Page:Aesthetic Papers.djvu/82

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72
The Dorian Measure.

parents, Jupiter and Latona. The parents, however, remain in the background: Hesiod, himself a Dorian, makes

"The azure-robed Latona, ever mild,
Gracious to man and to immortal gods,—
Gentlest of all within the Olympian courts,"

the third wife of Jove, next after Metis and Themis. But in all he says, there is nothing but her name which throws any light upon her nature. Leto (Latona) means mystery; and Apollo and Diana are the children of mystery, whether we consider the unexplained origin of the Dorians, or the nature of the principles, Genius and Chastity, which they embody.

It is noticeable, that the Dorian Diana, who must be discriminated from Diana of Ephesus,—a very different divinity—and also from Diana of Arcadia, though in later times they were confounded, is the feminine of Apollo, and nothing else. As he is the severity of intellect, she is the severity of morals. Here the Dorian respect for woman, which is brought out in strong relief by K. O. Müller in his history of Grecian literature, as well as in his account of the Dorian institutions, has its highest expression. Apollo and Diana are twins, and have equal dignity, united by sympathy of nature and sameness of birth; and the latter not at all displaying any subordination to the former. Again, we may remark that Apollo, with all his power and splendor and autocratic character, is never represented as the Supreme God. He tells the mind of his father, Jupiter. Do we not see here the shadow of God and the Word of God? The Dorian Jupiter is never at all the Ionian Jupiter described by Homer, but is absolute, un-manifest, except by the oracle and action of his son. This oracle and action betray the finiteness inseparable from manifestation; but, nevertheless, there is a sublimity about Apollo which we find nowhere else in the Greek heaven. He is no instinct, no power of external nature personified. He is nothing less than the moral and intellectual harmony of the universe. In his action we find the practical religion of the Dorians. He is beautiful: his recreation is music. He leads the Muses with his harp in hand, and even mingles in the dance. He is resplendent; where he is, darkness cannot be: