“Aglaia, Euphrosyne que Thaliaque splendida
Clara letitiæ matres!”
It is probably by mere coincidence or chance that in Keats’ “Endymion” the habitual friend and comforter of the hero is:
“Peona, his sweet sister; of all those
His friends, the dearest, . . .
Whose eloquence did breathe away the curse.
She led him like some midnight spirit-nurse.”
But that Peona, through all the poem, plays the part which Pæonia has with Virgil is unquestionable. It would seem as if there is, if not a spiritual, at least an æsthetic influence in names. Nomen est omen. “All Bobs are bobbish,” said a farmer, “and all Dicks dickies.”
VIRGIL AND ADELONE.
“Who would have ever said that amid the horrors of prison I would find a true friend to console me?”—Boethius to Patricius.
“All by prayer and penitence
May be at length forgiven.”Ballad of Sir Tannhäuser.
There once lived in Florence a young man who was not really bad at heart, but utterly selfish, especially to his relations, and was without heed or feeling as to the sufferings of others. And, it being in his power, he wasted all the income of the family on sport, letting his brothers and sisters endure great privations; nor would he have cared much had they starved. He was like all such people—frivolous and capricious. If he met a poor child in the street, he would give it a gold crown, and then let all at home hunger for days.
One day his suffering mother went to Virgilio, and, telling him all about her son, begged the master, if it were possible, to reform him.
Virgilio said to her: “I will indeed do something which will bring thy son to his senses.”
The young man was named Adelone, and Virgilio, meeting him the next day, said: