Dear Venus that beneath the gliding stars
Makest to teem the many-voyaged main
And fruitful lands--for all of living things
Through thee alone are evermore conceived,
Through thee are risen to visit the great sun--
Before thee, Goddess, and thy coming on,
Flee stormy wind and massy cloud away;
For thee the dedal Earth bears gentle flowers;
For thee wide waters of the unvexed deep
Smile, and the hollows of the sérene sky
Glow with diffusèd radiance for thee!
For soon as comes the springtime face of day,
And procreant gales blow from the West unbarred.
First fowls of air, smit to the heart by thee,
Foretoken thy approach, O thou Divine,
And leap the wild herds round the happy fields
Or swim the bounding torrents. Then amain,
Seized with the spell, all creatures follow thee
Whithersoever thou walkest forth to lead;
And thence through seas and mountains and swift streams,
Through leafy homes of birds and greening plains.
Kindling the lure of love in every breast,
Thou bringest the eternal generations forth.
Kind after kind. And since ’tis thou alone
Guidest the Cosmos, and without thee naught
Is risen to reach the holy shores of light,
Nor aught of joyful or of lovely born,
Thee do I crave co-partner in that verse
Which I presume on Nature to compose
For Memmius mine, whom thou hast willed to be
Peerless in every grace at every hour--
Wherefore, indeed, Divine one, give my words
Immortal charm. Lull to a timely rest
O’er sea and land the savage works of war,
For thou alone hast power with public peace
To aid mortality; since he who rules
The savage works of battle, puissant Mars,
How often to thy bosom flings his strength,
O’ermastered by the eternal wound of love--
And there, with eyes and full throat backward thrown,
Gazing, my Goddess, open-mouthed at thee,
Pastures on love his greedy sight, his breath
Hanging upon thy lips? Him thus reclined
Fill with thy holy body, round, above!
Pour from those lips soft syllables to win
Peace for the Roman, glorious Lady, peace!
For in a season troublous to the state
Neither may I attend this task of mine
With thought untroubled, nor may mid such events
The illustrious scion of the Memmian house
Neglect the civic cause.”
* * * * *
The temples of Aphrodite lie in ruins, and her worship is abandoned; but
the ideal of womanhood which she represented has remained to this day,
and will remain so long as mankind will continue to exist on earth. The
artist of the statue of Milo has left us an unsurpassed interpretation
of this ideal which even in its mutilated condition is noble and
beautiful. At the same time nature does not cease to actualize the type
in every living woman that has been born into the world. Each one of
them with all her individual traits, her preferences and even her
feminine faults is a specimen of the eternal ideal of womanhood--the
divinity of love, of grace, of charm, of beauty, a source of inspiration
as well as of physical and intellectual creativeness.
The ancient paganism has passed away and will never come back, but
because its superstitions are gone we need no longer scorn its gods. We
can recognize their grandeur, their nobility, their beauty, yea their
truth; and if we contemplate the representation of their ideals in Greek
art, we must own that the Venus of Milo is not the least among them.
INDEX.
Adonis, Death of, 76.
Æneas, 74.
Æschylus, 74.
Agesander or Alexander of Antioch, 14, 17, 20, 21, 51.
Alcamenes, 154, 157-159.
Alcard, 44.
Alcuin Bible, 133-135.
Amazon, Etymology of, 63.
Anchises, 68;
and Aphrodite, 74, 75.
Antiochus Euergetes, 150.
Antiochus Soter, 17.
Aphrodite, and Ares, 155-157;
as a universal principle, 65, 73;
Birth of, 62, 69;
Cypris, 65;
Etymology of the name, 62, 64;
Euploia, 162;
Pandemos, 67;
Sosandra, 154, 156;
Urania, 67, 74;
Worship of, 55, 68-75.
Apple, emblem of mother-goddess, 98;
emblem of Venus, 25;
held in hand, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 25, 30, 33, 44, 45, 47;
Melos means, 1, 25;
of empire, 39-40.
Archaic Venus, 154-155.
Ares, Aphrodite and, 155-157.
Artemis, 149.
Astarte, 69, 107;
A later, 105;
and the Dove, 100;
in Cyprus, 106, 110;
Sargent’s, 108, 110;
Worship of, 55.
Asurbanipal, 79, 80.
Athene, 69, 77, 79;
Worship of, 56.
Athens, 54, 56, 67.
Babylon, Trinity in, 98.
Bacchus, 14.
Bain, F. W., 128.
Bajot, 5_n_.
Bardos, 168, 169.
Battle on the beach, 43, 46-47, 49.
Bell, T., 31.
Bellona, 77.
Beltis, 73, 145, 151.
Benten, 110, 113.
Bethel, 148-150.
Birth, of Aphrodite, 62, 69, 70;
of Syrian goddess, 71.
Boghaz-Köi, 103-105.
Bottonis, Antonio, 2, 45.
Bottonis, Yorgos, a Greek peasant, 2, 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 44.
Bottonis, Yorgos, Jr., 45.
Brassempouy, Venus of, 146.
Brest, Louis, 3, 46.
Buddha, Kwan-Yon as the, 112, 115.
Cæsar, 74, 75.
Capua, 55.
Carolsfeld, Schnorr von, 140-141.
Carus, _The Bride of Christ_, 107;
_Soul of Man_, 126.
Castro in Melos, 2, 12, 45, 46.
_Century Magazine_, 2, 6.
Charm of statue, 26, 27.
“Chevrette,” 3, 5.
Christian Trinity, 98-99.
Christianity, 56, 74, 144.
Chthonian Venus, 75, 83, 85.
Clarac, Count de, 13, 15, 50;
Report of, 48.
Cnidian Venus, 160-163, 172.
Cnidos, 73, 163.
Condition of statue, 9-10, 24, 43, 45, 48, 49.
Conybeare, F. C., 56.
Conze, 21.
Corinth, Hierodules in, 74.
Coronet, 24.
Creation, Greek legend of, 62;
Maori legend of, 63_n_.
Creuzer, 36.
Crouching Venus, 163, 164, 166.
Cyprian Aphrodite, 154.
Cyprus, 76, 107;
Astarte in, 106, 110.
Date of statue, 20, 52.
David, 15.
Debay, Auguste, 15;
Drawing of, 16, 21.
Del Mar, Alexander, 37, 39-40.
Del Mar, Francisca Paloma, 37, 38.
Demeter, 69.
Descent into Hades, 76, 83-95.
Description of statue, 6-8, 22-25, 41, 42, 45, 51, 52.
Diana of Ephesus, 149, 152-153.
Dionæa, 67.
Dione, 65.
Discovery of statue, 2, 5-6, 44.
Dodona, 67.
Doré, Gustave, 139, 141.
Dove, 98, 102;
Astarte and the, 100;
Venus sending out the, 36, 37.
Egypt, Trinity in, 98.
Eleusinian mysteries, 83.
Ephesus, Diana of, 149, 152-153.
Epithets of Aphrodite, 65, 67.
Eros, 27, 28, 65, 77_n_, 83;
in the underworld, 84;
Statue of, 28.
“Estafette,” 3, 4, 43, 46, 47.
Eve, Adam and, in art, 132-141;
Apple of, 127, 138;
Creation of, 125, 127, 135, 138, 140.
Fanaticism, 27, 60.
Farnell, Lewis Richard, 83.
Ferry, Jules, 52;
Report of, 45-47.
Figulus, Nigidius, 71.
Fish, 103;
Isis with the, 102;
Kwan-Yon with the, 110-111;
of the Euphrates, 71;
on Friday, 117.
Foam-born, 62, 69.
Fragments, 2, 6, 10, 11, 12_n_, 13, 43, 47, 53.
Freer, Charles L., 114.
Freya, 117-120.
Furtwängler, 167;
Restoration by, 33.
“Galaxidion,” 46, 48.
Gauttier, 5_n_.
Gerhard, 154.
Ghiberti, 135-138.
Gilchrist, Edward, 86_n_.
Glyptothek, 165.
Greek, legend of creation, 62;
philology, 63;
religion, 27.
Guerber, H. A., 117, 119.
Hades, Descent into, 76, 83-95.
Halo, 39-40.
Hasse and Henke, 32, 33.
Hawk, Human-headed, 98.
Heine, Heinrich, 27.
Helios, 40.
Hephæstos, 68.
Hera (Juno), 24;
Worship of, 56.
Heracles, 14, 127;
Etymology of, 63.
Hermae, 6, 7, 8, 13.
Hermes, 14;
(psychopompos), 83.
Hesiod, 62.
Hesperides, Apple of the, 127.
Hierapolis, 102.
Hirt, 77.
History of the statue, 52-60.
Holy Ghost, 98.
Homer, 65.
Homeric hymns, 171-176.
Hypatia, 60.
Idols, Beginning of, 150.
Iduna, Apples of, 127.
India, Trinity in, 98.
Inscription, on plinth, 15, 17;
Votive, 8, 13-14, 50.
Isis, and Horus, 99;
and the fish, 102, 103;
Worship of, 55.
Istar, 71, 79, 80, 81, 107;
and Tammuz, 86;
Carrying in procession the symbol of, 97;
on coin of Tarsus, 150;
Worship of, 55.
Istar’s Descent to Hell, 85-95.
Jeremias, Dr. Alfred, 85.
Jesus, 84.
Jowett, 122-126.
Kalamis, 154, 156.
Kalypygos, Venus, 166.
Kanachus, 154.
K’ang Hi, 116.
Kirchhoff, 17.
Kronos, 62.
Kwan-Yon, as the Buddha, 112, 115;
by Li Lung-mien, 114;
Poem on, 112;
with the fish, 110-111.
Lady, 69, 73, 78, 96, 145.
Lakshmi, 147.
Lang, Andrew, 63_n_.
Lange, M., 49.
Lenormant, Charles, 11, 50.
Lenormant, F., 99, 101.
Leonard, William Ellery, 176_n_.
Life, Secret of, 143.
“Lionne,” 4.
Louvre, 4, 10, 12, 25, 43, 48, 49, 53, 158;
Authorities of the, 14, 17, 42, 50.
Love, Goddess of, 22, 39, 64, 74, 75, 76, 83, 117-120, 144, 178;
Goddess of sexual, 67.
Lucian, 103.
Lucretius, Titus, 176.
Ludovisi relief, 70-73.
Lung-mien, Li, 114.
Lysimachos, 167.
Lysippos, 52.
Magna Dea, 96ff.
Man, Origin of, 122;
Primitive, 142.
Maori legend of creation, 63_n_.
Marcellus, Viscount, 3, 9, 14, 39, 43, 53;
Report of, 11-13.
Marduk, 105.
Mary, Virgin, 64, 69, 71, 110, 115, 120;
Worship of, 37, 56.
Matriarchy, 96, 97.
Matterer, Lieutenant, 44, 47.
Max, Gabriel, 141-143.
Measurements of statue, 7-8.
Medici, Venus of, 166.
Melos, 1, 2, 45, 46, 47;
Inhabitants of, 39, 53;
Name of, 1, 7;
Site of, 6.
Michelangelo, 138, 140.
Mirror, Venus with, 30, 31.
Montaiglon, M. A., 5_n_.
Morusi, Nikolai, 3, 4.
Mother-goddess, The, 22, 68, 77, 96ff, 117, 120, 144.
Murillo, 109, 110.
Mutilation of statue, 7, 24, 27, 40, 42-43, 49, 53.
National Museum, 157, 158.
Navigation, Goddess of, 107.
Nebo, 81.
Nudity in art, 166;
of statue, 22, 24, 41.
Ohnefalsch-Richter, 106.
Oiconomos, 3.
_Open Court_, 110.
Oriental influence, 70-71, 96.
Original, Statue an, 20-21.
Orvieto, 135, 136.
Overbeck, 20.
Paganism, 55, 135, 178;
End of, 60, 68, 73.
Panderma, Venus of, 166-168.
Paphos, 73.
Paul, St., 84.
Pausanias, 54, 76, 154_n_.
Pedestal, 14, 17, 20.
Penitential psalm, 78.
Pergamum, 21, 52.
Persephone, 76;
Myth of, 83.
Phidias, 52, 54, 73, 154, 162.
Philology of Greeks, 63.
Pinches, Theodore G., 78.
Pindar, 74.
Plato, 62, 67, 121, 124, 128_n_.
Pluto, 83.
Polytheism, 68.
Pomegranate, 83, 98, 127;
emblem of Venus, 76;
held in hand, 158.
Pompeian Venus, 154-155.
Praxiteles, 52, 160-163.
Preller, 76_n_, 154.
Prometheus, Etymology of, 63.
Purchase of statue, 3-4, 9.
Queen of heaven, 64, 69, 74, 96, 116.
Rabbit, 103.
_Record-Herald_, 44, 50.
Reinach, Salomon, 167.
Restorations, 27-41.
Rivière, Marquis de, 4, 9.
Robert, Commander, 46.
Roscher, 63_n_, 71_n_, 153, 154_n_, 155_n_, 156, 162.
Sailors, French, 4, 10, 49;
Turkish, 46.
Saloman, Geskel, 20;
Restorations by, 34, 35.
Sargent’s Astarte, 108, 110.
Schliemann, 107.
Scopas, 52.
Sculptor of the statue, 13, 21, 51, 52, 53.
Selene, 40.
Semiramis, 101.
Shield and pencil, Venus with, 29, 31.
Sistine Madonna, 25.
Socrates, 121.
Sophia, 99;
The gnostic, 98.
Soul, Egyptian, 98, 99.
Springer, Anton, 134.
Star of the sea, 120.
Steinthal, H., 63_n_.
Swastika, 107.
Syrian goddess, 96, 103;
Birth of, 71.
Tacitus, 73.
Talbot, H. Fox, 79, 81.
Tammuz, 86.
Taylor, 63_n_.
Theodosius, 39.
Thiers, 45, 47.
T’ien Hou, 116.
Titian, 66, 67.
Tiumman, 79, 80;
Head of, 82.
Tomb of Aphrodite, 76.
Toulon, 5.
Tralles, Head of, 19, 20, 21.
Tree of life, 127.
Trinities, 98.
Turkish brig, 43, 46, 48.
Unguent jar, Venus with the, 165, 166.
Uranus and Gaia, 62.
Urville, Dumont d’, 3, 13, 14, 42-43, 44, 47;
Report of, 5-9.
Valentin, Veit, 25;
Restoration by, 37, 41.
Vatican, 152, 160-163, 164, 165.
Venice, Doves of, 103.
Venus Erycina, 77_n_;
Genetrix, 69, 75, 159;
Kalypygos, 166;
of Milo; full figure, 16, 23;
of Milo; head, _fr._, 18, 57, 59;
of Milo; restored, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38;
on the swan, 55, 56;
Proserpina, 154;
Urania, 74;
Victrix, 75, 77, 78, 79;
Victrix, Statue called, 45, 47, 48;
Vulgaris, 74.
Victory, Venus of Milo as, 31.
War, Goddess of, 77-82.
Wings, 99.
Woermann, 102_n_.
Woman, Origin of, 127-132.
Zealotry, Outbursts of, 58.
Zeus, 65.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Published under the title “Relation d’une expédition hydrographique
dans le Levant et la mer-Noire de la gabarre de Sa Majesté la
_Chevrette_, commandée par M. Gauttier, capitaine de vaisseau, dans
l’année 1820,” in _Annales maritimes et coloniales de Bajot_, 1821, and
reprinted in _Archives de l’art français, publiés sous la direction de
M. A. Montaiglon_, II series, Vol. II, 1863, pp. 202ff.
[2] “Un dernier mot sur la Venus de Milo,” in the _Revue
Contemporaine_, 1839, XIII, pp. 289ff.
[3] These fragments are preserved in a glass case at the window in the
same room of the Louvre where the Venus of Milo stands.
[4] Geskel Saloman, _Die Restauration der Venus von Milo, den Manen de
Claracs gewidmet_. Stockholm, 1895. Plate IV.
[5] Conze, _Die Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen zu Pergamon_.
[6] _The Venus di Milo, Its History and Its Art._ New York, Cambridge
Encyclopedia Co., 1900.
[7] As we might suppose in reading Hesiod, _Th._, 195ff, and Plato,
_Crat._, 406 c.
[8] Taylor mentions this Maori legend in his _New Zealand_, 119. Cf.
Andrew Lang, _Myth, Ritual and Religion_, I, 302, and Roscher, _Lex._,
s. v. “Kronos,” col. 1542.
[9] H. Steinthal, “Die Sage von Prometheus,” in _Zeitschrift für
Völkerpsychologie und Sprachwissenschaft_, II, ii, 8-9.
[10] Διὸς κούρη.
[11] As reported in Roscher’s _Lexikon_, s. v. “Aphrodite.”
[12] Preller, _Griechische Mythologie_, I, p. 364.
[13] The original is written in a Sumerian dialect with a translation
into the Semitic Babylonian. See _Records of the Past_, New Series,
Vol. I, p. 85.
[14] Literally, “I do not take counsel, myself I am not wise.”
[15] _Records of the Past_, Vol. VII, p. 67.
[16] II, Pl. XLVIII, p. 697.
[17] For further details see Dr. Alfred Jeremias, who publishes
the text of the passages here quoted and offers a literal German
translation with editorial notes and other explanations. The
conception of the document as set forth in the quoted passages is
based upon the interpolation of Dr. Jeremias, which he justifies in
his critical notes. Dr. Jeremias’s interpretation of the concluding
words is justified by another cuneiform tablet which while relating a
conjuration of the dead begins with the same description of Sheol as
does the legend of Istar’s descent to Hell.
[18] The ancient poem of Istar’s descent to Hades has been cast into
poetic form by Edward Gilchrist. See _The Monist_, April, 1912. (Vol.
XXII, pp. 259-267.)
[19] The passages in brackets are mutilated in the original and the
words are suggested by the context or sometimes by parallel passages.
[20] Perhaps the dress of wings is an expression of the belief that the
soul is winged, found also in Egypt, where the soul of man is compared
to a human-headed hawk, in which form it is at liberty to visit other
places.
[21] Why the goddess Allatu proposes to weep is not quite clear.
Perhaps it is a promise to have all the funeral rituals with their
wailings and lamentations properly attended to for the sake of
preventing further attempts at having the dead reclaimed.
[22] The goddess Allatu.
[23] _Uddusunâmir_ means “his light will illumine.” The significance of
this being does not seem to be clear. Perhaps he is a mere puppet, an
automaton to bear the curse of Allatu without suffering harm.
[24] The name of the great gods is the most powerful means of
conjuration, and Ea alone, the god of unfathomable wisdom, seems
to have command of it. The Babylonian origin of the Talmudic and
cabalistic belief in the power of the mysterious name is fully
established.
[25] The same gestures of grief are recorded in Jeremiah xxxi. 19 for
the Hebrews, in Odyssey XXXI, 198 for the Greeks. In a similar way, we
read of Ea in another document, “when he heard this he bit his lip”
(cf. A. S. K. T., LXXXVI, 24).
[26] The context does not reveal why the Anunnaki, the seven evil
spirits of Sheol, should be placed upon the golden throne.
[27] The significance of Belili’s breaking a precious utensil in the
ritual of lamentation is not clear.
[28] From Woermann’s _Geschichte der Kunst_.
[29] For further details with regard to this relief see the author’s
_The Bride of Christ_, p. 8.
[30] See the author’s article. “The Fish as a Mystic Symbol in China
and Japan,” _The Open Court_, July, 1911.
[31] _Val_ means “the battle-field”; the name _Valkyrie_ designates
“the one who chooses,” viz., the maiden of Odin who selects heroes
for _Valhall_, the great hall of the god of battles. The root _Val_
is still preserved in the modern German word _Wahlstatt_, “place of
battle.”
[32] See the author’s _Soul of Man_, pp. 399ff.
[33] Pronounce _Russakósh_. The name refers to the part he will play in
the story; it means both “a ball of mercury,” and “a treasure of taste,
wit, literary sentiments or flavors,” a sort of walking encyclopedia.
The King’s companion is a salient figure in Hindu drama: he is a sort
of Sancho Panza, minus the vulgarity and the humor.
[34] “A tree with orange-colored fragrant blossoms.”
[35] The Hindu Vulcan, sometimes, as here, used for the Creator,
_dhatri_ = Plato’s δεμιοῡργος. Sanskrit literature is the key to
Plato; much of his philosophy is only the moonlike reflection of Hindu
mythology.
[36] Hindu poets see a resemblance between rows of bees and eye-glances.
[37] The Indian cuckoo. The crane is a by-word for inward villainy and
sanctimonious exterior.
[38] The _chakrawáka_, or Brahmany drake, is fabled to pass the night
sorrowing for the absence of his mate and she for him.
[39] בֵּיתאֵל
[40] Terra-cotta in Berlin Museum (Roscher, _Lex._, I, col. 407).
[41] See Pausanias 2, 10, 4.
[42] Cf. Roscher, _Lex._, I. cols. 411-412, and Preller. _Gr. M._, I,
p. 383.
[43] See Roscher, _Lex._, I, col. 406, and _Monuments grecs_, Pl. 1.
[44] From Dr. William Ellery Leonard’s translation.