CIC. The following bears a head with four faces, which blow towards the
four corners of the heavens, and are four winds in one subject; above
these stand two stars, and in the centre the legend "Novae ortae
aeoliae." I would like to know what that signifies.
TANS. I think that the meaning of this device is consequent upon that
which precedes it, for, as there the object is declared to be infinite
beauty, so here is proposed what may be called a similar aspiration,
study, affection, and desire. I believe that these winds are set to
signify sighs; but this we shall see when we come to read the lines:
36.
Sons of the Titan Astræus and Aurora,
Who trouble heaven, earth, and the wide sea,
Leave now this stormy war of elements,
And fight anon with the high gods.
No more in my Æolian caves ye dwell,
No more does my restraining power compel;
But caught are ye and closed within that breast,
With moans and sobs and bitter sighs opprest.
Turbulent brothers of the stars,
Companions of the tempests of the seas,
Those lights are all that may avail
Peace to restore; murderous yet innocent;
Which, open or concealed,
Will bless with calm, or curse with pride.
Evidently, here, Æolus is introduced as speaking to the winds, which he
declares are no longer tempered by him in the Æolian caverns, but by two
stars in the breast of this enthusiast. Here, the two stars do not mean
the two eyes which are in the forehead, but the two appreciable kinds of
divine beauty and goodness, of that infinite splendour, which so
influences intellectual and rational desire, that it brings him to a
condition of infinite aspiration, according to the way and the degree
with which he comes to comprehend that glorious light. For love, while
it is finite, contented, and fixed in a certain measure, is not in the
form of the species of divine beauty, but as it goes on with ever higher
aspirations, it may be said to verge towards the infinite.
CIC.. How is breathing made to mean aspiring? What relation has desire
with the winds?
TANS. Whosoever in this present condition aspires, also sighs, and the
same breathes; and therefore the vehemence of the aspiration is noted by
the hieroglyph of strong breathing.