, lib. 1. brings in Thyamis almost besides himself, when he saw Chariclia first, and not daring to look upon her a second time, “for he thought it impossible for any man living to see her and contain himself.” The very fame of beauty will fetch them to it many miles off (such an attractive power this loadstone hath), and they will seem but short, they will undertake any toil or trouble, [4866]long journeys. Penia or Atalanta shall not overgo them, through seas, deserts, mountains, and dangerous places, as they did to gaze on Psyche: “many mortal men came far and near to see that glorious object of her age,” Paris for Helena, Corebus to Troja.
———Illis Trojam qui forte diebus
Venerat insano Cassandrae insensus amore.
“who inflamed with a violent passion for Cassandra, happened then to be in Troy.” King John of France, once prisoner in England, came to visit his old friends again, crossing the seas; but the truth is, his coming was to see the Countess of Salisbury, the nonpareil of those times, and his dear mistress. That infernal God Pluto came from hell itself, to steal Proserpine; Achilles left all his friends for Polixena's sake, his enemy's daughter; and all the [4867]Graecian gods forsook their heavenly mansions for that fair lady, Philo Dioneus daughter's sake, the paragon of Greece in those days; ea enim venustate fuit, ut eam certatim omnes dii conjugem expeterent: “for she was of such surpassing beauty, that all the gods contended for her love.” [4868]Formosa divis imperat puella. “The beautiful maid commands the gods.” They will not only come to see, but as a falcon makes a hungry hawk hover about, follow, give attendance and service, spend goods, lives, and all their fortunes to attain;
Were beauty under twenty locks kept fast,
Yet love breaks through, and picks them all at last.
When fair [4869]Hero came abroad, the eyes, hearts, and affections of her spectators were still attendant on her.
[4870]Et medios inter vultus supereminet omnes,
Perque urbem aspiciunt venientem numinis instar.
[4871]So far above the rest fair Hero shined.
And stole away the enchanted gazer's mind.
[4872]When Peter Aretine's Lucretia came first to Rome, and that the fame of her beauty, ad urbanarum deliciarum sectatores venerat, nemo non ad videndam eam, &c. was spread abroad, they came in (as they say) thick and threefold to see her, and hovered about her gates, as they did of old to Lais of Corinth, and Phryne of Thebes, [4873]Ad cujus jacuit Graecia tota fores, “at whose gates lay all Greece.” [4874]“Every man sought to get her love, some with gallant and costly apparel, some with an affected pace, some with music, others with rich gifts, pleasant discourse, multitude of followers; others with letters, vows, and promises, to commend themselves, and to be gracious in her eyes.” Happy was he that could see her, thrice happy that enjoyed her company. Charmides [4875]in Plato was a proper young man in comeliness of person, “and all good qualities, far exceeding others; whensoever fair Charmides came abroad, they seemed all to be in love with him” (as Critias describes their carriage), “and were troubled at the very sight of him; many came near him, many followed him wheresoever he went,” as those [4876]formarum spectatores did Acontius, if at any time he walked abroad: the Athenian lasses stared on Alcibiades; Sappho and the Mitilenean women on Phaon the fair. Such lovely sights do not only please, entice, but ravish and amaze. Cleonimus, a delicate and tender youth, present at a feast which Androcles his uncle made in Piraeo at Athens, when he sacrificed to Mercury, so stupefied the guests, Dineas, Aristippus, Agasthenes, and the rest (as Charidemus in [4877]Lucian relates it), that they could not eat their meat, they sat all supper time gazing, glancing at him, stealing looks, and admiring of his beauty. Many will condemn these men that are so enamoured, for fools; but some again commend them for it; many reject Paris's judgment, and yet Lucian approves of it, admiring Paris for his choice; he would have done as much himself, and by good desert in his mind: beauty is to be preferred [4878]“before wealth or wisdom.” [4879]Athenaeus Deipnosophist, lib. 13. cap. 7, holds it not such indignity for the Trojans and Greeks to contend ten years, to spend so much labour, lose so many men's lives for Helen's sake, [4880]for so fair a lady's sake,
Ob talem uxorem cui praestantissima forma,
Nil mortale refert.
That one woman was worth a kingdom, a hundred thousand other women, a world itself. Well might [4881]Sterpsichores be blind for carping at so fair a creature, and a just punishment it was. The same testimony gives Homer of the old men of Troy, that were spectators of that single combat between Paris and Menelaus at the Seian gate, when Helen stood in presence; they said all, the war was worthily prolonged and undertaken [4882]for her sake. The very gods themselves (as Homer and [4883]Isocrates record) fought more for Helen, than they did against the giants. When [4884]Venus lost her son Cupid, she made proclamation by Mercury, that he that could bring tidings of him should have seven kisses; a noble reward some say, and much better than so many golden talents; seven such kisses to many men were more precious than seven cities, or so many provinces. One such a kiss alone would recover a man if he were a dying, [4885]Suaviolum Stygia sic te de valle reducet, &c. Great Alexander married Roxanne, a poor man's child, only for her person. [4886]'Twas well done of Alexander, and heroically done; I admire him for it. Orlando was mad for Angelica, and who doth not condole his mishap? Thisbe died for Pyramus, Dido for Aeneas; who doth not weep, as (before his conversion) [4887]Austin did in commiseration of her estate! she died for him; “methinks” (as he said) “I could die for her.”
Но это не предмет обсуждения; какая прерогатива у этой красоты, какой властью и суверенитетом она обладает и насколько оправданы такие люди, которые так сильно восхищаются и сохнут по ней; никто не сомневается в этих вопросах; вопрос в том, как и какими средствами красота производит этот эффект? Через зрение: глаз предает душу и является одновременно активным и пассивным в этом деле; он ранит и ранен, является особой причиной и инструментом, как в субъекте, так и в объекте. «Как слезы, она начинается в глазах, спускается к груди»; она передает эти прекрасные лучи, как я сказал, к сердцу. Ut vidi ut perii. Mars videt hanc, visamque cupit. Сихем увидел Дину, дочь Лии, и осквернил ее, Быт. XXXIV, 3. Иаков, Рахиль, XXIX, 17, «ибо она была красива и прекрасна». Давид высмотрел Вирсавию издалека, 2 Цар. XI, 2. Старейшины — Сусанну, как тот ортоменианец Стратон увидел прекрасную Аристоклею, дочь Феофана, купающуюся в том источнике Герцина в Лебадее, и были пленены в одно мгновение. Viderunt oculi, rapuerunt pectora flammae; Амнон заболел ради Фамари, 2 Цар. XIII, 2. Красота Есфири была такова, что она нашла благоволение не только в глазах Артаксеркса, «но и всех, кто смотрел на нее». Герсон, Ориген и некоторые другие утверждали, что сам Христос был прекраснейшим из сынов человеческих, а Иосиф — следующим за ним, speciosus prae filiis hominum, и они хотят, чтобы это понималось буквально; сама его фигура была такова, что он находил благодать и благоволение у всех, кто смотрел на него. Иосиф был так прекрасен, что, как гласит обычная глосса, filiae decurrerent per murum, et ad fenestras, они бежали на верх стен и к окнам, чтобы поглазеть на него, как мы обычно делаем, чтобы увидеть, как проходит какая-нибудь важная особа: и так Матвей Парижский описывает Матильду Императрицу, проходящую через Кёльн. П. Моралес, иезуит, говорит то же самое о Деве Марии. Антоний не успел увидеть Клеопатру, как, говорит Аппиан, lib. 1, он был влюблен в нее. Тесей при первом взгляде на Елену был так одурманен, что считал себя счастливейшим человеком в мире, если бы мог насладиться ею, и с этой целью преклонил колени и вознес свои патетические молитвы богам. Харикл, случайно увидев ту любопытную картину улыбающейся Венеры обнаженной в ее храме, стоял долгое время, глазея, как пораженный; наконец, он разразился той безумной страстной речью: «О счастливый бог Марс, который был закован в цепи и сделан посмешищем ради нее!» Он не мог сдержаться, но целовал ее картину, не знаю сколько раз, и искренне желал быть так опозоренным, как Марс. И что он сделал такого, чего его лучшие предшественники не делали до него?
[4894]———atque aliquis de diis non tristibus optat
Sic fieri turpis———
When Venus came first to heaven, her comeliness was such, that (as mine author saith) [4895]“all the gods came flocking about, and saluted her, each of them went to Jupiter, and desired he might have her to be his wife.” When fair [4896]Antilochus came in presence, as a candle in the dark his beauty shined, all men's eyes (as Xenophon describes the manner of it) “were instantly fixed on him, and moved at the sight, insomuch that they could not conceal themselves, but in gesture or looks it was discerned and expressed.” Those other senses, hearing, touching, may much penetrate and affect, but none so much, none so forcible as sight. Forma Briseis mediis in armis movit Achillem, Achilles was moved in the midst of a battle by fair Briseis, Ajax by Tecmessa; Judith captivated that great Captain Holofernes: Dalilah, Samson; Rosamund, [4897]Henry the Second; Roxolana, Suleiman the Magnificent, &c.
[4898]Νικᾶ δε καὶ σίδηρον
Καὶ πῦρ καλὴ τὶς οὖσα.
“A fair woman overcomes fire and sword.”
[4899]Nought under heaven so strongly doth allure
The sense of man and all his mind possess,
As beauty's loveliest bait, that doth procure
Great warriors erst their rigour to suppress,
And mighty hands forget their manliness,
Driven with the power of an heart-burning eye,
And lapt in flowers of a golden tress.
That can with melting pleasure mollify
Their harden'd hearts inur'd to cruelty.
[4900]Clitiphon ingenuously confesseth, that he no sooner came in Leucippe's presence, but that he did corde tremere, et oculis lascivius intueri; [4901]he was wounded at the first sight, his heart panted, and he could not possibly turn his eyes from her. So doth Calysiris in Heliodorus, lib. 2. Isis Priest, a reverend old man, complain, who by chance at Memphis seeing that Thracian Rodophe, might not hold his eyes off her: [4902]“I will not conceal it, she overcame me with her presence, and quite assaulted my continency which I had kept unto mine old age; I resisted a long time my bodily eyes with the eyes of my understanding; at last I was conquered, and as in a tempest carried headlong.” [4903] Xenophiles, a philosopher, railed at women downright for many years together, scorned, hated, scoffed at them; coming at last into Daphnis a fair maid's company (as he condoles his mishap to his friend Demaritis), though free before, Intactus nullis ante cupidinibus, was far in love, and quite overcome upon a sudden. Victus sum fateor a Daphnide, &c. I confess I am taken,