Volume 1

Studies of the Greek poets / by John Addington Symonds.

  • John Addington Symonds
Date:
1877-1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Studies of the Greek poets / by John Addington Symonds. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    he becomes the deity described by Plato in the Phadrus, an incarnation of the tenderest passion, tinged, in spite of his own radiance, with sadness. What thought has made him sorrow- ful and bowed his head ? Perhaps Theognis can tell us : *— &<ppov€S &uOptdTroi ndl vr}TTioi, afire Qav6vTas KXdiovd ovS’ $Jj8rjs &vOos a.TroXXvp.evov. The winged boy, again, bending his bow against the hearts of lovers, with his lion’s skin beside him, f is the Eros of Agathon —he who delights to walk delicately upon the tender places of the soul. Next we find him asleep upon his folded pinions, the mischievous child who rewarded Anacreon’s hospitality by wounding him, and who gave to the thirsty heart of Meleager scalding tears to drink. How in the last place are we to dis- tinguish Love from Harpocrates, the silent, with one finger on his lip ? Turn next to Hermes. When the herald of Olympus met Priam midway between Troy-town and Achilles’ tent, he was, says Homer, yerjvlr] avfipl ioiic&s, 7rpSiTOV virrjvfjTri, rovirep xapieffrarri ^77,— “ like a young man, with budding beard, whose bloom is in the prime of grace.” This adolescent loveliness belongs through- out to Hermes. As the genius of the gymnasium, { he is a divinized athlete, scarcely to be distinguished from the quoit- throwers and the runners he protects. The Hermes, who woos a nymph with his arm around her waist, § has Persuasion for his parent. Again the seated Hermes with wings upon his * “ Ah, vain and thoughtless men, who wail the dead, But not one tear for youth’s frail blossom shed ! ” t Of this statue there are many slightly different copies. The best is in the Vatican. J See the so-called Antinous of the Belvedere. § Engraved in Clarac, Musee de Sculpture, Planches, vol. iv. pi. 666 c.