Nature adorned with charms, as art never succeeds.
Mix then, O painter, the rose with the white of the lily,
Choose then the fragrant blend to paint fair Bissula's face.'"
(H. S.)
The ancient Teutonic woman is, in general, represented as beautiful in countenance and form. Her rich, reddish-blond, flowing hair became the envy and imitation of the Roman ladies of fashion. Ovid and other poets mention how the Roman ladies tried to change their black hair to German blond. The rutilce comce of Tacitus, became a valued Roman article of trade. In Heinrich von Kleist's drama, Die Hermannschlacht, Thusnelda's revenge upon the Roman general Ventidius hinges upon an intercepted letter of his, containing a lock of her golden hair obtained by ruse, and sent to his Roman princess:
"Varus, O princess, stands with seven legions
Victorious on Cheruscan land:
Cheruscan land, mind well, where those locks do grow,
Shining like gold and soft like Roman silk.
Now mindful of the word spoken in jest by thee,