Page:Hesiod, and Theognis.djvu/90

cation of the benignant goddess in the opening of Lucretius:—

"Before thee, goddess, thee! the winds are hushed,
Before thy coming are the clouds dispersed;
The plastic earth spreads flowers before thy feet;
Thy presence makes the plains of ocean smile,
And sky shines placid with diffused light."
—Lucret. i. 7-12 (Johnson).

By the act of Cronus, the Titans, released from durance, arose to a share in the deliverer's dynasty, the Cyclopes and giants still, it would seem, remaining shut up in their prison-house. But before the poet proceeds to the history of this dynasty and succession of rulers, he apparently conceives it to be his duty to go through the generations of the elder deities with a genealogical

"But light as any wind that blows,
So fleetly did she stir;
The flower she touched on dipt and rose,
And turned to look at her."
—Tennyson: 'The Talking Oak.'


Even more to the point, which is the charm to create verdure and flower-growth which pertains to Aphrodite's feet, are the following citations from Ben Jonson and Wordsworth:—
"Here she was wont to go, and here, and here,
Just where those daisies, pinks, and violets grow;
The world may find the spring by following her,
For other print her aery steps ne'er left.
And where she went the flowers took thickest root,
As she had sowed them with her odorous foot."
—Jonson: 'Sad Shepherd,' i. 1.


"Flowers laugh before thee in their beds,
And fragrance in thy footing treads."
—Wordsworth: 'Ode to Duty.'