Illa Paphon veterem centumque altaria linquens,
Nec vultu nec crine prior, solvisse jugalem
Ceston, et Idalias procul ablegasse volucres
Fertur. Erant certe, media qui noctis in umbra
Divam, alios ignes majoraque tela gerentem,
Tartarias inter thalamis volitasse sorores
Vulgarent: utque implicitis arcana domorum
Anguibus, et sæva formidine cuncta replerit
Limina.[64]
Or, we may say, the poet alone possesses the art of so combining
negative with positive traits as to unite two appearances in one. No
longer now the tender Venus, her hair no more confined with golden
clasps, no azure draperies floating about her, without her girdle, armed
with other flames and larger arrows, the goddess hastes downward,
attended by furies of like aspect with herself. Must the poet abstain
from the use of this device because artists are debarred from it? If
painting claim to be the sister of poetry, let the younger at least not
be jealous of the elder, nor seek to deprive her of ornaments unbecoming
to herself.